Expatriate vs locals: career management processes and relevant factors in multinationals

• Autor(a) principal: Veríssimo, Tiago Manuel Gaspar
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/4032
• topic: Career support; International assignment Success; International adjustment; Individual and organizational characteristics; Apoio na carreira; Sucesso no destacamento internacional; Ajustamento internacional; Características individuais e organizacionais

The aim of this investigation is to determine in what extent the individual and organizational factors are liable for the motivation intensity and for the expected success of an international assignment. Therefore, we also cleared the variables that can influence these behaviours and create a higher perception of success in which concerns employees on an international assignment. Survey data were collected from 130 non-expatriates and from 32 expatriates (from which only 18 were still on an international assignment) through survey questionnaires. The results show that the individual and organizational factors influence the motivation intensity and the expected success of an international assignment. Additionally, both individual and organizational factors are influenced by individual and organizational characteristics (respectively). In the individual characteristics the factors with more relevance are the highest educational level, the marital status (married or living with someone) and the foreign language – English. All organizational characteristics showed a significant impact on organizational policies, being the latter presented as good predictors of motivation intensity and expected success. The implications of our findings intend to enhance and alert multinationals of their practices regarding the expatriates, since the latter are an important part of the organization’s intellectual assets. Thus, it is important not only to support employees during an international assignment, but also to assure that all activities are well communicated inside the organization. Finally, companies should also understand the assignee motivation, the motivation related to family support and international adjustment on international assignments, since as we shall see this can provide companies’ benefits.