‘Hidden’ expatriates: international mobility in the United Arab Emirates as a challenge to current understanding of expatriation

Expatriates are often assumed to have enhanced terms and conditions and, because that makes them expensive, to be in key managerial or technical specialist roles. Employees who come from abroad and are in more manual or even menial roles are usually referred to as ‘migrants’. However, there are millions of people around the world who are not migrants, their intended sojourn in a foreign country is seen by them and their employers as temporary, but their employment contracts are far from advantageous compared with those of locals. These ‘hidden’ expatriates are brought into focus in the emerging Arab Gulf States. In some of these countries, the population consists mainly of expatriates, with the local population a small minority: These expatriates include many in lower‐management or manual or menial jobs. We demarcate these expatriates from organisationally assigned expatriates, self‐initiated expatriates and migrants. We use qualitative data from such expatriates in the United Arab Emirates to explore the issues this raises for governments, employers and the expatriates – and for our understanding of the phenomenon of expatriation.     

Towards an understanding of social networks among organizational self-initiated expatriates: a qualitative case study of a professional services firm

Drawing on a qualitative case study of 51 organizational self-initiated expatriates (OSIEs) in a professional services firm, this article investigates the role of networks during expatriation and, specifically, in the development of learning that is beneficial to both the individual expatriate and the global operations of the firm. First, we investigate the extent to which individual motivations to engage in OSIE impact on the development of networks. Second, we investigate individual's experiences of network development. Third, we investigate individual perceptions of the benefits of networks for both organizations and individual actors. The paper will report that professionals initiating their own expatriation develop continually expanding and composite networks such that mobility and networks evolve in a seemingly symbiotic relationship. In doing so, it contributes to our understanding of the role of agency in network development and extends our understanding of organizational self-initiated expatriation as a relatively under-researched phenomenon.     

Career self-management behaviour of Western self-initiated expatriates in local organizations in China

The available literature on self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) is generally based on the assumption that SIEs are protean in character and manage their careers independently. The current qualitative empirical study offers an alternative to this assumption, using 23 interviews with Western SIEs employed by local organizations in China to examine how and why SIEs target obtaining a labour market fit through career self-management behaviour, particularly in culturally distant career contexts. The assessment of the career self-management behaviour of Western SIEs was undertaken using King's framework (2004). Three approaches to self-management behaviour were identified based on the motivation and outcome expectations of SIEs: labour market entry, employability maintenance and career advancement. The research illustrates the flexible and dynamic nature of career self-management behaviour and reflects individuals' revised career expectations and the employment context of the host country. The findings contribute to the extant theory on SIEs by illustrating emerging means of realizing international careers in cross-cultural career contexts, and the significance of third-party initiatives supporting expatriation facilitated by the Internet and social media.     

Gender,family ties,and international mobility: Cultural distance matters

This study empirically tests a model of associations between family-domain variables and willingness to accept an international assignment, and applies the general model to sub-samples of men and women to examine gender differences in the pattern of relationships. We further explore these patterns in culturally similar and culturally distant country destinations. Analyses conducted with a sample of 148 men and 79 women employed MBA graduates from dual-earner couples revealed that perceived spouse willingness to relocate, beliefs regarding spouse and couple mobility, relative income, and the presence of children are associated with willingness to accept an international assignment. Moreover, consistent with social role theory, significant gender differences in willingness were found across low and high cultural distance country destinations.     

Subsidiary knowledge flow strategies and purpose of expatriate assignments

Although a general association between the role of international assignees and knowledge transfer has been noted in the international human resource literature, very little is known on how subsidiary knowledge flow strategies influence the purpose of expatriate assignments. Building specifically on Gupta and Govindarajan’s typology of subsidiary knowledge flow strategies and Hocking’s expatriate assignment purpose, we examine the link between subsidiary knowledge flow and the purpose of expatriate assignments using a mixed method approach. Combining survey data and qualitative interviews from 156 subsidiaries in the service and manufacturing sector in Malaysia and Singapore, we find that subsidiaries with divergent strategic roles have different knowledge flow strategies, thus leading to different purposes of expatriate assignments.     

