International Assignments for Career Building: A Model of Agency Relationships and Psychological Contracts

The Protean Career: Exemplified by First World Foreign Residents in Western Europe?

“…The boundaryless career concept developed from contemporary business realities in which careers are unfolding, where job insecurity and the feeling that "no job is for life" is paramount. That coupled with increased individualism and decreased loyalty to the organization, often because of a violation in the psychological contract (Yan, Zhu, and Hall 2002), has encouraged individuals to move interorganizationally in furtherance of their career. Recent research on international careers suggests a move toward the boundaryless career (Eby 2001;Stahl et al 2002;Tung 1998).…”

Linguistic gender marking gap and female staffing at MNC’s

“…Weber, Rachman-Moore, and Tarba (2012) pointed out that a sustainable competitive advantage might be attained through reducing conflicts with the help of transferring skilled manpower from parent firms to subsidiaries. From a managerial perspective, there is an internal principal-agent conflict, with headquarters viewed as the principal and the subsidiary in the role of the agent (O'Donnell, 2000;Yan, Zhu & Hall, 2002). In the context of an MNC, this raises a control problem for a parent firm that wants to ensure that a subsidiary's managers and board members act in the interest of the broader corporate enterprise (O'Donnell, 2000).…”

International Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 3, No. 10, October 2008

“…However, research also suggests that despite the perceived importance organisations do an insufficient job in developing these competencies in their employees (Black, Morrison & Gregersen cited in Vance, 2005, p.374) and that corporate expatriation practices are still far from successful, with failures brought about by various elements such as culture shock, adjustment problems, and the high financial costs involved (Yan et al, 2002). Moreover, the expatriate assignment literature highlights the career de-stabilising tendencies of the international assignment because of the high turnover rates on repatriation (Paik et al, 2002;Lazarova & Cerdin, 2006;Carr et al, 2005;GMAC, 2005;Yan et al, 2002).…”

“…The rise in academic research on expatriation and repatriation (Paik, Segaud & Malinowski, 2002;Lazarova & Cerdin, 2007) issues are indicative of the changes in the realities of the labour market today and point towards the realization of international organisations of the necessity to formulate global strategies, in order to maximise their use of talented human resources (Black & Gregersen, 1999;Selmer & Leung, 2003 a). The concept of global careers is a relatively recent concept to gain academic interest (Thomas et al, 2005) and scholars will agree that international organisations today, as they compete in a more globally connected market place (Tarique et al, 2006;), place significant importance on the global competencies of job candidates (Vance, 2005;Yan, Zhu & Hall, 2002). However, research also suggests that despite the perceived importance organisations do an insufficient job in developing these competencies in their employees (Black, Morrison & Gregersen cited in Vance, 2005, p.374) and that corporate expatriation practices are still far from successful, with failures brought about by various elements such as culture shock, adjustment problems, and the high financial costs involved (Yan et al, 2002).…”

“…The concept of global careers is a relatively recent concept to gain academic interest (Thomas et al, 2005) and scholars will agree that international organisations today, as they compete in a more globally connected market place (Tarique et al, 2006;), place significant importance on the global competencies of job candidates (Vance, 2005;Yan, Zhu & Hall, 2002). However, research also suggests that despite the perceived importance organisations do an insufficient job in developing these competencies in their employees (Black, Morrison & Gregersen cited in Vance, 2005, p.374) and that corporate expatriation practices are still far from successful, with failures brought about by various elements such as culture shock, adjustment problems, and the high financial costs involved (Yan et al, 2002). Moreover, the expatriate assignment literature highlights the career de-stabilising tendencies of the international assignment because of the high turnover rates on repatriation (Paik et al, 2002;Lazarova & Cerdin, 2006;Carr et al, 2005;GMAC, 2005;Yan et al, 2002).…”