It is like floating in the sea and surrounded by the jelly fish, I am along by myself here without my family, I have no string and I am free.
The above narrative is from M, a single expatriate who moved to London three years ago to take on their first international assignment for a Taiwanese commercial bank. There are various reasons why an individual is willing to take on international assignments and search for job opportunities overseas whether they are male, female, married or single. If working abroad at a low skilled, professional or managerial position, many studies in the migration literature state that the attraction of significant financial gain, or mercenary-ism, is one of the main reasons for working abroad (mostly lower or unskilled positions) (MacKenzie and Forde, 2009 and McDowell, Batnitzky and Dyer, 2008). Expatriation literature has suggested that professionals also pursue international assignments to enhance their value as human capital (Silbiger and Pines, 2014; Loacker and Śliwa, 2016), other factors include the opportunity to travel and learn a new language (Alberti, 2014, Harrison and Michailova, 2012 and Larsen et al, 2005). Taking the notion of resistance and escape (Noon and Blyton, 2007) as an approach to survive at the workplace, we believe the acceptance of expatriation is also a form of self defence and physical retreat, demonstrating Exit behaviour (Naus, Iterson and Roe, 2007) as the individual leaves their home country.
A semi- structured interview method was adapted to explore the reasons why expatriates decided to take international assignments. A total of 29 interviews were conducted, 10 assigned expatriates and 19 self- initiated expatriates. The 10 assigned expatriates were all Taiwanese nationals from the financial sector (retail and commercial banking), had all been assigned placements at their London office and were working at positions of middle and senior management. The 19 self- initiated expatriates were foreign nationals choosing to relocate to the Gulf region, working in an array of sectors including education, aviation, construction and the health service. This diverse participant base had a wide range of nationalities, ranging from the Europe, South East Asia, North America and the Middle East. The expatriation experience from both groups of participants ranged from three months to more than twenty- five years.
From interview narratives, the reasons for expatriates taking on international assignments can be grouped into 4 accounts:
1) To escape work rules, policies, regulations and legislation. In some professions, work is highly regulated and this can impose tightly controlled and restrictive work practices (Zikic and Richardson, 2016). In addition to documented legislation, unwritten rules (at societal and organisational levels) can motivate individuals to seek change and look to escape from their workplace. Long working hours, conflicts of power and workplace politics can all contribute to a desire to leave the organisation at a local level but by accepting a placement abroad, the individual can still work within their chosen profession (Zikic and Richardson, 2016).
2) To abscond from societal expectations. This may arise due to the formation of social identity (Liversage, 2009). Some studies suggest expatriates would like to finish their international assignment to return to their home country and fulfil the social expectations (Yao, 2014), our study contradicts this and shows, if the individual has not fulfilled expectations to have a family and children, they see overseas opportunities as a route to resist or break their social expectations (Bjerregaard, 2014). This is particularly important when factoring the age of the expatriate.
3) Difficulty in adapting back to work patterns following repatriation. This is particularly stressed by expatriates who have worked on a number of different international assignments and placed in various countries. Readjustment back to their home country workplace culture (Mao and Shen, 2015) and have a quandary with their own cultural identity (Bjerregaard, 2014, Loacker and Śliwa, 2016) can motivate individuals to relist for further opportunities abroad.
4) Individual need for a life change (Larsen et al, 2005). Key moments in workplace or personal circumstance can prompt individuals to accept opportunities abroad to turn over a new leaf and make a fresh start. Intense political situations, escaping from compulsory military service or resistance to a demanding educational system (Kim and Froese, 2012) can all contribute to this driving force.
References
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