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Career interrupted? The case of the self-directed expatriate
Journal of World Business 40 (2005) 409–420 www.socscinet.com/bam/jwb
Career interrupted? The case of the self-directed expatriate Julia Richardson a,*, Mary Mallon b,1 b
a Atkinson Faculty, School of Administrative Studies, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Canada Department of Human Resource Management, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Abstract This paper examines the role of individual agency and the perceived value of international experience for self-directed expatriation as an increasingly common career choice. Drawing on a study of British expatriate academics, it reports that themes relating to both agency and structure come into play. Although individual desire for adventure, life change and family concerns were key incentives to expatriate, participants believed that their subsequent international experience would provide a distinct advantage in the academic marketplace. The internationalization of higher education was a key theme in these perceptions. The paper also presents practical recommendations regarding expatriate academics and other self-directed expatriates. # 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Self-directed expatriation; Career; International mobility; Higher education; Academia; Agency; Structure
1. Introduction I looked at a job in Macau, then I thought would that have helped my career? It would just sink it; it is too obscure for an academic . . .. It [Fiji] is a lovely country to live in but I was worried that careerwise it’s like they are going to think, three years, this guy’s been on holiday. (Boris, New Zealand) Expatriates who are sent overseas by their employer are the main focus of the expatriate management literature. Moreover, with only a few exceptions (e.g. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 416 736 2100x33821; fax: +1 416 736 5963. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (J. Richardson), [email protected] (M. Mallon). 1 Tel.: +64 6 350 5799; fax: +64 6 350 5796.
Inkson, Arthur, Pringle, & Barry, 1997; Riusala & Suutari, 2000) organizational matters are a dominant concern (Peltonen, 1998; Welch, 2003). While this standpoint increases awareness of specific human resource practices associated with managing more ‘traditional’ expatriates, it neglects individual dynamics and omits people who expatriate independently—i.e. self-directed expatriates. This paper addresses that gap by examining the experiences of a group of British expatriate academics in New Zealand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. It explores what prompted their decision to expatriate and the extent to which their subsequent experience is seen to contribute to career development. Self-directed expatriation is a common feature of many academic careers, but it is also an increasingly common dimension of many other careers and organizational
1090-9516/$ – see front matter # 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2005.08.008
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contexts. To that extent, the paper offers a valuable insight into what is now an important dimension of international careers and the contexts within which they evolve.
2. Current thinking on international experience and career mobility The organizational benefits of developing and maintaining a cadre of internationally mobile expatriate managers have been widely acknowledged (e.g. Aycan, 2001; Suutari, 2003). Where individual careers are concerned, corporate rhetoric suggests that international experience is essential for promotion to senior management. Yet, empirical evidence suggests that it is inconsistently rewarded where repatriated managers frequently complain about lack of recognition and/or reward (Selmer, 1999). This contradiction is especially problematic given the findings of one study (Tung, 1997) which reported that career and financial incentives were the top two motives for corporate executives seeking and/or accepting an overseas assignment. Calls for the internationalization of higher education have led to an increasing number of universities developing strategic international alliances through cross-border collaboration in both teaching and research. As a result, international activity is a regular occurrence in both academic careers (Baruch & Hall, 2004) and campus life more generally. In this context, it seems intuitively correct to assume that international experience would be an advantage for career mobility because faculty with such experience may be better equipped to manage an international student body and research agenda (Bird, Osland, Mendenhall, & Schneider, 1999; Napier, Vu, Ngo, Nguyen, & Vu, 1997). Yet, reflecting the same contradictions that characterize the corporate arena, the link between international experience and career mobility in academia is also unclear. Studies in Canada and the US, for example, have suggested that while demands for the internationalization of higher education continue unabated, international activities receive only minimal recognition and reward (Knight, 1996; Mestenhauser, 1996). This paper will address that contradiction by asking the following research questions:
Why do academics choose to expatriate? What role do they think expatriation plays in their career development? The contemporary careers literature offers a useful platform to understand careers evolving across international boundaries (Inkson et al., 1997). Focusing on individual dynamics, it allows exploration of the extent to which self-directed expatriates, like academics, may ‘sculpt’ (Bell & Staw, 1989) ‘‘their own careers rather than allowing themselves to become corporate sculptures’’ (Inkson et al., 1997, p. 355). It also allows exploration of how international experience contributes to their respective career development and facilitates more robust theoretical development in the field of IHRM (Welch, 2003). Thus, we turn now to review specific debates in that literature.
3. Contemporary debates in career theory Until recently, career theory was dominated by organizational perspectives, where career involved traversing an organizational or occupational hierarchy. The contemporary literature on academic careers reflects such views, describing strategies for upward mobility and the relative positioning of different kinds of faculty (e.g. Forster, 2001; Mysk, 2001). Indeed, in most universities, advancement from probation to full professor corresponds to relatively fixed procedures and criteria for tenure and promotion decisions (Donaldson & Emes, 2000; Tierney & Bensimon, 1996). The advent of ‘new economies’ demanding more flexibility, dynamism and individual responsibility has also given rise to new conceptions of career as boundaryless, portfolio or protean (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; Hall, 1996). Weick, for example, describes new careers as ‘‘more decoupled from specific organizations, more proactive and enactive . . . more portable, more discontinuous, less predictable, and more reliant on improvisation’’ (Weick, 1996, p. 41). He also argues that they would have ‘‘proxies for advancement, development and upward movement’’ (p. 41) such as an increase in competence rather than a change in job title. Academia is cited as an example of a ‘‘boundaryless career’’ (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996, p. 6), with central concepts of career self-management, changing psychological contracts with organizations, careers as
1 (9–10 years); 1 M 4 (7–8 years); 1 F; 3 M 4 (5–6 years); 4 F, 3 M 9 (3–4 years); 3 F, 3 M
3 (9+ years); 2 F, 1M
F: female; M: male.
46–50: 2 F 41–45: 6 F, 2 M 36–40: 1 F, 5 M
8 married + children; 2 F, 6 M 9 New Zealand; 5 F, 4 M 8 UAE; 5 F, 3 M 5 (5–6 years); 3 F, 2 M 6 (7–8 years); 3 F, 3M
31–35: 5 F, 5 M 26–30: 1 F
Age Table 1 Demographics
16 single; 11 F, 5 M 6 Singapore; 2 F, 4 M 5 (3–4 years); 4 F, 1 M
4.1. Constructing the sample
14 married; 5 F, 9 M 7 Turkey; 4 F, 3 M 11 (0–2 years); 4 F, 7 M 12 (1–2 years); 8 F, 4 M
4. Method
Marital status Host country Previous expatriate experience Years in host country
vehicles for lifelong learning, balance and adventure. It is then a useful exemplar of a ‘new’ career form. Yet, as noted, it is also played out within the constraints of existing professional, organizational and social structures. To that extent academic careers reflect aspects of both traditional and ‘new’ conceptions of career. While arguments purporting the move towards ‘boundarylessness’ may be intuitively appealing, Collin (1998) argues that career ‘‘is not individual but contextual and relational’’ (p. 42). Dany, Mallon, and Arthur (2003) further point out that if the dominant tendency in the past was to treat careers as properties of organizations, perhaps we are in danger now of seeing careers as properties of individuals. This paper will contribute to these debates by first exploring the extent to which self-directed expatriation reflects organizational and/or boundaryless dimensions of career. It will then explore whether the same dimensions emerge in subsequent accounts of the role expatriation plays in career development.
