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3 The Impact of Host Country
Characteristics on Self-Initiated
Expatriates’ Career Success
Marie-France Waxin and Chris Brewster
Introduction
This chapter examines the impact of host country characteristics, the par-
ticularities of a location, on self-initiated expatriate (SIE)’s career success.
Doherty, Dickmann, and Mills (2011 ) and Suutari, Brewster, and Dick-
mann (2018 ) compared assigned expatriates’ (AEs) and SIEs’ motivation
to go abroad and found that location concerns and host country reputa-
tion were more important to SIEs, whereas AEs placed significantly more
emphasis on career development motives. SIEs are more motivated to live
abroad ( Suutari & Brewster, 2000 ; Suutari & Taka, 2004 ), more likely
to stay longer in any one location ( Doherty et al., 2011 ; Furusawa &
Brewster, 2018 ), to immerse themselves in the host country culture
( Mäkelä& Suutari, 2011 ), to learn the language ( Doherty etal., 2011 ;
Peltokorpi& Froese, 2009 ) and to interact with host country nationals
( Furusawa& Brewster, 2018 ), and these factors all enhance their adjust-
ment. SIEs have more freedom to choose the locations and so for them the
country characteristics/location criteria have more weight. They are more
able to take their individual/family considerations into account than AEs.
Unlike AEs, who are sent to specific jobs with generous expatriate con-
tracts and organisational support, SIEs have to source a job themselves,
either by applying from their own country to another one or by finding
a job when they arrive in the country ( Suutari & Brewster, 2000 ). They
have little external support in most cases and have to find out about
the institutional, social and cultural characteristics of the host country
by themselves. Unlike AEs, again, they will get little training about the
host country provided by the employer and may have to navigate by
themselves their work contract issues, and the specific local employment
and immigration laws. They are likely to be working at lower hierarchi-
cal levels in organisations ( Vance & McNulty, 2014 ), to be employed on
local terms and conditions and may well not be working for a multina-
tional corporation. For the SIE, therefore, the host country’s institutional
characteristics, culture, language, and reputation may have considerably
more salience than they would for assigned expatriates.
The Impact of Host Country Characteristics 39
However, little is known about the impact of the host country’s char-
acteristics on SIEs’ cross-border career success. Single location studies of
SIEs are based in a limited number of countries, with a specific cluster
around the Persian Gulf, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi
Arabia being most prominent ( Andresen & Hippler, 2016 ). These are
host societies in which foreigners are common. Between 2010 and 2016,
foreigners represented 51% of the total Gulf Co-operation Council
(GCC) population, and within that, 91% of the UAE population—the
Gulf country with the highest percentage of foreign residents, 47% in
Saudi Arabia, and 30% of the Kuwait population—the Gulf country
with the lowest percentage of foreign residents (The Gulf Labour Mar-
kets, Migration and Population Programme, 2017 ). As a result, the Gulf
countries have a favourable legal framework for mobility, but also strict
rules about nationality: It is easy for single men and women and married
couples to go to the Gulf if they have a job offer from there, but almost
impossible for them to become citizens, no matter how long they live
there. Hence the bulk of the population is transient. Other much-studied
regions include Asia (with studies on China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea,
Macau, Singapore, and Vietnam), India and Western Europe, where stud-
ies on France are most prominent ( Andresen & Hippler, 2016 ).
The objectives of this chapter are, after a brief discussion of SIE career
success/satisfaction, to examine the host country’s institutional and cul-
tural characteristics that have an impact on SIE’s career success, and to
propose a research model and agenda. Since there is almost no research
on the impact of host country characteristics on SIEs’ career success, we
review the general literature on expatriate career success and pull out
from that the specific factors that will affect SIEs’ career success. To avoid
constant generalisation of caveats, we concentrate on the evidence that is
available from a few countries, making the wider point where appropriate.
