The career capital of managers with global careers

Job exhaustion among assigned and self-initiated expatriates – the role of effort and reward

Purpose

This study explores whether expatriation type (assigned expatriates (AEs) versus self-initiated expatriates (SIEs)) is linked to job exhaustion via possible differences in required efforts for their jobs and the rewards they gain from them, and/or the balance between efforts and rewards. Adopting effort–reward imbalance (ERI) and job demands/resources (JD-R) theories, the authors study the possible role of ERI as a mediator between expatriation type and job exhaustion.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey was carried out in co-operation with two Finnish trade unions, providing representative data from 484 assigned and SIEs. The authors test this study’s hypotheses through latent structural equation modelling, and the analysis was conducted with Stata 17.0 software.

Findings

The results show that ERI between them are correlated with the job exhaustion of expatriates in general and there are no direct links between expatriation type and job exhaustion. The required effort from AEs was higher than that from SIEs though no difference was found for rewards, and the match between effort demands and rewards is less favourable for AEs than SIEs. AEs experienced higher job exhaustion than SIEs because of the higher effort demands and greater imbalance between efforts and rewards.

Originality/value

The study examines the work well-being of two types of expatriates and explores the underlying mechanisms that may explain why they may differ from each other.

Development of career capital during expatriation: partners' perspectives

Purpose

The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the effects of expatriation on the development of career capital among the partners of expatriates.

Design/methodology/approach

The study draws on in-depth interviews with 30 Finnish partners of expatriates.

Findings

The results reflect the various learning experiences reported by partners of expatriates that developed their career capital during expatriation. The learning experiences related to the experience of living abroad itself and to the specific activities undertaken when abroad. The extent to which partners developed knowing-why, knowing-how and knowing-whom career capital was found to partly reflect their situation abroad as stay-at-home partners or as employees in less-demanding or more-demanding jobs. Though the experiences were developmental for all partners as have been reported among expatriates, the authors also identified several aspects in which partners' experiences differed from the typical developmental experiences of expatriates.

Practical implications

The results also highlight the influence of initiative, an active role and career self-management skills in partners' career capital development.

Originality/value

This paper advances the understanding of how expatriation affects expatriate partners' career capital, a topic that has not previously been studied in-depth.

Unlocking inhibitors to women's expatriate careers: can job-related training provide a key?

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine what job-related training interventions female expatriates seek and can access in order to build necessary knowledge and skills to progress into further career-enhancing expatriate positions.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a cross-sectional qualitative research approach, drawing upon semi-structured interviews in respect of organisational training practice with 26 current female expatriates and nine human resource, international assignments and training managers in two oil and gas exploration firms.

Findings

Budgets, time and travel restrictions and competitive business pressures constrain on-the-job training provision for expatriates. Assignees require specific knowledge and skills ahead of appointment to subsequent expatriate positions. HR personnel believe training provides appropriate knowledge and capability development, supporting women expatriates' career ambitions. Women assignees view training available within their current roles as insufficient or irrelevant to building human capital for future expatriate posts.

Research limitations/implications

Longitudinal research across a wider spectrum of industries is needed to help understand the effects of training interventions on women's access to future career-enhancing expatriation and senior management/leadership positions.

Practical implications

Organisations should ensure relevant technical skills training, clear responsibility for training provision, transparent and fair training allocation, positive communication regarding human capital outcomes and an inclusive culture that promotes expatriate gender diversity.

Originality/value

Set within the framework of human capital theory, this study identifies the challenges that female expatriates experience when seeking relevant job-related training to further their expatriate careers. It identifies clear mismatches between the views of HR and female assignees in relation to the value of job-related training offered and women's access to it.

Early career values and individual factors of objective career success

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the early career values and individual factors of objective career success among graduates from a top-tier French business school.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a quantitative analysis of 629 graduates classified in three job markets according to income: the traditional business market, the alternative market and the high-potential business market. The graduation dates span a period of 12 years before the 2008 Recession.

Findings

The findings suggest that membership of each job market is associated with distinct early career values (when choosing/leaving the first job). Moreover, the authors confirm that the presence of a mentor, international experience, job-hopping and gender, all affect objective career success.

Practical implications

The paper discusses implications for business career development and higher business education.

Originality/value

The originality of this study lies in the identification of the individual factors of objective career success among French business graduates and the links between objective career success and early career values.

