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

The Influence of Labor Taxes on the Migration of Skilled Workers

This paper investigates empirically the role of taxes on labor for the stock of expatriates and the migration flows of skilled workers. Given the increasing mobility of labour, especially of high-skilled people and expatriates, it is interesting to see to what extent labour income taxes and social security contributions determine migration flows. We collect data on personal income tax profiles for 49 economies and the year 2002. In particular, we determine the component of labor taxes which is borne by employers and the one that is borne byemployees, following the OECD’s Taxing Wages Approach. For the latter, we calculate the progressivity of personal income tax rates between the average wage and five times the average wage. This may be interpreted as the tax progression which is relevant for well-paid workers. Then, we use the personal income tax variables to estimate their effect on bilateral stocks of expatriates into OECD countries and the migration of skilled workers into these countries. Personal income tax rates turn out to have a robust negative effect on cross-border flows of skilled workers in the OECD.labor taxation, skilled workers, migration, expatriates

The benefits of being understood: the role of ethnic identity confirmation in knowledge acquisition by expatriates

In this article, we propose that the concept of ethnic identity confirmation (EIC), the level of agreement between how expatriates view the importance of their own ethnic identity and how local employees view the importance of expatriates’ ethnic identity, can explain why expatriates who are ethnically similar to host country employees are sometimes less effective than expected when working overseas. Multinationals often choose ethnically similar expatriates for assignments, assuming these expatriates can more effectively acquire knowledge from local employees. Thus, understanding the specific challenges that endanger the realization of this potential is crucial. Our survey, administered to a sample of 128 expatriate-local employee dyads working in China, reveals that both ethnically similar and ethnically different expatriates acquire more local knowledge when EIC is high. However, the association between ethnic (dis)similarity and knowledge acquisition is direct for ethnically different expatriates, whereas for ethnically similar expatriates it is indirect via their perception of local employees’ trustworthiness. We discuss this study’s important implications and provide recommendations for multinationals on how to provide tailored support to expatriates who face different identity challenges

Drawing on the knowledge of returned expatriates for organizational learning: Case studies in German multinational companies

In order to explore the potential contributions that returned expatriates can make towards helping their organizations to better understand and manage culturally diverse and changing conditions, a pilot study was conducted in two German-based companies with a long tradition of international operations. The interviews generated insights not only into the four categories of knowledge used in the organizational learning literature (declarative, procedural, conditional, and axiomatic) but also into a fifth (relational). The analysis indicates that a large gap remains between individual and organizational learning. The barriers encountered by the expatriates in transforming their knowledge into an organizational property lie more in the absence of supportive factors and conditions than in the actual presence of impediments. The authors suggest that many of the problems encountered by returned expatriates are not limited to this specific subgroup but rather serve to highlight those experienced by other employees who seek to introduce new ideas and practices into an organization. The study therefore concludes not only with recommendations for improving expatriation processes, but also with suggestions for identifying the learning needs of an organization and for creating a supportive framework for organizational learning from all employees. -- International tätige Unternehmen investieren viel in die Entsendung von Führungskräften ins Ausland. Was und wie können Unternehmen von diesen Führungskräften nach ihrer Rückkehr lernen? Um dieser Frage nachzugehen, wurde eine Pilotstudie in zwei deutschen Unternehmen durchgeführt, die beide seit vielen Jahren international tätig sind. Die Interviews mit zurückgekehrten Expatriates und mit Personalmanagern dokumentieren eine Vielfalt von Wissen. Sie zeigen aber auch, daß die vier in der Literatur zu Organisationslernen zentralen Kategorien von Wissen (declarative, procedural, conditional und axiomatic) in der Literatur zum Organisationslernen nicht ausreichen, um diese Vielfalt zu erfassen. Eine fünfte Kategorie muß ergänzend hinzugefügt werden: relational knowledge. Die Untersuchung zeigt, daß zwischen dem vielfältigen individuellen Wissen und dem Wissen der Organisation eine große Lücke bleibt. Bei der Transformation ihres Individualwissens in organisatorisches Eigentum erleben die Expatriates wenig Unterstützung. Viele der von den Expatriates angesprochenen Probleme bei der Umsetzung von Wissen können als organisationstypisch angesehen werden. Die Autoren erarbeiten daher nicht nur Empfehlungen für eine auf Organisationslernen besser abgestimmte Gestaltung der Entsendungspolitik, sondern auch Vorschläge für die Feststellung der Lernbedürfnisse der jeweiligen Organisation sowie für die Schaffung eines lernfreundlichen Rahmens.

'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

Attracting and retraining talent: lessons for Scottish policy makers from the experiences of scottish expatriates in Dublin

With a view to contributing research of value to the Fresh Talent Scotland Initiative, this research project has been devised with specific reference to the first of the three goals noted above. Specifically, it is concerned with gaining insights into why talented individuals leave Scotland in the first instance, and thereafter to ascertain whether anything might be done to both stem the outflow and lure back to Scotland some of its most talented diasporeans. Such a goal in turn begets, it will be argued, greater insights into the actual experiences of contemporary diasporeans in the run up to migration and whilst in exile. Using one emerging magnet for Scottish expatriates as a case study, the Republic of Ireland and more specifically Dublin, the project seeks to examine the embroilment of skilled Scottish expatriates in the so called Celtic Tiger phenomenon. The basic purpose of this report is to present insights into the decision making processes that have led migrants to leave Scotland and to move to Dublin, to gain an appreciation of what life has been like for expatriates living in Dublin and what Scotland might learn from these experiences, and finally to review future locational preferences with a view to establishing whether a return to Scotland may be a possibility