SIE Career Success
A career is the sequence of “a person’s work experiences over time”
( Arthur, Khapova, & Wilderom, 2005 , p.179). Career success is defined
as the accomplishment of desirable work-related outcomes at any point
in a person’s career ( Arthur et al., 2005 ). Career success consists of two
dimensions ( Ng, Eby, Sorensen, & Feldman, 2005 ): Objective career suc-
cess includes externally comparable or more tangible indicators of a per-
son’s career development, such as salary and promotions ( Arthur et al.,
2005 ); subjective career success refers to a person’s internal reflection
and evaluation and is often operationalised as career satisfaction ( Ng
etal., 2005 ). Since SIEs have strong intrinsic career motivations and per-
sonal goals to move and work abroad ( Doherty et al., 2011 ), the concept
of subjective career success is important to them.
40 Marie-France Waxin and Chris Brewster
Host Country’s Institutional Characteristics
Compensation Level
Many expatriates move for the money or, in some cases, for the lifestyle.
Baruch and Forstenlechner (2017 ), examining the motives and outcomes
of high status SIEs to the Gulf, found that remuneration was the main
motivator. Compensation systems vary a lot between host countries, not
only in average pay levels, but also in reward structures and pay arrange-
ments ( Waxin, 2008a ), fiscal rules, and taxation that are common and
accepted ( Egner, 2013 ). While many statistics on pay arrangements are
available, few are both comparable across nations and available for a
large number of nations ( Waxin, 2008a ). Further, the salience of ben-
efits differs between countries. In most of northern Europe, where state
benefits are relatively good, people prefer to get most of their packages
in cash. Where certain benefits are untaxed and where they fill ‘holes’
in national provision, as is the case in China, Japan, Korea, they can
become important human resource management tools. For example, in
China, benefits like housing, food, and childcare are often provided for
employees. The situation is similar in the USA, where the state provides
very limited benefits, so elements of the remuneration package like health
care coverage are widely sought. There are also substantial differences in
social security ( Waxin, 2008a ). One result is that comparing pay rates
across countries is extremely complex. An issue for SIEs considering mov-
ing to a country is the extent to which they understand and can predict
these compensation and fiscal issues. For low-status SIEs, by contrast,
money is more or less the only driver. They come to richer countries to
work as maids, construction workers, retail sellers, and security guards,
knowing that they will earn much less than other people in the host
society, and that they will not live well, but knowing too that they will
earn much more than they ever could at home and being prepared to put
up with the life for the sake of the money they can remit home ( Haak-
Saheem & Brewster, 2017 ).
Quality of Life
High-status SIEs expect the host country to provide them with lifestyle
instrumentality and associated benefits ( Tharenou & Caulfield, 2010 )
that they may struggle to afford at home. Chen (2012 ) found that SIEs
who perceive greater host country career and life instrumentality feel
more comfortable, have more confidence, thus increasing their likeli-
hood of staying abroad and prolonging their SIE experience. Mercer’s
Quality of Life Rankings ( 2018 ) ranks cities. Factors such as hygiene,
security, natural and cultural attractions, alongside labour market oppor-
tunities, are attractors of international mobility ( Dickmann, Parry, &
The Impact of Host Country Characteristics 41
Keshavjee, 2019 ; Doherty et al., 2011 ). According to Mercer’s Quality
of Living Ranking ( 2018 ), globally, Vienna maintained its top ranking
for the ninth consecutive year, followed by Zurich, Auckland, Munich,
Vancouver, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Copenhagen, and Basel. In the
Gulf region, the quality of life is high: Safety, domestic help, world-class
schools, health care, and proximity for global travel are all big advan-
tages ( Khaleejtimes, 2018 ). Quality of life in the host country can include
the quality of the educational system. SIEs could be attracted by the qual-
ity of the host country educational system for their children. Countries
compete for talent via the quality and accessibility of their schooling,
secondary and tertiary educational systems ( Geddie, 2015 ).
