Why are women left at home: are they unwilling to go on international assignments?

Why Are Women Left at Home: Are They Unwilling To Go On International Assignments? Linda K. Stroh Arup Varma Stacey J. Valy-Durbin

Increasing numbers of women may be climbing the corporate ladder, but when it comes to sending managers on overseas assignments, women are staying home. Is it that women are not interested in international careers, that for some reason companies are reluctant to send women abroad, or that women in foreign countries experience prejudice that prevents them from being effective on their jobs? Our results, based on an extensive survey of female expatriates and their supervisors, indicate that the key may lie in the significantly different views the women and their supervisors hold on the women’s interest in pursuing international assignments and in their expectations concerning the prejudice they are likely to encounter. In short, these parties typically do not openly discuss the issues surrounding this important management decision. In addition to presenting the results of our survey, this article discusses strategies to encourage companies to consider women for international assignments and that women can use to increase their chances of being considered. It also presents suggestions for future research.

I

ncreasing numbers of women may be climbing the corporate ladder, but when it comes to sending managers on overseas assignments, women are staying home. Despite increased opportunities for international assignments Linda K. Stroh, Institute of Human Resources & Industrial Relations, Loyola University Chicago, 820 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. Tel.: ⫹1-312-915-6609; Fax: ⫹1-312-915-6231. Arup Varma, Institute of Human Resources & Industrial Relations, Loyola University Chicago, 820 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. Tel.:⫹1312-915-6664; Fax: ⫹1-312-915-6231. Stacey J. Valy-Durbin, Ft. James Corporation, Deerfield, IL.

with the onset of globalization, women still only represent 14% of the expatriate workforce (Tung, 1998; Vance, Paik, & Semos, 1999). In light of the need to develop increasing numbers of global leaders, many corporations are beginning to question the seriously low number of female international assignees. Only by answering this question will human resource executives, managers, and the women themselves be able to work effectively to improve the situation. One major finding of our study is that female international assignees and their

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immediate supervisors view the female international experience very differently. We hope that in exploring these viewpoints, we will help reconcile these differences and ultimately improve female candidates’ opportunities for international assignments.

LITERATURE REVIEW Few studies have specifically explored the reasons the number of female expatriates is comparatively low. Of those studies that have addressed this question, most have investigated women’s interest in pursuing international assignments, whether companies are reluctant to send women on these assignments, and whether women encounter prejudices in foreign cultures that negatively affect their job performance (Adler, 1984a; 1984b; 1985; Hill & Tillery, 1992; Izraeli, Banai, & Zeria, 1980; Westwood & Leung, 1994).

ARE WOMEN INTERESTED ASSIGNMENTS?

IN

GLOBAL

Research indicates that the problem is clearly not one of desire. Women not only are as eager to go abroad as men but in some cases are more eager. Of a group of business students Adler (1984) surveyed, for example, 84% of the sample were interested in international assignments. Adler (1984) found no significant differences in the willingness of men or women to accept an international assignment. In another study, of undergraduate business students, the researchers found that women were more interested than 242 Journal of World Business / 35(3) / 2000

men (Hill and Tillery, 1992). The subjects in both Hill and Tillery’s and Adler’s studies indicated that the women saw the international assignments as presenting opportunities to gain knowledge about different cultures as well as to enhance their interpersonal skills. Additionally, in more recent research, Tung (1998) surveyed 409 male and female expatriates and also found no significant differences between male and female willingness to accept international assignments.

ARE COMPANIES RELUCTANT WOMEN?

