...Rita Fontinha; Kate Hutchings; Washika Haak-Saheem; Michael J. Morley; Chris Brewster Purpose Self-initiated expatriates ( SIEs ) are relevant resources for multinational enterprises, but the topic of gender is often overlooked. This study aims to examine how psychological contract ( PC ) types...

...Phyllis Tharenou Purpose Skilled migrant (SM) and self-initiated expatriate (SIE) women play a key role in meeting skill shortages in advanced economies and could expect to advance as much as counterparts (e.g. native-born) based on their credentials. Instead, they are often marginalized, working...

...Saeed Turki Alshahrani Purpose Self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) literature is characterized by a narrow definition of SIEs and a lack of distinction between SIEs and other groups of international workers. This situation leads to a lack of a clear definition of SIEs. To improve understanding...

... the relationship between adaptive readiness, resources and responses by examining the relationship between protean career orientation, career adaptability and cross-cultural adjustment of self-initiated expatriates (SIE) and (2) it explores the moderating role of frequency of interaction that SIEs possess with HCN...

...Jasmin Mahadevan Purpose This paper shows the benefits of multi-sited ethnography for global migration studies in management, in particular when cosmopolitan self-initiated expatriates meet a local setting. Design/methodology/approach The author conducted a multi-sited ethnography to trace how...

...Yu-Ping Chen; Yu-Shan Hsu; Margaret Shaffer Purpose Drawing on the whole-life perspective of career development and the conservation of resources theory, the authors consider whether self-initiated expatriates' (SIEs’) cultural intelligence (CQ) is a general, cross-domain resource that helps SIEs...

...Aziz Madi; Abdelrahim Alsoussi; Omar M. Shubailat Purpose This research aims to replicate the work of Oberholster et al. (2013) on expatriation motivation through a generalization and extension replication. Additionally, it aims to contribute to the Self-Initiated Expatriates (SIEs...

...Chie Yorozu Purpose This research aims to see whether replication occurs with the focus on the Japanese HR system, following the latest studies on expatriate management in Japan. Whereas the total number of self-initiated expatriates has hugely increased in Japan, the high turnover rate is a big...

...Vanda Papafilippou; Christina Efthymiadou Purpose While there is vast research on expatriate adjustment, it is still known very little on how self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) in particular might cope with identity conflicts and how they engage with identity work. What is more, although...

...Liisa Mäkelä; Vesa Suutari; Anni Rajala; Chris Brewster Purpose This study explores whether expatriation type (assigned expatriates (AEs) versus self-initiated expatriates (SIEs)) is linked to job exhaustion via possible differences in required efforts for their jobs and the rewards they gain from...

...Eimear Nolan; Xiaoning Liang Purpose The last decade has seen a significant increase in self-initiated expatriation research across various cohorts; however, limited research exists on the self-initiated expatriation of medical doctors despite their high mobility rates. The purpose of this paper...

...Alexei Koveshnikov; Heidi Wechtler; Miriam Moeller; Cecile Dejoux Purpose Using social influence theory, this study examines the relationship between self-initiated expatriates' (SIE) political skill, as a measure of their social effectiveness, and cross-cultural adjustment (CCA). It also tests...

... three years. We then used content analysis to examine the main themes they address and identify the research gaps. Findings The most common themes addressed in the SIE literature are: analysis of the types and distinctions of SIEs, motivation to undertake self-initiated expatriation, SIEs...

...Jason Ryan; Sari Silvanto Purpose This study examines which dimensions of a business environment are most important for attracting globally mobile self-initiated expatriates to a country. The authors use secondary data from the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, IMD and the World Population...

... migrants' careers, we draw upon intelligent career theory to illuminate the recruitment and retention of self-initiated expatriates and skilled migrants in SMEs. With three SME case studies as samples–one micro, one small and one medium-sized organisation in Ireland–we consider the influence...

...Dirk Holtbrügge Purpose International human resource management research has only recently started to recognize the many millions of people who engage with the international labor market as low-skilled self-initiated expatriates. In contrast to company-assigned expatriates, they predominantly come...

... to take on self-initiated expatriates in spite of their rapid acceptance of them. This research, therefore aims to explore how international labourers have worked in Japan and how well they have really been fitted into the unique Japanese work environment, especially its HR system. Design/methodology...

...Diana Farcas; Marta Gonçalves Purpose The purpose of this paper is to inductively develop a model of cross-cultural adaptation for emerging adult self-initiated expatriates (SIEs). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 18 Portuguese emerging...

...Kowoon Kim; Mary Ann Von Glinow Purpose The purpose of this paper is to add to the understanding of the international work experiences of lesbian and gay self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) with a particular focus on the effects of different contexts on their disclosure decisions. In doing so...

... the differences in PC breach and violation for organisational expatriates and self-initiated expatriates (SIEs). Design/methodology/approach A survey questionnaire was developed covering 52 organisational expatriates and 119 SIEs from 35 countries/regions working in China. Four follow-up focus group...