There are different ways to measure host country attractiveness ( Dick-
mann & Parry, 2018 ). FutureBrand (2019 ) publishes a country brand
index ranking the World Bank Top 75 countries by GDP according to
how they are perceived on six dimensions: value system, quality of life,
business potential, heritage and culture, brand image of goods and ser-
vices produced in the country, and tourism. According to FutureBrand
(2019 ), Japan, Switzerland, and Germany have the best brand profile.The
Global Competitiveness Index ( Schwab, 2017 ) is more economically ori-
ented and focuses on institutions, policies, and factors of competitiveness.
Labour Market Characteristics
Employment prospects for SIEs depend to a considerable extent on the
labour market characteristics of the host country. For example, as the
Arab Gulf countries began their rapid development, the existing num-
bers, skills, and education levels of the local population were no match
for the needs of a rapidly expanding economy. Hence, there was a high
demand for imported labour ( Waxin & Bateman, 2016a ). In the Gulf
countries, the labour markets are often segmented by national origin, and
there are significant pay gaps for Westerners, Asians, and Arabs work-
ing the same professional jobs, as many companies have different pay
scales for the same jobs, based on nationality ( Advani, 2019 ). Accord-
ing to the 2017 Gulf Business Salary Survey, the average monthly salary
earned by a Western expatriate across the GCC was $12,377 in 2017.
Western expatriates earned the highest salaries among all our three racial
groups, on average 32% more than their Asian peers and 5% more
than their Arab peers ( Gulf Business, 2017 ). Western expatriates from
Europe, North America, and Australasia are hired for their management
skills and technical expertise, and tend to operate in more senior, well-
remunerated positions. Gulf ruling elites consider them to have the neces-
sary expertise required to achieve global competitiveness. Workers from
low-wage countries where there were large numbers of educated people
(India, Malaysia, China) take many of the mid-range administrative posts
and have jobs in, for example, administration, education, and nursing.
42 Marie-France Waxin and Chris Brewster
Workers from poor countries with weaker education systems (Indone-
sia, the Philippines, and some African countries) are eager to fill jobs as
construction workers, security guards, personal servants, and other low-
status positions ( Haak-Saheem & Brewster, 2017 ).
Gulf citizens make up the other, smaller segment of the labour mar-
ket. In Dubai, in 2016, native citizens made up only 4% of all working
residents, and 78.5% of them work in the federal and local government
bodies ( De Bel-Air, 2018 ), as they prefer the higher wage levels, shorter
working hours, and better fringe benefits that go with government
employment. Middle- and low-status jobs are not socially acceptable for
Emiratis. Local employees who do work in the private sector are privi-
leged by rules that increase their pay and provide them with guarantees
of job security. In most cases, Emirati workers and expatriate workers are
not substitutes for each other, so the two market segments operate side
by side but separately ( Waxin & Bateman, 2016a ; Waxin, Lindsay, Belk-
hodja, & Zhao, 2018 ). The UAE’s extensive reliance on expatriates from
all over the world requires their HRM specialists to provide efficient
administration processes and, for the top tier of expatriates, efficient SIE
management policies and practices ( Waxin & Bateman, 2016b ). Demand
outweighs supply for specialist occupations in the Gulf in general (Robert
Half Salary Guide, 2018 ). The opposite situation applies to low-status
SIEs where demand outstrips supply and workers who upset their mas-
ters or mistresses can easily be sent home and replaced.
Employment Regulation
Employment regulation is also important to SIEs, who do not, initially
at least, have the organisational power to ‘get round’ difficult legisla-
tion. Employment regulations cover access to a country’s labour market,
labour legislation and enforcement, and how long people can work there.
