European Management Review (2010) 7, 169179

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Self-initiated academic expatriates: Inherent demographics and reasons to expatriate

Jan Selmer, Jakob Lauring
Department of Management, Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University, Aarhus V, Denmark Correspondence: Jan Selmer, Department of Management, Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University, Haslegaardsvej 10, Aarhus V DK-8210, Denmark. Tel: 45 8948 6688; Fax: 45 8948 6467

Abstract Research on expatriate employees has to date focused mainly on organizational expatriates, so-called because they have been assigned by a parent company to a host country. Relatively little research has been conducted on self-initiated expatriate (SIE) employees. Hence, not enough is known about this type of expatriate. This paper examines the inherent demographics of SIEs. Data were collected from 428 expatriate academics from 60 countries, employed in 35 universities in five northern European countries. Results provided support for half of the propositions predicting that SIEs reasons to expatriate differ according to age and gender. Implications of the findings are discussed. European Management Review (2010) 7, 169179. doi:10.1057/emr.2010.15; published online 26 August 2010 Keywords: self-initiated expatriates; reasons to expatriate; demographics; academics

Introduction he internationalization of business has resulted in a need to manage global operations and associated expatriate staff effectively. This has contributed to an increased focus in academic research on expatriates and their international assignments (cf. Hechanova et al., 2003; Bhaskar-Shrinivas et al., 2005). The overwhelming majority of such studies have made little attempt to distinguish between different types of expatriates, the assumption being that expatriates are organizational expatriates (OEs), so labelled because they have been assigned by their parent companies to a host location. However, the nature and purpose of international assignments is becoming increasingly complex (Mayerhofer et al., 2004). This has led to a range of new roles and career paths for expatriates (Collings et al., 2007). Some of these emerging populations of expatriates have been termed, international itinerants (Banai and Harry, 2004) or independent internationally mobile professionals (McKenna and Richardson, 2007). These recent trends in international assignments are characterized by individuals who take personal responsibility of their career trajectories without the direct support of an organization (Carr et al., 2005). Such individuals have been labelled self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) (Lee, 2005).

Although recently increasing, there is still a dearth of research on SIEs (cf. Inkson et al., 1997; Suutari and Brewster, 2000; Jokinen et al., 2008). This is surprising since SIEs have been claimed to make up a larger share of the international workforce than OEs (Myers and Pringle, 2005). Hence, not enough is known about this important but under-researched group of expatriates. Because of clear differences between OEs and SIEs (Inkson et al., 1997), more research has been called for to better understand issues associated with SIEs and their expatriation (Suutari and Brewster, 2000; Vance, 2005). An important issue concerns the personal characteristics of SIEs, and if SIEs do have defining personal characteristics, can their reasons to expatriate be differentiated by these characteristics. This is a matter not well understood regarding OEs, and much less so in the case of SIEs, for whom individual-level reasons to expatriate tend to dominate since organizational perspectives are typically missing (cf. Shay and Baak, 2004; Dickmann et al., 2008). In this study we focus on SIE academics as a specific type of expatriate who are seeking job opportunities in universities in locations outside their home countries. Universities can be considered to have the character of professional

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service firms because of their high knowledge intensity and professionalized workforce (Nordenflycht, 2010). Moreover, academics have a low firm-specific capital and valuable non-homogeneous skills much needed in modern society (Teece, 2003). As a consequence, the academic staff in universities have a strong bargaining position relative to their employer, since their skills are scarce and easily transferable making them highly mobile (Coff, 1997; Nordenflycht, 2010). While academics experience relatively few barriers in transferring their skills from one country to another, the incentives to expatriate may still differ in terms of inherent demographic characteristics such as age and gender. Age and gender have been found to influence orientation to family relations (Marsden, 1987; Greller and Simpson, 1999), career issues (Greller and Simpson, 1999; Greene and Debacker, 2004), reasons to travel (Carr, 2001; Jang and Wu, 2006), financial concerns (Elizur, 2001; Lord, 2004) and risk-taking (Vroom and Pahl, 1971; Sexton and Bowman-Upton, 1990). In the case of academic expatriates, age and gender roles might differ from the generally accepted perception of age and gender because of academics long careers paths, high knowledge intensity and strong incentives to look for improved employment abroad. We seek to answer two central research questions: (1) Are SIE academics reasons to expatriate differentiated by age or gender? (2) Does the specific nature of expatriate academics as members of the professional service industry influence their reasons to expatriate in relation to age or gender? Answering these questions may make a contribution to the yet limited literature on SIE academics. Studies on the reasons for self-initiated expatriation are rare (cf. Suutari and Brewster, 2000). One exception is a small-scale, qualitative investigation undertaken by Richardson et al., which investigates, among other issues, the reasons for expatriation of 30 British SIE academics (Richardson and McKenna, 2002, 2003; Richardson and Mallon, 2005). Our examination of the inherent demographic characteristics of SIEs and whether these characteristics have a differentiating effect in reasons to expatriate extend the Richardson et al. investigations. We accomplish that by a large-scale quantitative study based on data from 428 expatriate academics from 60 countries, employed in 35 universities in five northern European countries. Results of the Analyses of Covariance (ANCOVA) indicated support for half of the propositions predicting that SIEs reasons to expatriate differ according to age and gender. The first author of this article has been an expatriate academic himself for more than 20 years and during his international career met many such colleagues. The results of this study ring true to him and therefore also may make perfect sense to others, expatriate academics and their employers alike. The remainder of the paper first addresses the conceptual aspects of this investigation: reasons to expatriate and SIE academics. This conceptual framework is succeeded by the development of propositions to be tested. The methods section delineates the target group, sample, and measures applied. Results are displayed and subsequently discussed in terms of main findings, limitations and implications. Finally, the conclusions of this study are drawn.

