Journal of World Business 51 (2016) 127–141

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Journal of World Business

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jwb

Evolving and enduring challenges in global mobility

Paula Caligiuri a,*, Jaime Bonache b
a
Northeastern University, International Business and Strategy, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA
b
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Calle Madrid, 126, 28903 Getafe, Madrid, Spain

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: This article reviews the past 50 years of the science and practice of global mobility in organizations,
Available online 23 October 2015 highlighting the continuum of issues – from those that have endured throughout the decades to those
that have changed as a function of economic, competitive, and demographic trends. At this latter end of
Keywords: the continuum, the field of global mobility has seen dramatic changes in the strategic deployment of
Expatriation expatriates, changes in assignment types, and demographic changes in the profile of expatriates. These
International assignments are discussed in the first part of the article. In the second part of the article we review the issues which
Globalization have been impervious to change over the years. We draw upon recent evidence from the fields of
Global mobility
neuroscience and human development to examine two of the more enduring issues of global mobility:
the change in individuals’ competencies as a function of living and working in another country and the
personality characteristics and motivation related to expatriates’ success abroad. Taken together, these
enduring and evolving issues in global mobility have implications for future research and practice.
ß 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Global mobility, in the most simplistic sense, is when the past brought his non-working wife and the company’s way of
individuals and oftentimes their families, are relocated from one doing things. He would enjoy a generous compensation and
country to another by an employer, generally from a context of benefits package for the ‘‘hardship’’ of living in another country.
familiarity (a home country) to one of greater novelty (a host This homogenous group enabled numerous macro-level and
country) for a fixed period of time. These globally mobile micro-level studies from a common set of reasons for and
employees, also known as expatriates or international assignees, experience of expatriates.
have grown in importance as firms expand their global reach; as At the macro level, early global mobility research focused on
the number of a firm’s foreign subsidiaries grows so do, in many when and how expatriates foster a firms’ strategic growth globally.
companies, the number of expatriates working in them. Research At the micro level, researchers tried to understand the expatriates’
has recognized the importance of global mobility with the number challenges and responses along the international assignment cycle
of peer reviewed journal articles on expatriation increasing over from selection and training (Fiedler, Mitchel, & Triandis, 1971;
the past 50 years since the Columbia Journal of World Business Harvey, 1983; Hays, 1974; Tung, 1981), adjustment (Church, 1982;
published some of the first articles on this topic. Mendenhall & Oddou, 1985, 1986), compensation (Reynolds, 1972;
While the definition of global mobility has not changed, there Vivian, 1968) and repatriation (Harvey, 1982; Murray, 1973). This
are many aspects of expatriation that have, reflected in both macro and micro, research introduced before 1990, provided a
science and practice of the field. From the 1960s through the late- solid foundation for the field of expatriation by revealing the high-
1980s, researchers studying expatriates were studying a relatively level issues (e.g., strategy, selection) in the field of global mobility.
homogeneous group within organizations: senior executives from While the key issues have not changed over the decades, the
developed-country headquarters of large multinational corpora- context has changed dramatically as the commonalities among
tions (MNCs) sent abroad for a period of two to four years expatriates have gradually ceased to describe the bulk of
(Brewster, Bonache, Cerdin, & Suutari, 2014). They were mostly international assignments. In contrast to the earlier decades’
married men, senior in their organizations, who were sent to be ‘‘in uniformity, today’s picture of expatriation is one of diversity. The
charge’’ of a host country subsidiary. This prototypical expatriate of 2015 Brookfield Global Relocations Survey of global organizations
sending expatriates found that almost half (43%) of all company
expatriates are coming from non-headquarters locations and
* Corresponding author. that the second most frequently cited reason for sending
E-mail address: [email protected] (P. Caligiuri). expatriates is to ‘‘build international management experience/

