Swimming Ahead or Treading Water? Disaggregating the Career Trajectories of Women Self‐Initiated Expatriates

Washika Haak‐Saheem,Kate Hutchings,Chris Brewster

doi:10.1111/1467-8551.12465

Washika Haak‐Saheem, Kate Hutchings + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12465

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Abstract

AbstractThis paper explores the career choices and trajectories of women self‐initiated expatriates (SIEs). Extant research on these issues has tended to view women expatriates as a coherent group. We used a qualitative approach, involving semi‐structured interviews with 51 women SIEs, to examine women's reasons to relocate, reasons for employment, past and current work as part of their overall career and future career plans. Drawing on literature on career theories, gender work segregation theory and women expatriates, we explore how national and individual factors affect women SIEs’ career choices and career trajectories. In providing a more nuanced discussion of the careers of women SIEs, our key findings are that women's careers differ according to national grouping and marital status, with life stages and happenstance playing a more important role in women's careers than a planned career path.

Highlights

Most of the substantial research on women expatriates has focused on Western women, examining barriers to their expatriation and cross-cultural adjustment challenges when on international assignments (Hutchings and Michailova, 2017; Salamin and Hanappi, 2014)
We present our findings according to the four main themes emerging from the data
In respect to reasons for expatriation/relocation, Western women highlighted career opportunities and adventure, and following their husband’s career decisions, whereas women in the Middle East and North African (MENA) sample referred to lifestyle considerations and women in the Asian and MENA samples referred to financial incentives and choices, reflecting a focus on the family broadly

Summary

Introduction

Most of the substantial research on women expatriates has focused on Western women, examining barriers to their expatriation and cross-cultural adjustment challenges when on international assignments (Hutchings and Michailova, 2017; Salamin and Hanappi, 2014). Research has considered differences in women expatriates’ choices and experiences dependent on whether they were assigned expatriates (AEs) or self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), with the latter more likely to be involved in self-employment or in the not-forprofit sectors (McNulty, Vance and Fisher, 2017). We explore career choices and trajectories of sales, clerical, professional, managerial and selfemployed women SIEs working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Though earlier research focused on business expatriates (McNulty and Brewster, 2017), a large number of expatriates undertake lower-status work (Haak-Saheem and Brewster, 2017), so we include women from a range of occupations and incomes. Our primary research question is: What factors affect the career trajectories of women SIEs in the UAE? Our primary research question is: What factors affect the career trajectories of women SIEs in the UAE? We highlight the importance of national and individual factors in shaping women’s career choices and trajectories, examining the effect of national groupings and marital status, life stages and happenstance

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