Adjustment in international work contexts: Insights from self‐initiated expatriates in academia

• Author: Barbara Agha‐Alikhani
• Published date: 01 November 2018
• Date: 01 November 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/tie.21928

THE CHANGING NATURE OF EXPATRIATION

Adjustment in international work contexts: Insights

from self-initiated expatriates in academia

Barbara Agha-Alikhani

University of Bamberg, Bamberg, German

Correspondence

Barbara Agha-Alikhani, University of Bamberg,

Chair of Human Resource Management and

Organisational Behaviour, Feldkirchenstraße

21, D-96045 Bamberg.

Email: barbara.agha-alikhani@uni-bamberg.de

This article uses an international sample of self-initiated academics (SIAs) in a Danish business

school to explore the stance of SIAs in international work contexts towards adjustment. Build-

ing on longitudinal data this contextualized case study gives insights into the specific case of

SIAs' perception and perceived relevance of adjustment processes. We present the findings

regarding definitions, domains and relevance of adjustment, the temporality and subjectivity of

adjustment and the specificities of adjustment in the academic context. The findings show that

adjustment was relevant to all of the respondents but with a clear focus on the work domain.

Furthermore, we found that subjective adjustment pressure increased over time and that the

decision to go abroad was clearly related to the necessities of the occupational context. Based

on the qualitative findings, a set of propositions for future research is developed that can be

investigated in future studies in order to enhance the understanding of adjustment in today's

diverse global mobility contexts.

KEYWORDS

academics, adjustment, global mobility, self-initiated expatriation

1|INTRODUCTION

For decades, global mobility research has been investigating expatri-

ates transitioning from one well-known cultural and organizational

context into another, and has conceptualized the cross-cultural

adjustment process of those individuals (Berry, 1997; Black, 1988,

1991; Furnham, 1987; Harrison, Shaffer, & Bhaskar-Shrinivas, 2004;

Hechanova, Beehr, & Christiansen, 2003; Searle & Ward, 1990; Suu-

tari & Välimaa, 2002; Tucker, Bonial, & Lahti, 2004; Ward & Kennedy,

1999). Since the seminal work on acculturation and adjustment

(Gullahorn & Gullahorn, 1963; Lysgaard, 1955; Oberg, 1960), many

contextual influences have changed and the research field of global

mobility is trying to keep up with the changing organizational and

societal developments that influence—and often simplify—global

mobility.

Today, working abroad is typical in many professions, and the

population of employees undertaking international work experiences

has changed significantly over the past few decades (Bonache, Brew-

ster, Suutari, & De Saá, 2010; Caligiuri & Bonache, 2016; Teagarden,

2010a). More and more people decide on their own that they want

to work abroad. Being rooted in a profession rather than a country,

and trying to find the best opportunity to work in a profession with-

out being limited by national borders, reflects the reality of many—

especially highly ski lled—individuals of our time. Wi th the idea of

“[t]he wor ld [as] a giant employment pool, where experience acquired

through constant global mobility is a vital asset”(McNulty, 2014,

p. 6) and technological possibilities enhancing the contact with

people at home and worldwide, individuals might think differently

about cross-cultural adjustment issues than they did when research

started to deal with glo bal assignments. As easier and more plentif ul

mobility possibilities change people's international experiences

(e.g., an international work-stay might not be the f irst international

experience of individu als anymore), this develop ment should also

change the way researcher s study traditional phen omena such as

cross-cultural adjust ment.

Due to easier and more individualized possibilities of interna-

tional work, research has started to focus on a special group of inter-

national employees: self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), individuals

deciding to look for work experience outside their home country on

their own initiative (Andresen, Bergdolt, Margenfeld, & Dickmann,

2014; Bonache et al., 2010; Dorsch, Suutari, & Brewster, 2013; Fitz-

gerald & Howe-Walsh, 2008; Suutari & Brewster, 2000). However,

DOI: 10.1002/tie.21928

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