The impact of HRM, perceived employability, and job insecurity on self‐initiated expatriates’ adjustment to the host country

• Author: Steve Williams,Nele De Cuyper,Peter Scott,Rita Fontinha
• Published date: 01 November 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/tie.21919
• Date: 01 November 2018

THE CHANGING NATURE OF EXPATRIATION

The impact of HRM, perceived employability, and job

insecurity on self-initiated expatriates’adjustment to the host

country

Rita Fontinha

1

| Nele De Cuyper

2

| Steve Williams

3

| Peter Scott

3

1

University of Reading, Henley Business

School

2

KU Leuven, Research Group Work,

Organizational and Personnel Psychology

3

University of Portsmouth Business School

Correspondence

Rita Fontinha, University of Reading, Henley

Business School, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6

6UD, United Kingdom.

Email: r.fontinha@henley.ac.uk

Career-oriented human resource management (HRM) practices are likely to facilitate self-

initiated expatriates’adjustment to the host country. This may happen because these practices

could boost one’s professional development and lead to different types of career security (job

security and employment security), which were probably missing in their home country and

may be important elements to adjust to the host country. Quantitative survey data from

234 Portuguese self-initiated expatriates in the United Kingdom were analyzed via structural

equation modeling. Results demonstrate that career-oriented HRM practices are positively

related to adjustment to the host country. These practices are also positively related to per-

ceived job security and perceived internal employability, an indicator of employment security,

but these latter variables were not significantly related to adjustment to the host country.

These results suggest that career-oriented HRM practices are indeed relevant for the adjust-

ment of self-initiated expatriates, but not necessarily because they increase career security.

Further analyses positively correlated adjustment to time intended to remain in the host

country.

KEYWORDS

adjustment, human resource management, perceived employability, perceived job insecurity,

self-initiated expatriates

1|INTRODUCTION

Geographic mobility is becoming an increasingly prevalent feature of

contemporary careers. Many individuals move due to international

assignments arranged by the organizations they work for, whereas a

large number of others move on their own initiative (Jokinen, Brew-

ster, & Suutari, 2008). In this study, we focus on self-initiated expatri-

ates (SIEs), individuals who themselves make the decision to live and

work abroad (Peltokorpi & Froese, 2009; Selmer & Lauring, 2010;

Tharenou & Caulfield, 2010). The key distinction between SIEs and

organizational or assigned expatriates is the initiative for the move

(Cerdin & Selmer, 2014). We focus on the particular case of Portu-

guese SIEs in the United Kingdom, whose move was an individual

choice but is likely to have been influenced by the recent economic

crisis. The willingness to have an international experience,

new experiences, professional development, career progress, and

economic benefits (Suutari & Brewster, 2000) would be important

drivers of geographical mobility, together with the search for better

job opportunities, given that many SIEs may experience a lack of job

and employment security in their home country (Cerdin & Parg-

neux, 2010).

Adjustment to the host country is particularly relevant, as it is

positively associated with favorable attitudes and performance

(Hechanova, Beehr, & Christiansen, 2003), which are important out-

comes for both individuals and organizations. We aim to understand

how career-oriented HRM practices implemented by organizations

where SIEs work can lead to a better adjustment to the host country.

We intend to do this by investigating job (in)security and employabil-

ity as factors that may drive the process toward adjustment. These

factors may be particularly relevant for SIEs, because it seems reason-

able to assume that they may be seeking job and employment

security.

DOI: 10.1002/tie.21919

Thunderbird Int Bus Rev. 2018;60:861–871. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/tie © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 861