Is expatriation good for my career? The impact of expatriate assignments on perceived and actual career outcomes

This study examines the impact of expatriate assignments on career growth and the external marketability of US employees of a large professional services firm. We use survey and archival data to compare expatriates currently overseas, repatriates, and domestic US employees on compensation, recent promotions, and external recruiting contacts. We then examine how actual pay, promotions, and external recruiting influences anticipated salary growth within the firm and external employment opportunities. We find that despite little or no impact on their current careers, employees with overseas work experience perceived greater internal and external opportunities than domestic US employees. Implications for managers and researchers are discussed.     

What's the deal? An exploration of career management behaviour in Iceland

This article reports the findings of a longitudinal study that investigated the nature of the career deal in Iceland, chosen as a research setting because it potentially offers a very different career environment to that which exists in the UK and US, where most previous research examining contemporary careers has been conducted. The findings show that certain dimensions of the contemporary career deal shown to exist in the UK are less apparent in the Icelandic context. While a close reciprocal relationship between career self-management behaviour and organizational career management help does exist, other potential aspects of the deal are absent. In Iceland, individuals who get more help with managing their careers are more committed to their employer but this commitment does not imply that they will do more to manage their own careers with their current employer as result. In addition, no links were found between career management activities and job performance. In Iceland individuals do not engage in career self-management behaviour to any great extent and when they do, their behaviour does not seem to have the same kind of focus or meaning that it has been shown to have in the context of the contemporary career deal that exists in the UK.     

Career fields: a small step towards a grand career theory?

Little theory development has been done that accounts for the changes in the forms, actors and contexts of careers that we currently can see. Looking at careers from a ‘grand’ and unified theoretical perspective has a number of advantages. In particular, grand social theories allow the link between a well-elaborated and differentiated framework for social phenomena and for careers. Moreover, looking at careers from a unified perspective allows discussion of the great variety of aspects to careers in a single theoretical language. Based on the work of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, this paper focuses on social fields as one major element of an effort towards a more comprehensive theoretical framework for professional and managerial careers. In particular, it discusses the constituting characteristics of career fields as social fields and the application of this concept to work-related careers. Rather than adopting or adapting a specific theory in order to illuminate a specific national context, this paper, by using Bourdieu's concepts, proposes a framework to illuminate particular aspects sometimes not sufficiently stressed by recent – and more especially Anglo-Saxon – career research. Avoiding a choice between objective or subjective career and macro- or micro-perspective, it allows the strengthening or re-introduction of themes like multi-level analysis, simultaneous actionstructure view, combining ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ perspectives, power distribution, social hierarchy and thus social inequalities into career research.     

The role of political tactics on the organizational context–career success relationship

Drawing from the norm of reciprocity, signal theory, and psychological contracts, we argue that the use of different types of political tactics, based on their social desirability, can be reciprocal behavioral reactions to contextual cues (i.e. perceptions of organizational support and politics) that can predict career success. Using a sample of 117 middle managers, our findings suggest that the use of sanctioned political tactics partially mediates the relationship between perceptions of organizational support and career success, while non-sanctioned political tactics suppress the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and career success.     

Visibility in the workplace: still an essential ingredient for career success?

This article explores the extent to which a variety of different absences from the workplace affect perceptions of employee commitment and loyalty, and ultimately, how this ‘temporary invisibility’ might affect career success. Data were derived from 40 interviews (12 women and 28 men) in a public sector agency in Australia. Findings reveal that absences attract substantial career penalties for many employees, not only in relation to gendered flexible work options such as part-time employment and parental leave, but also traditionally uncontested entitlements such as annual and long service leave.     

New career models in UK professional service firms: from up-or-out to up-and-going-nowhere?

In this paper, we empirically examine how professional service firms are adapting their promotion and career models to new market and institutional pressures, without losing the benefits of the traditional up-or-out tournament. Based on an in-depth qualitative study of 10 large UK based law firms we find that most of these firms do not have a formal up-or-out policy but that the up-or-out rule operates in practice. We also find that most firms have introduced alternative roles and a novel career policy that offers a holistic learning and development deal to associates without any expectation that unsuccessful candidates for promotion to partner should quit the firm. While this policy and the new roles formally contradict the principle of up-or-out by creating permanent non-partner positions, in practice they coexist. We conclude that the motivational power of the up-or-out tournament remains intact, notwithstanding the changes to the internal labour market structure of these professional service firms.     

