Attitudes toward foreign assignments among Danish economists

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Attitudes toward Foreign Assign-ments among Danish Economists

Torben Andersen � Steen Scheuer

Executive Summary

This article addresses attitudinal issues toward foreign assignments and reports ondata collected from a distinct sample of respondents—Danish economists. One of themuch-debated questions is whether foreign assignments are becoming less attractive, inparticular among the younger employees, who tend to follow more narrow self-interestsand stay home. This is supposed to be reinforced by deteriorating corporate policies (i.e.,offers being less attractive). The present study provides the basis for rather significantfindings. The economists tend to look quite positively on expatriation (across age, gen-der, seniority, former foreign assignment, and unemployment), and this finding issupported by the fact that about 25% of the respondents already had experiences withforeign assignment. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

INTRODUCTION

n this article, we would like to examine a question that has been brought forwardfrom time to time within the international human resource management domain:Has it become more difficult for companies to attract employees for foreignassignments, (i.e., for expatriation) for longer spells of time? According to somestudies, these assignments are apparently becoming less attractive to potentialcandidates (making the multitude of proposed selection criteria of decreasingpractical value to internationally assigning firms). The difficulty in attractingapplicants is supposed to be based on a lack of willingness among presentemployees, which is caused by, among other things:

1. Cost cutting from the companies—that is, reducing the special compensa-tion packages for expatriates, making it less attractive (and riskier) to take

Thunderbird International Business Review, Vol. 46(6) 725–741 • November–December 2004

© 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. • Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).

DOI: 10.1002/tie.20033

Torben Andersen, MA, PhD, is an associate professor of human resource management at Univer-sity of Southern Denmark, Department of Organization and Management. His more recentresearch interests are in new forms of employee-company relations. E-mail: [email protected] Scheuer, MA, PhD, DSc, is a professor of organization and management in the Departmentof Social Science at Roskilde University,. His most recent book is Social and Economic Motivationat Work, published by CBS Press in 2000. E-mail: [email protected].

up an assignment abroad, compared with taking up a local(domestic) job (Black, Gregersen, Mendenhall, & Stroh,1999; Brewster & Scullion, 1997; D’Averi, 1995; Selmer,2001) and

2. An increasing awareness of a favorable market condition in thedomestic labor market by employees, implying a more rational(i.e., self-centered) career orientation, based on the increasingpursuit by employees of their self-interests (Black et al., 1999;Riusala & Suutari, 2000).

Selmer calls the first cause “deteriorating corporate policies” andargues that the outcome for the companies is “problems.” Instead ofhaving many applicants to pick and choose from, today companiesoften have to take the only one who wants to go—not necessarily thebest qualified, technically and/or culturally (Selmer, 2001). The con-sequences are that companies are no longer able to define “a pool ofsuitable candidates” when a job emerges, and the selection processfollowing the recruitment process becomes more difficult, if notnonexistent (Black et al., 1999, p. 70). The questions are: To howlarge a degree has there been large numbers of potential candidatesin earlier times? And if this is true, then is this due to earlier problemsof too large emphasis on professional-technical skills rather than ongeneral cultural sensitivity? This is one of the classical themes of expa-triation: human based control possibilities for MNCs versus knowl-edge transfer from headquarters to subsidiary (Bonache & Brewster,2001).

EXPATRIATION

A large bulk of literature has stressed the difficulties and challengesassociated with expatriation and repatriation (see, e.g., Adler, 1986;Black, 1991; Black et al., 1999; Forster & Johnsen, 1996; Harvey,1996; Scullion, 1995). The fact that it is a critical issue is, however,not novel. More than 20 years ago, Thorbiörn pointed out that for-eign assignments presented large difficulties for companies (seeThorbiörn, 1982, p. 51). Some authors report about 20–50%turnover rates among repatriates in mainly U.S. companies (Black,1988). In addition, Tung found in her 1987 study that half of the 80U.S. companies had expatriate failure rates of up to 30%, and thereseems to be a somewhat general tendency for firms not to handle thetwo processes—expatriation and repatriation—very professionally(Tung, 1987, p. 117; see also Black et al., 1999, pp. 215ff). This is,in other words, a phenomenon that has existed for quite some time,


726 Thunderbird International Business Review • November–December 2004

…companiesare no longerable to define “apool of suitablecandidates”when a jobemerges…

even though companies should have been able to acquire more expe-riences in this area. Not only do the empirical studies mentionedabove seem to indicate this, but also the general attitude held by sev-eral Danish HR practitioners seems to reinforce this continuous—andperhaps increasing—problem. The general acknowledgment of com-panies not being professional enough in supporting their expatri-ates—either before, during, or after the foreign assignment—ispresent in many cases. The problem is, however, when youngeremployees decline offers, as they can readily see what is likely to takeplace in relation to individual career opportunities.

