Beyond the traditional linear view of international managerial careers: a new model of the senior female career in an international context

The focus of this paper is on the senior female international managerial career move in Europe. The study assesses an exclusively senior sample of 50 female managers who have made at least one international career move. It has taken as its starting point the unique perspectives and experiences of these senior female international managers. From their different perspectives and experiences, different assumptions about women in international management and female life‐style choices are arrived at. This study of senior females in international management makes a theoretical contribution to the analysis of gender and international human resource management, and to wider debates within the contemporary women in management and career theory literatures. The aims of the study were to develop an understanding of the senior female international career move in a European context in order to more fully understand both the covert and overt barriers that may limit women’s international career opportunities.