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2015.10.001
1090-9516/ß 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
128 P. Caligiuri, J. Bonache / Journal of World Business 51 (2016) 127–141

career development’’, only slightly behind the first which is the ‘‘to 1. Evolving challenges of global mobility
fill a managerial skills gap’’. Married men comprise only 59% of
expatriates. Most of the current expatriates are under 50 years of The domain of human resource management (HRM) is always
age (82%) and 19% of them are female. Taken together, the picture affected by the context (Baron & Kreps, 1999), and the area of
of the current expatriate profile is a diverse one: individuals from global mobility is no exception. A number of economic, techno-
all countries (not just headquarters) are being relocated for a logical, organizational, and demographic changes in the business
variety of reasons (not just to lead subsidiaries). These individuals population over the last 50 years have had significant influence on
are from all levels in the organization and can be married or single, the research and practice in global mobility. The key features of the
male or female, young or more seasoned. evolution of the field of global mobility are summarized in Table 1
The most salient differences between the earlier and current and explored in greater detail in this section.
reality emerged due to geopolitical and economic changes,
advances in technology, communication, and global travel and 1.1. Changes in the strategic deployment of expatriates
organizational and demographic trends in the business population
(Cascio & Aguinis, 2008). These trends have affected the way In one of his last works before he passed away in 2009, the
expatriates are managed, valued, and supported. While the British economist John Harry Dunning (2009) summarized the four
number of changes over time have been numerous in the field major transformations that, from the 1990s onward, have led to
of expatriation, there are also some enduring issues stemming greater globalization. First, the fall of the Berlin Wall led to a
from the natural human response to relocation – from familiar transition to a market economy in many former Soviet-bloc
(home country) to novel (host country) – and the predictable countries. While still retaining a single-party state government,
patterns that result because of this change. In this sense, some that same model would also be followed by China, with the
expatriation issues are today as they were decades, if not centuries, ensuing impact this has had on the global economy. Second, the
ago. liberalization of cross-border markets encouraged regional economic
This article starts by comparing the picture of global mobility integration (e.g., NAFTA, AFTA, APEC, and the European Union) and
in early research to the picture emerging today. Specifically, we stimulated economic growth and accelerated international com-
highlight how broader contextual factors have produced mercial transactions among businesses and private individuals.
evolving issues of expatriation, namely: (1) changes in the Third, the digital revolution and the advances made in information
strategic deployment of expatriates, (2) changes in assignment technology and computing systems paved the way for all firms
types, and (3) changes in the profile of expatriates. We then (large and small) to embark upon greater innovation, and launch
integrate recent evidence from neuroscience and human into markets that had, in prior years, been inaccessible. And, fourth,
development to underscore how some issues, despite the major a dynamic increase in the international operations of firms from
differences in context, have been impervious to change over every part of the world. Large MNCs, which not only reinforced
time. They are: (1) the change in individuals’ competencies as a their international transactions, also increased their direct
function of living and working in another country and (2) the investment abroad, either through joint-ventures or with wholly
importance of personality characteristics and motivation for owned subsidiaries. New players also appeared on the economic
success abroad. We consider these issues of global mobility, both scene, such as new MNCs from developing countries, particularly
evolving and enduring, below. At the onset, however, we would in Asia, and small and medium-sized enterprises, some being ‘‘born
like to recognize that capturing every significant contribution in global’’.
the field of global mobility is well beyond the scope of this paper. These four historically concurrent changes ultimately ushered
Our goal, rather than being a comprehensive review of every in a much more competitive and globalized business reality. In the
article, was to share our perception of global mobility over the post 1990 reality, products and services, capital, technology, trade
past 50 years. and knowledge became interconnected. This new business reality

Table 1
Evolution of trends in global mobility.

Traditional approach (1960s to the late-1980s) Modern approach (1990s to Present)

Changes in the strategic deployment of expatriates

Reasons for expatriation  Control of subsidiaries  Knowledge transfer around MNC
 Fill skill gaps unavailable in host countries  Professional development of global leaders
Typical mobility flow  One directional flow from headquarters to subsidiaries  Mobility in all directions (e.g., lateral moves, reverse
 Mostly from large US, European, and Japanese headquarters expatriations)
 MNCs from emerging market and developing countries
Dominant perspective  Headquarters’ perspective was dominant  Multiple perspectives (headquarters, regional, local) are
considered

Changes in assignment types

Duration of assignments  Relatively long assignments (two to four-year period)  More traveling and short-term assignments
Employment modes  Relational contracts  Relational and transactional contracts
Initiating the global experience  The company requests employees to relocate  The company posts open requisitions for international
assignments
 The employees request opportunities for international
assignments

Changes in the profile of expatriates

Gender  Male executives  More female expatriates
Age and level  Middle-aged  All ages
 Senior level managers and executives  From all levels in the organization
Other  Single-income families  Dual career couples
 Non-working spouse  Elderly parents
 Non-traditional families
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