‘Friendly’ policies towards foreign workforces facilitate the establish-
ment and embeddedness stages of an SIE’s career ( Chen, 2012 ). Policies
influence, for example, the choice of the company SIEs can work for and
where they can reside, their perceived autonomy in establishing global
work experiences, and their career satisfaction ( Chen, 2012 ). Canada has
lots of international students and makes a big point of facilitating their
transfer after graduation into the local labour market: The local business
paper, The Globe and Mail, drew a direct connection between that policy
and the significant increase in Foreign Direct Investment into Canada
in 2018 ( McKay, 2019 ). Immigroup (2019 ) created a list of the top 10
immigration-friendly countries, based on the criteria such as progressive
immigration policies, immigration support services, and economic pros-
perity. In 2019, the top 10 most welcoming countries for immigrants
were the United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Russia, the
The Impact of Host Country Characteristics 43
United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Canada and France, Australia,
Spain, Italy and India.
Employment law is idiosyncratic: Every country has its own rules
( Waxin, 2008a ). SIEs usually face more structural barriers and career
constraints, such as difficulties in obtaining visas and work permits in
the host country, than assigned expatriates ( Al Ariss & Özbilgin, 2010 ).
In the Gulf, most foreign workers are contracted for a fixed period only,
and sponsored for a work visa by their employer through the ‘kafala sys-
tem’, in which the sponsor/employer ( kafeel) assumes full economic and
social responsibility for the employee during the stated contract period
( Advani, 2019 ). To take a very different example, in France, borders are
more open. EU citizens from the 27 (as we write) other EU states have a
complete right to work, settle, and reside there. Skilled SIEs from other
non-EU developed countries find it relatively easy to get expatriate or
migrant approval, but even highly qualified SIEs from developing coun-
tries face significant barriers in the form of supposedly objective poli-
cies and certification processes, which, in fact, render their mobility and
labour market integration difficult, and in some cases impossible. Gov-
ernmental procedures remain selective and complex when it comes to
hiring non-EU workers (with few exceptions) willing to stay in France
for work purposes, as they have to find permanent, or at least one-year,
employment contracts ( Al Ariss & Özbilgin, 2010 ). Prospective employ-
ers have to prove that there are no EU citizens in France who can fill the
vacancy in question, which involves a long procedure that is discouraging
to both prospective employers and employees.
These are not the only examples of the importance of local legislation
related to work. Such legislation is different in each country, even where
there are commonalities. For example, looking at the issue of diversity,
generally legislation in the West requires equal treatment for employees.
Legislation on equality is clearly laid down and enforced in the USA
and Canada, and is similarly important, although variable, in Europe. It
has, however, different implications for employment practices in each of
these examples. On the other hand, equality and diversity is not seen as
a key issue in the Arabian Gulf or the Asia-Pacific countries. In the Gulf
States, for example, salaries and employment contracts depend to a con-
siderable extent on nationality: Even in the rare cases where a local Emi-
rati and an Indian might be doing the same job, their salaries, terms and
conditions, and social status will be very different. Some of these legal
forms of discrimination are seen as ‘positive’, that is, they aim to support
disadvantaged groups within the society: legislation giving preference to
visible minorities in the USA, quotas for lower-caste workers in India,
preference to Bumiputras (ethnic Malays or other indigenous groups) in
Malaysia, and so on. However, these then generally discriminate against
new entrants into the country and would be illegal in other states.
44 Marie-France Waxin and Chris Brewster
Retirement age in the host country also plays a role in SIE’s employ-
ment prospects. In the UAE, for example, the retirement age in the private
sector is 65 years, but this age limit may be increased depending on the
individuals’ nature of work, credentials, and whether their expertise is
important for the entity they are working for ( Khaleejtimes, 2019 ). The
government, however, does not provide any form of pension/retirement
scheme for foreigners.