Addressing international mobility confusion – developing definitions and differentiations for self-initiated and assigned expatriates as well as migrants

The literature on international human resource management indicates a growing array of different forms of international work experiences such as assigned and self-initiated expatriation. However, the criteria for demarcation of these different forms and the term ‘migrant’ are often unclear which leads to an unfortunate lack of comparability of research and a potential confusion for readers. Based on the sociological, psychological and economics literature, this article reviews and synthesizes the existing definitions of the three terms in the current research. A qualitative content analysis and the Rubicon model [Heckhausen, H., and Gollwitzer, P.M. (1987), ‘Thought Contents and Cognitive Functioning in Motivational Versus Volitional States of Mind’, Motivation and Emotion, 1, 101–120.] are used as a theoretical base to structure the findings. The paper creates a criteria-based definition and differentiation of terms and then develops a typology of four different types of expatriates: assigned expatriates, inter-self-initiated expatriates, intra-self-initiated expatriates and drawn expatriates. Implications for management as well as for future research are outlined.     

Career capital during international work experiences: contrasting self-initiated expatriate experiences and assigned expatriation

This article explores the career capital of expatriates, differentiating between self-initiated expatriates (SEs) and company assigned expatriates (AEs). Previous research has considered issues such as individual background variables, employer and task variables, motives, compensation, and repatriation. The present study adds new perspectives related to the development of career capital. The article uses a survey of more than 200 Finnish expatriates to explore these concepts in relation to international work experiences; finding considerable similarities and some differences in the development of career capital of those sent on an expatriate assignment by an organization, and those having a self-initiated expatriate experience.     

Cross-cultural adjustment of expatriates in Japan

This study examines determinants of expatriate cross-cultural adjustment related to non-work- (interaction and general living adjustment) and work- (work adjustment and job satisfaction) aspects in Japan. It was hypothesized that cultural distance and expatriate gender, language proficiency, type (organizational or self-initiated expatriates), and stable personality traits (social initiative, emotional stability, cultural empathy, flexibility, and open-mindedness) have an influence on both non-work- and work-related adjustment. Hierarchical regression analyses, performed on data from 110 expatriates, indicate that expatriate language proficiency, type, and the personality traits of emotional stability and cultural empathy have a positive influence on both types of adjustment. Implications of these findings for practice are discussed.     

Organizational expatriates and self-initiated expatriates: who adjusts better to work and life in Japan?

Expatriates are often presented in the cross-cultural adjustment literature as a homogeneous, broad population. However, recent research that makes a distinction between organizational expatriates (OEs), those who are dispatched by their home companies to international posts, and self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), those who themselves make the decision to live and work abroad, has identified differences between the two groups. The present study compares the cross-cultural adjustment of these two groups of expatriates. Survey results of 179 expatriates in Japan show that SIEs are better adjusted to general aspects of their host country and interactions with host-country nationals than OEs. Suggestions for practice are provided.     

Localization of staff in a hostile context: an exploratory investigation in Afghanistan

Abstract

Hostile environments pose a distinct threat to international organizations and their staff and yet they are under researched within the literature on IHRM. Localization of staff may present a means to manage some of the risks and also to provide the resources needed to achieve competitive advantage. Drawing on the resource-based view and institutional theory, we explored resource- and capability-based and institutional influences in relation to the decision of whether to localize professional staff in a hostile environment (Afghanistan). Using in-depth semi-structured interviews with representatives from four organizations in Afghanistan, our investigation identified new influences on localization at the societal and organizational level. These include ongoing security issues as well as influences on localization such as corruption, impartiality and the need for outside experiences as well as perspectives not identified in previous work. In addition, we emphasize the importance of both picking appropriate valuable local human resources and using appropriate internal capabilities to develop and deploy them in such a way to build firm-specific assets which are also rare, inimitable and non-substitutable, thus leading to sustainable competitive advantage.