Development of career capital through international assignments and its transferability to new contexts

Individuals working in a dynamic international operating environment need flexibility and related competencies that can be transferred to different contexts. Understanding the development and transferability of these competencies is therefore important for both individuals and firms. This article examines and contrasts the development of expatriates' career capital during their first two international assignments, and its transferability to new contexts. Based on interviews with Finnish expatriates, the results show that each assignment has different developmental influences and that all types of career capital acquired are transferable, but not equally or in the same way. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Developing career capital for global careers: The role of international assignments

Creating organizational processes which nurture global careers is a key task for global companies. International assignments are normally viewed as positive by both individuals and organizations for the development of global career competencies. This paper reports a qualitative study into the effects of international assignments on global careers. The research takes account of the dual dependency within global careers by contrasting individual and organizational perspectives. It highlights the importance of informal norms and develops a more nuanced picture of the impact of an international assignment on the career capital of individuals within one global organization.     

Balancing individual and organizational goals in global talent management: A mutual-benefits perspective

Drawing from the talent management and global mobility literatures, there is simultaneous pressure to address both organizational goals to place talent internationally, and individual goals of self-initiated expatriation. This raises important questions for the future of global talent management (GTM): how might individual and organizational goals be balanced to the mutual benefit of both parties? Qualitative data from pilot studies in multinational corporations demonstrate a largely financially driven balancing act between self-initiated and organization-assigned expatriate assignments. Building primarily from psychological contract theory, this study builds propositions for future research, and explores the implications for global talent management practice.     

Exploring knowledge management to organizational performance outcomes in a transitional economy

The Eastern European Economies offer many major business opportunities but due to the transitional nature of their economies, these are highly complex and fraught with the socialist cultural disposition. There is a dearth of research into the nature of these opportunities/complexities, especially in regard to knowledge management and subsequent organizational outcomes. Our study of firms in Croatia suggests that knowledge management positively affects organizational outcomes of firm innovation, product improvement and employee improvement. Moreover, our empirical research illustrates the importance of the management of knowledge and not just the presence of knowledge as our model results indicate insignificant results between employee knowledge-based capability and the organizational outcomes.     

Dual career couples: Individual and organizational implications

Since the introduction of the term ‘dualcareer’ family by Rapoport and Rapoport in 1969, an increasingly large body of literature concerning this phenomenon has developed — perhaps in response to the rapid growth of dual-careerism in North American Society. This literature is extremely diverse, ranging from purely ‘academic’ articles in the professional journals of economics, business, sociology, psychology, etc., to ‘self-help’ and ‘trade’ books such as The Two Career Couple by Hall and Hall; to ‘light’ articles in popular magazines such as Redbook, People, Good Housekeeping, etc. This paper reviews this literature and discusses the implications of the dual-career family structure from both the individual and the organizational points-of-view. Specifically, five major topic areas are covered: (1) advantages and disadvantages of the lifestyle, (2) marital satisfaction, (3) egalitarian relationships, (4) the impact of transfers, relocations and living apart, and (5) the employing organization's reaction to and adaption to the phenomenon.     

The international transfer of organizational technologies

The international transfer of organizational structures and processes—that is, of organizational technologies—is assuming increasing importance both in business and in public policy arenas. This study assessed the applicability to organizational technologies of some of the insights into international technology transfer processes developed through the analysis of the transfer of physical technologies and draws on organization theory to suggest some additional areas for investigation. The article draws extensively on the historical experience of Japan, a society that has been noted for its experience in transferring and adapting foreign organizational technologies, to address these issues.     

Women and international assignments: the impact of supervisor-subordinate relationships

During the past two decades, more and more organizations have been going global, and, as a result, more and more employees are being sent on international assignments. For the most part, though, the percentage of females being sent on these assignments is much lower than the percentage of males. Several recent studies have suggested that the supervisor-subordinate relationship might be a critical determinant of who gets selected for expatriate assignments. To explore this issue in some detail, the leader-member exchange (LMX) model is used to examine the link between supervisor-subordinate relationships and selection for international assignments. Strategies that female employees can use to improve their chances of being sent on international assignments are also suggested.     