Work-Life Balance Among Expatriates

There are 90000 professional expatriates working in Malaysia and the number is projected to increase year by year. This creates a need to explore work-life balance among expatriates in Malaysia. In this study, qualitative research method was used, and the data was collected using interview guide as the instrument. Actual data was collected from five (5) international lecturers in a public university in Sarawak. The data was analyzed using content analysis. The finding revealed that workload and family support are main contributors to work-life conflict among expatriates while receiving better salaries, meeting new people and experiencing culture are the work-life enrichment factors. Expatriates use general adjustment and interaction to adjust better with their new environment. Hence, it is recommended for organizations to support expatriates through relevant activities to assist them to achieve work-life balance in a foreign country.

Intercultural interactions in multinational subsidiaries

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show how individuals perceive the quality of intercultural interactions at work in multinational subsidiaries and to address the question of what actually prevails in their accounts, i.e., “the dark side” or “the bright side.”

Design/methodology/approach

The authors report the findings from five subsidiaries located in Poland and interviews with 68 employees of these companies.

Findings

The “bright side” dominated the interviewees’ accounts. The phenomenon of high social identity complexity or common in-group identity can help explain the findings. The results also shed some new light on the associations between the context of subsidiaries and the perception of the quality of intercultural interactions.

Research limitations/implications

The paper contributes to the literature on cultural diversity and intercultural interactions in multinational subsidiaries. As the “bright side” of interactions was emphasized in the interviews, it particularly supports positive cross-cultural scholarship studies. Yet the explorative research does not allow for a broader generalization of the results.

Practical implications

Managers of multinational corporations (MNCs) should do the following: shape the context of MNCs to influence the dynamics of intercultural interactions and the way they are seen by their employees; emphasize common in-group identity to help their employees to adopt more favorable attitudes toward intercultural interactions; look for individuals with multicultural identity who display more positive approaches to intercultural contacts; place emphasis on recruiting individuals fluent in the MNC’s functional language; offer language training for the staff; and recruit employees with significant needs for development who will perceive more opportunities in intercultural contacts.

Social implications

The research demonstrates that the multicultural workplace of MNCs may be recognized by employees as activating the positive potential of the individuals and organizations that make up a society.

Originality/value

The accounts of intercultural interactions are analyzed to illuminate some significant foundations of how individuals perceive such interactions. The study provides a qualitative lens and highlights the positive approach to intercultural interactions. It may redress the imbalance in prior research and satisfy the need for positive cross-cultural scholarship.

Success and failure in international assignments

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on how success and failure for international assignments have been defined, and integrate several proposals for these definitions into a multi-dimensional model that considers task performance, relationship building, contextual performance and retention as all being part of how success or failure should be defined. The authors also discuss two proposed pre-requisites for success – absorptive capacity (operationalized at both the individual and the unit levels) and adjustment. The authors conclude by bringing in literature on performance management and how ideas about performance management must also be integrated into the discussion of the success or failure of international assignments.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reviews existing proposals regarding the definition of expatriate success and failure, and proposes a multidimensional model of success based on the past literature. Based on this literature the authors also propose two pre-requisites for success and discuss several requisite KSAOs, as well as some suggestions from the literature on performance management.

Findings

The authors argue for a multidimensional model of expatiate success which includes task performance, relationship building, contextual performance and retention as part of what constitutes a successful assignment. The authors also argue that absorptive capacity and adjustment should be considered as pre-requisites for success, and that principles from performance management should be applied to dealing with international assignments.

Research limitations/implications

A more comprehensive definition of success and failure should aid research by providing a better dependent variable, and by leading to research on various aspects of this outcome.

Practical implications

The proposed model and approach can hopefully help practice by clarifying the different dimensions of success and how performance management techniques can be applied to dealing with international assignments.

Originality/value

There has been a lot written about how we should operationalize the success or failure of international assignments. The present paper reviews that literature and integrates a number of ideas and suggestions into a multi-dimensional model which includes information about pre-requisites for success and relevant KSAOs, along with ideas from performance management to help insure the success of these assignments.

Work Engagement and Career

Work engagement is currently one of the most studied topics in organizational science. Moreover, from the various performance-based perspectives of human resource development (HRD), work engagement is closely tied to employees’ career. However, although research on work engagement and career has been conducted, more research is necessary to understand these concepts and investigate their relationship given their positive influences on organizations. More specifically, a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between work engagement and career that draws on the extant literature is both relevant to and beneficial for HRD professionals seeking to design and implement career-related strategies to enhance individual employees’ levels of work engagement. Thus, this study aims to examine the relationship between work engagement and career, ultimately synthesizing current studies into an integrated framework that describes the work engagement–career relationship and suggests future research agendas.

