Abstract
Purpose:
The successful management of business expatriates and their families in hostile environments (HE) is a current concern for academics and human resources (HR) practitioners alike. Terrorism and other forms of violent crime have become salient topics on the public agenda, and international organizations are increasingly affected. Hence, scholarly interest in the HR implications for organizations sending staff to HEs has recently grown, and a nascent research area has emerged. This paper is the first systematic review synthesizing emerging literature in the field of expatriate management in HEs and its theoretical foundations, applying a multi-stakeholder perspective.
Design/methodology/approach:
Following accepted review procedures, systematic searches were conducted across three major databases. Manual search in target journals provided additional scrutiny.
Findings:
After analysing 28 articles, four main stakeholders were identified as follows: environments, expatriates, assigning organizations and the expatriates' social networks. Findings reveal the ways of how all stakeholders can affect expatiation success or be affected so that the success of the assignment is jeopardised.
Originality/value:
Our paper illustrates how these diverse articles can be linked within a comprehensive multi-stakeholder framework and provides avenues for future research. We also shift attention to neglected theoretical perspectives that might further improve the understanding of expatriates in HEs while offering actionable guidance for managerial and organizational practices.
The successful management of business expatriates and their families in hostile environments (HE) is a current concern for academics and human resources (HR) practitioners alike. Terrorism and other forms of violent crime have become salient topics on the public agenda, and international organizations are increasingly affected. Hence, scholarly interest in the HR implications for organizations sending staff to HEs has recently grown, and a nascent research area has emerged. This paper is the first systematic review synthesizing emerging literature in the field of expatriate management in HEs and its theoretical foundations, applying a multi-stakeholder perspective.
Design/methodology/approach:
Following accepted review procedures, systematic searches were conducted across three major databases. Manual search in target journals provided additional scrutiny.
Findings:
After analysing 28 articles, four main stakeholders were identified as follows: environments, expatriates, assigning organizations and the expatriates' social networks. Findings reveal the ways of how all stakeholders can affect expatiation success or be affected so that the success of the assignment is jeopardised.
Originality/value:
Our paper illustrates how these diverse articles can be linked within a comprehensive multi-stakeholder framework and provides avenues for future research. We also shift attention to neglected theoretical perspectives that might further improve the understanding of expatriates in HEs while offering actionable guidance for managerial and organizational practices.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-24 |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| Journal | Journal of Global Mobility |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 30 May 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 12 Jun 2020 |
Keywords
- expatriate management
- hostile environments
- systematic review
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Business and International Management
- Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Documents and Links
- Faeth, P.C. & Kittler, M.G. (2020) Expatriate management in hostile environments from a multi-stakeholder perspective – a systematic review
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