While there is a high level of agreement among scholars about theimportance of overseas operations for companies, there is moreuncertainty about the size of the problems associated with expatria-tion (see, e.g., Harzing, 1995). Harzing is mainly criticizing theempirical basis for many of the above-mentioned contributions onexpatriate failure, and she speculates whether larger differences couldexist between parent countries, implying that European countriescould be more successful than the United States. Nine years afterHarzing’s article, we are still looking for answers to the question: Dothe expatriation and repatriation problems extend to larger groups ofemployees, and, if so, what are the consequences? Perhaps there hasalways been a certain hesitancy among potential candidates, and it issimply that a larger majority of them have started to decline offers. Ifthis is the case, could this lead to larger success rates (measuredthrough fewer premature re-entries), because those who take up anassignment are the ones who have a more positive attitude? (Thisargument is, however, not without problems inasmuch as some earli-er studies have indicated that the most prepared and committed arenot necessarily the ones who perform best and stay longest on theassignment.)

CAREER EXPECTATIONS

Concerning the underlying rationale of changed career aspirationsleading to the suggested more self-interested or self-conscious ratio-nal goal-oriented behavior, this is similarly addressed earlier in litera-ture. The often-posed question “Will this assignment lead to myadvancement” is described by Black et al. (1999, p. 69), and it isbased on a formal and vertical progressive career perspective. In otherwords, do employees see foreign positions as limiting their careerchances in a traditional sense? Attitudes like this are suggested to pre-vail, despite that at the same time much of the recent literature in this

Attitudes toward Foreign Assignments among Danish Economists

727Thunderbird International Business Review • November–December 2004

…there isuncertainty

about the size ofthe problems

associated withexpatriation…

domain is challenging the traditional wisdom about career patterns(see Arnold, 1997; Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; Larsen, 1998). Careerbehavior is considered to be changing in many important respects:First, it is said to be becoming much less vertical, pointing in manyother (mainly horizontal) directions (Larsen, 2001). Second,employees are becoming oriented more toward in-job development(i.e., the traditional career paths leading to positions that are formal-ly higher—but perhaps lower with regard to in-job development—are less pervasive and less attractive, too). It is suggested that there isa trend away from advancing through line management (“up the lad-der”) and toward flexible management positions, so that job advance-ment comes with increasing responsibilities and increasing autonomyin the job, not necessarily with an increasing number of subordinates.Traditional career expectations may therefore become succeeded andreplaced by a larger variety and, in some sense, irrationality, withemployees becoming more selective and less intent on pursuing the“one best way” to the top in their evaluation of opportunities (seealso Larsen & Ellehave, 2000, p. 104).

The more recent approach to the career phenomenon, the underly-ing rationale as well as the empirical basis, has been—and probablywill be in the near future—highly debated (see, e.g., Dany, Mallon,& Arthur, 2003). And providing it with an international perspective,with a focus on expatriation, makes it even more open for discussion.It is, however, also possible to see the phenomenon in a broader soci-etal perspective and thereby uncover whether there are developmentsinfluencing and pulling in similar or opposite directions. Lookinginto employment relations research, the problem of declining will-ingness among employees to take up assignments could be reinforcedby a tight labor market in the years around the study. The knowledgeabout one’s own market condition and worth (employability) couldlead to a more self-conscious pursuit of self-interests. The changingcareer orientation is then based on a more profound change in theemployment relationship (i.e., it is becoming more market-based; themarket has been brought inside the firm; Capelli, 1999). And thischanged rationality leads to more intentional choices fromemployees—taking care of their own career by staying home. In otherwords, increased market orientation leads to increasing risk aversion.It is also possible to find similar arguments in more generic texts onsocial behavior (i.e., individuals increasingly—in this age of risk soci-ety—showing a reflexive awareness; Giddens, 1991, p. 35). Indesigning their own career patterns, based on the subjective orienta-tion to work (cf. Crompton & Harris, 1998, p. 123; Scheuer, 2000a,pp. 113–133), employees are composing different sequences of occu-