Researchers in cross-cultural management have suggested that the challenges of conducting research internationally can be overcome by drawing on personal contacts (Hutchings, 2003; Von Glinow, Drost, & Teagarden, 2002). Personal contacts were indeed very useful for providing access to participants in all four countries: New Zealand, Singapore, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, choice of these particular countries was informed by a review of the expatriate management literature that prompted the researchers to take into account cultural distance and English as the medium for teaching. Through a point of contact in each of the four countries, an interview was arranged with faculty who accepted an invitation to take part in the study and who identified themselves as British expatriates. Nonprobability sampling was used that was neither random nor claimed to be fully representative of the total population of self-directed expatriate academics. Diverse cases were strategically selected from the potential sample by taking note of age, gender and marital status as indicated in Table 1. The final sample
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51–55: 1 F, 2 M
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provided a varied population with information about the topic under study. It comprised self-directed British expatriate academics in universities in each of the four countries. All participants intended to return to Britain at some point in the future, which distinguishes them from immigrants and emphasises their status as expatriates. However, we acknowledge that intention to return may change. All of the participants had previously held faculty positions in Britain and been in their host countries for ten years or less. In-depth interviews elicited accounts in which participants could describe and interpret their experiences of expatriation in their own words. The first set of questions explored the decision to expatriate, asking which themes were more or less influential and the extent to which they were connected with particular dimensions of participants’ lives, e.g. professional, family, etc. The next set of questions explored how participants evaluated their experience of expatriation. They focused especially on the criteria for evaluation and which, if any, were more dominant than others. Questions exploring the role of expatriation in academic careers focused on whether participants thought it would enhance career opportunities.
tion to career development. Two points are worth noting. First, all names have been changed in order to maintain confidentiality and anonymity. Second, although the boundaries between ‘before and after’ are blurred in retrospective sense-making, most participants chose to tell their story in the manner of a linear narrative. They also indulged in prepositional sense-making (Baumeister & Newman, 1994). That is, developing propositions from their stories, seeking more abstract generalisations from their own actions and identifying causal relationships between those actions and interpretations (Cohen & Mallon, 2001).
4.2. Data analysis
Moreover, 16 out of the 17 participants with previous expatriate experience indicated that serendipity had played a major role in their earlier experience where opportunities had ‘somehow’ arisen rather than being the result of a specific plan. Once the opportunity to expatriate had arisen, there were three dominant influences on the decision to expatriate: adventure/travel, life change and family (see Appendix A). The subsidiary themes centred on career and money. This finding suggests that expatriate academics might be different from the expatriate managers in Tung’s study (1997) noted above, where career and finances were the major incentives for an overseas assignment.
A computer assisted qualitative data analysis system (QSR NVivo) facilitated in-depth analysis, comparison of accounts and emerging themes and theory building. Template analysis (King, 1998) involved creating lists of ‘nodes’ representing the identified themes. Some of the themes were identified apriori from the literature review, but the majority were identified during analysis. ‘‘Trees’’ of nodes were then constructed that were aligned with the respective research questions (see Appendices A and B). These ‘trees’ present the identified themes, pointing to those which were dominant, e.g. the search for adventure as an incentive to expatriate, and to respective subsidiary themes, e.g. the perceived transience and precariousness of expatriation.
5. Results We present data in terms of the decision to expatriate and the perceived contribution of expatria-
5.1. The decision to expatriate For 26 of the 30 participants, the opportunity to expatriate arose unexpectedly through chance meetings at conference and ‘coming across’ advertisements rather than specifically looking for an overseas position, for example: It was out of the blue, I mean I had just given [someone I met at a conference] my business card . . . then months later I got this letter saying ‘we’ve got a vacancy’. (Boris, New Zealand)
5.1.1. Expatriating to experience adventure/travel The search for adventure/travel dominated twenty nine accounts and was the most influential of all themes. As indicated in Appendix A, it had three subsidiary themes: desire to see more of the world, search for new experience and desire for an adventure/ challenge. These themes were identified from analysis of regularly used words and phrases about ‘‘seeing the
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world’’, ‘‘experiencing adventure or challenge’’ and/ or ‘‘exploring another country’’. The subsidiary theme ‘new experience’ was also closely linked to escape and another dominant theme ‘the desire for life change’. The following excerpts provide a flavour of the adventure/travel theme: I wanted to see more of the world out there. I kept thinking did I want to spend the next twenty years going up and down these stairs into [name of previous institution] . . .. It was just the desire to travel that was the main thing. (Dora, New Zealand) My aim is to see more of the world, certainly more than CV enhancing activity. Not just to see the places but to see how people live and meet people. (Sheena, Singapore) It is particularly significant that the ‘search for adventure’ did not appear to have any connection with a particular demographic. Males and females, those with and without children and older and younger participants, were all equally likely to draw on ‘adventure’ as a dominant theme in their decision to expatriate. Participants were aware of and drew on a perceived public image of expatriation as an ‘adventure’/ opportunity for travel. Conrad and Tom, drew on the reactions of friends and family as evidence of this image: If I talk to my friends back in London . . .. I have friends there, where I grew up and they have never left their town. Then it looks really wild and exciting in their eyes. (Conrad, New Zealand) When other people know that I live here, they often say to me how brave I am, I mean coming here and leaving home. They actually say I must be adventurous so their vision of me is flavoured by that image. (Tom, Turkey) Osland’s (1995) image of the hero-adventurer, although not explicitly drawn on by any participant, captures the sense of challenge and adventure embedded in the accounts. ‘Hero talk’ (Osland, 1995, p.12) was also evident as they described overcoming difficulties and ‘fighting’ to ‘survive’: Nothing was organised, it was done on a sort of informal basis. Somebody met me at the airport,
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took me to where I was supposed to stay and just left me there . . . it wasn’t a problem for me actually, but I know that it was a problem for some people. (Barry, Turkey) While the majority of participants spoke of the ‘adventure’ of self-directed expatriation in a positive way, two potentially negative subsidiary themes arose: transience and precariousness (see Appendix A). Arthur, Inkson, and Pringle (1999) suggest that ‘new’ career forms might provide ‘fresh energy’. In this study, when it came to reflecting on their experience, participants suggested that the transience and precariousness of self-directed expatriation were in fact a drain on energy. The more experienced participants identified both themes as a chronic problem. Reflecting specifically on how precarious their positions were, participants in Turkey, UAE and Singapore were especially concerned that if they lost their jobs they would have to find other positions very quickly (all had work permits connected to their current positions) or leave the country altogether. Many also commented how they had to plan more carefully with respect to their financial and physical well-being. While acknowledging these negative dimensions, most participants accepted and even embraced them as integral to the ‘adventure’. They also acknowledged that they had been fully aware that expatriation would involve some element of precariousness before they left Britain. In fact this awareness had also informed their image of expatriation as an ‘adventure’ and was thus a key driver in their decision to expatriate. Despite adopting this relatively positive approach, it is notable that for the majority of participants, precariousness and transience were, nonetheless, identified specifically as negative dimensions of their experiences. 5.1.2. Expatriating for life change Eighteen participants drew on life change to explain their decision to expatriate. Appendix A indicates how this theme was also linked with opportunities for ‘new experience’ as a subsidiary theme of the ‘adventure/ travel’ theme. In this case, change implies more than change of cultural context as suggested by Jerry, below: I wanted to change my life. I guess I knew that I had to do something myself otherwise I would be stuck there [Britain] forever and not ever have been anywhere or done anything outside of that. (Jerry, Singapore)