Conceptualizations Reasons to expatriate Five broad categories of reasons to expatriate were identified by Richardson et al. in interviews conducted with British SIE academics: adventure/travel; family; financial incentives; career and life change/escape (Richardson and McKenna, 2002, 2003; Richardson and Mallon, 2005). Adventure/travel was cited as the most common reason for self-initiated expatriation. The three main factors influencing the decision to expatriate for adventure/travel were: desire to see more of the world; search for new experience and desire for an adventure/challenge. Career considerations included a desire to enhance career prospects as well as an intention to pursue a promotion. There was also a presumption that expatriation might improve career prospects. Family reasons to expatriate included a desire to do what was best for the whole family and hence, the whole family was involved in the decision to expatriate, from very young children, to teenagers and adults. Financial incentives included the opportunity to make and to save a large amount of money. Marriage and/or having children were found to be an influencing factor when financial incentives were the main reason for expatriation. Life change/escape involved escaping from negative working situations, and as such, a connection could be drawn between the decision to expatriate and the pre-expatriation environment. In situations where life change/escape was the main reason for expatriation, the opportunity to expatriate was perceived as an escape from boredom with the home country as well as being an opportunity for change. SIE academics An SIE has been defined as any individual who is hired as an individual on a contractual basis and is not transferred overseas by a parent organization (Al-Meer, 1989; Shahid et al., 2001; Lee, 2005). In other words, SIEs are gainfully employed abroad and have acquired their job of their own volition without being assigned to the host location by an organization. Consequently, SIEs are expatriates and neither short-term travellers (sojourners) nor immigrants (Richardson and Zikic, 2007); they are foreign national employees living in ex-patria. SIE academics are a particular type of expatriate. Their specific skills make them highly mobile in the international job market. Changing jobs across national boundaries is not only a way for academics to fully utilize the bargaining power provided by their high nonfirm-specific human capital, it is also a merit in itself adding to their human and social capital (Welch, 1997). Propositions Age differences Age groups vary in physical features and attitudes related to life span. As age increases, individuals go through various

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biological (Sterns and Miklos, 1995; Greller and Simpson, 1999) and psychological changes (Gecas, 1982; Leonard et al., 1999; Maurer, 2001). These alterations may be reflected in the health, cognitive abilities and performance of the individual (Kooij et al., 2008). For example, Warr (2001) found that cognitive abilities change with age. More specifically, crystallized intellectual abilities (general knowledge and verbal comprehension) increase, whereas fluid intelligence (working memory, abstract reasoning and speed of reaction) decrease. Although most studies use chronological age to measure variations in characteristics, some studies have argued that other types of aging such as psychological, biological or social age could also be used as parameters (Kooij et al., 2008). Research on work motivation and intended actions reveals that age often moderates the relationship between various work characteristics and incentives to engage in different types of work activities. This may also be the case with academic expatriates. Warr (2001) summarized the limited empirical evidence on the motivational effects of key job features at different ages and found that the importance attached to high job demands and job variety decreased with aging, while the importance attached to job security and physical security increased as individuals aged. Mehrabian and Blum (1996) found that achievement motivation declined with age. Kanfer and Ackerman (2004) similarly found that with increasing age workers were more motivated to perform jobs that offered opportunities for positive events but less motivated to take on new tasks. This may be related to younger employees having more favourable attitudes toward risk-taking (Vroom and Pahl, 1971; Burns et al., 2008). The distinction between older and younger SIE academics can be made according to two conditions: one, their power and options to choose to expatriate; and two, their incentive to take on an international assignment. Older academics generally have higher human, social and economic capital (publication record, visibility, contacts and salary level) than their younger colleagues. For example, older people were found to be less concerned with financial gain from their work compared with younger people. A possible explanation for this finding might be that older people have already established their financial security (Greller and Simpson, 1999). Having less concerns about financial gain than their younger colleagues presents older academics with a greater range of employment options. Academics in the early stages of their careers have less power to choose an international over a domestic career. They may for various reasons be obliged to follow one type of career path over another (Carrera et al., 2008). Apart from the power to choose, incentives to expatriate may also vary between age groups in academe. Studies have found younger people to be more focused on advancing in their career, whereas older people find satisfaction in comfortable work situations (Leviatan, 1992; Panek et al., 2006). This can be further enforced by psychological processes where older employees actions are stereotyped, by themselves or others, as no longer instrumental for achieving career advancement (Kooij et al., 2008). Finally, in relation to going abroad, older travellers have been found to place importance on visiting friends and family and in safe conditions while younger travellers are more interested

