Multinational enterprises continue to rely heavily upon expatriates as part of their global workforce. These expatriates, whose exact employment contract may take different forms, are assigned to help them develop global skills as well as to foster knowledge transfer. But managing this expatriate workforce is extremely complex, requiring a questioning of assumptions and sensitivity to new social and cultural dynamics. This book sets out to examine the problem of expatriate management through an I/O Psychology lens. Each chapter draws upon the expertise of scholars from around the world to provide insights into the latest research findings and remaining needs, pertaining to a wide variety of issues. The contributors of this book review the current state of the research of the issue at hand and then make recommendations for where the new frontiers of the research should be in the coming decades. This volume covers four sets of issues pertaining to expatriate management and global mobility in depth. First, the different decision points organizations must make about assigning someone to an overseas location for some period of time; second the different categories of employees in the multinational corporation and their unique characteristics and challenges; third, the various issues and implications of managing a globally mobile workforce; and fourth, the unique contexts of global mobility. Overarching future research themes are identified that lay out the research agenda for the coming decades. By bringing together key research, this book aims to help I/O psychologists understand, explore, and identify new ways of contributing to the understanding of the issues involved in managing an expatriate workforce. Incorporating state-of-the art I/O psychology research in this unique context bears the promise of yielding important new paradigms and practices.

The Asia-Pacific region is recognized as the fastest growing economic region in the world as well as one of the most difficult places for expatriates to work. Classical literature, modern popular entertainment, as well as academic studies often create an impression of Asia in the West which can encourage the formation of a set of expectations about working in Asia that hinder the expatriate adjustment process. This book provides conceptual frameworks as well as practical advice on working in the exciting and challenging environments found in the dynamic and diverse continent of Asia. - Identifies and describes the Colonial Paradigm and how it affects the perceptions of Western expatriates - Identifies and describes the phenomenon of the independent expatriate - Provides case studies to illustrate both the challenges and rewards of the expatriate experience in Asia

A conceptual frame work for examining strategic processes of utilization of expatriates Haitis development. 250pp

This book is among the first to theoretically and empirically examine what and how Western expatriate managers learn and develop from their international assignments in China. The book draws on literature associated with expatriate studies, experiential learning theory, and knowledge acquisition to develop an expatriate learning process model. Following on from this, the study then examines expatriate learning outcomes from four perspectives: learning style transition, adaptive flexibility, global mind-sets and managerial tacit knowledge. It enhances understanding of the cultural differences between Western countries and China as well as the kinds of learning strategies successful expatriates adopt in order to quickly adapt to intercultural business contexts. This book will appeal to international business practitioners and research fellows who are interested in international human resource management.

Master's Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,0, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg (International Management), language: English, abstract: This paper strives for investigating the phenomena of expatriates focusing on German expatriates in China. There are several reasons for this. Regarding the main destination of expatriates, which are mainly from Western countries, one third of all assignees have Asia as destination. In Asia, there are huge emerging markets to be explored by MNCs such as China where Western countries have spent FDI for decades already. China is at a “stage of dramatic transition towards a more market-oriented economy.” Moreover, the human resource management stands high on the agenda not only for foreign but also for Chinese companies expanding abroad. Regarding the conceptual framework it can be seen that much research is done exploratory with surveys and questionnaires, and there are also some case studies. This survey study will also have an exploratory character preparing the ground for following empirical research. However, this thesis concentrates on the evaluation of CVs that have been voluntarily uploaded in the internet. This method of analyzing résumés is seen beneficial particularly until now in the social sciences. This study therefore deals with two important, not yet sufficiently answered research questions: A) What is the typical demographical profile of a German expatriate in China? B) What is the typical career profile of a German expatriate in China, respectively what position and function he or she obtains in China? Chapter 2 deals with the conceptual part of data collection and how the data was processed. In the two chapters thereafter, the results of the study are presented by providing answers to the research questions. Chapter 3 clarifies the typical demographical profile of a German expatriate in China, whereas Chapter 4 highlights the working experience, respectively the typical job profile. Chapter 5 will then summarize the findings and provide outlook as well as recommendations for companies. The next subchapter, however, will start to provide a general outlook on the topic of managing expatriates touching the most important topics.