…employeesare becomingoriented moretoward in-jobdevelopment.

pational experiences, and they increasingly tend to follow their ownpreferences and values. Basically, people are taking care of their owncareers by remaining employable through collecting portfolios ofskills and experiences that are attractive to the market (Arnold, 1997,p. 28). Arthur and Rousseau have formulated it this way: “No normsand few models exist to tell us how to evaluate, plan, analyse, review,promote or enact a boundaryless career” (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996,p. 370). The lack of predictability is based on the assumption thatemployees will continuously pursue the best possible solutions forthemselves, and they will, in this process, apply the “quid pro quoattitude.” They are taking the greater risks and responsibilities ofbeing unemployed when the company doesn’t need them anymore,and managing their own careers (Capelli, 1999, p. 29), and for this,companies are supposed to develop employees’ skills and learningopportunities. If they cannot deliver, employees will pursue otheropportunities. This goes for jobs inside corporations, too.

However, if we are to see a much larger variety in career orientations(and later in career behavior), with a greater focus on personal devel-opment, why should (young) people then decline foreign assign-ments? If they often, for example, take 3–6 months’ sabbaticalsomewhere in Asia, why not then take a dynamic, challenging job inthe People’s Republic of China and leave it if it does not prove to beinteresting and challenging? To put it in other words, taking up a for-eign assignment can be motivated by (narrow) career strategizing,but it can also be motivated by a more general desire to simply getthe opportunity to live and work abroad.

THE DATA

The empirical part of this study examines the relationship betweenthe basic personal characteristics: age, gender, educational level, jobtitle, sector, seniority, and experiences and attitudes toward expatria-tion. The universe of the sample is members of the UnemploymentInsurance Fund (UIF) of Danish economists called CiviløkonomernesArbejdsløshedskasse (CA). Unemployment insurance (i.e., membershipof a UIF, the so-called Ghent system) in Denmark is voluntary. Thegeneral insurance degree (the share of the workforce who wasinsured) is nevertheless quite high: 78.5% in 1999, and foreconomists, the insurance degree has been calculated even higher, to80% (the degree of economically active economists who are membersof CA). In other words, CA represents with its membership the bulkof economically active trained economists in Denmark, and in this



The lack of pre-dictability is

based on theassumption thatemployees will

continuouslypursue the best

possible solu-tions for

themselves…

respect these data are of very high significance. A questionnaire (mailsurvey) was sent out in 2000 to a random sample of 2,000 members(aggregate membership of CA is 23,000). After two reminders hadbeen sent out to nonrespondents, a total response of 1,346 had beenobtained, a response rate of 67.3%. An analysis of nonrespondents inthe gross sample indicated that women and the very young (thoseunder 30 years old) had showed a slightly smaller willingness to reply,but, all in all, no major defects in response patterns were detected(Scheuer, 2000b).

The questionnaire focused on three dimensions of respondents’work: (1) characteristics of their present job, (2) their career untilnow, and (3) their desires and wishes concerning their future career,the last category including questions concerning whether they werethinking about working abroad, whether they feared becomingunemployed, and so on. In this article, the responses to questions inthe first two dimensions will be utilized as background and as analyt-ical factors, while responses concerning working abroad will be uti-lized as response factors.

In some respects, the sample of economists differs from the nationalaverage. First of all, he/she has received formal education at a uni-versity or business school (all part of the same publicly financed edu-cational system). The typical size of a company where a Danisheconomist works is about 200 employees, which in internationalcomparisons is somewhat small but in a Danish context rather large(much larger than average). We have chosen to focus mainly on threesectors where the economists are employed: (1) manufacturing com-panies; (2) trade, shipping, and so on, and (3) IT and telecommuni-cations. The study is not limited to Danish-owned companies.(Economists in Danish as well as in foreign companies have partici-pated; however, it is unfortunately not possible to identify companybackground for further analysis.)

