Self-Initiated Expatriates in Context: Recognizing Space, Time, and Institutions(Routledge Studies in International Business and the World Economy)

This edited volume builds on the previously published Self-Initiated Expatriation: Individual, Organizational, and National Perspectives, which served to give in-depth insights into the concept and the processes of self-initiated expatriation and presented different groups undertaking self-initiated foreign career moves. While more than a hundred articles on self-initiated expatriation (SIE) have been published in the meanwhile, an examination of the research questions and samples of SIEs in published SIE research shows that the role of context and its impact on SIEs’ career-related decisions and behaviors has not been explored sufficiently. This raises the question in how far existing research results are comparable. The aim of this follow-up volume is to deepen the understanding of SIEs’ careers, focusing on the contextual influences of space, time, and institutions on the heterogeneous SIE population. More specifically, the editors aim to shed light on spatial conditions in terms of the home and host country conditions on the self-initiated expatriation experience and examine developments over time in terms of temporality of conditions and SIEs’ life-course. Moreover, the influence of the institutional context in terms of occupational, organisational, and societal specificities will be analysed. All chapters are based on strong theoretical foundations that serve to conceptualise "context" and are written by both established and emerging global academics and researchers. Self-Initiated Expatriates in Context contributes to conceptual clarity in the burgeoning field of SIE research by drawing attention to the importance of exploring context and, thus, boundary conditions to careers. It offers specific guidance for an improvement of future SIE-related research in order to enhance the validity of future empirical studies as well as for an improvement of managerial practice. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in the fields of international business, human resource management, organisational studies, and strategic management. Chapters 1, 4, and 12 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: Recognizing space, time, and institutions in self-initiated expatriation research PART I – SPACE AS A CONTEXT FACTOR INFLUENCING THE SELF-INITIATED EXPATRIATE EXPERIENCE 2. "Home County" in studies of self-initiated expatriates 3. The impact of host country characteristics on self-initiated expatriates’ career success 4. Cultural distance and self-initiated expatriates’ willingness to relocate - A research agenda 5. The influence of language on self-initiated expatriate experience PART II – TIME AS A CONTEXT FACTOR IN SELF-INITIATED EXPATRIATES’ INTERNATIONAL CAREER 6. The long-term effects of self-initiated international assignments on future careers of assignees 7. Self-initiated expatriates at different life and career stages: The meaning of families and their impact on the expatriation and repatriation experiences of self-initiated expatriates 8. Self-initiated expatriate adjustment over time PART III – INSTITUTIONS AS A CONTEXT FACTOR IN SELF-INITIATED EXPATRIATES’ INTERNATIONAL MOBILITY 9. Understanding the organisational context: Self-initiated expatriate experiences in SMEs 10. Success of self-initiated expatriates: Different occupations, different realities? PART IV – OUTLOOK AND CONCLUSIONS 11. Self-initiated expatriates and the role of international human resource management 12. Conclusions

About the Author :
Maike Andresen is Professor of Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour at the University of Bamberg, Germany. Chris Brewster is Professor of International Business and Strategy at Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK. Vesa Suutari is Professor in the School of Management at the University of Vaasa, Finland.