in adventure and new experiences (Jang and Wu, 2006). In consequence, younger SIE academics can be expected to be more extrinsically motivated, less risk adverse and less relational when choosing to expatriate. Based on these assumptions we propose that differences in reasons to expatriate may exist between different age groups in SIE academics. Proposition 1a: Reasons to expatriate associated with adventure/travel are stronger for younger individuals than for older individuals. Proposition 1b: Reasons to expatriate associated with career are stronger for younger individuals than for older individuals. Proposition 1c: Reasons to expatriate associated with family are stronger for older individuals than for younger individuals. Proposition 1d: Reasons to expatriate associated with financial incentives are stronger for younger individuals than for older individuals. Proposition 1e: Reasons to expatriate associated with life change/escape are stronger for younger individuals than for older individuals. Gender differences Differences in gender are generally related to gender roles (Weber et al., 2009) and to differences in biological (physical and psychological) characteristics (Gove, 1994) that can be related to men and women respectively. In this regard, Balkan (1966) originally argued that males are guided predominantly by controlling tendencies referred to as agentic goals. This includes self-assertion, self-efficacy and mastering (Carlson, 1971). Concurrently, males tend to forcefully pursue goals having personal consequences (Beutel and Marini, 1995). In contrast, females are believed to be guided by communal concerns emphasizing interpersonal affiliation and a desire to be in harmonious relations with others and themselves (Eagly, 1986; Hall and Schmid Mast, 2008). However, while gender differences are often described as if they were static some meta-studies imply that changes have occurred during recent years (Greene and DeBacker, 2004). More precisely, the social differences between the males and females are argued to have diminished (Frankel et al., 2006). Psychology literature consistently presents men as more assertive, goal directed and instrumental, than women, who are presented as more affiliative, sensitive and emotional (Gove, 1994). The affiliative nature of women appears to have a high influence on their attitudes and intended actions. As such, it has long been recognized that women are more integrated into family relations (Marsden, 1987). Moreover, the interpersonal quality of the marital relationship has been found to be more important for women than for men (Gove, 1972; Segal et al., 2001). Finally, women have been argued to be more collaborative in their decision-making style (Doherty and Manfredi, 2010). Women are also known to be motivated more by intrinsic

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factors compared with men, who are known to be more extrinsically motivated (Bhagat and Williams, 2008). Regarding careers, studies have consistently reported that men are more interested in their careers than are women (Bartol and Manhardt, 1979). However, it has been argued that careers in professional service companies are driven by intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic motivation not least in the university sector (Doherty and Manfredi, 2010). This may point to womens career paths being relatively more in line with the demands of an academic work environment compared to other industries. Moreover for women, moving across national boundaries could also be a way to avoid gender-based discriminatory structures in their home countries (Ituma and Simpson, 2009). In this way, highly qualified women from maledominated countries may be able to use expatriation strategically to gain career promotions. With regard to financial concerns, Mahmoud (1996) found that pay affected the work satisfaction of men but not of women. Elizur (2001) similarly found that men ranked pay higher than women. Conversely, women valued interaction with people, convenient hours and job security higher than men. Sexton and Bowman-Upton (1990) found that women scored lower on risk-taking than men. Women were also more likely than men to be concerned with safety and security while travelling abroad (Carr, 2001). Finally, men have been found to be more focused on escape and self-esteem in leisure activities while women focused on socialization opportunities (Swanson et al., 2008). In summary, male academics could be expected to be more extrinsically motivated, less relational and less risk adverse than females when expatriating. Based on these assumptions we suggest that gender may be associated with differing reasons for expatriating: Proposition 2a: Reasons to expatriate associated with adventure/travel are stronger for men than for women. Proposition 2b: Reasons to expatriate associated with career are stronger for women than for men. Proposition 2c: Reasons to expatriate associated with family are stronger for women than for men. Proposition 2d: Reasons to expatriate associated with financial incentives are stronger for men than for women. Proposition 2e: Reasons to expatriate associated with life change/escape are stronger for men than for women. Method Target population Similar to that examined in the study by Richardson and Mallon (2005), Richardson and McKenna (2002, 2003), the target population for our study was SIE academics. A database of e-mail addresses of academics in science faculty departments in universities in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands was assembled as a sample frame. Names that were clearly not of local origin or that were uncommon in the respective host country were selected for

