Managerial Willingness to Assume Traveling Short-Term and Long-Term Global Assignments

Zusammenfassung

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Drawing on reasoned action and family systems theories, as well as the domestic and international job transfer and relocation, global assignments, personality and work-life balance research domains, this study examines managers' willingness to assume global assignments. The authors propose a multi-factor model and test several hypotheses using survey data collected from 431 global managers and 162 spouses/significant others that examine the degree to which individual, family, and organizational variables influence managerial willingness to accept not only the more traditional multi-year, but also the increasingly common traveling and short-term global assignments. Results suggest that individual (adventurousness and destination country), family (eldercare, children at home, community tenure, and spouse/significant other relocation willingness), and organizational (compensatory rewards/benefits and career fit) factors influence managerial willingness to assume global assignments. In this article, a conceptual foundation and nine hypotheses are presented. The remainder of the paper is partitioned into sections addressing the research methods, results, discussion, limitations, future research and conclusion.

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Auszug

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Managerial Willingness to Assume Traveling Short-Term and Long-Term Global Assignments

Introduction

International work assignments continue to be recognized as a means by which ambitious executives can enhance their career opportunities (Takeuchi et al. 2005). Moreover, international work experience has been recognized as an important component in global leadership development (Black et al. 1999) and as a method to build competitive advantage for multinational corporations (MNCs) (Carpenter/Sanders/Gregersen 2001, Spreitzer/McCall/Mahoney 1997). Many organizations encourage managers and future leaders to develop global vision, boundary-crossing skills, and effective global networks (Kanter 1995, Quelch/Bloom 1999). When high potential managers are sent on global assignments, they are forced to immerse themselves in a variety of novel and cross-culturally challenging business situations (Tung 1998). International management researchers have reinforced the importance associated with working overseas: "An international assignment is the single most powerful experience in shaping the perspective and capabilities of effective global leaders" (Black et al. 1999, p. 2).

Unfortunately, there is emerging evidence that some MNCs are having difficulty attracting internal candidates who are willing to accept traditional multi-year international assignments (Ball 1999, GMAC 2004, Konopaske/Robie/Ivancevich 2005, PricewaterhouseCoopers 1999, Tahvanainen/Welch/Worm 2005, van der Velde/Bossink/Jansen 2005). Such reluctance to transfer overseas can create problems for multinational organizations as they attempt to become more globally competitive (Tung/Miller 1990). Although there are many potential determinants of one's willingness to accept or reject an overseas assignment, family and career-related issues play a prominent role in such international relocation decisions (Black/Stephens 1989, Borstorff 1996, Brett/Stroh 1995, Harvey 1996, Scullion/Collings/Gunnigle 2007, Tung/Miller 1990). For example, an oftcited family factor that can affect managerial willingness to relocate globally is the dualcareer status of many couples and spouses' (or significant others') reluctance to disrupt their careers (Handler/Lane/Maher 1997, Harvey 1996, Harvey/Buckley 1998). From a career perspective, managers are concerned with the longer-term implications of being disconnected and removed from the home office for an extended period of time (Feldman/ Thomas 1992, Mendenhall/Dunbar/Oddou 1987).

In order to overcome this reluctance to accepting multi-year assignments, there is growing evidence that multinational organizations are increasingly using alternatives to longterm expatriate assignments, such as periodic traveling or short-term global assignments (Flynn 1999, GMAC 2004, Harris/Petrovic/Brewster 2001, Mayerhofer et al. 2004, PricewaterhouseCoopers 1999, Sparrow/Brewster/Harris 2004, Welch 2003, Welch/Welch/ Worm 2007). Scullion, Collings and Gunnigle (2007) state: "The emergence of these alternative, more flexible forms of global staffing and issues around their management and administration are likely to represent a key challenge for IHRM professionals and academics in the 21st century" (p. 314). Although there are many ways to classify the myriad of international assignments (for a review, see Briscoe/Schuler 2004), for the purposes of this paper, we define long-t...

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