TO

SEND

It is in the answer to this question that we begin to see the root of some of the problems we uncovered. Based on a survey of human resource professionals at 60 multinational companies, Adler (1984a) concluded that 70% were hesitant to choose women for international assignments. Among the reasons the executives offered were that women in dual-career relationships would find such assignments difficult and that gender prejudice would be a serious problem in the countries to which the women would be sent (Adler, 1984a). Izraeli, Banai, & Zeira (1980) added that the HR professionals were concerned that women would feel lonely and isolated and would be the victims of sexual harassment. More recent studies have focused on the role of gender bias in the workplace in preventing women from achieving equal consideration for international assignments (Chusmir & Frontczak,

Table 1 Comparison of Female International Assignees’ Perceptions and the Perceptions of Their Supervisors Female Int’l Assignee

Superviors

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

t test

1.67

.91

1.76

.83

⫺.80

3.78

1.09

3.59

.90

1.42

3.60

.96

3.27

.90

2.30*

16.97

3.98

13.80

3.86

5.54*

7.82

2.99

9.53

2.44

⫺4.03*

In general, women aren’t interested in going on international assignments. Women who are in dual-career relationships ACCEPT fewer international assignments than women who are single or living with non-working partners. Women who have children ACCEPT fewer international assignments than women who do not have children. Companies are hesitant to send women on international assignments.a Host country cultures disadvantage women.a *p ⫽ ⱕ.05; 1 ⫽ strongly disagree, 5 ⫽ strongly agree. a item means were summed.

1990; Westwood & Leung, 1994; Vance, Paik, & Semos, 1999). Chusmir and Frontczak (1990) have argued that qualified female employees may be getting overlooked because men make most of the decisions about whom to send and many hold traditional views and stereotypes about women in positions of international management. Not surprisingly, the result can be a selffulfilling prophecy (see Eden, 1990 for further discussion): qualified female candidates are likely to form negative attitudes about the likelihood of their being selected and, consequently, do not actively pursue international positions (Chusmir & Frontczak, 1990). ARE WOMEN AS SUCCESSFUL AS MEN INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS? As part of her groundbreaking work, Adler (1987) collected data on female ON

expatriates’ international experiences in several countries in Asia. Based on a survey of 52 female expatriates, she concluded that, in fact, the women did not experience prejudice. Rather, according to the women, local men behaved no differently toward them than toward male expatriates. The men appeared to view the expatriates first as representatives of their companies, second as Americans, and third as women. Research by Westwood and Leung (1994) supports Adler’s findings. In a study of female expatriates working in Hong Kong, Westwood and Leung found that a majority of women managers thought that their gender did not stand in the way of their successfully performing their jobs, as long as they were competent and professional. Other women have said that they thought that being a woman was actually an advantage on global assignments because it

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gave them higher visibility, enabled them to build stronger interpersonal relationships with clients, and enabled them to adapt better to life as outsiders (Taylor & Napier, 1996; Adler & Izraeli, 1994). This isn’t to say that there is no prejudice against women. Research indicates that there is, but it varies from country to country (Frontczak & Cateroa, 1988).

NEED

FOR

MORE RESEARCH

Although recognizing the knowledge gained from the research on women’s low representation in the international arena, the earlier studies clearly suffer from many shortcomings. For one, the samples for much of this research were composed of students with little or no international experience. For another, several of the studies were conducted when the number of female expatriates was significantly lower than it is today, therefore limiting the population from which a sample could be drawn. More significant, the opinions of a key group were missing completely from the data: the supervisors, usually men, who determine whether women will be considered for international assignments and who are critical in choosing who will be sent. Until now, their perspectives, especially compared with those of the women being considered, have been noticeably missing. Yet, without this important comparative information, our understanding of the issues surrounding the selection and success of women on international assignments would remain incomplete, seriously limiting our ability to make 244 Journal of World Business / 35(3) / 2000

recommendations to organizations regarding how to improve the situation.