the database. Academics in science faculty departments were deemed to be a suitable group to target because science as an academic discipline may be less constrained by cultural, social and institutional factors than, for example, humanities and social sciences. The discipline content of science may be relatively easy to transfer and apply globally. Accordingly, scientists may without much difficulty cross national borders making them a suitable target group for our investigation. Academics in 34 universities were targeted. Most universities were situated in Sweden (10), while Denmark (3) had the fewest universities in the database. Data collection The data for this investigation were extracted from a larger study of expatriate academics. The data were collected electronically and a commercial web survey software package was used to administer the questionnaire. However, the university affiliation of the investigators was identified as the official sender and the potential respondents were assured of anonymity and confidentiality as is normal practice. To ensure that only members of the target group responded to the questionnaire, three initial screening questions were used asking whether (a) they had acquired their current academic job independently (self-initiated), (b) the current academic job was a regular position at their university (regular job) and (c) the nationality of the respondent was different than that of the host country (expatriate). If an affirmative response was given to all three screening questions, the respondent was invited to complete the rest of the questionnaire. Otherwise, the survey was interrupted and the response was collected immediately. Defining the expatriate status of these academics could be difficult since there may be several overlapping concepts involved, such as sojourners and immigrants (Richardson and Zikic, 2007). For example, to exclude sojourners who may be visiting the host country for short periods of time, such as Ph.D. students or staff from universities abroad on sabbatical leave or on secondment, a requirement of regular employment was applied. To leave out immigrants, only foreign nationals could be considered as being expatriate academics, indeed working ex-patria. In total, 1215 academics were invited to participate in the survey. A total of 653 responses were received amounting to a response rate of 53.7%. Of these, 428 respondents had answered affirmatively to all three screening questions indicating that they belonged to the target group. Hence, 65.5% of the respondents satisfied the requirements for the target group (35.2% of all invited academics). Sample For the purpose of this investigation, respondents were divided into two age groups by a median split, into younger and older expatriate academics. The average age of the younger expatriate academics was 32.19 years (SD 2.96). On average, these younger expatriate academics had spent 2.14 years in their respective host country (SD 1.92) and had worked abroad as an expatriate academic for 4.42 years (SD 3.19), including their current job. As displayed in Table 1, most of the younger expatriate academics were male (67.5%), married (50.8%), occupied lower positions as

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Table 1 Background of the sub-samples (N 428)a

Background variables Younger (n 196)

Age Older (n 213) Male (n 293)

Gender Female (n 122)

Frequency Per cent Frequency Per cent Frequency Per cent Frequency Per cent Gender: Male Female Married: Position: Full/Chair Professor Associate Professor Assistant Professor Research/Teaching Assistant Host country: Denmark Finland the Netherlands Norway Sweden Nationality group: Non-EU Non-Nordic EU Nordic
a

131 63 98 5 13 3 175 73 27 38 28 30 89 100 7

67.5 32.5 50.8 2.6 6.6 1.5 89.3 37.2 13.8 19.4 14.3 15.3 45.4 51.0 3.6

154 56 157 86 56 6 65 43 35 20 39 76 85 86 34

73.3 26.7 73.7 40.4 26.3 2.8 30.5 20.2 16.4 9.4 18.3 35.7 41.5 40.4 16.0

293 0 187 70 53 5 165 85 50 40 47 71 133 124 28

100 0 65.4 23.9 18.1 1.7 56.3 29.0 17.1 13.7 16.0 24.2 46.7 43.5 9.8

0 122 72 23 17 4 78 33 11 18 23 37 43 65 13

0 100 59.5 18.9 13.9 3.3 63.9 27.0 9.0 14.8 18.9 30.3 35.5 53.7 10.7

Frequency totals may be less than the stated n due to missing values.