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The problems of transience and precariousness notwithstanding, on this occasion linking life change with expatriation suggests synergy with the notion of ‘‘fresh energy’’ (Arthur et al., 1999). It also portrays expatriation as an escape from the perceived boredom with Britain, a subsidiary theme of ‘life change’, and an opportunity for self-discovery and re-direction: I worked in England for two years, actually. I just got bored. I just didn’t want my life to keep going like that; I knew that I had to change it—sort of the only one who could do that kind of thing. I changed it, I came here. (Barry, Turkey) Nine participants spread across all four countries linked the opportunity for change with ‘escape’. Some were seeking to escape negative working situations. For others, like Conrad, it was the perceived negative aspects of living in Britain: It was almost like a first breaking away. When I look at it now, all we wanted to [do] was seriously break away from England. Get away from there and start somewhere fresh. (Conrad, New Zealand) This finding explicitly connects the decision to expatriate with the pre-expatriation context. It also signals the connectivity between the dominant themes where escape was a dimension of ‘adventure’ and ‘life change’ as indicated in Appendix A. Further, there was no specific link with demographic characteristics and ‘life change’ as an incentive to expatriate. Again, males and females, those with or without children and a partner, and participants of different ages were equally likely to have expatriated in order to experience some form of life change. 5.1.3. Expatriating for family reasons We looked at things that would benefit the entire family. . ..Thedecisionwasabout doingwhatwasbest for all of us, and here we are! (Joanna, New Zealand) One of the reasons we came out to New Zealand in the first place was that we liked the idea of somewhere for our kids to grow up, and then they would be able to travel and experience different cultures along with us. (John, New Zealand) Age of children did not seem to matter as participants with very young children were equally
as likely to cite them as an influence as participants with older teenagers. Yet, 5 of the 16 participants without children and/or a partner said that it would be impossible for them to expatriate with a family. Four of those with children also indicated that having children limited their choice of countries: ‘‘I don’t mind staying where I am at the moment but if it weren’t for them I would probably be looking for something else in China’’ (Steve, the United Arab Emirates). This is an interesting if contradictory finding, where the family, or the perception of a family, is both an incentive and barrier to expatriation. Extended family in Britain was also implicated in the decision to expatriate where, for example, two participants said that their parents’ death had left them ‘‘free’’ to expatriate. A further eight drew on extended family as role models, as evidenced by Penny, below: I’ve got an aged great aunt . . . and she has so many stories to tell. She lived in Africa with my great uncle . . . so I would like to think I was following in her footsteps. (Penny, New Zealand) 5.1.4. Expatriating to enhance career opportunities Only Tina said that she had chosen to expatriate specifically to enhance her career opportunities. Four participants said that their decision was partly affected by their careers. Yet, they also explicitly juxtaposed ‘career’ with the ‘desire to travel’, where the latter was most important as evidenced by Boris: I thought it might do my career good, which I think it has professionally, but yes, it was personal mostly to be honest i.e. the chance to visit another country which I think is more personal than professional. (Boris, New Zealand) Although Tina is an exception, it is instructive to explore her decision to expatriate further. She was especially concerned with what was the ‘right’ thing to do in order to facilitate an ‘‘onward and upward’’ (Arthur et al., 1999) movement in her career. The same concerns influenced which country and which institution she chose to work in: I had always studied my contract quite carefully and had got a reputable organization and what looked like a very business-like contract and something that would be a career progression for me . . .. I wanted it
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[international experience] I kind of had my life, my five year plan. (Tina, Turkey) Her account suggested that she managed her own career according to her interpretation of the ‘rules’ of an academic career. In addition, according to her ‘five year plan’ she had been successful in that she had been promoted. 5.1.5. Expatriating for financial reasons Six participants expatriated for financial reasons. Two participants said finances were a dominant incentive. Three participants said that finances only became an issue when they had married and/or had children as indicated by Jack: I would not have chosen to work in the Middle East if I hadn’t felt that I needed a well-paying job for my family. (Jack, United Arab Emirates) Four participants were working in the United Arab Emirates and all four said that they had been able to make and save a relatively large amount of money. 5.2. The role of expatriation in career mobility Career was a dominant theme in evaluations of expatriation where all participants described the positive implications of having international experience for their careers (see Appendix B for some of the related subsidiary themes). They expected it to provide an ‘‘edge’’ in the academic labour market primarily because of the perceived internationalization of higher education. Given that 23 of the 30 participants expected to return to Britain in the near future, it is not surprising that they drew on the putative internationalization of higher education in Britain to evaluate their experience. One participant, who was about to return having spent four years in New Zealand, said that his international experience was a major reason why he had been successful in getting his new promoted position: I am probably going back to the UK at least five times better off because I’ve now gone from near the bottom of the lecturer scale to where I am now. So in that sense, going out of the country has certainly helped me. It’s made me go up the scales quicker. (Boris, New Zealand) Another participant connected earlier international experience with a promotion in New Zealand:
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One of the things, if I recall correctly about getting the position was having lived and worked in other cultures [which] was an advantage and of course I had plenty of that by that time. (Joanna, New Zealand) All seven participants who said they were uncertain of whether they would return to Britain immediately after their current position also drew on international experience as a key to enhancing their overall employability. Although expatriation was widely understood to support career mobility, two caveats emerged relating to positive recognition and marketability: the country where experience was gained and the activities that were undertaken. It is notable that these caveats were a particular concern for participants in the younger age groups (40 and below) who were at the earlier stages of their careers. By comparison, although those who were at the later stages of their careers (particularly the over 50 group) were aware of the caveats, they were less concerned about the potential impact on their own careers. Fifteen participants perceived a hierarchy of countries and institutions from which overseas experience could usefully be gained. Boris, quoted at the beginning of this paper, exemplifies his own hierarchy as does Penny: It [New Zealand] is not the centre of the universe but it’s a good place to get started on an academic career. (Penny, New Zealand) There was no single hierarchy, but common themes emerged where regions such as North America, Europe, some parts of the Far East and Australasia, were regarded as useful places to go because of their influence in the global economy and/or their research reputation. Conversely, Eastern Europe, Africa and some countries in the Middle and Far East were seen as less desirable. Twenty participants emphasized that for overseas experience to be recognized and rewarded it must involve identifiable competencies and knowledge as determined by their institutional criteria for tenure and promotion, particularly with regard to research, teaching and service. Consequently, there was some anxiety in juggling individually determined incentives to expatriation, such as the search for adventure and benefits to family versus the more institutionally determined criteria for evaluating it. A major concern
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was that their own evaluations of their experience might not be valued by others; that they might be out of step with institutional expectations. This concern was particularly apparent among the younger participants who were at the beginning of their careers. Jerry, for example, was concerned that he might have ‘got it wrong’: I think my experience [in Singapore] is valuable, but the perception of some people in Britain, might be ‘oh yeah, he has gained international experience but you know—so what? (Jerry, Singapore) These younger participants were especially concerned about things ‘not working out’. What if they had misinterpreted the trends towards internationalization of higher education? What if future recruiters did not recognize their international experience?
