In human resource management (HRM) and career research, the focus has typically been on traditional expatriates (e.g., Mayrhofer, Sparrow, & Zimmermann, 2008). Even though alternative forms of international mobility, such as flexpatriates (i.e., frequent business travelers and international commuters; Mayerhofer, Hartmann, & Herbert, 2004), have become quite common, this trend still seems to be neglected in research (e.g., Harris, Brewster, & Erten, 2005). This empirical article presents career aspirations of Austrian flexpatriates as well as perceived consequences of frequent flying on future careers, private life, and well‐being. The results are compared with selected theoretical concepts from career and career‐success literature. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This empirical paper investigates how individuals conceptualize causes of career transitions, focusing on the three European countries of Austria, Serbia, and Spain in comparison to the USA and China. Collectively, these countries represent four separate cultural regions according to Schwartz. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of three occupational groups: business people, nurses, and blue-collar workers. Analysis of the data generates greater insight about the existence of both region-specific patterns as well as potentially universalistic tendencies regarding perceived causes of career transitions. Perceptions of internal (to the person) drivers of career transitions as activating forces are evident in all five countries. The overall results support contemporary notions of occupational careers that are highly individualized, a characterization strongly emphasized in the current career literature. In the European culture clusters, causes of career transitions are attributed internally and externally. China, representing the Confucian cultural region, stresses external causes for career transitions. By contrast, in the USA only internal attributions of causes are reported.

This qualitative study examines perceived meanings of career success across eleven countries. The results show that people define career success in ways that enrich and illuminate the basic dichotomy of objective and subjective career success and establish their relative strengths across countries. Juxtaposing our data with human resource management (HRM) practices, we contribute to the universalist versus contextualist debate in HRM by adding the career management angle. We shed light on the relative importance of cultural and institutional factors for HRM in the area of careers and add a global perspective to the discussion about agentic careers. In our discussion we offer practical suggestions for multinational companies including how to individualize HRM to address diverse views of career success.

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