Do three years make a difference? An updated review and analysis of self-initiated expatriation

Abstract

Self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) were initially described by Inkson et al. (J World Bus 32:351–368, 1997) as individuals who move abroad on their own volition, with personal funding, oriented towards development and career goals. After almost two decades of research, it is imperative to review the knowledge that has been developed and identify future areas of intervention. Doherty (Int J Manag Rev 15:447–469, 2013. doi:10.1111/ijmr.12005) initiated the review and this paper aims to update it and explore some unapproached aspects. Five different data bases were targeted and searched for peer-reviewed articles published in English, between 1997 and 2014, which recognized self-initiated expatriation as a distinguished form of mobility and used this terminology in the title and/or keywords list. A total of 94 articles met these inclusion criteria, 45 of which were published between 2012 and 2014. By systematically analyzing them, it was observed a surpassing growth in the number of published articles in the last 3 years. This signalizes an increase of the academic interest in studying the SIEs all over the world, involving bidirectional moves between developed and developing countries. The constructs identified by Doherty (2013) at the three different levels (micro, meso and macro) continued to be explored, using qualitative or quantitative approaches. Besides this, a multi-informant approach has been adopted in some studies, while others focused on concept clarification, taking into consideration some of Doherty’s (2013) suggestions for future research. Three years of research made an enormous contribution to the development of knowledge about SIEs, but some aspects can be further explored; hence they are identified and thoroughly discussed.

Intercultural adjustment challenges of Korean and Canadian self-initiated expatriates in the workplace: An exploratory bidirectional investigation

“…While a wide variety of empirical studies exclusive to SIEs is emerging, many studies seem to overlook the importance in understanding an SIEs' country of origin and relevant contextual factors in determining their adjustment process towards a foreign host-country culture. The results of a literature review by Farcas and Gonçalves (2016) suggest host-country language proficiency as a predictor of SIEs' adjustment, but the present study demonstrates how other contextual factors, such as job market demands, and prior cultural exposure play an even more essential role. Country of origin has also been found to moderate SIEs' intercultural adjustment (Waxin, 2004) and there is a broadening discussion in the literature highlighting its importance (see Makkonen, 2016;.…”

“…Understanding how contextual factors such as country of origin influences the adjustment process of SIEs to a foreign environment would benefit from bidirectional studies contrasting adjustment challenges of SIEs immigrating to each other's nation(s). For example, Farcas and Gonçalves (2016) suggest investigating how Portuguese SIEs experience working in Brazil (a Portuguese colony), but further insights could be gained by simultaneously investigating how Brazilian SIEs experience working in Portugal, and then contrasting the findings. To date, no research has employed such a bidirectional design investigating SIE's adjustment challenges in the workplace.…”

“…Attracting and retaining SIEs is a difficult task that requires an understanding of both the factors that lead to turnover and the policies and practices that can be adopted to prevent this loss of skilled labour. This research is particularly relevant where expatriation and globalization are constantly on the rise, the SIE literature is rapidly developing (Farcas and Gonçalves, 2016), and SIEs now comprise the largest segment of expatriates (Cerdin and Selmer, 2014). What follows is a literature review of research examining differences and similarities across SIEs and AEs, research exclusive to SIEs, and finally cross-cultural adjustment theory.…”

“…Such an understanding has implications for cross-cultural training efforts, foreign worker retention strategies and even individual career planning. Recent evidence suggests massive interest and exponential growth in this topic (Farcas and Gonçalves, 2016). For example, in their review of the SIE literature, Farcas and Gonçalves (2016) found that the number of articles published on SIEs during the 3-year period of 2012–2014 was nearly equivalent to the number of articles published on SIEs in the previous 14-year period.…”

“…Recent evidence suggests massive interest and exponential growth in this topic (Farcas and Gonçalves, 2016). For example, in their review of the SIE literature, Farcas and Gonçalves (2016) found that the number of articles published on SIEs during the 3-year period of 2012–2014 was nearly equivalent to the number of articles published on SIEs in the previous 14-year period. These authors also observed an expansion in geographical interest to countries within Asia and the Middle East.…”