BACKGROUND

ON

OUR STUDY

We were commissioned to conduct this study by a group for whom our topic is especially germane—the Executive Committee of the International Personnel Association (IPA). The IPA is a professional association of 60 of the top 100 multinationals in the U.S. and Canada. Our data were collected from the 60 member companies in the IPA by using detailed surveys. Represented companies were from a wide variety of industries (e.g., pharmaceuticals, consumer products, etc.) all of which compete widely in the global arena. Surveys were first collected from the IPA members themselves. This survey asked for general information about the size of the company’s expatriate population as well as its practices concerning how candidates were selected for overseas assignments and other related issues. In addition, we asked for the names of all female international assignees (defined as current expatriates, inpatriates, and repatriates who had returned to the company within the past 3 years), as well as their addresses, phone/fax numbers, or e-mail addresses. Of the 60 IPA companies we contacted, 44 responded for a response rate of 73%. Each company had from 10 to 1,723 international assignees (meanwomen⫽21; meanmen⫽230). The range of female international assignees was from 0 to 123. The consulting/ financial services industry had the highest percentage of women with interna-

tional experience, followed by the manufacturing/consumer products industry. In agreeing to participate in the study, each company allowed us to contact their female expatriates, repatriates, and inpatriates.

PROCESS

FOR

COLLECTING

THE

DATA

In addition to collecting company data from the IPA members themselves, we identified two other critical populations: female international assignees (defined as current expatriates, inpatriates, and repatriates who had returned from an international assignment within the past three years) and their supervisors. These participants all worked in one of the 44 multinational companies in the IPA. Included in the survey/ mailing to each female international assignee was a separate envelope for her supervisor. The researchers encouraged each female assignee to pass this envelope on to her immediate supervisor. Enclosed in the supervisor mailing was a three-page survey that asked many of the same questions as the survey for the female international assignee (wording changed, however, to reflect the supervisor’s perspective). It was up to the discretion of the female international assignee whether she passed the survey along to her supervisor or not. We recognize the potential positive response bias of this research design. However, one might legitimately surmise that the results, if they are biased at all, are biased on the conservative side (with “other” nonresponding supervisors, who were not given a survey by their female expatriate, presumably feeling

more different from their female subordinate than those who did in fact respond). Given that data from the supervisors in our study show that in over 70% of the cases, they were part of the selection decision team, and the obvious impact of the supervisor’s evaluation of the female expatriate’s performance, the direct supervisor’s perspective was an important perspective to include in this study design. A cover letter to both the international assignee and to her supervisor reinforced the confidential and voluntary nature of the study. In that cover letter, both the international assignee and her supervisor were guaranteed that all analyses would be based on composite aggregate data and that no one other than the research team would have access to this confidential data. Although we have taken every precaution to guard against company representatives giving socially acceptable responses (c.f., Tung, 1998), this design weakness should still be considered as a possible weakness to this study. A total of 567 surveys were sent to the female international assignees from whom we wished to collect data. Of these, 261 surveys were completed and received, yielding a response rate of 46%. Research would suggest this is an exceptionally high rate of return, given the international nature of this study and the obvious cross-national barriers to efficient survey administration (Black et al., 1999). A total of 78 completed surveys were received from the supervisors, for a response rate of 31% (this supervisor response rate is based on a percentage of those female expatriates who had responded to our survey, n ⫽

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261, and who therefore were potentially provided the opportunity to respond).

PROFILE

OF THE

RESPONDENTS

Female International Assignees Almost half (47%) of the female international assignees in our sample were single, and most (77%) were Caucasian; their average age was 38. On average, they had worked for their companies for 11 years. More than a third (38%) had an undergraduate degree; 36% had a master’s degree, and 10% had an advanced professional degree (Ph.D., J.D., M.D.). The female international assignees came from a variety of functional backgrounds and had been assigned to 38 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America. These included Angola, Argentina, Brazil, China, Canada, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, and Switzerland. Although most of the women (64%) were from the United States, a total of 31 native countries were represented.

SUPERVISORS Most of the supervisors were Caucasian (80%) men (88%), and most (75%) reported that they had some previous international experience. Their average age was 45 years. All of these supervisors were responsible for evaluating the performance of one of the female international assignees in our sample. 246 Journal of World Business / 35(3) / 2000

WOMEN ARE NOT INTERESTED GOING ON INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS

IN

To test this research question, subjects were asked how strongly they agreed or disagreed with the following three single item measures: (1) in general, women are not interested in going on international assignments; (2) women in dual-career relationships accept fewer international assignments than women who are single or living with nonworking partners; and (3) women who have children accept fewer international assignments than women who do not have children. Respondents were asked to indicate their answers to each item on a five-point Likert scale (1 ⫽ strongly disagree, 5 ⫽ strongly agree).

