The Expatriate Glass Ceiling: The Second Layer of Glass

Abstract

The corporate glass ceiling continues to be a challenge for many organizations. However, women executives may be facing a second pane of obstructionan expatriate glass ceiling -that prevents them from receiving the foreign management assignments and experience that is becoming increasing critical for promotion to upper management. The responsibility to break the expatriate glass ceiling lies with both female managers and the multinational corporations that utilize expatriates. In this paper, we propose pre-assignment, on-assignment, and post-assignment strategies for breaking the expatriate glass ceiling.

Women Expatriate Leaders: How Leadership Behaviors Can Reduce Gender Barriers

“…The female expatriate experience has been referred to as the second layer of glass and the "expatriate glass ceiling", and responsibility has been placed on both multinational organizations and female managers to break this second glass ceiling (Forster, 1999;Insch et al, 2008). First, multinational organizations need to recognize the value of diversification and fully integrate women as eligible, qualified individuals to fill overseas assignments.…”

“…First, multinational organizations need to recognize the value of diversification and fully integrate women as eligible, qualified individuals to fill overseas assignments. Second, without female representation, multinational organizations deprive themselves the benefits of increased diversity, and risk making poor economic decisions because their employees are too homogeneous (Insch et al, 2008). Third, females in lower-level management positions may perceive difficulty in achieving senior management positions, due to lack of international experience, and may self-eliminate from competition.…”

“…Third, females in lower-level management positions may perceive difficulty in achieving senior management positions, due to lack of international experience, and may self-eliminate from competition. To overcome these barriers, Females need to seek out social networks to assist with the expatriate process, engage in selfpromotion, and express a desire to serve overseas (Insch et al, 2008).…”

“…Often, the international experience that expatriates gain is used to prepare high-performance employees for senior management positions within the organization (Benson & Pattie, 2009;Bindi, 2016;Bolino 2007;Caligiuri & Tung, 1999;Varma, Toh & Budhwar, 2006). As a result, multinational organizations seek to find employees who are cross-culturally competent to send overseas, but have struggled to find personnel with the necessary skills to fulfill international assignments (Caligiuri & Cascio, 1998;Insch, McIntyre & Napier, 2008).…”

“…Although women have increased access to mid-to-senior level management positions, and the gender gap continues to narrow in the workforce, there remains a solid disparity between male and female expatriates overseas (Eagly & Carli, 2007). As a result, because of the limited number of females assigned overseas, expatriate assignments are referred to as the "second glass ceiling" for women leaders, because without these professional opportunities women may not have the experience necessary to compete with their male peers and move up the organizational ladder (Forster, 1999;Insch et al, 2008). While women have proven that they are equal to or more effective than their male counterparts in leadership positions (Eagly & Carli, 2007;Rosette & Tost, 2010) overseas' leadership opportunities remain infrequent.…”