Female Self-Initiated Expatriates in the United Arab Emirates: An Unexpected Trifecta

Abstract

In the global quest for competitiveness, researchers, and practitioners alike have increasingly started to explore new staffing alternatives for multinational companies (MNCs) as traditional forms of expatriation begin to fade in prominence. This is partly a result of the recognition that global human talent has become increasingly complex in both their motivations and expectations for seeking international employment opportunities. Against these trends it is not surprising that self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), those who take their careers into their own hands (Inkson, Arthur, Pringle, and Barry, 1997; Suutari and Brewster, 2000; Myers and Pringle, 2005; Scullion, Collings, and Gunnigle, 2007), are and will be a population that have started to attract serious attention among scholars in the field of international human resource management (IHRM). Additionally, firms operating in emerging markets appear to deal with particular challenges in meeting the demand for qualified expatriate talent due to the difficulty in convincing suitable candidates to undertake such foreign assignments (Scullion et al., 2007). Underlying each of these issues is the fact that women remain an underutilized resource for global assignments (e.g., Caligiuri and Cascio, 1998; Mercer, 2006). Global talent managers, consequently, are experiencing increasing challenges as changing dynamics on both the supply and demand side of expatriate management require that human resource (HR) managers develop new ways in which to adequately staff global positions. Identifying different forms of suitable human capital and understanding their particular needs and ambitions are therefore paramount to address this gap (Harrison and Michailova, 2012). In line with the overall theme of the present edited volume, this chapter addresses a few selected issues in regard to an understudied but potentially valuable group of expatriates — female SIEs in emerging countries.