Earliness of internationalization and performance outcomes: Exploring the moderating effects of venture age and international commitment

This study examines the impact of early foreign market entry on new ventures’ performance outcomes. Venture age and international commitment are theorized as moderators to address the inconsistent findings of previous research surrounding the performance implications of early internationalization. Results from a sample of international new ventures in China found that the earliness of internationalization positively contributes to firm performance in terms of sales growth, but not innovation and profitability. The performance advantage of early internationalization becomes obsolete as young ventures become mature, especially among those with a low level of international commitment. This study highlights the importance of incorporating time-based dimensions of international venturing for a better understanding of the performance implications of early internationalization.     

Guanxi and organizational dynamics in China: a link between individual and organizational levels

Guanxi in China is a very ancient concept embedded in the Confucian concept of life and one that is a ‚hot' topic in that it is currently attracting increasing attention from both Western and Chinese scholars. One aspect of Guanxi which has been the subject of most of the research of late is the influence of Guanxi on firm performance. However, relatively few studies have examined how Guanxi at the individual level is transferred into a firm to influence its financial performance. This study first reclassifies Guanxi into obligatory, reciprocal, and utilitarian types at the individual level as a means to clarifying the confusion brought above from previous studies. It then provides a conceptual framework in which to systematically characterize the link between Guanxi at the individual level and organizational dynamics: that is, how is Guanxi at the individual level shifted to a firm and how does it affect organizational dynamics of that firm at the organizational level. Finally, it provides a deeper understanding of the financial implications of Guanxi to business firms in China. Dr. Yi Zhang is Associate Professor of School of Public Administration and a former postdoctor of Scholl of Management at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His research lie in international business and FDI, strategic management in China, and organizational learning. His work has been and will be published in the Journal of Business Ethic and Singapore Management Review. Zigang Zhang is Professor of College of Management at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His research interests include strategic management, knowledge management, and cooperation management.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Fourth Asia Academy of Management Conference, December 2004, in Shanghai, P.R. China.     

Think international manager,think male: Why are women not selected for international management assignments?

Studies of women in international management originating primarily from North America consistently highlight the lack of women in such positions. This trend continues despite the need for growing numbers of expatriates. Explanations for this phenomenon have centered on women's personal characteristics, home/family circumstances, organizational support, and host country nationals' attitudes. This study examines the status of women in international management from a United Kingdom (UK) perspective. A key finding arising from the study is the critical influence of selection systems for international assignments where the predominant use of closed, informal selection processes for international assignments was seen to create unintended gender bias in recruitment. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Executive GDSS: Behavioral considerations at individual,organizational, and environmental levels of analysis

This article emphasizes the importance of behavioral considerations at individual, organizational, and environmental levels of analysis when researching and evaluating the design, implementation, and use of group decision support systems (GDSS) within complex organizations. Discussion is based on interview and archival data collected on an executive level GDSS used within a corporate setting. Issues that are considered generalizable to organizational computing, coordination, and collaboration technologies concern (a) viewing organization participants as strategic, intuitive information processors, (b) understanding the importance of organizational power, politics, and situational constraints on decision making, and (c) appreciating the symbolic value of advanced information technologies to an organization's external environment.     

The nascent entrepreneurship hub: goals, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and start-up outcomes

Entrepreneurship involves human agency. The entrepreneurial process occurs because people are motivated to pursue and exploit perceived opportunities. It is rooted in the theory that action is the result of motivation and cognition. Therefore, this paper applies elements of goal theory and social cognitive theory to develop a motivational model of nascent entrepreneurial start-up outcomes. The objective of this model is to renew attention on motivational constructs in entrepreneurship research. Additionally, it provides predictive value for the likelihood of new firm founding among nascent entrepreneurs. Results suggest that motivational antecedents among nascent entrepreneurs significantly influence the likelihood of quitting the start-up process versus continuing nascent entrepreneurial start-up efforts.     