Building Effective Motivation Methods for Self-Initiated and Assigned Expatriates

In recent years, expatriation has increased remarkably due to internationalization. Job mobility becomes popular among multinational corporations (MNCs). In order to manage expatriates more effectively and encourage them for better performance, understanding their intentions and motivations of working abroad is necessary. Since different types of expatriates have different intentions and motivations towards the international assignment, MNCs are recommended to customise the motivation ways to different expatriates. This master’s thesis focuses on investigating the intentions of both assigned expatriates and self-initiated expatriates accepting the international assignment, and their motivations during expatriation. It is to examine the physical and psychological needs of expatriates when they are attending the expatriate assignment. From expatriates’ point of view, what MNCs currently provided is enough to support their stay or not, as well as what expatriates expect to have more assistance from corporations. Appropriate motivation methods can encourage expatriates for better performance and retain talents. Data used in this study was collected from nine individuals from different MNCs and nationalities. The data was gathered by semi-structured interviews. All participants were all from Asia. The results were analyzed according to the theoretical framework. The findings indicate that good and considerate relocation package is an effective way to motivate expatriates. Though self-initiated expatriates are not given any assistance for relocation, if MNCs could provide help upon their arrival, expatriates would be thankful for the arrangement and repay to the company. The destination of an international assignment is also an inducement for expatriates to accept the expatriate assignment, which is uncontrollable by the company.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Global integration without expatriates.

A paper provides a case study of a company that, while it has a fully international operation, makes no use at all of expatriates. The global activities of the giant retail clothing company Zara, and the way in which it adapts to cultural differences, are outlined. By exploring why the company does not use expatriates, and how it develops organizational learning without them, the example provides a challenge to many of the assumptions on which international staffing are basedCase studies; Retailing industry; Multinational corporations; Employment policies; Expatriate employees; Corporate planning; Multiculturalism & pluralism;

Foreign direct investment: is being foreign really a liability?

Liability of foreignness (LOF) is the disadvantage that firms faced when they operate in foreign countries. These foreign firms may have to incur extra costs which would make them less competitive in the host country environment. This study examines the extent to which foreign firms in Malaysia encountered LOF and the strategies they used to mitigate LOF. Potential respondents for the study were obtained from a sample of foreign-owned companies listed in the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI) directory. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using self­administered questionnaires. Based on a small sample of 13 respondents, a descriptive analysis of the data was performed to obtain some preliminary findings. The results show that the LOF faced by foreign firms in Malaysia was perceived to be low. This may be due to the firm-specific advantages which the ·companies already have in the form of superior products and adaptability to the host environment. Strategies used to mitigate LOF were mainly in the form of HR-, learning-, network-, and product-related strategies. Government-related strategies were perceived to be less important in reducing LOF. Another aspect of LOF is to examine the expatriates, who are foreigners wofking in foreign countries. This study examines the extent to which being a foreigner poses a disadvantage to the expatriates working in Malaysia. Unlike their local counterparts, these expatriates face new challenges and uncertainties in their new local environments thus their ability to adjust and perform at their workplace will depend on their level of LOF. Based on a sample of 102 expatriates employed in Malaysia, the influences of expatriates' adjustment, age, gender, country of origin and length of working in Malaysia, on LOF were examined. The study findings from a multiple regression results showed that the level of LOF among expatriates tended to be influenced by their adjustment and country of origin. LOF was found to be negatively related to expatriate adjustment. The influence of gender, length of working in Malaysia and age on LOF was found to be not significant. The study on expatriates was extended further by separating the expatriates into two groups: company-assigned expatriates and self-initiated expatriates. In recent years, the trend on mobility of labor has begun to see the emergence of expatriates who, unlike the assigned expatriates, voluntarily seek jobs in foreign countries. These expatriates are known as self-initiated expatriates. Therefore, in this study, the extent to which company-assigned and self-initiated expatriates differ in terms of expatriate adjustment and their perceptions on the liabilities of being a foreigner was examined. Using a sample of 35 expatriates employed in Malaysian subsidiaries of foreign companies to represent company-assigned expatriates and a sample of 73 academic expatriates employed in Malaysian public universities to represent self-initiated expatriates, results from t-tests showed that no significant differences in terms of expatriate adjustment between the assigned expatriates and the self-initiated expatriates. However, perceptions on liability of foreignness were relatively higher among the self-initiated expatriates than the assigned expatriates. Limitations of the study are highlighted, implications of the findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research are also provided

Host country employees' ethnic identity confirmation: evidence from interactions with ethnically similar expatriates

Employing expatriates who share an ethnicity with host country employees (HCEs) is a widespread expatriate selection strategy. However, little research has compared how expatriates and HCEs perceive this shared ethnicity. Drawing upon an identity perspective, we propose HCEs’ ethnic identity confirmation, the level of agreement between how an HCE views the importance of his/her own ethnic identity and how expatriates view the importance of the HCE’s ethnic identity, affects HCEs’ attitudes towards ethnically similar expatriates. Results of two experiments show that HCEs’ ethnic identity confirmation is related to HCEs’ perception of expatriates’ trustworthiness and knowledge-sharing intention