Research/Teaching Assistants (89.3%), worked in Denmark (37.2%), and were national citizens from non-Nordic EU countries (51.0%). The older expatriate academics had an average age of 47.98 years (SD 8.17). On average, these older expatriate academics had spent 8.11 years in their respective host country (SD 7.41) and had worked abroad as an expatriate academic for 14.92 years (SD 8.89), including their present employment. Table 1 reveals that most of the older expatriate academics were male (73.3%), married (73.7%), occupied higher positions as Full/Chair Professor (40.4), worked in Sweden (35.7%), and were national citizens of non-EU countries (41.5%). One-way Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) was applied to detect any inter-group differences among the background variables for younger and older expatriate academics and it was discovered that such differences existed in the case of gender, host country, marital status, position, nationality group, time as expatriate academic and time in host location. These background variables will be used as co-variates in the analysis of inter-group differences between younger and older expatriate academics. The total sample of expatriate academics was then divided into two groups based on gender. Male respondents had an average age of 40.87 years (SD 10.27). On average, male expatriate academics had spent 5.46 years in their respective host country (SD 6.71) and had worked abroad as an expatriate academic for 10.00 years (SD 8.81), including their current job. Table 1 reveals that most of the

male respondents were married (65.4%), occupied lower positions as Research/Teaching Assistants (56.3%), worked in Denmark (29.0%), and were national citizens of non-EU countries (46.7%). The average age of the female respondents was 39.44 years (SD 9.53). On average, female expatriate academics had spent 4.76 years in their respective host country (SD 5.10) and had worked abroad as an expatriate academic for 9.70 years (SD 8.03), including their present employment. As displayed in Table 1, most of the female respondents were married (59.5%), occupied lower positions as Research/Teaching Assistants (63.9%), worked in Sweden (30.3%), and were national citizens from non-Nordic EU countries (35.5%). Again, one-way ANOVA was used to detect any inter-group differences among the background variables for male and female respondents but in this case only host country differed between the two groups. Accordingly, this variable will be applied as a covariate in the analysis of inter-group differences between male and female expatriate academics.

Instrument Demographics were based on background variables which were estimated through single direct questions to the respondents. The scales depicting reasons to expatriate were self-developed adapted after Richardson and Mallon (2005) (Appendix).

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Inherent demographics Age was measured by the question: How old were you on your last birthday? The response was then dichotomized by a median cut of the distribution of responses into two groups: Younger respondents and older respondents. Gender was assessed by the question: Are you male or female? Reasons to expatriate Adventure/travel was gauged by a three-item, seven-point scale developed after Richardson and Mallon (2005). Response categories ranged from 1 Strongly disagree to (7) Strongly agree, sample item: I want to see more of the world (alpha 0.88). Career was measured by a two-item, seven-point scale developed after Richardson and Mallon (2005). The same response categories applied as for travel or adventure, sample item: I hope to save a large amount of money (alpha 0.82). Family was assessed by a two-item, seven-point scale developed after Richardson and Mallon (2005). The same response categories applied as for travel or adventure, sample item: The entire family was involved in the decision to expatriate (alpha 0.62; iic 0.461). Financial incentives was gauged by a two-item, seven-point scale developed after Richardson and Mallon (2005). The same response categories applied as for travel or adventure, sample item: I hope to save a large amount of money (alpha 0.61; iic 0.44). Life change/escape was measured by a three-item, sevenpoint scale developed after Richardson and Mallon (2005). The same response categories applied as for travel or adventure, sample item: I want to escape from my current situation (alpha 0.71). Results Sample means, standard deviations and zero-order Pearson correlations of all variables are provided in Table 2. Onesample t-tests showed that the mean scores for adventure/ travel (t 21.94, Po0.001), career (t 30.40, Po0.001), family (t 11.58, Po0.001) and financial incentives (t 4.12, Po0.001) had significantly higher mean scores