6. Discussion Mitchell, Levin, and Krumboltz’s (1999) notion of planned happenstance best captures the flavour of the decision to expatriate: not active in the sense of consciously striving to find a job overseas, but seizing an opportunity when it came participants’ way, or even to their notice. This finding echoes the serendipitous and adhoc selection of expatriate managers for overseas assignments identified by Brewster and Harris (1999), where managers were more likely to be sent overseas after nominating themselves (or each other) during coffee breaks than through strategic selection. Thus, the decision to expatriate independently and selection of managers for overseas assignments may both exhibit the serendipity, flexibility and proactivity of ‘‘new careers’’. Identifying adventure, life change and family as dominant incentives to self-directed expatriation resonates with conceptions of career as synonymous with lifestyle and bridging the home-work divide (e.g. Fletcher & Bailyn, 1996). Thus, the study presents further synergy between conceptions of ‘new’ careers and expatriate academics. The family’s influence on the decision to accept an expatriate assignment is widely acknowledged (Anderson, 2001; Chew & Zhu, 2002; Tharenous, 2002). This study suggests that immediate and extended family also play a dominant role in self-directed expatriation where the desire to
broaden family experiences was a particularly important incentive. Thus, whereas a survey of corporate expatriates (Windham, 1997) found that family commitments might be a barrier to expatriation, this study suggests that they might also be a source of encouragement. This finding reframes the family-expatriation decision where it is based on whether the family wants to take advantage of the opportunities that expatriation presents rather than whether they are prepared to endure its perceived difficulties. Although the ‘call to adventure’ (Osland, 1995) was a powerful and rewarding force, the ‘darker side’ of expatriation was also identified primarily in themes relating to transience and precariousness. Viewed as a drain on emotional and physical energy, these themes clearly challenge the optimism surrounding ‘new’ career forms as sources of ‘fresh energy’ (Arthur et al., 1999). Even so, most participants found ways of managing this ‘darker side’ suggesting that expatriates may be less ‘fragile’ than suggested by the literature on expatriate training and adjustment. Despite this relatively optimistic approach, however, it is notable that both transience and precariousness were still specifically identified as negative dimensions of self-directed expatriation. Unlike studies of expatriate managers (Tung, 1997) career and money were not dominant incentives to expatriation for the academics in this study. This finding might be explained by the differences between the salaries and benefits packages expatriate academics might expect compared to those of expatriate managers/corporate executives. Indeed, participants in this study said they received far less than corporate expatriates on an overseas assignment. Moreover, with the exception of those in the United Arab Emirates, some commented that they were earning the same or only a little more than when they were working in Britain. Regardless of how it maps out in practice, the rhetoric of overseas experience as a criterion for promotion in the corporate arena may explain why it is a dominant incentive for corporate executives (Tung, 1997). In the academic arena, its perceived role in career development may be less embedded and/or rewarded. This may be due to the widespread understandings of academic careers as characterized by flexibility and individually determined proxies for success. Indeed, as this study suggests, although
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academic careers are also framed by organizationally determined criteria for success, they do not seem to influence the decision to expatriate. Although individual proactivity dominated the decision to expatriate, participants drew on organizational/structural criteria to explain how their decision to expatriate would benefit their careers. In a few cases, expatriation had already contributed to significant career development. Moreover, as indicated in Appendix B, there was widespread perception that internationally experienced faculty could make a positive contribution to their host institutions. While on-going employability (a key theme in new career discourse) underpinned most evaluations, they were embedded in explicit awareness and reference to two caveats. Both caveats reflected institutionally determined criteria for career success: where the experience was gained and the kind of activities undertaken. This finding points to the influence of institutional demands and the role of the ‘‘observer’’ in illuminating a certain tension between self-directed expatriation and institutional demands. It also suggests that the relationship between international experience and career development is complex and multi-dimensional. This complexity is especially apparent in the anxiety that the younger participants and those at the beginning stages of their careers felt about the impact of their expatriation. Given the disappointment and disillusion reported by some expatriate managers returning after an overseas assignment, it may well be that this anxiety is indeed wellfounded. The paper contends that expatriate academics and indeed academic careers more generally, reflect both traditional and new conceptions of career. This both challenges and supports the organizational focus of the expatriate management literature and recent career theory which accords primacy to individual interpretations and career self-management (Dany et al., 2003). In effect, it suggests that the two literatures offer complementary understandings of this form of self-directed expatriation. 6.1. Limitations of the study The accounts presented here describe each participant’s decision to expatriate and their respec-
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tive evaluations of expatriation. Yet, each participant’s account is only one of many possible versions. The study’s approach to sampling and data analysis is also a limitation in that selection of host country was, to some extent, based on personal contacts that facilitated access. Finally, given that the study focuses solely on British expatriate academics, the findings presented here may not apply to other nationalities.
6.2. Practical implications The participants in this study believed that their international experience would enhance their career development. Yet, Mestenhauser (1996) and Knight (1996) suggest that this may not be true. In order to resolve this contradiction, tenure and promotion policy documents should clearly reflect the value attributed to international experience and the specific criteria required for it to be considered valuable. Given the ‘self-management’ dimension of academic careers, such a move would support individual career development and allow for more transparent recruitment and promotion practices. The same might be said of other organizational contexts where other groups of expatriates such as engineers and medical professionals would have a clearer idea about the value of their international experience. Finally, universities would also benefit from bearing in mind the range of incentives to expatriation described here and incorporating them into hiring practices. Given the paucity of research on self-directed expatriates, there are many other avenues to explore. Turning first to academic careers, further research might explore the extent to which the perceptions reported here are correct. This might be achieved by targeting individuals involved in faculty recruitment and tenure and promotion decisions. In order to develop a broader understanding of self-directed expatriation more generally, further research might also explore the experiences of other self-directed expatriates. It might also build on some of the similarities and differences identified here between expatriate academics, other types of self-directed expatriates and those sent on an overseas assignment by their corporate employer.
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Appendix A Tree of themes emerging from research question: why do academics choose to expatriate?
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Appendix B Trees of themes emerging from research question: what role does expatriation play in career development?
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Bell, N. E., & Staw, B. M. (1989). People as sculptors versus sculpture: The roles of personality and personal control in organizations. In M. B. Arthur, D. T. Hall, & B. S. Lawrence (Eds.), Handbook of career theory (pp. 232–251). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bird, A., Osland, J. S., Mendenhall, M., & Schneider, S. C. (1999). Adapting and adjusting to other cultures: What we know but don’t always tell. Journal of Management Inquiry, 8(2): 152– 165. Brewster, C., & Harris, H. (1999). The coffee machine system: How international selection really works. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 10: 488–500. Chew, I. K. H., & Zhu, W. (2002). Factors influencing Singapore managers’ career aspiration in international assignments. Career Development International, 7(2): 96–109. Cohen, L., & Mallon, M. (2001). My brilliant career? Using stories as a methodological tool in careers research. International Studies of Management and Organizations, 31: 48–68. Collin, A. (1998). New challenges in the study of career. Personnel Review, 27(5): 412–425. Dany, F., Mallon, M., & Arthur, M. B. (2003). The odyssey of career and the opportunity for international comparison. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14: 705–712.
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Donaldson, E. L., & Emes, C. G. (2000). The challenge for women academics: Reaching a critical mass in research, teaching and service. The Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 30(3): 33– 56. Fletcher, J. K., & Bailyn, L. (1996). Challenging the last boundary: Reconnecting work and family. In M. B. Arthur, & D. M. Rousseau (Eds.), The boundaryless career. A new employment principle for a new organizational era (pp. 256–267). New York: Oxford University Press. Forster, N. (2001). A case study of women academics’ views on equal opportunities, career prospects and work-family conflicts in a UK university. Career Development International, 6(1): 28–38. Hall, D. T. (1996). Long live the career: A relational approach. In D. T. Hall (Ed.), The career is dead long live the career: A relational approach to careers (pp. 1–12). San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Hutchings, K. (2003). Cross-cultural preparation of Australian expatriates in organisations in China: The need for greater attention to training. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 20(3): 375–396. Inkson, K., Arthur, M. B., Pringle, J., & Barry, S. (1997). Expatriate assignment versus overseas experience: International human resource development. Journal of World Business, 2: 351–368. King, N. (1998). Template analysis. In G. Symon, & C. Cassell (Eds.), Qualitative methods and analysis in organizational research: A practical guide (pp. 14–36). London: Sage. Knight, J. (1996). Internationalizing higher education: A shared vision? Ottawa: Canadian Bureau for International Education. Mestenhauser, J. A. (1996). The portraits of international curriculum: an uncommon multidimensional perspective. Unpublished manuscript, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Mitchell, K. E., Levin, A. S., & Krumboltz, J. D. (1999). Planned happenstance: Constructing unexpected career opportunities. Journal of counselling and development, 77: 115–124. Mysk, A. (2001). The sessional lecturer as migrant labourer. The Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 31(3): 73–92. Napier, N. K., Vu, D. A., Ngo, M. H., Nguyen, V. T., & Vu, V. T. (1997). Reflections on building a business school in Vietnam. Journal of Management Inquiry, 6(4): 341–354.
