Employment relationships and their implications among self-initiated expatriates

Abstract

In this article, we explore the employment relationships of self-initiated expatriates (SIE). Drawing on the concept of psychological contract, we, first, derive a typology of SIEs’ employment relationships, differentiated by their perceptions concerning both the employee’s and the employer’s mutual obligations and fulfillments. Second, we explore what characteristics SIEs with different types of employment relationships possess. Finally, we investigate what implications the identified employment relationships have for the involved SIEs. Based on our analysis, we identify four distinct SIE profiles: professional cosmopolitans, early stage careerists, lost-in-transition escapees, and dependent travelers. The analysis adds to the hitherto scarce literature on the nature and the implications of employment relationships among SIEs and, in this way, increases both our understanding of SIEs as a valuable talent pool and the ways to manage it.