than the midpoint of their scales. Only life change/escape (t 5.68, Po0.001) had a significantly lower mean score than the scale mid-point. This suggests that the respondents generally agreed that a desire for adventure/travel, career and family concerns, as well as financial incentives had influenced their decision to expatriate. However, they also, on average, disagreed that life change/escape was a factor in their decision to expatriate. Since one-way ANOVA detected that inter-group differences existed both in the case of age and gender, to test the propositions, between-group differences were examined through one 5 2 Multivariate Analyses of Covariance (MANCOVA). Table 3 displays a significant multivariate effect for the age groups of the expatriate academics (F 2.53; Po0.05). Results of ANCOVAs indicated a significant between-group difference for adventure/travel (F 7.19; Po0.05), career (F 5.68; Po0.05) and financial incentives (F 11.23; Po0.05). In all these cases, the younger expatriate academics had a higher mean score than that of their older counterparts. Table 4 shows a significant overall effect detected for the gender groups of the expatriate academics (F 2.61; Po0.05). ANCOVA results indicated a significant between-group difference for financial incentives (F 3.53; Po0.10), and life change/escape (F 12.79; Po0.001). Similarly, in both cases, the first category, male expatriate academics, had a higher mean score than that of the second group, the female expatriates. Consequently, it could be noted that for each of the examined variables, age and gender made a difference to some of the studied reasons to expatriate. Although most inter-group differences are not large and the significance levels are mostly modest, these results provide support for Propositions 1a, 1b, 1d, 2d and 2e. No support was found for Propositions 1c, 1e, 2a, 2b and 2c. Discussion Main findings A main finding of our study was that, except for family, each of the examined reasons to expatriate was differentiated by the two inherent demographic characteristics, age and gender. Age made a difference to three of the reasons to expatriate (except for family and life change/escape) while gender differentiated between two of the five reasons to expatriate (except for adventure/travel, career and family). Financial incentives were differentiated by both of the inherent demographics.

Table 2 Means, standard deviations and correlations among the variablesa

Variables 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
a

Mean 5.35 5.52 4.81 4.28 3.62

SD 1.24 1.00 1.39 1.36 1.35

1 1.00 0.29*** 0.00 0.28*** 0.38***

2 1.00 0.16*** 0.35*** 0.16***

Adventure/travel Career Family Financial Incentives Life change/escape

1.00 0.29*** 0.06

1.00 0.16***

1.00

396ono406 due to missing values. ***Po0.001.

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Table 3 MANCOVA and ANCOVA for reasons to expatriate by age a,b

Younger Mean (SD) (n 177) Adventure/travel Career Family Financial Incentives Life change/escape
a b

Older Mean (SD) (n 190) 5.17 5.37 4.72 4.02 3.51 (1.27) (1.05) (1.48) (1.40) (1.34)

Multi-variate effect 2.53*

Uni-variate F- ratios

5.61 5.80 4.87 4.58 3.75

(1.13) (0.79) (1.33) (1.25) (1.32)

7.19* 5.68* 0.10 11.23* 0.60

n 367 due to missing values. Covariates: Gender, host country, marital status, position, nationality group, time as expatriate academic, and time in host location. *Po0.05.

Table 4 MANCOVA and ANCOVA for reasons to expatriate by gender a,b

Male Mean (SD) (n 276) Adventure/travel Career Family Financial Incentives Life change/escape
a b

Female Mean (SD) (n 107) 5.21 5.44 4.61 4.08 3.25 (1.34) (1.01) (1.43) (1.48) (1.24)

Multi-variate effect 2.61*

Uni-variate F- ratios

5.45 5.59 4.88 4.39 3.76

(1.17) (0.94) (1.38) (1.28) (1.35)

3.53 1.20 3.30 5.19w 18.34***

n 383 due to missing values. Covariate: Host country. w Po0.10, *Po0.05, ***Po0.001.

We found that in the group of SIE academics, younger individuals were more extrinsically motivated and less risk averse when expatriating than their older colleagues. Accordingly, younger academics were more motivated by adventure, career and money when choosing to expatriate than older academics. Hence, our results are consistent with prior empirical findings which show that younger people are more risk-taking (Vroom and Pahl, 1971) and adventurous (Jang and Wu, 2006) whereas older people are more concerned with comfort (Panek et al., 2006), convenience (Leviatan, 1992) and safety (Jang and Wu, 2006). The results of our study are also congruent with the argument that younger people are more concerned with career issues than older people (Panek et al., 2006). Finally, our findings support the argument that young people value financial benefits from working more so than older people (Greller and Simpson, 1999). The finding that younger academics are more motivated by financial reasons and by career opportunities than are older academics, is in line with theories on professional service firms arguing for a link between motivation and types of human, social and economic capital (Nordenflycht, 2010). Hence, our empirical findings support the theory that the power to decide the direction of ones career path and the incentive to leave ones home country provide younger individuals in academe with stronger and more explicit reasons to expatriate compared to their older counterparts. We also proposed that when making the decision to expatriate, younger people would have stronger reasons related to life changes than older people, who tend to

