Selecting expatriate managers: key traits and competencies

Selecting expatriate managers for an international assignment has been hindered not just by a lack of empirical studies testing construct predictors, but more importantly, by a lack of clearly defined traits and competencies that can, in the first place, be introduced as construct predictors of success. This lack of clarity is largely owing to small variations in semantic differences in describing success factors rather than any conceptual differences in the factors themselves. This review article makes the distinction between stable personality factors, and core behavioural competencies in the development of construct predictors based on recurrent themes within the literature. Three personality attributes of low neuroticism, moderate extroversion, and high openness to experience, and four core expatriate competencies of relational ability, cultural sensitivity, linguistic skill, and ability to handle stress, are identified as crucial selector variables over and above factors typically taken into account in a domestic selection decision.