COMPANIES ARE HESITANT TO SEND WOMEN ON INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS This research question was measured using six items (alpha ⫽ 0.74 for the female assignees and 0.77 for the supervisors), which were also measured on a five-point Likert scale (1 ⫽ strongly disagree, 5 ⫽ strongly agree). Respondents were asked how strongly they agreed or disagreed with statements such as the following: (1) in general, companies are hesitant to send women on international assignments and (2) women who have children are offered fewer international assignments than women who do not have children. Responses to each item were summed.

HOST COUNTRY CULTURES DISADVANTAGE WOMEN This research question was measured using four items (alpha ⫽ 0.75 for the female assignees and 0.73 for their supervisors) and was also measured on a five-point Likert scale (1 ⫽ strongly disagree, 5 ⫽ strongly agree). Examples of these items include: (1) being female made it very difficult to adapt to the host country’s culture and (2) in general, host country nationals both inside and outside the company are prejudiced against female expatriates. Again, responses to each item were summed.

slightly fewer international assignments than single women or women who lived with nonworking partners. Finally, the third statement was aimed at determining whether the respondents believed women with children accepted fewer international assignments than women with no children. In this case, the means were significantly different and somewhat counterintuitive; the female expatriates felt more strongly that women with children were less likely to accept international assignments than women without children.

RESULTS

SUMMARY

Are Women Interested in International Assignments? To determine whether women want to go on international assignments, we compared the mean scores of the female international assignees and their supervisors using three items. The first statement was “Women are not interested in going on international assignments.” Our data showed that both the international assignees and their supervisors strongly disagreed with this statement. The second statement elicited the respondents’ thoughts on whether women in dual-career relationships are more or less likely to accept international positions than single women or women who lived with nonworking partners. There were no statistical differences in responses between the two groups of respondents. Respondents in both groups indicated that they thought women in dual-career relationships accepted

Our data seem to suggest that, in general, women are interested in and likely to accept international assignments. Data collected from the IPA membership as part of this study support this claim, as does other research (Brett & Stroh, 1995). Differences in interest and willingness to accept global assignments become apparent only when one evaluates the data for women with children, who are perceived as somewhat less likely than women without children to accept international assignments.

ARE COMPANIES HESITANT WOMEN ABROAD?

TO

SEND

This research question was measured using six items assessing companies’ hesitancy to send women on international assignments. In general, our data indicate that significant differences exist between the female international assignees and their supervisors. The su-

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pervisors appeared to believe more strongly than the women that companies do not hesitate to send women on international assignments. In this case, our findings seem to contradict those of Adler and others and emphasize the importance of collecting data from both female international assignees and their supervisors.

ARE WOMEN SUCCESSFUL ON INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS? This research question was measured using four items assessing the female assignees’ success while on assignment. Once again, our data show significant differences between the female assignees and their supervisors. In this case, the women believed more strongly than their supervisors that prejudice did not stand in the way of their success on international assignments; their supervisors were more likely than the female international assignees to think prejudice was an issue related to female international assignees’ success.

to assess whether the findings related to host country prejudice would differ between groups. Each female international assignee was assigned a “toughness” rating based on the difference between her culture of origin (as she defined it) and the toughness of the country to which she was assigned (per Hofstede’s model and the work of Caligiuri & Tung, 1999). This statistic provided an index for this measure. We found that women assigned to more culturally tough countries were more likely to perceive host country prejudice as a barrier to their effectiveness (r ⫽ 0.31, p ⬍ .01). However, we also found that for women in more culturally tough countries, the longer they were there, the less likely they were to think that the tough culture inhibited their effectiveness (r ⫽ -0.32, p ⫽ 00). The female international assignees’ supervisors did not distinguish responses (related to host country prejudice) based on the country of assignment of their female subordinates.

