The international transfer of individual career capital: exploring and developing a model of the underlying factors

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this literature review is to critically analyze, synthesize and integrate the currently fragmented literature concerning the factors affecting the international transfer of individual career capital (CC).Design/methodology/approach This paper is a systematic literature review of the factors affecting the international transfer of individual CC from/for expatriates, repatriates and other employed highly skilled migrants and return migrants. The findings are classified based on the Social Chronology Framework (SCF) proposed by Gunz and Mayrhofer (2015).Findings This systematic literature review suggests that the international transfer of individual CC, which can be expressed both as (1) individual-level transfer across different organizations located in different countries as the direct use and application of CC and (2) individual knowing-how transfer to other individuals within organization, is affected by the individual, organizational and broader contextual-level factors that are bound by the aspect of time. The authors summarize the findings by presenting a model of the factors affecting the international transfer of individual CC.Originality/value The authors align the CC framework (Defillippi and Arthur, 1994) to the SCF (Gunz and Mayrhofer, 2018) by explaining the factors affecting the international transfer of individual CC that go beyond the qualities of CC, including the Being, Space and Time domains. Moreover, the authors critique the current focus on the international CC transfer in the present suggesting that future research should explore this phenomenon as a more dynamic process. Finally, the authors contribute to the literature on the global mobility of highly skilled employees' by highlighting gaps in the knowledge of the international transfer of CC and presenting a future research agenda.

Global Mobility of Employees: Issues, results and impacts of the GLOMO project

“…Therefore, the GLOMO insights into the ways that expatriates can transfer career capital between home and host nations are highly relevant to making the most of the challenging situation many expatriates find themselves in. Studies show that the international transfer of career capital is affected by individual, organisational and broader contextual level factors that are bound by the aspect of time (Oleškevičiūtė et al, 2022). Some factors are national migration policies, organisational support and individuals' long-term expatriation and previous experience.…”

Career capital as a key to a successful international career : How different ways of knowing affect the international transfer of career capital

“…The international transfer of CC is generally understood as the direct use of CC for the individual career in an organisation located in a country different to the one where the CC was developed (DeFillippi & Arthur, 1994;Dickmann & Cerdin, 2016;Dickmann & Watson, 2017;Inkson & Arthur, 2001;Jokinen, 2010). Some scarce literature also suggests that the international transfer of CC might extend beyond CC being used in one job position/organisation upon relocation to another country (Jokinen, 2010;Oleškevičiūtė et al, 2022). In other words, this means that in SIRs' case, individuals might be able to use their internationally developed CC in later career stages even if they had difficulty using such CC initially upon repatriation.…”

Wanderlust to wonderland? : Exploring key issues in expatriate careers: Individual, organizational, and societal insights

“…The international transfer of CC is generally understood as the direct use of CC for the individual career in an organisation located in a country different to the one where the CC was developed Dickmann & Cerdin, 2016;Jokinen, 2010). Some scarce literature also suggests that the international transfer of CC might extend beyond CC being used in one job position/organisation upon relocation to another country (Jokinen, 2010;Oleškevičiūtė et al, 2022). In other words, this means that in SIRs' case, individuals might be able to use their internationally developed CC in later career stages even if they had difficulty using such CC initially upon repatriation.…”

“…There are many factors that can affect the international transfer of CC (Oleškevičiūtė et al, 2022). These can be divided into different level factors: micro (e.g., characteristics of CC, motivation and abilities to transfer the CC, and individual experiences such as the type and duration of expatriation), meso (e.g., organisational attitude towards international employees and their internationally developed CC), and macro (e.g., differences between host and home countries and country specific career structure norms) (Oleškevičiūtė et al, 2022). Later in this chapter we will focus on micro-level factors and more specifically on the way individual career competencies such as knowing-how, knowing-why, and knowing-whom can affect the international transfer of CC.…”

“…Even though there are various contextual factors affecting the international transfer of CC that do not depend on the individual, such as the organisation the individual is working for and the country where it is located (Oleškevičiūtė et al, 2022), there is something that individuals can do to get the best out of their internationally developed CC. In this chapter we suggest that CC can serve not only as a steppingstone into a successful career but also as a tool leading to the successful application of CC in the first place.…”