International Careers and Career Success of Indian Women in Science and Technology: The Importance of Career Capital and Organizational Capital

This article presents a study on international careers and career success of Indian women in Science & Technology (S&T). We conducted interviews with 30 (upper) middle class Indian women in New Delhi and Bangalore (India) who pursued careers abroad as self-initiated expatriates (SIEs). Important elements of career capital competencies in international career pursuits and career success of Indian women SIEs in S&T were: (a) families who value higher education and careers of their female children, which motivated women to pursue international careers to elevate family class status (knowing-why); (b) the motivation to gain knowledge and skills in science and technology (knowing-how) and (c) the encouragement and support from family for women’s international career pursuits, and international networks (knowing-whom). Furthermore, findings show that patriarchy entrenched in Indian society and culture resulted in a lack of organizational capital, which impede career success of women in S&T. We advise organizations in India to implement HR policies and practices embracing the development of career capital to empower Indian women in S&T to be successful in their international careers.

New approaches on repatriation research

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to analyze repatriation as an active actor on his/her return and not just as a passive receiver of organizational human resource management practices. Traditionally, literature has been focused on investigating the impact of organizational practices and support on repatriation, but new studies suggest that this approach is insufficient. According to these studies, individual and contextual influences are also important on repatriation and new studies are needed to measure its impact.

Design/methodology/approach

– This article is the base of future studies to analyze the impact of both approaches at once.

Findings

– The paper departs from recent literature in the field, to develop a series of research propositions.

Research limitations/implications

– The implications of this study include to contribute to the knowledge and future research on the expatriation process, studying the adaptation, performance, etc. of the expatriate during the international mission and particularly the last part of the process, repatriation, which has not received so much attention.

Practical implications

– This paper highlights that mismanagement of repatriation could lead to turnover of these valuable professionals or to a non-satisfactory reinstatement or even to inefficiency. On the other hand, the perception that repatriation is not well managed and that it does not lead to an advance for the employee could discourage future expatriates to accept international missions, which could even slow down the international progress of the company.

Originality/value

– The integration of the traditional and the emerging perspectives of repatriation process.

A comparison of intra- and inter-organizational global careers

Purpose

– Although research has shown differences between self-initiated experiences and expatriation, this differentiation has rarely been made when it comes to more long-term global careers. The purpose of this paper is to identify similarities and differences between repeat expatriates and international itinerants in their career paths, subjective experiences, and narratives of how they relate to their context.

Design/methodology/approach

– A narrative approach was used and interviews were conducted with ten repeat expatriates and ten international itinerants. The career paths of the 20 Swedish global careerists and how they narrate their careers are analyzed, and the two types of global careerists are compared.

Findings

– Results show that the repeat expatriates and international itinerants differ in their subjective experiences of global careers, and how they narrate them. Three broad domains are identified that integrate a range of issues that are important for global careerists. These domains are the organization and career domain, the country and culture domain, and the family, communities, and networks domain. The repeat expatriates and international itinerants differ in how they relate to these and what is important to them.

Practical implications

– The differences found have implications for organizations in terms of recruitment, management, and retention of a global talent pool.

Originality/value

– This research contributes to the understanding of subjective experiences of global careers and integrates a range of aspects in the context of global careerists that are important to them. Moreover, it contributes to the understanding of global careers by differentiating between those with intra- and inter-organizational global careers.

Working in the “Global Village”: The Influence of Cultural Intelligence on the Intention to Work Abroad

Firms' international activities require an early identification of potential employees with an intention to work abroad. Based on social cognitive theory the current study examines the influence of prior international exposure and cultural intelligence on the individual intention to work abroad. In particular, we examine the influence of language skills, international experience, and networks abroad on the intention to work abroad through cultural intelligence and the moderating role of cultural distance on this mediated relationship. Utilizing a sample of 518 German business students we show that networks abroad have a direct influence on the intention to work abroad, while cultural intelligence fully mediates the relationship between language skills as well as international experience and the intention to work abroad. Cultural distance moderates this mediation for two of the four cultural intelligence dimensions.

Transnational social capital

In this study, we introduce a conceptual framework for transnational social capital as a higher order multidimensional construct. Consistent with this view, we develop and validate a 11-item scale aimed at measuring bridging and bonding social capital embedded within a cross-border network of professional relations and ties. Data from several exploratory and confirmatory studies of executives and Master of Business Administration students show reliability and construct validity. This research instrument provides researchers with a valuable resource for assessing transnational social capital of individuals and exploring its implications.