SUMMARY CULTURALLY TOUGH ASSIGNMENTS The research examining the effectiveness of female international assignees working in more culturally tough countries shows conflicting results (Caligiuri & Cascio, in press; Stone, 1991; Tung, 1998). Therefore, we also tested this research question. Similar to Caligiuri & Tung (1999), we used Hofstede’s (1980) well-known work on cultural toughness. We separated women into more or less culturally tough assignments (based on a five-point scale) 248 Journal of World Business / 35(3) / 2000

We found that women assigned to more culturally tough countries initially perceived prejudice to be a barrier to their effectiveness. However, the longer these women were on these assignments, the less they perceived prejudice to be a barrier to their success. We speculate that these same attitudes would be true for men as well; culturally tough countries are tough working conditions for both men and women. In the case of the supervisors, whether they believed that prejudice inhibited

the women’s success on the job did not appear to correlate with whether their subordinates were assigned to culturally tough or less tough countries.

discussion of results). This finding is similar to research examining supervisor and subordinate relationships that show same sex dyads’ perceptions are more similar than that of different sex dyads (Varma & Stroh, 1999).

DIFFERENCES IN PERSPECTIVES OF MALE AND FEMALE SUPERVISORS To examine this issue more closely, we re-examined our data by separating male and female supervisors. We reran all of our analyses to determine if the findings were gender-specific. That is, were female supervisors equally as likely as male supervisors to claim that organizations were willing to send females on overseas assignments and that host country nationals were prejudiced against female international assignees (and, thus have significantly different perspectives from the female international assignees’ in our study)? Interestingly, we found that there were no significant differences in the perspectives of the female supervisors and the female international assignees, but the significant differences noted throughout the results section remained constant between the male supervisors and female international assignees. The significant differences in our study appear to be a result of differences between perspectives of men and women regarding female international assignments. Female international assignees and their female supervisors had similar views related to women on international assignments. Contrastingly, female international assignees and their male supervisors’ perspectives were significantly different from one another (and consistent with those noted in the previous

CONCLUSIONS This study is the first to compare the perceptions of female expatriates and their supervisors based on a large sample from a variety of multinational companies. The findings show several instances of significant differences in perceptions; perceptions that do not differ based on whether the international assignee is a U.S. expatriate, inpatriate, or repatriate. Although both the female international assignees and their supervisors agree that women are interested in pursuing international assignments, they do not seem to agree on other key issues. For example, the supervisors feel more strongly than the female international assignees that the company does not hesitate to send women on international assignments, and the female international assignees feel more strongly than their supervisors that prejudice does not limit women’s ability to be successful abroad. This is an especially important finding given that all the women in our sample had firsthand international experience and threequarters of their supervisors did as well. The finding may suggest that sex-role stereotyping may still be a problem for women on international assignments. Despite the significant gains women have made in management in the U.S., women are still “left at home” when it

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comes to international assignments (Black et al., 1999; Lefkowitz, 1994; Rowe and Snizek, 1995; also see Basu, 1995 for discussion of progress of women around the world). From the perspective of our female international assignees, our results clearly suggest that host country prejudice may be less of a problem for females on international assignments than past research has claimed (Izraeli, Banai & Zeira, 1980; Stone, 1991). Furthermore, similar to findings of Tung (1998), this study suggests female international assignees are effective in culturally “tough” countries. Female expatriates were perceived as being effective regardless of the cultural toughness of the host country. These findings become even more relevant when we are reminded that, in this study, it was up to the discretion of the female international assignees whether they gave their supervisors the survey. As noted in our methods section, this research design has the potential for “positive response bias,” suggesting that those supervisors who were not given a survey could conceivably have even more different perspectives than those supervisors who did respond (different, that is, from the female international assignees in this study). In other words, the views of those supervisors who were not asked to respond would probably have diverged more dramatically from those of their female subordinates than those supervisors who did respond. It is important to acknowledge, however, that some supervisors may have simply chosen not participate in the study. 250 Journal of World Business / 35(3) / 2000

