Self-Initiated Expatriation ─ Individual, Organizational, and National Perspectives

Globalization and the development of multinational organizations have led to an increase in the number of people spending part of their lives living and working in foreign countries. While the contemporary literature has focused on organizational expatriates sent overseas by their employers, self-initiated expatriation is becoming an important area of study in its own right. Studies on self-initiated expatriation explore the labor market positions of individuals who have relocated under their own initiative. However, no comprehensive book exists on the dynamics that underlie this type of mobility. This edited volume offers a holistic picture of self-initiated expatriation and the groups that pursue it, emphasizing many aspects for departure including career development and career capital. It is the first book on the market to explore the issues pertaining to self-initiated expatriation from a variety of perspectives with important theoretical and practical implications.

In an era of global war for talent, companies face difficulties in finding highly skilled employees. Self-initiated expatriates have the potential to fill this talent gap. National economies thus have an interest in creating favorable conditions to attract self-initiated expatriates and provoke their repatriation, and this book explores the conditions that achieve the return of employees with skills that are in demand outside of their home countries.

Maike Andresen is Professor for Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior and holds a chair of Human Resource Management at University of Bamberg/D. Maike has published articles in key academic journals and in edited volumes and authored five books in her fields of research, including expatriation, global career management, management development, work flexibilization, and diversity management.

Akram Al Ariss is professor of HRM at Toulouse Business School. He has published in British Journal of Management and Thunderbird International Business Review, among others. He visited LSE in 2012 and is member of the board of Journal of World Business, British Journal of Management, and Equality, Diversity, Inclusion.

Matthias Walther is research assistant at the Chair of Human Resource Management at the University of Bamberg and PhD-student at the University of Bamberg and the IAE Lyon. Matthias holds a Double Master’s Degree in International Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance.

Karen Wolff is former assistant at the Chair of Human Resource Management at the University of Bamberg. She holds a Master’s Degree in Cultural Anthropology and Sociology.