组织职业生涯管理与工作卷入关系的研究

This research aims to examine the relationship between organizational career management(OCM) and job involvement(JI). The measures are the OCM scale developed by Long(2002) which was based on Chinese native enterprises’ status and the JI scale developed by Kanungo(1982). We administrated surveys in five enterprises and acquired a sample of 192 valid cases. Results show that the correlation between OCM and JI is significant (α=0.01). Moreover, the correlation between the four dimensions of OCM and JI is significant. Among the dimensions of OCM, Promotion exhibits the highest correlation with JI whereas Focus on Training has the lowest correlation with JI. Results show the vitality of the organizational career management in organizations.     

People,products, and pursuits: Exploring the relationship between consumer goals and product meanings

Does a relationship exist between a consumer's goals and the meaning associated with a product? Two product meaning categories are considered—a functional meaning that highlights the attributes and benefits associated with the product, and a symbolic meaning that captures more intrinsic and abstract notions about the purchase. A dynamic goal structure is considered that consists of three distinct levels of motivation—the having level, the doing level, and the being level. This article explores the relationship between both sets of constructs by utilizing a depth‐interview methodology to focus on informants' motivations, thoughts and feelings, and underlying meanings associated with purchases. The data offer preliminary support for four distinct linking constructs. These findings exhibit a first step toward understanding the simultaneous impact of motivation, product meaning, and consumption context on consumers' decision making. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Entrepreneurial intentions: The influence of organizational and individual factors

An individual's intent to pursue an entrepreneurial career can result from the work environment and from personal factors. Drawing on the entrepreneurial intentions and the person-environment (P-E) fit literatures, and applying a multilevel perspective, we examine why individuals intend to leave their jobs to start business ventures. Findings, using a sample of 4192 IT professionals in Singapore, suggest that work environments with an unfavorable innovation climate and/or lack of technical excellence incentives influence entrepreneurial intentions, through low job satisfaction. Moderating effects suggest that an individual's innovation orientation strengthens the work-environment to job-satisfaction relationship; self-efficacy strengthens the job-satisfaction to entrepreneurial intentions relationship.     

Exploring civic virtue and turnover intention during organizational changes

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are probably the most common strategic manoeuvres in business. Given the critical importance of human factors for their success, this study aims to enhance understanding of employee reactions to such projects. This article looks into the way that psychological contract breach affects employee turnover intention and civic virtue, after taking into consideration the mediating role of organizational commitment and the moderating role of coping with changes. Data were obtained from employees at a recently acquired restaurant chain in Athens, Greece. Statistical analyses confirmed all hypotheses, with one exception.     

Organizational international career logics (OICLs): A conceptual tool for analyzing organizational expatriation patterns and their consequences for the management of organizations

Expatriation can be regarded as a specific way for multinational corporations (MNCs) to organize the process of environmental scanning and to provide opportunities for further internal information processing. This contribution develops the concept of organizational international career logics as a theoretical construct to describe expatriation patterns in MNCs. This article contains a discussion about the informational link between organization and environment based on the theory of self‐organizing social systems. In particular, environmental scanning as the process of generating information through expatriates and its further informational processing within the organization will be discussed and analyzed from a constructivist and systems theoretical perspective. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Not all international assignments are created equal: HQ-subsidiary knowledge transfer patterns across types of assignments and types of knowledge

Drawing on 50 semi-structured interviews in a case study of a Belgian multinational and its foreign subsidiary in Poland, we develop new insights into how using different types of international assignments (long-term expatriation, short-term expatriation, short-term inpatriation) allows a HQ-subsidiary dyad to transfer different types of knowledge (declarative, procedural, axiomatic, relational), both from and to HQ, during and after the assignment. We show how each type of assignment acts as a unique knowledge transfer channel, and why it is critical that HQ-subsidiary dyads use an appropriate combination and sequence of international assignments reflecting their specific knowledge transfer needs.     

Value congruence: The interplay of individual and organizational value systems

This paper focuses on the individual manager making difficult decisions within the context of the organization in which he or she is a member. It proposes a method for examining the interplay of individual and corporate value systems, offering a value congruence model. Hypotheses are generated concerning the varying nature of the value conflicts faced by managers. These are then evaluated based upon interview data from a cross-section of managers in two organizations. The impact of differing organizational value systems is discussed, as well as the implications of the study for research in this area.Jeanne Liedtka is an Assistant Professor and Chair, in the Department of Management at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. Her current research interests involve the study of value conflict in the health care field.