ANALYSIS

Applied to a Danish context, the problems delineated above lead tothe following research question: How do (young) Danish economistssee foreign assignments? Our intention is to provide an overview of aquite large, and very important, group of employees in Danish com-panies as well as in foreign companies in a small and open economylike Denmark’s. In the various occupational and professional groups,economists are supposed to possess an above-average educational



In somerespects, thesample ofeconomists dif-fers from thenational average.

level (and be well-trained), have better opportunities for successfullypursuing their own career, and be employed in organizations with alarger size and thereby larger number of foreign subsidiaries. It is,however, an open question as to whether this will produce a prefer-ence for an organizational rather than individual career. On the onehand, this group of employees could have preferences for more nar-row goal-oriented behavior under favorable market conditions. Onthe other hand, this type of employee could very well be filling outthe role of “company man” (i.e., following company demands quiteliterally). At present, no aggregate experiences exist on this type ofemployee’s attitudes and behavior, and without any earlier studiesfocusing on Danish economists, we tend to follow the theoreticalfindings in the section above, leading to Hypothesis 1:

Hypothesis 1: The attitudes among economists toward taking upa foreign assignment are generally negative.

The first subquestion to be addressed is the one on gender, becausethe number of female expatriates is supposed to increase and becausea somewhat special Danish situation is present. As can be seen inTable 1, the number of women who are members of CA is quitehigh—37% (and this is as high as 45% for members younger than 35).The number of female economists working in private companies is, incomparison with larger countries often mentioned in the expatriatedebate, very high. Almost half of the younger economists inDenmark, of whom many are expected to be offered foreign assign-ments, are women.

Looking at gender, it is obvious to speculate on the dual-career cou-ples (DCCs). Is it that female economists are married to men also



Table 1. Danish Economists (Members of the CA Unemployment Insurance Fund),Age and Gender, Percent

Men and women, divided by ageAge All

Percent vertical Men (%) Women (%) Total (%)17–30 27 55 45 10031–35 32 56 44 10036–40 17 61 39 10041–50 14 79 21 10051+ 10 93 7 100Total 100 63 37 100

N = 1,334.Source: The CA Survey, April–June 2000.

pursuing a career, and, if so, will this influence the way womenrespond? It was not part of the study to look at a partner’s educationand job, and it is not possible to say if the female economists partic-ipating in this study were confronted with dual-career problems morethan others. However, a large proportion of the members in CA(and, therefore, in this study) are relatively young (60% being below35), and as many of them are women, this leads us to speculatewhether there are more DCCs in this sample than in studies wherethe average age is higher and women are fewer.

As pointed out by many researchers (see, e.g., Adler, 1984a, b;Handler & Lane, 1997; Harris, 1999), the frequently mentionedaccompanying spouse phenomenon is creating major problems if thespouse has his/her own career to pursue. Handler and Lane (1997,p. 76) found that the number of expatriates belonging to DCCs hadincreased (to about 30% in 1997), and that the salience of DCCissues among their sample was consistent with the literature identify-ing these as an important HR agenda. Riusala and Suutari (2000, p.13) found that 67% of the expatriates in their sample (Finnish engi-neers) had spouses with careers also. Adler (1984a, b) and Harris(1999) both identified a potential DCC restriction that would be anentry barrier for women wishing to gain international assignments.However, this does not necessarily lead to more negative attitudesheld by women. More recent studies have found that there were nosignificant differences in male and female interests in accepting inter-national assignments (Caligiuri, Joshi, & Lazarova, 1999, p. 164;Lowe, Downes, & Kroeck, 1999, p. 223). Lowe et al. emphasizedthat the specific country seems to be the prime influence in women’swillingness to expatriate. The hypothesis is, therefore, that femaleeconomists without any national contextual specification (of assign-ment) and facing similar problems as men in relation to partners,when considering taking up foreign assignments, will answer rathersimilarly. Therefore,

Hypothesis 2: Gender does not impact attitudes toward foreignassignments. We would expect women to express a similar nega-tive attitude.

There are, however, pros and cons when it comes to gender. Danishsociety and culture have often been characterized as dominated byfeminine values (Hofstede, 1984, p. 191; Lowe et al., 1999, p. 224),implying that women should be able to get some acceptance fromtheir male partners in taking up a foreign assignment. On the otherhand, we find it plausible that the first choice for women would be to



Danish societyand culture haveoften beencharacterized asdominated byfemininevalues…

pursue a domestic career and if expatriation was an opportunity, thenthe culture of the country would be an important influential factor.(The women in this study are almost all full-time employees—thegender is not influenced by a working time variable.)