Employment/Skills Utilisation Level
SIEs’ employment levels, or SIEs’ skills utilisation level is another mea-
sure to consider when examining their career success. SIEs expect that
a host country job will produce career benefits ( Tharenou & Caulfield,
2010 ). However, this is not universal even amongst high-status expatri-
ates. Depending on context, host country organisations and institutions
either (for developed ‘Western’ countries) overestimate or (for develop-
ing countries) often discredit SIEs’ previous education, skills, and profes-
sional experiences acquired in their home countries ( Almeida, Waxin, &
Paradies, 2019 ; Waxin, 2008b ; Waxin & Panaccio, 2004 ). Contrary to the
experience of SIEs from developed countries, studies of SIEs from devel-
oping countries tend to suggest that they experience structural barriers
to career development. Lebanese and Malagasy SIEs in France, for exam-
ple, struggled to secure recognition of their professional qualifications
and professional worth, and suffered gender discrimination ( Al Ariss &
Özbilgin, 2010 ; Ramboarison-Lalao, Al Ariss, & Barth, 2012 ). This is in
line with more general findings that internationally mobile workers often
fail to get, or even to seek, jobs that match their skills ( Nowotny, 2016 )
and that SIEs’ skills are frequently underutilised ( Lee, 2005 ). Local organ-
isations would benefit from a direct evaluation of SIEs’ skills, whether it
be competency, behaviour-based interviews or tests, such as job samples,
performance, simulation tests ( Panaccio & Waxin, 2010 ; Waxin, 2008b ;
Waxin & Panaccio, 2004 ).
On the other hand, many SIEs in countries such as the Gulf States hold
positions that would not have been available for them in their countries
of origin, given their level of experience, and have the opportunity to gain
broader managerial experience ( Baruch & Forstenlechner, 2017 ). How-
ever, employers in the GCC are on the ‘buy’ rather than ‘make’ side of the
skills debate: They generally feel that they are paying (well) for the skills
they import and do not expect to have to develop their foreign talent
( Sidani & Al Ariss, 2014 ), so training and development is generally rare.
Reputation of the Host Country
Lying somewhere between institutional and cultural differences is the rep-
utation of the country in the mind of potential SIEs and in the opinions
The Impact of Host Country Characteristics 45
of their future employers. Most, though not all, SIEs would prefer to
work in countries that have familiar and trustworthy institutions and
cultures, are safe and non-corrupt, offer them a decent standard of liv-
ing, and welcome foreigners. Some countries are further from that ideal
than others. In many cases, foreigners have very little concept of particu-
lar countries. In other cases, foreigners have only heard negative things
about them. Obviously, these variations will have an impact on whether
SIEs apply for jobs in those countries—and an impact on the future mar-
ketability of SIEs once they have worked there. Of course, some SIEs
with a strong ‘doing good’ career anchor, working in sectors such as the
United Nations aid agencies, Médecins Sans Frontières, or the Red Cross,
actively seek out work in countries with terrible reputations. Andresen
(2018 ) found that SIEs’ employability upon repatriation varied for man-
agers with national and international career paths and was moderated by
expatriation mode (assigned versus self-initiated), length of stay, destina-
tion country, corporate size, and career phase. She found that recruiters
seemed unfamiliar with SIEs’ international work experiences, and had
difficulty to appraise their value, in part because of verification issues.
Skills and knowledge acquired in Africa were not regarded highly: French
employers perceived stays in African countries more as tourism than as
work. We have far too little research on these SIEs.
Host Country’s Cultural Characteristics
Cultural Distance
Cultural distance and expatriate adjustment has been the subject of some
research, and can be extended to SIE career success. Generally, there is
confirmation of the intuitive assumption that the more different the
host culture is from the home country culture, the more demanding the
adjustment will be ( Takeuchi, Tesluk, Yun, & Lepak, 2005 ; Waxin, 2004 ;
Waxin, Brewster, Ashill, & Chandon, 2016 ). However, results are not
entirely consistent. Some researchers have argued that as problems in
culturally close countries are often not recognised or are attributed to the
individual rather than generalised to the culture, it can be just as difficult
to adjust to a similar as a dissimilar culture ( Stahl & Caligiuri, 2005 ).
Other researchers find no relationship between culture novelty and work
adjustment ( Selmer, 2006 ). Some of this, of course, is because our mea-
sures of culture are simplistic compared to the complexity of the topic,
and inconsistent ( Avloniti & Filippaios, 2014 ). Overall, however, the bal-
ance of the literature suggests that cultural distance makes adjustment
harder ( Bhaskar-Shrinivas, Harrison, Shaffer, & Luk, 2005 ).