Osland, J. S. (1995). The adventure of working abroad. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Peltonen, T. (1998). Narrative construction of expatriate experience and career cycle: Discursive patterns in Finnish stories of international career. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 9: 875–891. Riusala, K., & Suutari, V. (2000). Expatriation and careers: Perspectives of expatriates and spouses. Career Development International, 5(2): 81–90. Selmer, J. (1999). Career issues and international adjustment of business expatriates. Career Development International, 4(2): 77–87. Suutari, V. (2003). Global managers: Career orientation, career tracks, life-style implications and career commitment. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 18(3): 185–207. Tharenous, P. (2002). Receptivity to careers in international work— abroad and at home. Australian Journal of Management, 27: 129–138. Tierney, W. G., & Bensimon, E. M. (1996). Promotion and tenure: Community and socialization in academe. New York: State University of New York Press. Tung, R. L. (1997). A study of the expatriation/repatriation process. Arthur Andersen Consulting, SC. Von Glinow, M. A., Drost, E. A., & Teagarden, M. B. (2002). Converging on IHRM best practices: Lessons learned from a globally distributed consortium on theory and practice. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 40(1): 146–166. Weick, K. (1996). Enactment and the boundaryless career: Organizing as we work. In M. B. Arthur, & D. M. Rousseau (Eds.), The boundaryless career: A new employment principle for a new organizational era (pp. 40–57). New York: Oxford University Press. Welch, D. (2003). Globalisation of staff movements: Beyond cultural adjustment. Management International Review, 43(2): 149–169. Windham. (1997). Global relocation trends 1996 survey report. New York: Windham International and National Foreign Trade Council.
Career interrupted? The case of the self-directed expatriate Julia Richardson a,*, Mary Mallon b,1 b
a Atkinson Faculty, School of Administrative Studies, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Canada Department of Human Resource Management, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Abstract This paper examines the role of individual agency and the perceived value of international experience for self-directed expatriation as an increasingly common career choice. Drawing on a study of British expatriate academics, it reports that themes relating to both agency and structure come into play. Although individual desire for adventure, life change and family concerns were key incentives to expatriate, participants believed that their subsequent international experience would provide a distinct advantage in the academic marketplace. The internationalization of higher education was a key theme in these perceptions. The paper also presents practical recommendations regarding expatriate academics and other self-directed expatriates. # 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Self-directed expatriation; Career; International mobility; Higher education; Academia; Agency; Structure
1. Introduction I looked at a job in Macau, then I thought would that have helped my career? It would just sink it; it is too obscure for an academic . . .. It [Fiji] is a lovely country to live in but I was worried that careerwise it’s like they are going to think, three years, this guy’s been on holiday. (Boris, New Zealand) Expatriates who are sent overseas by their employer are the main focus of the expatriate management literature. Moreover, with only a few exceptions (e.g. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 416 736 2100x33821; fax: +1 416 736 5963. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (J. Richardson), [email protected] (M. Mallon). 1 Tel.: +64 6 350 5799; fax: +64 6 350 5796.
Inkson, Arthur, Pringle, & Barry, 1997; Riusala & Suutari, 2000) organizational matters are a dominant concern (Peltonen, 1998; Welch, 2003). While this standpoint increases awareness of specific human resource practices associated with managing more ‘traditional’ expatriates, it neglects individual dynamics and omits people who expatriate independently—i.e. self-directed expatriates. This paper addresses that gap by examining the experiences of a group of British expatriate academics in New Zealand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. It explores what prompted their decision to expatriate and the extent to which their subsequent experience is seen to contribute to career development. Self-directed expatriation is a common feature of many academic careers, but it is also an increasingly common dimension of many other careers and organizational
1090-9516/$ – see front matter # 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2005.08.008
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contexts. To that extent, the paper offers a valuable insight into what is now an important dimension of international careers and the contexts within which they evolve.
2. Current thinking on international experience and career mobility The organizational benefits of developing and maintaining a cadre of internationally mobile expatriate managers have been widely acknowledged (e.g. Aycan, 2001; Suutari, 2003). Where individual careers are concerned, corporate rhetoric suggests that international experience is essential for promotion to senior management. Yet, empirical evidence suggests that it is inconsistently rewarded where repatriated managers frequently complain about lack of recognition and/or reward (Selmer, 1999). This contradiction is especially problematic given the findings of one study (Tung, 1997) which reported that career and financial incentives were the top two motives for corporate executives seeking and/or accepting an overseas assignment. Calls for the internationalization of higher education have led to an increasing number of universities developing strategic international alliances through cross-border collaboration in both teaching and research. As a result, international activity is a regular occurrence in both academic careers (Baruch & Hall, 2004) and campus life more generally. In this context, it seems intuitively correct to assume that international experience would be an advantage for career mobility because faculty with such experience may be better equipped to manage an international student body and research agenda (Bird, Osland, Mendenhall, & Schneider, 1999; Napier, Vu, Ngo, Nguyen, & Vu, 1997). Yet, reflecting the same contradictions that characterize the corporate arena, the link between international experience and career mobility in academia is also unclear. Studies in Canada and the US, for example, have suggested that while demands for the internationalization of higher education continue unabated, international activities receive only minimal recognition and reward (Knight, 1996; Mestenhauser, 1996). This paper will address that contradiction by asking the following research questions:
Why do academics choose to expatriate? What role do they think expatriation plays in their career development? The contemporary careers literature offers a useful platform to understand careers evolving across international boundaries (Inkson et al., 1997). Focusing on individual dynamics, it allows exploration of the extent to which self-directed expatriates, like academics, may ‘sculpt’ (Bell & Staw, 1989) ‘‘their own careers rather than allowing themselves to become corporate sculptures’’ (Inkson et al., 1997, p. 355). It also allows exploration of how international experience contributes to their respective career development and facilitates more robust theoretical development in the field of IHRM (Welch, 2003). Thus, we turn now to review specific debates in that literature.
3. Contemporary debates in career theory Until recently, career theory was dominated by organizational perspectives, where career involved traversing an organizational or occupational hierarchy. The contemporary literature on academic careers reflects such views, describing strategies for upward mobility and the relative positioning of different kinds of faculty (e.g. Forster, 2001; Mysk, 2001). Indeed, in most universities, advancement from probation to full professor corresponds to relatively fixed procedures and criteria for tenure and promotion decisions (Donaldson & Emes, 2000; Tierney & Bensimon, 1996). The advent of ‘new economies’ demanding more flexibility, dynamism and individual responsibility has also given rise to new conceptions of career as boundaryless, portfolio or protean (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; Hall, 1996). Weick, for example, describes new careers as ‘‘more decoupled from specific organizations, more proactive and enactive . . . more portable, more discontinuous, less predictable, and more reliant on improvisation’’ (Weick, 1996, p. 41). He also argues that they would have ‘‘proxies for advancement, development and upward movement’’ (p. 41) such as an increase in competence rather than a change in job title. Academia is cited as an example of a ‘‘boundaryless career’’ (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996, p. 6), with central concepts of career self-management, changing psychological contracts with organizations, careers as
1 (9–10 years); 1 M 4 (7–8 years); 1 F; 3 M 4 (5–6 years); 4 F, 3 M 9 (3–4 years); 3 F, 3 M
3 (9+ years); 2 F, 1M
F: female; M: male.