Moving on to seniority, the argument is that employees should, onthe one hand, be hesitant to take additional foreign assignments dueto the lack of positive experiences on the job, limited predeparturepreparation, and “stories” about unsuccessful repatriation fromsenior colleagues. Brewster and Scullion found that many employeesnow only accept one assignment and then return home, as they aremore likely to regard an international assignment as part of a long-term career path and do not want to stay abroad (Brewster &Scullion, 1997, p. 36). However, there are also more positive experi-ences concerning previous overseas assignments. Some expatriatestend to be much more in favor of continuing foreign assignments,and they actually pursue a foreign career. The Finnish study byRiusala and Suutari, based on a survey in the Finnish engineers’ tradeunion, finds very positive experiences with expatriation. In addition,employees’ expectations toward employment after the expatriationwere similarly positive (Riusala & Suutari, 2000, p. 10), despite thatstatistics paint a grim picture for potential candidates (Black et al.,1999, p. 70). Still, Hypothesis 3 is following the general trend (i.e.,experiences lead to skepticism):

Hypothesis 3: We expect people who already have been on a for-eign assignment and now are home will be hesitant about takingup another assignment.

That people are not exactly queuing up for foreign assignments couldbe seen as a consequence of them having better opportunities. Butwhat if they do not have these (e.g., if they are unemployed or if theyfeel unsafe in their present employment situation)? In other words, isthis only a question of supply and demand of labor? Earlier researchseems to indicate that the longer time people are unemployed, themore willing they are to decline self-interest (i.e., taking jobs they“normally” would not take). We would therefore expect unemployedpeople to express more positive attitudes toward taking up a foreignassignment.

In 2000, the large majority of the economists are employed (less than5% are unemployed). The number of unemployed female economistsis slightly higher than their male colleagues, and this also goes forpart-time employment and people on sabbatical. Still, numbers are



That people arenot exactly

queuing up forforeign assign-ments could be

seen as a conse-quence of them

having betteropportunities.

small. The low level of unemployment among Danish economistsshould, on the one hand, lead to a very hesitant attitude to go abroadand work. Similarly, people having employed partners or spouses, andperhaps having children, would hesitate even more to take a foreignassignment. Therefore, age could prove to be a very important medi-ating variable. On the other hand, low unemployment could also leadto a more strong cohesive pressure (e.g., on graduates to get a jobquickly). Peer pressure among young candidates could make it almostsocially unacceptable to be unemployed under tight labor marketconditions—leading to a strong incentive to go abroad for jobs. Webelieve that, on the attitudinal level, the difference between beingemployed or not will make a difference:

Hypothesis 4: People who are unemployed or fear they mightbecome unemployed are expected to express more positive atti-tudes toward taking up a job abroad.

FINDINGS

The data collected among Danish economists show a relatively posi-tive attitude toward taking up a foreign assignment (see Table 2).

Almost half of the respondents had a positive attitude or already hadplans to take up a foreign assignment. Taking the rather negative per-spective presented in the literature review, we would expect at least aclear majority of the economists to answer negatively. This is not thecase, and we therefore cannot confirm Hypothesis 1. The attitudestoward foreign assignments among Danish economists are not over-whelmingly negative. Still, one has to take into consideration that thesurvey is only based on very broad general questions (i.e., contextu-al and prospective aspects were ignored—the host country and finan-



Table 2. Q: “Do you have wishes or plans to work abroad?”, Percent

PercentNo, I have no plans or wishes 52Yes, I would like to 44Yes, I have plans 4Total 100

N = 1,317.Note: The phrasing of the question is based on the assumption that four options are possible, and only

one can be chosen. If the first response is negative (“No wishes”), we assume this automatically leads to “Noplans.” Thereby, three options emerge, two positive and one negative.

Source: The CA Survey, April–June 2000.

cial incentives considerations are not included here, which couldmake a difference, particularly if we look at gender). Looking at agedistribution, the data also cannot confirm the arguments presented inthe literature—that newer generations of employees on the labormarket in particular were pursuing self-interest (see Table 3).

The table indicates that it is mainly the younger economists who arepositive toward foreign assignments. It is also interesting to observethat nearly three-quarters of the economists who graduated in the1960s would not wish to take up a foreign assignment, but 8% haveplans to do so! Is this a function of family commitments and stable(domestic) career intentions in the former group and well-developedinternational career orientation based on earlier experiences in thelatter?

Looking down the table, one can see that only 40% of those whograduated in the late 1990s say no to foreign assignments (55%answer yes, and 7% have plans to do so). Whether we are in a situa-tion of “well-travelled young graduates” and “the spirit of interna-tionalism, seen among mainly European MNCs and people workingthere,” as Tung (1987, p. 122) describes it, is difficult to say.However, a positive relationship seems to exist between attitudestoward foreign assignments and year of graduation.

