Support for female international business travellers in dual-career families

Me Too? Yes, Me Too! Sexual Harassment of Female Expatriates in China's Overseas Enterprises

Through in-depth interviews with Chinese female expatriates who have worked in the country's overseas enterprises in developing countries, this study found that female expatriates frequently encountered sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based prejudice from both home and host countries. The lack of organizational gender consciousness and mechanisms to address gender inequality contributes to women's vulnerability to gender-based workplace hostility. Thus, it is necessary for Chinese enterprises to reassess their organizational policies and cultures when expanding their international horizons to create more inclusive workplace environments. Implications to enhance organizational policies and mechanisms against gender discrimination are discussed.

Women’s work–family conflict and its consequences in commuter marriages: The moderating role of spouses’ family commitment in a dyad analysis

This study aims to explore the relationship between work-family conflict and its consequences on job, family, and marital satisfaction among stay-at-home wives of commuter couples by testing the moderating effect of commuters’ family (parental, marital, and household) commitment. The phenomenon of commuter marriages is detectable among well-educated and employed couples in modern society. The study collected dyadic data from 120 dual-earner and noncohabitating couples by using convenience sampling. The analytical approach of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model was adopted. The results revealed that stay-at-home wives perceived more job dissatisfaction due to work-to-family conflicts and perceived more job, family, and marital dissatisfaction caused by family-to-work conflicts. Moreover, the partner moderating effect of the commuters’ family commitment as spouse support reversed the negative relationship between stay-at-home wives’ family-to-work conflicts and family satisfaction.

Flexible global working arrangements: An integrative review and future research agenda

The topography of global mobility within multinational enterprises (MNEs) is evolving where we now have a portfolio of flexible global working arrangements (FGWAs) including: international business travellers, flexpatriates, short-term international assignees, international commuters, and rotational assignees. The need for more agile structures and more efficient mechanisms to transfer globally dispersed knowledge are two key enablers in this evolution. With increased interest, this paper offers the first systematic, integrative review of 100 articles on FGWAs. The review indicates that these forms of global work appear to be a somewhat overlooked double-edged sword in that they may confer significant but unrealised value for MNEs alongside hidden, adverse consequences for individuals. Notable was the lack of insight into the HR function's input or oversight at either a strategic or operational level. We find that there is a distinct lack of strategic linkages to global mobility and/or HR functions. We propose a research agenda that centres on better understanding the international HR function's role and responsibility in providing a more strategic and sustainable perspective of these increasingly common FGWAs alongside virtual work. The COVID-19 pandemic may offer a critical juncture point in which there is greater strategic consideration on the utilisation and support of such arrangements.

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This is the first systematic review on flexible global working arrangements

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There is a clear imbalance in representation of the work arrangements in the literature

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Value creation and destruction highlight the doubled-edged nature of such work

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There is a lack of research into the HR function's input or oversight

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Research on strategic IHRM integration and sustainable management is proposed

No room at the top? A system dynamics view of the recursive consequences of women's underrepresentation in international assignments

Purpose

The expatriation literature has developed an insightful body of research on the reasons why women are not assigned abroad as frequently as men. However, the authors know very little about the systemic and recursive consequences of women's underrepresentation in international assignments (IAs), which are examined in this conceptual paper.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing upon expatriation research and a system dynamics perspective, the authors propose a conceptual model to explain both women's underrepresentation in IAs and its recursive consequences.

Findings

The authors highlight how women's underrepresentation in IAs results from a complex system of recursive effects that jeopardizes women's professional development and undermines both their own career progression to top management and firms' competitive advantage and international growth. The authors argue that organizations make decisions that contravene their own interest in a competitive global context. First is that they are limiting their talent pool by not considering female candidates. Second is that they are missing the opportunity to use IAs to advance women's careers.

Research limitations/implications

The model provides a solid grounding for future research on selecting the most effective organizational actions and designing supportive measures to disrupt the persistent dynamics contributing to women's underrepresentation in IAs. Future research could also expand our study by incorporating individual differences and the proactive role that women may take.

Practical implications

The model points to specific managerial interventions (e.g. increased access to job training and specific training ahead of the assignment, dual-career support, women's mentoring and affirmative action) which have the potential to reduce women's underrepresentation in IAs and in top management.

Originality/value

The system dynamics approach enables a broader understanding of why women are underrepresented in IAs, how this underrepresentation further exacerbates gender segregation in international business, and how these recursive outcomes can be averted to the advantage of firms' sustainable growth.

The impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on expatriates: A pathway to work‐life harmony?

International assignments tend to be a turbulent time for expatriates, as they bring about changes in the two main spheres of their lives: personal and work. Although work‐life interface is a challenge among expatriates it can also be a work‐life harmony. Here, we present the findings of how expatriates work‐day life changed while performing overseas tasks during the coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic and analyze how this new status quo may influence future expatriates' expectations regarding their work‐life interface. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 12 expatriates. Results show that although since the beginning of the quarantine, personal life is interfering in work, causing work‐life conflict, the role of the expatriates' family positively impacted their work‐life balance, and harmony. We suggest some recommendations to human resource managers and conclude that the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on expatriates can be a pathway to work‐life harmony, where work and life are seen as an integrative domain, rather than competing ones.

Identity, glass borders and globally mobile female talent

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interplay between identity and global mobility in the careers of senior, female talent, uniquely taking into account the perceptions of both female and male participants. In addition, the role organisations can play in enabling women to overcome these identity constraints is identified.

Design/methodology/approach

This interpretivist study draws on data from 38 in-depth interviews with senior managers in a large, multinational organisation to elicit a rich picture of how such careers are enacted.

Findings

Findings reveal how identity conflicts function as a glass border for globally mobile, senior female talent. Ways in which talent can access positive identity narratives to inform global mobility choices are identified.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations of this study include the relatively small sample size and the single case design of this research. The findings, however, offer insights into the identity work of globally mobile, female talent across different contexts.

Practical implications

Organisations can facilitate access to identity narratives through mentoring, face-to-face forums and via the internet to enable globally mobile, female talent to make more informed global mobility choices.

Originality/value

Drawing on identity theory, this paper examines how identity work for globally mobile, female talent has more fluid interpersonal boundaries than for men, creating on-going identity struggles. In highlighting how identity narratives can act as a means of breaching the glass border and facilitating global mobility for female talent, a contribution is made to existing debates in the fields of identity, gender studies and global talent management.