Awareness of the importance of context in research on expatriates’
cross-cultural effectiveness and management is growing. Froese and Pel-
tokorpi (2011 ) and Peltokorpi and Froese (2014 ) demonstrate that host
46 Marie-France Waxin and Chris Brewster
country context affects expatriate job satisfaction and adjustment, so we
can infer that the host country context has an impact on SIE career suc-
cess. Froese and Peltokorpi (2011 ) found that national cultural distance,
homogeneity in terms of supervisor nationality, and expatriate type (AE
or SIE) all have effects on expatriate job satisfaction. SIEs were less satis-
fied with their jobs than AEs. SIEs might be more affected by cultural dis-
tance than assigned expatriates because: (1) They have less opportunity
to avoid or ‘buffer’ their contact with the local culture; (2) they are more
dependent on social integration into local units; and (3) in most cases,
they have little or no support from headquarters where necessary (see
Chapter 4 “Cultural Distance and Self-Initiated Expatriate’s Willingness
to Relocate: A Research Agenda” in this volume). Froese and Peltokorpi
(2013 ) argue that SIEs have lower job satisfaction because they work
more often under local supervisors. However, they typically stay longer
in the country and have better language skills, so they feel more adjusted.
Speculatively, we might suggest that national cultural distance and super-
visor nationality also impact SIEs’ career satisfaction.
Language
Language is an important aspect of culture. For engineers, language pro-
ficiency and cultural attraction were important factors explaining their
decisions to work in emerging economies ( De Eccher & Duarte, 2016 ).
Kim and Froese (2012 ) examined the direct and moderating effects of
host country characteristics (economic level and language) and employ-
ees’ role commitments (work and family) on expatriate motivation and
found that working in advanced or English-speaking countries was more
attractive to working elsewhere.
Diversity Climate
The host country’s diversity climate may also be a factor. SIEs’ percep-
tions of how they are treated by the host country community influence
their career satisfaction in the host country. A specific aspect of this is the
host country’s diversity climate, defined as an “individual’s perception
of the importance or value their community places on diversity, and the
degree to which they experience inclusion, fairness, and lack of discrimi-
nation in their community” ( Ragins, Gonzalez, Ehrhardt, & Singh, 2012 ,
p.757). A positive diversity climate refers to an understanding that each
individual is unique and individual differences, whatever the dimensions
of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and cultural differences, are valued
as opposed to condemned ( McKay et al., 2007 ). Living in a community
that has a positive diversity climate encourages SIEs to present their true
selves and boosts their confidence ( Singh, 2011 ). Thus, for example, in
some countries homosexual acts are an offence punishable by law, other
The Impact of Host Country Characteristics 47
countries are more welcoming—for homosexuals this may be crucial
to their views of where they might like to live. Chen (2012 ) found that
a host country community’s diversity climate was significantly related
to SIEs’ perceived autonomy, and perceived relatedness in establishing
global work experience.
Management Style
Finally, countries differ in terms of their preferred organisational culture
and management style that may attract SIEs or the expatriates may have
to adjust to them. Klein, Waxin, and Radnell (2009 ) studied the ideal
organisational culture profile in the UAE and found that managers and
leaders in their sample preferred both constructive and ‘defensive’ styles,
with extensions along the ‘passive-defensive’ and ‘aggressive-defensive’
dimensions. On one hand, the constructive style encourages members’
sense of accomplishment, growth and development, realistic risk-taking,
and encourages creativity at work. On the other hand, defensive style
esteems power and prestige, and doing what you are told, or following
orders. These kinds of inconsistent signals can create stress in the work-
place. According to Sidani and Al Ariss (2014 ), traditional management
styles, nepotism, and wasta (personal connections) all pose an impedi-
ment to the development of a strategic talent management process. This
can be difficult for foreign workers to adapt to.
Conclusion: Proposed Research Model and Agenda
Based on this brief literature review, we identify several research gaps.