Looking at Hypothesis 2—the gender issue—there is a tendencytoward men being more willing to take a foreign assignment thanwomen. Table 4 illustrates this.

Whereas 55.8% of the women answered in the negative, only abouthalf of the men did. Still, we would argue that the 41.1% of thewomen who answered positively, and the additional 3.1% with plans



Table 3. Q: “Do you have wishes or plans to work abroad?”, Year of Graduation, Percent

Do you have wishes or plans to work abroad?No (%) Yes, wishes (%) Yes, plans (%) N

Graduation year1961–70 74 18 8 391971–90 64 33 3 4221991–95 51 46 3 4371996–2000 39 55 7 419Total 52 44 4 1,317

Chisq = 67.9, p < .001.Source: The CA Survey, April–June 2000.

to take up an assignment (totaling 44.2%), is a surprisingly highnumber. The large proportion of the economists who are women(37% in total, and 45% of members below 35 years) and the 44.2%who are positive to foreign assignments are pointing in this direc-tion. We know from earlier research that all major career decisionsinvolve the spouse (both men and women!), and, basically, not manyothers apart from him/her. This need not hinder expatriation, sincemotivations having to do with personal experiences can be sharedamong spouses, even if the career interests of the one partner is dis-advantaged in the short term. In particular, in the Nordic countriesit is more common for both partners to have their own career, andthis accentuates the problem of dual-career couples. (We areaddressing this at a hypothetical level, due to the lack of DCC ques-tions in the questionnaire.)

Concerning Hypothesis 3—expecting people who already have beenabroad to have a similarly negative attitude—Table 5 provides a verydifferent picture.

As can be seen above, people who have been expatriates tend to havea significantly more positive attitude toward foreign assignments, anda larger proportion of them tend to have plans to go. Data cannot



Table 4. Q: “Do you have wishes or plans to work abroad?”, Gender, Percent


GenderMale 50 45 5 831Female 56 41 3 489Total 52 44 4 1,320


Table 5. Q: “Do you have wishes or plans to work abroad?”, Earlier Experience Work-ing Abroad, Percent


Earlier experienceYes 38 52 10 341No 57 41 2 962Total 52 44 4 1,317


confirm Hypothesis 3, and the length of expatriation also does notcontrol this, as one can see in Table 6.

In this respect, the present study supports the findings by Riusala andSuutari (2000) on Finnish engineers’ experiences and attitudes tofuture foreign assignments. It would perhaps be of importance toknow how long people have been abroad—individuals having beenexpatriates for a long time could have been going through differentphases of adaptation and finally expressing more positive attitudestoward the phenomenon. However, this is not the case. The lengthof the period is not changing people’s attitudes; younger people tendto express similar positive attitudes as those who are more experi-enced. Could it be because they have not experienced a repatriationprocess yet? In addition, how many of the respondents included, hav-ing less than one year of experience abroad, can be categorized asactually having full-time, full-pay type of jobs. We cannot see that outof the data. In total, about 25% of the respondents have been work-ing abroad (334 people), which is also an indicator of the level ofinternationalization (probably a comparatively high degree ofeconomists in foreign assignments). We would therefore claim thatthe Danish economists have a relatively positive attitude toward expa-triation. This can be judged as the way they interpret how to best fur-ther their career, but it can also be viewed against the background ofa more general desire simply “to work abroad” as part of experienc-ing something in life and of becoming “managing editor” of one’s



Table 6. Q: “Do you have wishes or plans to work abroad?”, Earlier Experience Work-ing Abroad, Number of People


Earlier experience(months abroad)1–6 42 56 8 1067–12 36 43 9 8813–24 (> 1 year) 22 36 7 6525–36 (> 2 years) 9 14 3 2637–48 (> 3 years) 10 8 1 1949–60 (> 4 years) 6 5 1 12> 61 (> 5 years) 5 9 4 18Total 130 171 33 334


own life, not letting others (the company) decide it all. Gender dif-ferences in this respect are small.

Finally, we tried to find out if people exposed to unemployment hadmore positive attitudes toward going abroad to work. The survey didnot provide any significant data. However, there seems to be only aweak relationship between earlier unemployment and willingness totake foreign positions. Therefore, new recruits can pick and choosetheir jobs more in a tighter labor market, and economists have amongthe lowest unemployment rates, so their labor market is really tight.However, this is not due to a declining supply of highly qualifiedlabor, but to a steep rise in demand for it.