place more importance on family relations. However, none of those propositions were confirmed by our findings. This could be due to limitations related to the use of chronological age as a measure as opposed to biological, psychological and social measures of aging (Kooij et al., 2008). With regard to gender differences, our results support our predictions that men are more strongly motivated, than are women, by money and opportunities to change ones life. This is in line with extant studies showing men to be more risk-taking than women, (Sexton and Bowman-Upton, 1990) who are more concerned with safety and security (Carr, 2001). The findings also support the argument that men have stronger financial incentives for engaging in work activities than do women (Mahmoud, 1996). Finally, some studies have indicated that men, more so than women, can be motivated by opportunities to change their life and escape problems in their current situation (Swanson et al., 2008) whereas women are more focused on stability and harmony (Hall and Schmid Mast, 2008). This was also confirmed in our study. We speculated that women expatriates in the academic world would to a high extent find their motivation in career opportunities; however, this was not supported by the findings. Consistent with earlier empirical results (Bartol and Manhardt, 1979; Greene and Debacker, 2004) we found men to be more motivated by money than women. However, this finding is not in line with recent findings in sex role theory suggesting that differences between the roles of males and females are diminishing (Kooij et al., 2008).

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To summarize, inherent demographic characteristics could make a difference as to why SIEs go abroad. This is important, since the practical implications of this finding could be associated with other outcomes at the host location, as discussed below. While our results are partly compatible with the argument that SIE academics, as members of the professional service industry, exhibit specific qualities relevant to expatriation reasons, these findings are not conclusive. Implications This investigation explored whether inherent demographic characteristics differentiate between the reasons to expatriate among SIEs. The findings give rise both to theoretical and practical implications. These are discussed below. Theoretically, the findings of this study suggest that researchers should be cautious about treating SIEs as a homogeneous group that is motivated by the same reasons to engage in expatriation. Instead, we suggest that different demographic characteristics are linked to different types of motivational patterns. From the results of our study it seems clear that SIEs may respond differently to each kind of reason to expatriate depending on their inherent demographic status. For example, the finding that there was no gender difference in terms of family does not support the argument that the affiliative nature of women appears to have a high influence on their attitudes and intended actions and hence being integrated in and value family relations (Marsden, 1987). The findings of this study may have important practical implications. Organizations that recruit SIEs may wish to inquire about job applicants reasons for expatriation. However, if there are differences among those reasons given by job applicants with regard to observable inherent demographics, such as age and gender, there may be an easily accessible factual basis for contesting some answers of applicants. Of course, there may be other requirements on SIE job applicants than their reasons to expatriate, but the findings of this study may be used to generate preprepared additional information about SIE job applicants. This may amount to a very practical check-list for recruiters of SIEs in general and academic expatriates in particular. For example, while recruiting SIEs, HR recruiters could pay special attention to the reasons younger male applicants place on adventure/travel and financial incentives, since those reasons may serve as an indicator of the applicants level of commitment to the job on offer as well as being an indicator of their salary expectations. Furthermore, the age-related findings can be used by HR managers to differentiate and customize their advertising strategy according to their targeted age group. When young SIEs are sought, themes involving adventure/travel, career and financial incentives could be especially featured but that may not be necessary or as effective when older, more senior candidates are recruited. Especially career opportunities may be effective for recruiting young expatriate academics due to the increasing globalization of higher education. Besides, this may be a beneficial circle, such that, universities already with a substantial expatriate academic staff may find it easier to attract young promising scholars than others. At the same time, HR executives may be well

advised to remember that the special interest young candidates may have for these three reasons may wane when they get older which could influence the content and design of various HR developmental programs and training in organizations employing SIEs. This may especially be important in efforts to retain the most valuable employees over time. What attracted them to the organization at one time may no longer be the same when they consider changing jobs later in their careers. Considering genderrelated differences, the importance male applicants place on life change/escape, as a reason to expatriate, could be particularly critical to prospective employers. Such reasons to expatriate resonate with symptom focused coping strategies, implying that individuals attempt to minimize anxieties by physically or mentally withdrawing from a situation or avoiding a problem (Folkman et al., 1986). Such coping strategies have been linked to negative outcomes of both socio-cultural and psychological expatriate adjustment (Selmer, 2001). However, whether such possible negative consequences associated with reasons to expatriate should be reflected in different job packages offered to SIE job seekers with different inherent demographics is a matter to be resolved by each hiring organization in accordance with local practices and legal circumstances. Conclusions This pioneering investigation examined whether SIEs reasons to expatriate differ in terms of inherent demographics. It is important since little is known of how the reasons for expatriating may be affected by the personal characteristics of the SIEs. Hence, the findings of this study contribute to the limited but growing literature on SIEs. Such new knowledge about SIEs is essential since there are clear differences between SIEs and OEs (cf. Inkson et al., 1997; Vance, 2005; Peltokorpi and Froese, 2009) and the knowledge on what motivates OEs to expatriate may have limited relevance in the case of SIEs (cf. Yurkiewicz and Rosen, 1995; Stahl et al, 2002; Dickmann et al., 2008), since OEs may be assigned abroad for organizational reasons (cf. m and Galbraith, 1977; Adler and Ghadar, 1990; Edstro Harzing, 2001) which are not applicable to SIEs. Consequently, building on previous research on SIE academics, reasons for expatriation did not include any organizational motives. Instead, a set of five individual reasons to expatriate was investigated: adventure/travel; life change/escape; family; financial incentives and career (Richardson and McKenna, 2002, 2003; Richardson and Mallon, 2005) together with two inherent demographic characteristics: age and gender. The results indicated support for half of our propositions predicting that reasons to expatriate are linked to inherent demographics. We also investigated whether the specific combination of skills and motivation that are characteristic of the university sector would influence reasons to expatriate among different demographic groups. However, while some findings were consistent with the argument that the specific composition of human, social and economic capital held by the individual SIE academic could affect their reasons to go abroad, these were not conclusive. Although this pioneering study can be improved in many ways and the results should be regarded as tentative, in the expectation of more investigations in