46–50: 2 F 41–45: 6 F, 2 M 36–40: 1 F, 5 M
8 married + children; 2 F, 6 M 9 New Zealand; 5 F, 4 M 8 UAE; 5 F, 3 M 5 (5–6 years); 3 F, 2 M 6 (7–8 years); 3 F, 3M
31–35: 5 F, 5 M 26–30: 1 F
Age Table 1 Demographics
16 single; 11 F, 5 M 6 Singapore; 2 F, 4 M 5 (3–4 years); 4 F, 1 M
4.1. Constructing the sample
14 married; 5 F, 9 M 7 Turkey; 4 F, 3 M 11 (0–2 years); 4 F, 7 M 12 (1–2 years); 8 F, 4 M
4. Method
Marital status Host country Previous expatriate experience Years in host country
vehicles for lifelong learning, balance and adventure. It is then a useful exemplar of a ‘new’ career form. Yet, as noted, it is also played out within the constraints of existing professional, organizational and social structures. To that extent academic careers reflect aspects of both traditional and ‘new’ conceptions of career. While arguments purporting the move towards ‘boundarylessness’ may be intuitively appealing, Collin (1998) argues that career ‘‘is not individual but contextual and relational’’ (p. 42). Dany, Mallon, and Arthur (2003) further point out that if the dominant tendency in the past was to treat careers as properties of organizations, perhaps we are in danger now of seeing careers as properties of individuals. This paper will contribute to these debates by first exploring the extent to which self-directed expatriation reflects organizational and/or boundaryless dimensions of career. It will then explore whether the same dimensions emerge in subsequent accounts of the role expatriation plays in career development.
Researchers in cross-cultural management have suggested that the challenges of conducting research internationally can be overcome by drawing on personal contacts (Hutchings, 2003; Von Glinow, Drost, & Teagarden, 2002). Personal contacts were indeed very useful for providing access to participants in all four countries: New Zealand, Singapore, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, choice of these particular countries was informed by a review of the expatriate management literature that prompted the researchers to take into account cultural distance and English as the medium for teaching. Through a point of contact in each of the four countries, an interview was arranged with faculty who accepted an invitation to take part in the study and who identified themselves as British expatriates. Nonprobability sampling was used that was neither random nor claimed to be fully representative of the total population of self-directed expatriate academics. Diverse cases were strategically selected from the potential sample by taking note of age, gender and marital status as indicated in Table 1. The final sample
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51–55: 1 F, 2 M
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provided a varied population with information about the topic under study. It comprised self-directed British expatriate academics in universities in each of the four countries. All participants intended to return to Britain at some point in the future, which distinguishes them from immigrants and emphasises their status as expatriates. However, we acknowledge that intention to return may change. All of the participants had previously held faculty positions in Britain and been in their host countries for ten years or less. In-depth interviews elicited accounts in which participants could describe and interpret their experiences of expatriation in their own words. The first set of questions explored the decision to expatriate, asking which themes were more or less influential and the extent to which they were connected with particular dimensions of participants’ lives, e.g. professional, family, etc. The next set of questions explored how participants evaluated their experience of expatriation. They focused especially on the criteria for evaluation and which, if any, were more dominant than others. Questions exploring the role of expatriation in academic careers focused on whether participants thought it would enhance career opportunities.
tion to career development. Two points are worth noting. First, all names have been changed in order to maintain confidentiality and anonymity. Second, although the boundaries between ‘before and after’ are blurred in retrospective sense-making, most participants chose to tell their story in the manner of a linear narrative. They also indulged in prepositional sense-making (Baumeister & Newman, 1994). That is, developing propositions from their stories, seeking more abstract generalisations from their own actions and identifying causal relationships between those actions and interpretations (Cohen & Mallon, 2001).
4.2. Data analysis
Moreover, 16 out of the 17 participants with previous expatriate experience indicated that serendipity had played a major role in their earlier experience where opportunities had ‘somehow’ arisen rather than being the result of a specific plan. Once the opportunity to expatriate had arisen, there were three dominant influences on the decision to expatriate: adventure/travel, life change and family (see Appendix A). The subsidiary themes centred on career and money. This finding suggests that expatriate academics might be different from the expatriate managers in Tung’s study (1997) noted above, where career and finances were the major incentives for an overseas assignment.
A computer assisted qualitative data analysis system (QSR NVivo) facilitated in-depth analysis, comparison of accounts and emerging themes and theory building. Template analysis (King, 1998) involved creating lists of ‘nodes’ representing the identified themes. Some of the themes were identified apriori from the literature review, but the majority were identified during analysis. ‘‘Trees’’ of nodes were then constructed that were aligned with the respective research questions (see Appendices A and B). These ‘trees’ present the identified themes, pointing to those which were dominant, e.g. the search for adventure as an incentive to expatriate, and to respective subsidiary themes, e.g. the perceived transience and precariousness of expatriation.