First, we could not find any research examining specifically how host
country factors contribute to SIEs’ career success. More work is needed
here.
In the literature around the topic, much of the SIE research is very con-
text specific and analyses the experiences of certain specific types of SIEs
in a certain context. The evidence is often qualitative, and samples are thus
small-scale ‘convenience samples’. This is valuable work and helps us to
understand SIEs’ careers in different contexts, but there is a clear need for
wider-scope research involving evidence across different contexts.
Future research should consider the relationship between individuals
(and their families), organisational and contextual perspectives. All are
important and they interact.
We argue that between the host countries’ institutional and cultural
characteristics and the SIEs’ career success lies the ‘reputational rel-
evance’ of the host country. In other words, whether SIEs even consider
travelling to work in a specific country is dependent to some extent on
the reputation of that country in the potential expatriate’s home country,
and in their mind. In this instance, whether the reputation of that country
48 Marie-France Waxin and Chris Brewster
is fair or unfair, accurate or distorted, is irrelevant. Further, the value of
any foreign sojourn for SIEs will depend to some extent on how the host
country context helps them to develop their career capital ( Dickmann
etal., 2018 ; Jokinen, Brewster, & Suutari, 2008 ). Thus, people who have
worked in the United States of America, or indeed most other developed,
Western countries, are likely to find that their international experience
there makes them marketable in the future ( Mäkelä, Suutari, Brewster,
Dickmann, & Tornikoski, 2016 ) and thus helps their future career. SIEs
whose experience is elsewhere in the world may find that the results are
different. For example, a University post in the USA may make it easier
to get a job in a University in most other countries; a University job in a
poor African state may not have the same effect, indeed it may in some
cases have a negative effect on future career opportunities. Again, the
accuracy of these reputational issue is less important for our purposes
here than the effect on SIE careers.
Although the literature on SIEs has noted the relevance of gender, there
has been a tendency to ignore the significance of gender differences when
studying the experiences of SIEs and their outcomes, such as career satis-
faction and success. More research is needed here too.
Finally, country effects may vary with sector and occupation. Thus,
having worked in a war zone in the Middle East may be a negative factor
on the CV of someone in marketing or of a government policy specialist,
but may have a powerfully positive effect for someone working in the
security sector or as an accident and emergency doctor or nurse. We have
not, however, been able to discover any research at all on the differential
effect on future careers of international experience in different countries.
This is another area ripe for empirical research.
Figure 3.1 outlines a potential research model. It would be interesting
to test variations of this model at different levels of analysis. At the indi-
vidual level, one could examine the impact of the perceived host country
institutional and cultural characteristics on SIEs’ career satisfaction. At
the macro level, it would be interesting to test the impact of the host coun-
try institutional and cultural characteristics on SIEs’ career satisfaction in
the country. At the organisational level, it would be interesting to examine
how organisations react and actively manage the SIEs’ careers, in different
cases: when SIEs find the health care especially attractive, or not.
This model presents several interesting theoretical and practical impli-
cations. First, it highlights the different variables that host country govern-
ments can play with, in order to facilitate better career outcomes for SIEs
and global talents, and so their length of stay in their country. Second, a
better understanding of the specific host country factors that impact SIEs’
career success would allow companies to refine and adapt their HRM
practices, towards both their SIEs and local employees. Third, our model
will allow SIEs to more effectively select the particular host country where
The Impact of Host Country Characteristics 49
Host country institutional characteristics
Compensation level
Quality of life
Labor markets characteristics
Employment regulation
SIE’s employment / skills utilisation level
SIE’s career
success
Objective
Subjective
Host country cultural characteristics
Cultural distance
Language
Diversity climate
Management style
Host country’s reputation
SIE’s Gender
Occupation
Industrial sector
Figure 3.1 Proposed research model: The impact of host country institutional
and cultural characteristics on SIEs’ career success
they aim to work and live, and to make better informed choices, which
should lead to enhanced career success.
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