Does cross-cultural adjustment coincide with career capital growth? Evidence from Vienna,Austria

Using a sample of 154 employed expatriates, who have lived in Vienna, Austria, for up to 10 years, this paper explores if and to what extent career competency growth and cross-cultural adjustment coincide. Cognitive and affective aspects of cross-cultural adjustment to relationships, day-to-day interactions and general living conditions are analysed. The study uncovers details about the relationship between the cognitive and affective dimensions of cross-cultural adjustment and the development of knowing-how, knowing-whom and knowing-why. The most important result is that principally the affective dimension of cross-cultural adjustment relates to gains in career capital.     

Born under a lucky star? Latin American CEOs' perceptions about their own career development

This article explores Latin American Chief Executive Officers' (CEOs') perceptions about the influence of career self-management practices and chance events on their career pathways. Through an edited topical life story approach, we investigate the relationship between those variables throughout CEO's career trajectories in the Latin American context. Semi-structured in-depth interviews with 22 CEOs working for multinational companies were conducted. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed with the aid of QSR NVivo 7 software. The study showed that even in volatile macroeconomic environments, typical of Latin American countries, CEOs do plan their careers. Career planning constitutes the backbone of the career management process. To deal with low predictability chance events, CEOs relied on active development network as the main career self-management practice. However, choice of mobility was the key career self-management behavior when responding to high predictability chance events. These central strategies were frequently combined with other career self-management practices, taking into consideration the type of chance event being responded to. According to this study, if individuals want to develop their careers in unstable environments, they will need to be proficient in career self-management practices, with particular emphasis on network development and choice of job mobility, as well as in happenstance skills.     

Explaining influences on career ‘choice’: the case of MBA students in comparative perspective

This study explores the micro-individual, meso-institutional and relational and macro-structural level influences on career choices of MBA students from three countries, questioning the apparent dominance of ‘free choice’ in the context of persistent forms of structural constraints in career markets. The paper takes a critical perspective on career ‘choice’, acknowledging the contested nature of ‘choice’ and identifying career as a socially and historically situated phenomenon. The central hypothesis of the study is that ‘it is more likely for the MBA students to report micro-agentic or meso-instutional and relational rather than macro-structural conditions as key influences on their career choices’. The study draws on the findings of a cross-national survey on careers involving Britain, Israel and Turkey. Findings show that MBA students consider the impact of structural conditions as less significant on their career choices than their own human capital and capacity to make free choices. The study provides an understanding of the main cross-national similarities and differences in reporting of influences on career ‘choice’, and brings to bare interesting theoretical and methodological insights.     

Supervisors as good coaches: influences of coaching on employees’ in-role behaviors and proactive career behaviors

Coaching as an effective leadership initiative in organizations has gained increasing attention from scholars. This study investigates the effects of coaching on employees’ in-role behaviors (IRBs) and proactive career behaviors (PCBs), while also exploring the mediating role of psychological empowerment. Data were collected from a sample of 324 employee–supervisor pairs from 11 service companies in Taiwan. The results show that coaching was positively related to both IRBs and PCBs. Moreover, psychological empowerment fully mediated the coaching–IRB relationship and partially mediated the coaching–PCB relationship. Implications for managerial practices and future research are derived from these findings.     

Managers in transition: An empirical test of Kirton's adaption—innovation theory and its implications for the mid—career MBA

Adaption—innovation theory makes fundamental predictions about the differences in cognitive style of adaptors and innovators. It draws particular attention to the potential for conflict when adaptors and innovators are involved in decision-making and problem-solving in organizations. This paper reports a test of hypotheses derived from the theory in the context of a full-time MBA course for mid-career managers. It draws conclusions relating to the validity of the theory and its implications for the training of these and similar managers in transition.