5. Results We present data in terms of the decision to expatriate and the perceived contribution of expatria-
5.1. The decision to expatriate For 26 of the 30 participants, the opportunity to expatriate arose unexpectedly through chance meetings at conference and ‘coming across’ advertisements rather than specifically looking for an overseas position, for example: It was out of the blue, I mean I had just given [someone I met at a conference] my business card . . . then months later I got this letter saying ‘we’ve got a vacancy’. (Boris, New Zealand)
5.1.1. Expatriating to experience adventure/travel The search for adventure/travel dominated twenty nine accounts and was the most influential of all themes. As indicated in Appendix A, it had three subsidiary themes: desire to see more of the world, search for new experience and desire for an adventure/ challenge. These themes were identified from analysis of regularly used words and phrases about ‘‘seeing the
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world’’, ‘‘experiencing adventure or challenge’’ and/ or ‘‘exploring another country’’. The subsidiary theme ‘new experience’ was also closely linked to escape and another dominant theme ‘the desire for life change’. The following excerpts provide a flavour of the adventure/travel theme: I wanted to see more of the world out there. I kept thinking did I want to spend the next twenty years going up and down these stairs into [name of previous institution] . . .. It was just the desire to travel that was the main thing. (Dora, New Zealand) My aim is to see more of the world, certainly more than CV enhancing activity. Not just to see the places but to see how people live and meet people. (Sheena, Singapore) It is particularly significant that the ‘search for adventure’ did not appear to have any connection with a particular demographic. Males and females, those with and without children and older and younger participants, were all equally likely to draw on ‘adventure’ as a dominant theme in their decision to expatriate. Participants were aware of and drew on a perceived public image of expatriation as an ‘adventure’/ opportunity for travel. Conrad and Tom, drew on the reactions of friends and family as evidence of this image: If I talk to my friends back in London . . .. I have friends there, where I grew up and they have never left their town. Then it looks really wild and exciting in their eyes. (Conrad, New Zealand) When other people know that I live here, they often say to me how brave I am, I mean coming here and leaving home. They actually say I must be adventurous so their vision of me is flavoured by that image. (Tom, Turkey) Osland’s (1995) image of the hero-adventurer, although not explicitly drawn on by any participant, captures the sense of challenge and adventure embedded in the accounts. ‘Hero talk’ (Osland, 1995, p.12) was also evident as they described overcoming difficulties and ‘fighting’ to ‘survive’: Nothing was organised, it was done on a sort of informal basis. Somebody met me at the airport,
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took me to where I was supposed to stay and just left me there . . . it wasn’t a problem for me actually, but I know that it was a problem for some people. (Barry, Turkey) While the majority of participants spoke of the ‘adventure’ of self-directed expatriation in a positive way, two potentially negative subsidiary themes arose: transience and precariousness (see Appendix A). Arthur, Inkson, and Pringle (1999) suggest that ‘new’ career forms might provide ‘fresh energy’. In this study, when it came to reflecting on their experience, participants suggested that the transience and precariousness of self-directed expatriation were in fact a drain on energy. The more experienced participants identified both themes as a chronic problem. Reflecting specifically on how precarious their positions were, participants in Turkey, UAE and Singapore were especially concerned that if they lost their jobs they would have to find other positions very quickly (all had work permits connected to their current positions) or leave the country altogether. Many also commented how they had to plan more carefully with respect to their financial and physical well-being. While acknowledging these negative dimensions, most participants accepted and even embraced them as integral to the ‘adventure’. They also acknowledged that they had been fully aware that expatriation would involve some element of precariousness before they left Britain. In fact this awareness had also informed their image of expatriation as an ‘adventure’ and was thus a key driver in their decision to expatriate. Despite adopting this relatively positive approach, it is notable that for the majority of participants, precariousness and transience were, nonetheless, identified specifically as negative dimensions of their experiences. 5.1.2. Expatriating for life change Eighteen participants drew on life change to explain their decision to expatriate. Appendix A indicates how this theme was also linked with opportunities for ‘new experience’ as a subsidiary theme of the ‘adventure/ travel’ theme. In this case, change implies more than change of cultural context as suggested by Jerry, below: I wanted to change my life. I guess I knew that I had to do something myself otherwise I would be stuck there [Britain] forever and not ever have been anywhere or done anything outside of that. (Jerry, Singapore)
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The problems of transience and precariousness notwithstanding, on this occasion linking life change with expatriation suggests synergy with the notion of ‘‘fresh energy’’ (Arthur et al., 1999). It also portrays expatriation as an escape from the perceived boredom with Britain, a subsidiary theme of ‘life change’, and an opportunity for self-discovery and re-direction: I worked in England for two years, actually. I just got bored. I just didn’t want my life to keep going like that; I knew that I had to change it—sort of the only one who could do that kind of thing. I changed it, I came here. (Barry, Turkey) Nine participants spread across all four countries linked the opportunity for change with ‘escape’. Some were seeking to escape negative working situations. For others, like Conrad, it was the perceived negative aspects of living in Britain: It was almost like a first breaking away. When I look at it now, all we wanted to [do] was seriously break away from England. Get away from there and start somewhere fresh. (Conrad, New Zealand) This finding explicitly connects the decision to expatriate with the pre-expatriation context. It also signals the connectivity between the dominant themes where escape was a dimension of ‘adventure’ and ‘life change’ as indicated in Appendix A. Further, there was no specific link with demographic characteristics and ‘life change’ as an incentive to expatriate. Again, males and females, those with or without children and a partner, and participants of different ages were equally likely to have expatriated in order to experience some form of life change. 5.1.3. Expatriating for family reasons We looked at things that would benefit the entire family. . ..Thedecisionwasabout doingwhatwasbest for all of us, and here we are! (Joanna, New Zealand) One of the reasons we came out to New Zealand in the first place was that we liked the idea of somewhere for our kids to grow up, and then they would be able to travel and experience different cultures along with us. (John, New Zealand) Age of children did not seem to matter as participants with very young children were equally
as likely to cite them as an influence as participants with older teenagers. Yet, 5 of the 16 participants without children and/or a partner said that it would be impossible for them to expatriate with a family. Four of those with children also indicated that having children limited their choice of countries: ‘‘I don’t mind staying where I am at the moment but if it weren’t for them I would probably be looking for something else in China’’ (Steve, the United Arab Emirates). This is an interesting if contradictory finding, where the family, or the perception of a family, is both an incentive and barrier to expatriation. Extended family in Britain was also implicated in the decision to expatriate where, for example, two participants said that their parents’ death had left them ‘‘free’’ to expatriate. A further eight drew on extended family as role models, as evidenced by Penny, below: I’ve got an aged great aunt . . . and she has so many stories to tell. She lived in Africa with my great uncle . . . so I would like to think I was following in her footsteps. (Penny, New Zealand) 5.1.4. Expatriating to enhance career opportunities Only Tina said that she had chosen to expatriate specifically to enhance her career opportunities. Four participants said that their decision was partly affected by their careers. Yet, they also explicitly juxtaposed ‘career’ with the ‘desire to travel’, where the latter was most important as evidenced by Boris: I thought it might do my career good, which I think it has professionally, but yes, it was personal mostly to be honest i.e. the chance to visit another country which I think is more personal than professional. (Boris, New Zealand) Although Tina is an exception, it is instructive to explore her decision to expatriate further. She was especially concerned with what was the ‘right’ thing to do in order to facilitate an ‘‘onward and upward’’ (Arthur et al., 1999) movement in her career. The same concerns influenced which country and which institution she chose to work in: I had always studied my contract quite carefully and had got a reputable organization and what looked like a very business-like contract and something that would be a career progression for me . . .. I wanted it
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[international experience] I kind of had my life, my five year plan. (Tina, Turkey) Her account suggested that she managed her own career according to her interpretation of the ‘rules’ of an academic career. In addition, according to her ‘five year plan’ she had been successful in that she had been promoted. 5.1.5. Expatriating for financial reasons Six participants expatriated for financial reasons. Two participants said finances were a dominant incentive. Three participants said that finances only became an issue when they had married and/or had children as indicated by Jack: I would not have chosen to work in the Middle East if I hadn’t felt that I needed a well-paying job for my family. (Jack, United Arab Emirates) Four participants were working in the United Arab Emirates and all four said that they had been able to make and save a relatively large amount of money. 5.2. The role of expatriation in career mobility Career was a dominant theme in evaluations of expatriation where all participants described the positive implications of having international experience for their careers (see Appendix B for some of the related subsidiary themes). They expected it to provide an ‘‘edge’’ in the academic labour market primarily because of the perceived internationalization of higher education. Given that 23 of the 30 participants expected to return to Britain in the near future, it is not surprising that they drew on the putative internationalization of higher education in Britain to evaluate their experience. One participant, who was about to return having spent four years in New Zealand, said that his international experience was a major reason why he had been successful in getting his new promoted position: I am probably going back to the UK at least five times better off because I’ve now gone from near the bottom of the lecturer scale to where I am now. So in that sense, going out of the country has certainly helped me. It’s made me go up the scales quicker. (Boris, New Zealand) Another participant connected earlier international experience with a promotion in New Zealand:
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One of the things, if I recall correctly about getting the position was having lived and worked in other cultures [which] was an advantage and of course I had plenty of that by that time. (Joanna, New Zealand) All seven participants who said they were uncertain of whether they would return to Britain immediately after their current position also drew on international experience as a key to enhancing their overall employability. Although expatriation was widely understood to support career mobility, two caveats emerged relating to positive recognition and marketability: the country where experience was gained and the activities that were undertaken. It is notable that these caveats were a particular concern for participants in the younger age groups (40 and below) who were at the earlier stages of their careers. By comparison, although those who were at the later stages of their careers (particularly the over 50 group) were aware of the caveats, they were less concerned about the potential impact on their own careers. Fifteen participants perceived a hierarchy of countries and institutions from which overseas experience could usefully be gained. Boris, quoted at the beginning of this paper, exemplifies his own hierarchy as does Penny: It [New Zealand] is not the centre of the universe but it’s a good place to get started on an academic career. (Penny, New Zealand) There was no single hierarchy, but common themes emerged where regions such as North America, Europe, some parts of the Far East and Australasia, were regarded as useful places to go because of their influence in the global economy and/or their research reputation. Conversely, Eastern Europe, Africa and some countries in the Middle and Far East were seen as less desirable. Twenty participants emphasized that for overseas experience to be recognized and rewarded it must involve identifiable competencies and knowledge as determined by their institutional criteria for tenure and promotion, particularly with regard to research, teaching and service. Consequently, there was some anxiety in juggling individually determined incentives to expatriation, such as the search for adventure and benefits to family versus the more institutionally determined criteria for evaluating it. A major concern
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was that their own evaluations of their experience might not be valued by others; that they might be out of step with institutional expectations. This concern was particularly apparent among the younger participants who were at the beginning of their careers. Jerry, for example, was concerned that he might have ‘got it wrong’: I think my experience [in Singapore] is valuable, but the perception of some people in Britain, might be ‘oh yeah, he has gained international experience but you know—so what? (Jerry, Singapore) These younger participants were especially concerned about things ‘not working out’. What if they had misinterpreted the trends towards internationalization of higher education? What if future recruiters did not recognize their international experience?