It is equally important to note that there were no significant differences in these findings based on whether the international assignee was a U.S. expatriate, inpatriate, or repatriate. Yet, interpreting the effect of these differences in perspectives is difficult. Supervisors claim that their companies are not hesitant to send females on international assignments but behave in ways that are inconsistent with this claim (as evident by the low numbers of female international assignees and the high acceptance rate of those females who are asked to go). It is not unreasonable to assume, therefore, that supervisors also discourage women, however tacitly, from pursuing careers that require accepting international assignments. For example, a representative quote from one female international assignee: When my immediate supervisor first informed me of the possibility of an international assignment, he reminded me that . . . (spouse’s name withheld) would have a difficult time being a “trailing spouse.” He repeated again and again that I shouldn’t undervalue the difficulty my spouse would have during this assignment. I really got the feeling that he didn’t think I should accept the assignment. I’m glad I didn’t trust his advice. One can readily see how the stereotyping noted above could have a negative effect on women’s decision to accept an international assignment and result in a “self-fulfilling prophecy” (Eden, 1990). As noted earlier, Chusmir and Frontczak (1990) claim that qualified women may be overlooked for crucial international assignments because men make most of those decisions and

often hold traditional views and stereotypes about women in international leadership. Not surprisingly, the result can be a self-fulfilling prophecy (see Eden, 1990 for further discussion): qualified female candidates may form negative attitudes about the likelihood of their being selected and, consequently, may not actively pursue international positions (Chusmir & Frontczak, 1990). Further, the practice (intentional or incidental) of selecting only small numbers of women for international assignments may be contributing to the already existing workplace phenomenon known as the “glass ceiling” (Heneman, Judge, & Heneman, 1999), whereby one finds fewer and fewer women the higher one looks in the organizational hierarchy. Although women have made significant inroads into middle management, upper management is still predominately male. Women continue to face internal, as well as societal and government barriers, to corporate advancement (Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, 1995). Of these internal barriers, one that is clearly relevant in the context of our findings is that women have “little access to informal networks of communication.” In several instances, the supervisors in our study showed significantly different perspectives than the female international assignees, suggesting perceptual differences that may work to disadvantage women’s probability of being selected for an international assignment. If women do not understand their companies’ policies and practices regarding international assignments, and their supervisors have different perspectives re-

garding their ability to be successful on an assignment, the women may likely find it difficult to make their eagerness to pursue such assignments known. In addition, the low number of women who are and have been on international assignments suggests there are also limited role models for women who are interested in pursuing international assignments. Once again, it is easy to ascertain how potential female candidates could form negative impressions about the likelihood of their being selected for an international assignment. Accordingly, if companies hope to improve their awareness of which employees are interested in international assignments, they must first focus on improving the strategies whereby they determine interest among the potential candidate pool. IMPLICATIONS FOR ORGANIZATIONS What are the implications if these differences in perceptions continue? At the most basic level, we can assume that qualified women may continue to be left out of the pool of candidates being considered for international assignments. As a result, the probability of choosing the best candidate may also be diminished. This, in turn, could lead to ongoing unsuccessful or only modestly successful international projects and assignments and seriously limited careers. RECOMMENDED ACTION STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZATIONS Although “improving women’s access to informal networks of communi-

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cation” sounds like a general guideline, in fact, several specific action strategies are necessary: 䡠 Companies need to make a commitment to “walk the talk” and provide international relocation opportunities for all eligible employees, both male and female. 䡠 Companies need to ensure that their recruitment and selection policies encompass women for all home-based and international assignments. 䡠 Companies need to develop formal mechanisms, such as feedback sessions and performance appraisals, that actively solicit women’s opinions regarding the international assignment (from selection to repatriation) so as to improve on their selection and support policies. 䡠 Companies should be encouraged to use the data we gathered as reference points for evaluating their policies and practices pertaining to the selection of candidates for expatriation. The hope is that companies will then create strategies so they can improve their procedures as necessary. The responses of both the supervisors and their subordinates should be extremely helpful in developing the combination of policy elements that will best meet the needs of current and prospective international assignees. 䡠 In that their supervisors may discourage women from pursuing international assignments, albeit subtly, women need to be encouraged to speak directly to expatriates who have firsthand experience in working in the country to which they might be sent. These international assignees can provide the 252 Journal of World Business / 35(3) / 2000