We tend to believe that the economists participating in this studyremain committed to the companies they work in, and if they haveexperiences with unemployment or are confronted with futurethreats, they tend not to change their attitude toward foreign assign-ments. In other words, a tight labor market, placing a larger peerpressure on unemployed (young) economists to get a job, is not fol-lowed by a significantly different attitude compared to economists injobs with no threats. This is, however, not to say that people wouldlook for jobs anywhere, in the country or abroad (e.g., within EUcountries).

CONCLUSIONS

This study has provided an overview of a whole employment catego-ry (the profession of economists) in a specific national context(Denmark), and the findings are, in this respect, relatively general.Half of the respondents in the survey are positive toward taking up aforeign assignment, and about half of them have been abroad before.This leaves the impression of a general willingness to comply withcompany demands, no contextual or prospective conditions attached.The positive attitude is characterizing the whole sample across age,gender, seniority, former foreign assignment, and unemployment.The study adds to earlier findings on a rather high success rate withex- and repatriation for companies in Nordic countries.

It is, however, still an open question as to how large a degree theeconomists see this as influencing their career prospects in a positiveor negative direction. As mentioned by Dany, Mallon, and Arthur(2003) in their overview article, there is still empirical as well as con-ceptual work to be done on new careers, and this is even more true



…there seemsto be only aweak relation-ship betweenearlier unem-ployment andwillingness totake foreignpositions.

when it comes to international aspects. The increased demand forexpatriates, combined with the supposed changing values of youngergenerations arriving on the labor market, is problematic for compa-nies expanding abroad. But on the basis of the data provided in thisstudy, one could ask whether it necessarily is younger employees(economists) who are carriers of increased self-interest? Could it bethat this emerges later in life when partners, career, children, school,and so on become important variables in determining the careerchoices?

It is a well-established truth that foreign assignments are costly, andincreased corporate cost cutting could easily lead to the perceptionthat offers are of less value than “usual.” In addition, we have, inrecent years, seen an increasing number of new and more varied pat-terns of working abroad, ranging from short-term assignments andinternational commuting to frequent flying, which is mainly seen inEurope (Brewster & Scullion, 1997; Harris, Petrovic, & Brewster,2001). How these work forms influence people’s attitudes towardforeign assignments and their willingness to accept offers, we havealmost no knowledge.

LIMITATIONS

This study is based on self-report data, and only three questions pro-vide very few opportunities for deeper data analysis. It has mainlyfocused on graduates, leaving us with limited knowledge on the val-ues of (older) employees in different managerial positions. Careerbehavior could prove very different with age and when people climbthe hierarchy. The saying in the past that global assignments wereseen as an opportunity to live like royalty for some years (Black et al.,1999, p. 70) could still be correct for some groups of managers at thesame time as graduates and MBA students experience cost cuttingand, therefore, behave in a more self-centered, career-oriented way.Are we in a situation where perhaps the 20% of the economists notorganized in the CA have different attitudes and experiences withexpatriation? First of all, people in higher management positionstend, to a lesser degree, to be members of an unemployment insur-ance fund. In other words, older managers in higher positions whohave been expatriates are probably underrepresented in this study.

As mentioned above, the study did not include more precise ques-tions on when, where, or under which conditions people would takea foreign assignment (about 5% of the respondents had “plans,”



Career behaviorcould prove very

different withage and when

people climb thehierarchy.

which gives a somewhat more binding answer, compared to the 52%just answering “yes”). We therefore cannot say anything about howpeople would react to a job offer in neighboring (Nordic) countries,EU countries, or hardship postings like China. These different coun-tries are indeed presenting employees with very diverse demands oncultural adaptation.

Finally we have only focused on the supply side in this study. We haveno data on the demand side (i.e., company attitudes and behavior).We do not know how general the argument about not having enoughcandidates to select from is real. And if attitudes are changing towardthe negative pole among employees, we do not know if it is becauseof the deteriorating company policies. We have tested people’s atti-tudes to go abroad, and they are surprisingly positive. If and whenpeople refuse an offer, we still need to know more about why,because the present data indicate a rather high potential for expatria-tion of (younger) Danish economists.

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Attitudes toward foreign assignments among Danish economists