6. Discussion Mitchell, Levin, and Krumboltz’s (1999) notion of planned happenstance best captures the flavour of the decision to expatriate: not active in the sense of consciously striving to find a job overseas, but seizing an opportunity when it came participants’ way, or even to their notice. This finding echoes the serendipitous and adhoc selection of expatriate managers for overseas assignments identified by Brewster and Harris (1999), where managers were more likely to be sent overseas after nominating themselves (or each other) during coffee breaks than through strategic selection. Thus, the decision to expatriate independently and selection of managers for overseas assignments may both exhibit the serendipity, flexibility and proactivity of ‘‘new careers’’. Identifying adventure, life change and family as dominant incentives to self-directed expatriation resonates with conceptions of career as synonymous with lifestyle and bridging the home-work divide (e.g. Fletcher & Bailyn, 1996). Thus, the study presents further synergy between conceptions of ‘new’ careers and expatriate academics. The family’s influence on the decision to accept an expatriate assignment is widely acknowledged (Anderson, 2001; Chew & Zhu, 2002; Tharenous, 2002). This study suggests that immediate and extended family also play a dominant role in self-directed expatriation where the desire to
broaden family experiences was a particularly important incentive. Thus, whereas a survey of corporate expatriates (Windham, 1997) found that family commitments might be a barrier to expatriation, this study suggests that they might also be a source of encouragement. This finding reframes the family-expatriation decision where it is based on whether the family wants to take advantage of the opportunities that expatriation presents rather than whether they are prepared to endure its perceived difficulties. Although the ‘call to adventure’ (Osland, 1995) was a powerful and rewarding force, the ‘darker side’ of expatriation was also identified primarily in themes relating to transience and precariousness. Viewed as a drain on emotional and physical energy, these themes clearly challenge the optimism surrounding ‘new’ career forms as sources of ‘fresh energy’ (Arthur et al., 1999). Even so, most participants found ways of managing this ‘darker side’ suggesting that expatriates may be less ‘fragile’ than suggested by the literature on expatriate training and adjustment. Despite this relatively optimistic approach, however, it is notable that both transience and precariousness were still specifically identified as negative dimensions of self-directed expatriation. Unlike studies of expatriate managers (Tung, 1997) career and money were not dominant incentives to expatriation for the academics in this study. This finding might be explained by the differences between the salaries and benefits packages expatriate academics might expect compared to those of expatriate managers/corporate executives. Indeed, participants in this study said they received far less than corporate expatriates on an overseas assignment. Moreover, with the exception of those in the United Arab Emirates, some commented that they were earning the same or only a little more than when they were working in Britain. Regardless of how it maps out in practice, the rhetoric of overseas experience as a criterion for promotion in the corporate arena may explain why it is a dominant incentive for corporate executives (Tung, 1997). In the academic arena, its perceived role in career development may be less embedded and/or rewarded. This may be due to the widespread understandings of academic careers as characterized by flexibility and individually determined proxies for success. Indeed, as this study suggests, although
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academic careers are also framed by organizationally determined criteria for success, they do not seem to influence the decision to expatriate. Although individual proactivity dominated the decision to expatriate, participants drew on organizational/structural criteria to explain how their decision to expatriate would benefit their careers. In a few cases, expatriation had already contributed to significant career development. Moreover, as indicated in Appendix B, there was widespread perception that internationally experienced faculty could make a positive contribution to their host institutions. While on-going employability (a key theme in new career discourse) underpinned most evaluations, they were embedded in explicit awareness and reference to two caveats. Both caveats reflected institutionally determined criteria for career success: where the experience was gained and the kind of activities undertaken. This finding points to the influence of institutional demands and the role of the ‘‘observer’’ in illuminating a certain tension between self-directed expatriation and institutional demands. It also suggests that the relationship between international experience and career development is complex and multi-dimensional. This complexity is especially apparent in the anxiety that the younger participants and those at the beginning stages of their careers felt about the impact of their expatriation. Given the disappointment and disillusion reported by some expatriate managers returning after an overseas assignment, it may well be that this anxiety is indeed wellfounded. The paper contends that expatriate academics and indeed academic careers more generally, reflect both traditional and new conceptions of career. This both challenges and supports the organizational focus of the expatriate management literature and recent career theory which accords primacy to individual interpretations and career self-management (Dany et al., 2003). In effect, it suggests that the two literatures offer complementary understandings of this form of self-directed expatriation. 6.1. Limitations of the study The accounts presented here describe each participant’s decision to expatriate and their respec-
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tive evaluations of expatriation. Yet, each participant’s account is only one of many possible versions. The study’s approach to sampling and data analysis is also a limitation in that selection of host country was, to some extent, based on personal contacts that facilitated access. Finally, given that the study focuses solely on British expatriate academics, the findings presented here may not apply to other nationalities.
6.2. Practical implications The participants in this study believed that their international experience would enhance their career development. Yet, Mestenhauser (1996) and Knight (1996) suggest that this may not be true. In order to resolve this contradiction, tenure and promotion policy documents should clearly reflect the value attributed to international experience and the specific criteria required for it to be considered valuable. Given the ‘self-management’ dimension of academic careers, such a move would support individual career development and allow for more transparent recruitment and promotion practices. The same might be said of other organizational contexts where other groups of expatriates such as engineers and medical professionals would have a clearer idea about the value of their international experience. Finally, universities would also benefit from bearing in mind the range of incentives to expatriation described here and incorporating them into hiring practices. Given the paucity of research on self-directed expatriates, there are many other avenues to explore. Turning first to academic careers, further research might explore the extent to which the perceptions reported here are correct. This might be achieved by targeting individuals involved in faculty recruitment and tenure and promotion decisions. In order to develop a broader understanding of self-directed expatriation more generally, further research might also explore the experiences of other self-directed expatriates. It might also build on some of the similarities and differences identified here between expatriate academics, other types of self-directed expatriates and those sent on an overseas assignment by their corporate employer.
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Appendix A Tree of themes emerging from research question: why do academics choose to expatriate?
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Appendix B Trees of themes emerging from research question: what role does expatriation play in career development?
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