Protecting expatriates in hostile environments: institutional forces influencing the safety and security practices of internationally active organisations

Abstract

The operations of internationally active organisations continue to encroach on hostile locations that are vulnerable to the negative consequences of crises such as political upheaval, terrorist attacks, or natural disasters. Yet research into how firms ensure the physical and psychological safety and security of international staff in these locations is limited. This article reports an empirical study exploring the expatriate safety and security practices of 28 internationally active organisations from three industries that commonly operate in hostile environments. We unveil starkly different approaches across the three industries, and label these approaches 'regulatory' (mining and resources), 'informal mentoring' (news media), and 'empowering' (international aid and development). We use institutional theory to propose that these configurations reflect legitimacy-seeking choices that these organisations make in response to the various institutional environments that affect each sector. Our results provide a platform for initial theory building into the interrelated elements of organisations' safety and security practices, and the institutional factors that shape the design of these.

Managing people in hostile environments: lessons learned and new grounds in HR research

“…Topics in the articles of the Special Issue range from exploring expatriate safety and security practices (Fee, Mcgrath-Champ, & Berti, 2018), withdrawal cognitions (A. K. Bader, Reade, & Froese, 2018), to employee protection (Gannon & Paraskevas, 2018) or staff localization (Dickmann, Parry, & Keshavjee, 2018). Other articles focused on the role of knowledge (Suder, Reade, Riviere, & Birnik, 2018) and adjustment, psychological contracts, and risk management (Posthuma, Ramsey, Flores, Maertz, & Ahmed, 2018) in hostile environments.…”

“…The second article, authored by Fee et al (2018), looks at managing people in hostile environments from both a macro-level and a mezzo-level perspective by investigating institutional forces that can impact the security and safety of international organizations operating in a hostile location, e.g. countries with a difficult political situation, terrorism, or natural disasters.…”

“…The study provides an insight into the security practices of 28 global companies from three industries that operate in such locations. Drawing on institutional theory, Fee et al (2018) classify the observed security practices into three approaches: 'regulatory,' 'informal mentoring,' and 'empowering'. By identifying betweenand within-sector patterns of safety and security practices that are shaped by institutional pressures, the authors develop a platform for initial theory building in relation to the elements of organizations' safety and security practices which are influenced by institutional factors.…”

Coping with Fear of and Exposure to Terrorism among Expatriates

“…Very little research has focused on individuals and terrorism in a business context [ 7 ] using psychological stress and coping models. Our approach is intended to complement the growing research on expatriates in hostile environments [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Specifically, we propose: (1) to examine the literature on expatriate coping in relation to terrorism; (2) present a heuristic model of coping strategies for pre-assignment, on-ground, and repatriation stages; and (3) suggest directions for future research on coping with terrorist threats and behaviors.…”

Expatriate management in hostile environments from a multi-stakeholder perspective – a systematic review

“…With the planning and monitoring of the safety situation, it is also important that adequate safety measures are implemented. Fee et al (2017) unveiled different security approaches across three industries. While some core practices (i.e.…”