The Impact of Cultural Similarity and Social Network Characteristics on Re-Expatriation Intention Among Self-Initiated Academic Expatriates

Gheath Mahmoud Abdel-Rahman,Subramaniam A/L Sri Ramalu,Chandrakantan A/L Subramaniam

doi:10.18533/ijbsr.v7i9.1062

Gheath Mahmoud Abdel-Rahman, Subramaniam A/L Sri Ramalu + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.18533/ijbsr.v7i9.1062

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Abstract

<p>This conceptual paper sheds light on re-expatriation intention among self-initiated academic expatriates who have completed their international assignments, and returned their home country and then intended to re-expatriate to have another experience in the host country by their own initiatives. Cultural similarity and social network characteristics which involve size, closeness and frequency appeared to have a significant impact on the expatriates' decisions to move abroad for the first time. Therefore, these variables are predicted in the study to be associated with their intentions to re-expatriate. Push-pull theory is utilized in this paper to better understanding the impact of cultural similarity and social network characteristics on re-expatriation intention among academic SIEs. Thus, this study contributes to fill the gap in literature by addressing the influence of cultural similarity and social network characteristics on re-expatriation intention.</p>

Highlights

As a result of the globalization, a higher importance is placed by organizations on the role of international assignment (Isakovic & Whitmann, 2013), and paved the way for the importance of expatriates to achieve competitive advantages and to complete strategic tasks (Selmer & Lauring, 2010)
The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between cultural similarity, social network characteristics and re-expatriation intention among self-initiated academic expatriates as there may be different reasons for moving abroad that either they decide to move abroad for the first time or they have already experienced the differences between home and host countries conditions and intended to re-expatriate (Ho et al, 2015)
This study proposes that motivational factors, such as cultural similarity and social network characteristics involving size, closeness and frequency are related to academic self-initiated expatriates (SIEs)' intention to reexpatriate again to the host country

Summary

Introduction

As a result of the globalization, a higher importance is placed by organizations on the role of international assignment (Isakovic & Whitmann, 2013), and paved the way for the importance of expatriates to achieve competitive advantages and to complete strategic tasks (Selmer & Lauring, 2010) This is consistent with the increasing number of expatriates seeking jobs abroad as reported by Finaccord’s (2014) study which revealed that there are about 50.5 million of skilled expatriates around the globe and it is expected to reach 56.8 million by 2017. While there is a little number of studies focused on SIEs, there are fewer studies found on academic SIEs who are increasingly moving abroad as a result of the globalization that drives many educational systems to cope with all changes in the global marketplace (Austin et al, 2014; Kirk & Napier, 2009)

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