Purpose -This paper aims to offer a critical review of how self-initiated expatriation (SIE) is theorized compared to migration in the management literature and to indicate venues for future research on SIE. Design/methodology/approach -A systematic review has been conducted using the ISI Web of Knowledge database as well as ABI/INFORM in order to include key journals in the management field. Findings -Despite the importance of present theorizations on SIE, the authors show that the literature presents a narrow focus on the most privileged of self-initiated expatriates and presents some important knowledge gaps. In order to fill these gaps, the authors propose a research map for future research on SIE. This map includes four key dimensions. These are: diversity-informed research on SIE; context specific and multilevel understanding of SIE; reflexive approaches to SIE; triangulated methods to studying SIE. Research limitations/implications -By proposing a research map with theoretical and methodological implications, this paper increases our understanding of SIE. It offers a guide for future research on SIEs. Practical implications -Research on self-initiated expatriation needs to be more inclusive and critical in terms of studying the diverse human resources in our contemporary societies. Originality/value -The paper indicates how research on self-initiated expatriation can become more developed in terms of its theorizations. Furthermore, it proposes a research map for future studies on SIE that is reflexive, relational, diversity-informed, and methodologically-triangulated.
A central issue for understanding skilled migration in the management literature is human capital. This emphasis ignores other important forms of capital mobilization that skilled migrants from developing countries deploy in dealing with the barriers to their international career mobility. There is therefore a need to develop a holistic understanding of capital mobilization of skilled migrants. In order to develop a more holistic picture, we deploy a relational and multilevel perspective to explore how skilled migrants from developing countries mobilize capital in their efforts to undertake an international career. Career is a central construct in this study. Drawing on a qualitative study of skilled Lebanese in Paris, the paper offers two main contributions to the research on human resource management, in particular to the literatures on skilled migration and self-initiated expatriation. First it extends our understanding of the strategies that skilled migrants use to relocate from a developing country to an industrialized country. Beyond the traditional human capital perspective, it offers insights about migrants' capital mobilization experiences of undertaking international mobility. Second, using Bourdieu's theory of capital, it offers a relational explanation of their capital mobilization in a way to encompass micro-individual, meso-organizational and macro-contextual influences that affect their career choices.
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