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this field of research, the findings may nevertheless have important implications for organizations recruiting SIEs. However, there may be a number of limitations of the study that may restrict the extent to which the results may be generalized. One potential limitation is that the data from the retrospective type of questioning regarding the original reasons to expatriate could have been biased by memory effects (cf. Smith, 1984; Sikkel, 1985). The average stay of the respondents in their respective host location was over five years and during that time the initial reason to expatriate, formed before expatriation, may have become less clear to the respondents. It is even possible that during the period of employment at their host location, a systematic bias may have occurred in that respect. It is possible that respondents harbouring a specific initial reason to expatriate later may have been confronted with unexpected circumstances in their foreign location resulting in a retrospective revision of that initial reason to expatriate. Therefore, it is not unlikely that respondents better remember initial reasons to expatriate that were later realized and experienced as successful than those which were changed due to unexpected problems and disillusionment. Another potential bias involves the analyses. Although a number of background variables were tested for inter-group differences to be used as covariates in the MANCOVA/ANCOVAs, we cannot be sure that we had included all relevant control variables in our data set, but that may be an acceptable risk to take in a pioneering study as this one. Yet another possible restriction is that it is not known to what extent our findings also are generalizable to business firms. Although there could be some general similarities between the work of business expatriates and expatriate academics as both groups may have to communicate and work with host nationals and learn how to operate effectively in a culturally new work environment (Richardson and McKenna, 2002), there may also be great differences, especially regarding the nature of work. The use of chronological age as a proxy for age-related processes may also constitute a potential limitation. However, aging is a complex process involving different psychological, biological and social changes (Kooij et al., 2008). Hence, the chronological age may be a too simplified construct to account for all age-related variations that could have an impact on reasons to expatriate. Finally, the method employed was cross-sectional in nature. A longitudinal approach may have produced a more rich data source as well as dealing more effectively with the limitation pertaining to retrospective questioning, as discussed above. Conversely, compared to cross-sectional investigations, longitudinal studies pose other methodological challenges (cf. Menard, 1991). Future studies within this area may try to eliminate some of the weaknesses of the current investigation as well as extend its scope. For example, a longitudinal approach may be applied to capture processes over time to assess to what extent the perception of initial reasons to expatriate may change by time. Furthermore, future studies may target SIEs in business firms to test the validity of the findings of the investigation for this important group of SIEs. At the same time, the scope of this study may be extended to involve other personal characteristics likely to differentiate between reasons for SIEs to expatriate.

Note
1 Since Chronbachs alpha to a certain extent is a function of the number of items, the inter-item correlation (iic) may be a better measure of reliability for two-item scales with a minimum level of iic 0.25 (Nunnally, 1978).

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Appendix Reasons to expatriate Developed after Richardson and Mallon (2005). (1 Strongly disagree to 7 Strongly agree). Travel/Adventure (alpha 0.88). I want to see more of the world. I desire an adventure/challenge. I want new experiences. Career (alpha 0.82). I desire to enhance my career prospects. I want to do the right thing for promotion. I thought it might do my career some good.

Family (alpha 0.62; iic 0.46). The entire family was involved in the decision to expatriate. We wanted to do what was best for the entire family Financial incentives (alpha 0.61; iic 0.44). I hope to save a large amount of money. I need a well-paying job for my family. Life Change/Escape (alpha 0.71). I want to escape from my current situation. I am bored with my home country. I want something new.

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