TITLE:
Conceptual Framework for Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities of Self-Initiative Expatriate Mindsets in the Modern World
AUTHORS:
Osman Yussuf
KEYWORDS:
Self-Initiated Expatriate, Cultural Adjustment, Workplace Integration, Career Growth
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies,
Vol.12 No.4,
December
23,
2024
ABSTRACT: As recent research in the domain of global mobility highlights, the landscape of the expatriate remains very much in flux. A lot of progress has been made in identifying different categories and types of employees who work internationally, looking at the configuration of such roles and the roles of the self-initiated who are motivated to seek out opportunities to live and work abroad. In the present paper, we build upon the extant literature to expand understanding of the recently emergent area of self-initiative expatriates through the lens of mindset. Our contribution is threefold: Firstly, we present a theoretically informed framework that examines the concept of self-initiative mindset, detailing various types and dimensions. Secondly, we examine how these diverse mindsets may influence an individual’s overseas adjustment and experience. Thirdly, utilizing expectancies theory as a lens, we speculate upon how these mindsets might evolve throughout the course of the expatriation cycle. In doing so, we challenge the preeminence of traits, such as motivation and aspiration in the successful self-initiated expatriate and highlight the importance of understanding these characteristics in the context of these wider mindsets. We conclude the paper by presenting a framework of study questions to structure future work on this understudied motive for working internationally.