Since the 1990s, economic and cultural globalization has propelled the transnational mobility of managers and fueled cross-border careers. Some scholars have argued for the emergence of a new global business elite with cosmopolitan mind-sets and homogeneous lifestyles, while others have highlighted their disconnection from the local surroundings and their everyday life within national expatriate ‘bubbles’. Thus, the question of whether today’s mobile professionals can be described as interculturally open and competent cosmopolitans, or as pronounced anti-cosmopolitans, is still unanswered. Expatriate Managers and the Paradoxes of Working and Living Abroad considers a core protagonist of economic globalization and the management of MNCs through the lens of a practice-based theoretical approach whilst seeking to address this question by building on intensive ethnographic case studies of expatriate managers, most of them high-ranking executives, from two comparative different home countries, the US and Germany. These managers, together with their families, have been assigned to China, Germany, or the US to perform demanding coordination tasks within their multinational corporations (MNCs). Based on detailed accounts of expatriate managers’ experiences and everyday practices, the book reveals the multiple and sometimes paradoxical ways in which they deal with cultural differences as they build up new forms of working, belonging and dwelling. The findings suggest that the newly emerging mind-sets and lifestyles of expatriate managers transcend the polarized images of mobile elites as either cosmopolitan ‘global managers’ or parochial anti-cosmopolitans. Expatriate Managers and the Paradoxes of Working and Living Abroad examines the global elite from an everyday perspective, showing that understanding the dynamics of a global economy requires probing into the lifeworld’s agency and everyday arrangements of the social actors who are putting globalization into practice.

Focuses on the individual experiences of Western expatriates in China by merging academic knowledge and real-life testimonials given by interviewees. The author also draws on her own experience of living and working in China, to explore a range of challenges and opportunities met by Western expatriates.

'In the Research Handbook of Expatriates, Yvonne McNulty and Jan Selmer have created a seminal work that should be on the bookshelf of all social scientists who work in the field of expatriation. More senior scholars will appreciate the ''deep dive'' each chapter takes into the literature, each one acting as a reservoir they can draw from to powerfully inform their future research efforts. Doctoral students and newly minted PhDs will find this book to be especially valuable - the final chapter of the book alone provides inestimable career and ''how-to-publish'' guidance for them in the field of expatriation. The coverage of the history, construct, milieu, research methodologies, and issues is the best I have come across in a single volume in over 30 years of working in the field. In short, this is a monumental contribution to the study of expatriates and global mobility.' - Mark E. Mendenhall, University of Tennessee 'McNulty and Selmer's edited volume does a wonderful job of consolidating and integrating everything we know about expatriates and their different types. This long-overdue Handbook, featuring chapters by top researchers, lays a trail for scholars to further advance the study of expatriates.' - Joyce Osland, San Jose State University 'McNulty and Selmer's edited book of readings on virtually all aspects of expatriates deserves a prominent place in the library of researchers and practitioners interested in this subject. The Handbook provides a historical overview as well as the latest trends in expatriate studies and concludes with useful guidelines on how to conduct as well as improve the quality of research in this field.' - Rosalie L. Tung, Simon Fraser University, Canada Constituting a comprehensive and carefully designed collection of contributions, the Research Handbook of Expatriatesprovides a nuanced and up-to-date discussion of expatriates. Theoretically broad and groundbreaking, it offers important and contemporary insights into emerging areas of research warranting future consideration. Drawing upon a range of perspectives from the field?s most distinguished academics, contributions review the history of the literature in relation to expatriates, from the development of the expatriate construct through to the current state of research on business expatriates. Subsequent chapters progress into detailed examinations of the various types of business expatriates including LGBT, self-initiated expatriates, female assignees, inpatriates, international business travellers and commuters, and millennials. Other themes include expatriate performance, adjustment, expatriates to and from developing countries, global talent management, and expatriates? safety and security. The Research Handbook also covers expatriates in diverse communities such as education, military, missionary, sports and ?Aidland?, and provides additional commentaries relating to methodological issues, research with practitioners, case studies, biculturals and ATCKs, and global families. The Research Handbook concludes with publishing advice for PhD and early career researchers. Stimulating insightful new areas of study, this collection is a must read for academics and scholars in the field of expatriate research, international management, global human resource management and business administration. It also offers a wealth of guidance for executives and recruiters along with expatriates and professionals who may expatriate. Contributors: M. Andresen, C. Brewster, L. Care, J.-L. Cerdin, L. Clarke, D.G. Collings, M. Collins, A. Corbin, M. Crowley-Henry, M. Dickmann, H. Dolles, R. Donohue, C. Doss, B. Egilsson, A. Fee, K.L. Fisher, K.J. Hanek, A. Haslberger, T. Hippler, K. Hutchings, M. Isichei, J. Lauring, L. Mäkelä, R. McPhail, S. Michailova, M. Moeller, B. Oberholster