Organisational support during expatriation: a study of New Zealand managers

Abstract

In this paper, data are presented from an exploratory analysis of the New Zealand expatriate managers' perception of their organisational support during expatriation. The qualitative and anecdotal data were sought via a structured interview questionnaire to study the key demographic details and information about the organisation's selection, training and support systems with regard to the expatriate's foreign assignment experience. The study show that the organisations valued experience with the company, overall education, managerial talent and independence to be the most important factors in their selection for the expatriate assignment. The study highlights that the expatriates had very little intensive predeparture training, although most had some sort of environmental briefing and about half undertook pre-assignment field visits. The support systems were usually provided by a home or host country mentor and considered important and effective.