Expatriate career intentions of women on foreign assignments and their adjustment

Abstract

Despite an increasing demand for international executives, only the most determined women may get assigned abroad. Will this resolve for a career abroad also help them to become successful in their foreign assignment? To answer this question, Western female business expatriates in Hong Kong responded to a mail survey about their expatriate career intentions and their international adjustment. Controlling for the time they had been assigned to Hong Kong, the results show that the more determined the women are to pursue an expatriate career, the better is their interaction adjustment. This is a fundamental finding, as both the other two dimensions of sociocultural adjustment, general adjustment and work adjustment, are based on interpersonal interactions. Implications of these findings for globalizing firms as well as for their female employees are discussed.

Citation

Selmer, J. and Leung, A.S.M. (2003), "Expatriate career intentions of women on foreign assignments and their adjustment", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 244-258. https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940310465252