Wind of change brought by COVID‐19: Exploring the response and the new normal from the perspectives of Indian flexpatriates

Abstract

Drawing from the positive organizational change theory, this paper aims to explore how Indian flexpatriates responded to the change brought by the pandemic of COVID‐19 and what is the new normal according to them. Thematic analysis of 19 in‐depth interviews with flexpatriates from the IT industry revealed four explicit phases of change process – reflection, communication, collaboration, and transformation. Further, the analysis brought out four tenets of the new normal. First, it is time to blend physical and virtual work; second, the “personal” touch of Indians in international assignments is irreplaceable; third, working from home amidst the entire household being housebound is the new normal; and last, international travel will resume soon with some changed protocols. This is the first qualitative study combining the issue of global talent management with Indian flexpatriates vis‐à‐vis the impact of COVID‐19, the findings of which expand the positive organizational change theory and have important implications.

Global talent management in the “new normal”—Editors' special issue introduction

“…The article by Sengupta et al (2023) looks at how flexpatriates responded to the changes during the pandemic. The authors collect data from Indian IT firms and draw on the positive organizational change theory to highlight four tenets of the new normal: the blending of physical and virtual work; the “personal” touch of Indians in international assignments is irreplaceable; working from home is the new normal, and international travel will resume with changed protocols.…”

“…Short-term international assignments and self-initiated assignments are some of the arrangements that have become common over the last decade. The next two articles in the special issue provide insights into these arrangements in contemporary business settings.The article bySengupta et al (2023) looks at how flexpatriates responded to the changes during the pandemic. The authors collect data from Indian IT firms and draw on the positive organizational change theory to highlight four tenets of the new normal: the blending of physical and virtual work; the "personal" touch of Indians in international assignments is irreplaceable; working from home is the new normal, and international travel will resume with changed protocols.Merchant, Rao-Nicholson, and Iheikhena (2023) study the well-being of Nigerian self-initiated expatriates in Germany.…”

Small and medium‐sized enterprises and the COVID‐19 response: Global perspectives on entrepreneurial crisis management. By HamidEtemad (Ed.), Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. 2022, p 1‐415. ISBN: 978‐1‐80220‐576‐3

“…The book focuses on “the strategies [iSMEs] have deployed (or are currently deploying) to avoid possible demise and possibly to achieve a state better than before COVID” (p. xxxiv). Given the inclusion of “opportunity” in the definition of IE (Coviello et al, 2011), research on iSMEs' response to the crisis could include the entrepreneurial aspect of iSMEs' responses in developing new opportunities for creating a new future (Santos et al, 2021; Sengupta et al, 2022). For instance, opportunity creation and discovery theories (Alvarez & Barney, 2007) could be applied to explain all the different types of crises mentioned in Chapter 2 (pp.…”