Reviewing global career dimensions: towards a future research model.

Considering the changing nature of the career concept, we conduct a review of both recent career theory and research findings on global managers' careers. Relying on recent career theory, we first identify different individual and organizational dimensions that are characteristic for contemporary careers. Guided by these career dimensions, we examine the research findings of expatriate studies to assess their meaningfulness for global careers. While this review confirms the dimensions as identified from career theory, it also suggests the relevance of an additional organizational career dimension and a new domain of cultural career dimensions. The result of both reviews is a research model that approaches global careers at the intersection of individual, organizational and cultural domains.Theory; Managers; Studies; Model;

Worldwide coordination in a transnational environment: an inquiry into the work and careers of global managers.

status: publishe

De uitdaging om wereldwijd te coördineren

In recente internationale HRM-literatuur wordt tegenwoordig de aandacht gevestigd op nieuwe en flexibele vormen van internationaal werk zoals zakenreizigers, korte of pendelopdrachten. Daarbij werd echter vaak vergeten dat globalisering niet alleen een verhoogde internationale flexibiliteit vraagt, maar ook een gewijzigde verantwoordelijkheid. Steeds vaker nemen mensen een coördinerende rol op die ervoor moet zorgen dat het bedrijf een globaal geïntegreerd netwerk is dat kan steunen op de competitieve voordelen van alle delen van de organisatie, waar ook ter wereld verspreid. In dit doctoraatsonderzoek worden deze werknemers bestudeerd in drie empirische artikels. In wat volgt bespreken we deze ‘globale’ managers theoretisch, situeren we het onderzoek, stellen de bevindingen voor en sluiten af met een overkoepelende conclusie.status: publishe

Loopbaanpaden van globale managers

status: publishe

Reviewing global career dimensions: towards a future research model

Considering the changing nature of the career concept, we conduct a review of both recent career theory and research findings on global managers' careers. Relying on recent career theory, we first identify different individual and organizational dimensions that are characteristic for contemporary careers. Guided by these career dimensions, we examine the research findings of expatriate studies to assess their meaningfulness for global careers. While this review confirms the dimensions as identified from career theory, it also suggests the relevance of an additional organizational career dimension and a new domain of cultural career dimensions. The result of both reviews is a research model that approaches global careers at the intersection of individual, organizational and cultural domains.status: publishe

Career paths of global managers: Towards future research

The aim of this paper is to identify potentially productive areas where future research on global managers' careers is warranted. Approaching career as a path, we conceptualize a global career path as an intersection of three domains: an individual, an organizational and a global environment domain. To identify, within each domain, the most important factors influencing a global career, we first conducted a review of the literature on boundaryless careers and global managers. This review allowed us to identify those factors that are most relevant to the changing nature of careers and global assignments. We then reviewed past empirical research on international careers to map how previous studies have addressed those factors, further guiding us to formulate directions for future research on global careers. As well as indicating these specific research implications, we propose a contextualized research approach that facilitates understanding of different career moves over time as well as the overall direction of a global career path.

Successful female expatriates as agents: positioning oneself through gender, hierarchy and culture.

While most studies on female expatriates take a structural approach, this study considers female expatriates as active agents, capable of producing successful professional identities when interacting with men. We argue that female expatriates can act as agents through selectively interpreting interactions with male actors and through actively positioning oneself within these interactions. Within these two processes, we examine how they rely on gender, hierarchy and culture as three identity discourses that not only constrain but also enable their actions. Through the analysis of in-depth interviews with successful female expatriates, we found how these women tend to counter their interpreted lower status along one identity discourse by strategically drawing from a more empowering identity and counter their interpreted higher status by reducing distances and softening power relations.Studies; Processes;

Successful female expatriates as agents: Positioning oneself through gender, hierarchy, and culture

While most studies on female expatriates take a structural approach, this study considers female expatriates as active agents, capable of producing effective professional identities when interacting with men. We propose that female expatriates are agents who selectively interpret interactions with male actors and actively position themselves within these interactions. Within these two processes of interpreting and positioning, we examine how they draw from gender, hierarchy and culture as three power-laden identity discourses that not only constrain but also enable their actions. Through the analysis of in-depth interviews with successful female expatriates, we show how these women counter their (perceived) lower status along one identity discourse by strategically positioning themselves through a more empowering identity.

Successful female expatriates as agents: Positioning oneself through gender, hierarchy, and culture

While most studies on female expatriates take a structural approach, this study considers female expatriates as active agents, capable of producing successful professional identities when interacting with men. We argue that female expatriates can act as agents through selectively interpreting interactions with male actors and through actively positioning oneself within these interactions. Within these two processes, we examine how they rely on gender, hierarchy and culture as three identity discourses that not only constrain but also enable their actions. Through the analysis of in-depth interviews with successful female expatriates, we found how these women tend to counter their interpreted lower status along one identity discourse by strategically drawing from a more empowering identity and counter their interpreted higher status by reducing distances and softening power relations.