most realistic picture of the limitations, if any, other women are likely to face. 䡠 In that a woman’s supervisor largely determines whether she will be sent on an international assignment (Harris, 1993), companies need to work more actively to prevent supervisors from basing selection or recruitment decisions on preconceived and perhaps false notions. 䡠 Companies need to better let employees know the value they place on international assignments, and again, perhaps more important, “walk the talk,” so that those women interested in climbing the corporate ladder will understand the steps necessary to get there. 䡠 Companies need to establish focus groups of dual career employees to assist them in developing ways to bridge the gaps in perceptions between supervisors and women employees regarding the extent to which being in dual-career relationships, or just being female, affects whether one is offered or selected for global assignments. 䡠 Companies need to gain support from corporate headquarters to assist in attracting, developing, and retaining talented women for international assignments.

RECOMMENDED ACTION STRATEGIES FOR WOMEN Women also have to take responsibility for improving their chances of being selected for international assignments. 䡠 Women have to clearly communicate their interest in being considered for these assignments as well as why

they are well qualified to undertake them. 䡠 Women need to be forthright in asking for the criteria that are used to make selection decisions. 䡠 In communicating with their supervisors, women should openly discuss the areas that often represent differences in perceptions between them. The findings of this study indicate that although companies seem to be overcoming some of the resistance to sending women overseas, supervisors still harbor many prejudices against sending women that ultimately negatively affect their careers. It can be assumed, therefore, that the improvement women are making can be attributed to their own active attempts to reverse patterns of discrimination and express an interest in pursuing international opportunities.

SUGGESTIONS

FOR

FUTURE RESEARCH

Additional research needs to track the progress women make in the international business arena, especially as international assignees. Specifically, research findings reported by groups such as Windham International and the National Trade Council (that have projected that in the year 2000 women will represent one-fifth of the total expatriate population) may be seriously inflated. Clearly, future studies need to determine whether significant improvement has occurred in the representation of women on international assignments. Similarly, the impact of dual-career relationships should be monitored to determine whether, as predicted in the current literature, career-related issues

become an increasing concern for men considering international assignments. Future studies should focus on changes in the perceptions of female international assignees and their supervisors. Given this study only collected data from female international assignees, a study using a matched sample of male expatriates would also further strengthen this area of research. Such a study could also address the following unanswered questions: 䡠 What role, if any, does the gender of a prospective international assignee or the gender of his/her supervisor play in how international assignments are perceived and in who is selected for an international assignment? What are the ultimate effects of gender on their careers? 䡠 How do perceptions of the international experience differ between women who have and have not gone international assignments? Answering these questions should help both men and women better understand the decision to accept or not accept an international assignment. Further research should also help companies determine the changes they need to make to ensure that female candidates for international careers are treated equitably and fairly. Acknowledgments. This is an IPA sponsored research study. Special thanks go to the IPA Wexecutive Committee: Chair, Sven Grasshoff, Citibank, N.A.; Glen Anderson, Ford Motor Company; Matt Ashe, Executive Consultant to the IPA; Bill Edgley, Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp.; Michael Gordon, Texaco; Larry Olufsen, IBM

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Corporation; Bob Maheu, Alcan Aluminum LTD; Jim Pilarski, Marriott International; Raj Tatta, PricewaterhouseCoopers; Linda Watson, Ernst and Young; and Bill Yadlosky, The Coca Cola Company. Thanks also to Loyola University Chicago, the Institute of Human Resources and Industrial Relations for their financial support of the study.

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