Self-initiated academic expatriates:

Inherent demographics and reasons

to expatriateJan 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: þ 45 8948 6688;Fax: þ 45 8948 6467

AbstractResearch on expatriate employees has to date focused mainly on organizationalexpatriates, so-called because they have been assigned by a parent company to a hostcountry. Relatively little research has been conducted on self-initiated expatriate (SIE)employees. Hence, not enough is known about this type of expatriate. This paperexamines the inherent demographics of SIEs. Data were collected from 428 expatriateacademics from 60 countries, employed in 35 universities in five northern Europeancountries. Results provided support for half of the propositions predicting that SIEs’reasons to expatriate differ according to age and gender. Implications of the findings arediscussed.European Management Review (2010) 7, 169–179. doi:10.1057/emr.2010.15;published online 26 August 2010Keywords: self-initiated expatriates; reasons to expatriate; demographics; academics

Introduction

The internationalization of business has resulted in aneed to manage global operations and associated expa-triate staff effectively. This has contributed to an

increased focus in academic research on expatriates andtheir international assignments (cf. Hechanova et al., 2003;Bhaskar-Shrinivas et al., 2005). The overwhelming majorityof such studies have made little attempt to distinguishbetween different types of expatriates, the assumption beingthat expatriates are organizational expatriates (OEs), solabelled because they have been assigned by their parentcompanies to a host location. However, the nature andpurpose of international assignments is becoming increas-ingly complex (Mayerhofer et al., 2004). This has led to arange of new roles and career paths for expatriates (Collingset al., 2007). Some of these emerging populations of expa-triates have been termed, ‘international itinerants’ (Banaiand Harry, 2004) or ‘independent internationally mobileprofessionals’ (McKenna and Richardson, 2007). Theserecent trends in international assignments are characterizedby individuals who take personal responsibility of theircareer trajectories without the direct support of an organi-zation (Carr et al., 2005). Such individuals have beenlabelled self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) (Lee, 2005).

Although recently increasing, there is still a dearth ofresearch on SIEs (cf. Inkson et al., 1997; Suutari andBrewster, 2000; Jokinen et al., 2008). This is surprising sinceSIEs have been claimed to make up a larger share of theinternational workforce than OEs (Myers and Pringle,2005). Hence, not enough is known about this importantbut under-researched group of expatriates. Because of cleardifferences between OEs and SIEs (Inkson et al., 1997),more research has been called for to better understandissues associated with SIEs and their expatriation (Suutariand Brewster, 2000; Vance, 2005). An important issueconcerns the personal characteristics of SIEs, and if SIEsdo have defining personal characteristics, can their reasonsto expatriate be differentiated by these characteristics. Thisis a matter not well understood regarding OEs, and muchless so in the case of SIEs, for whom individual-levelreasons to expatriate tend to dominate since organizationalperspectives are typically missing (cf. Shay and Baak, 2004;Dickmann et al., 2008).

In this study we focus on SIE academics as a specific typeof expatriate who are seeking job opportunities in univer-sities in locations outside their home countries. Universitiescan be considered to have the character of professional

European Management Review (2010) 7, 169–179& 2010 EURAM Macmillan Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved 1740-4754/10

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service firms because of their high knowledge intensityand professionalized workforce (Nordenflycht, 2010). More-over, academics have a low firm-specific capital andvaluable non-homogeneous skills much needed in modernsociety (Teece, 2003). As a consequence, the academicstaff in universities have a strong bargaining position rela-tive to their employer, since their skills are scarce and easilytransferable making them highly mobile (Coff, 1997;Nordenflycht, 2010). While academics experience relativelyfew barriers in transferring their skills from one countryto another, the incentives to expatriate may still differ interms of inherent demographic characteristics such as ageand gender. Age and gender have been found to influenceorientation to family relations (Marsden, 1987; Grellerand 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; Sextonand Bowman-Upton, 1990). In the case of academic expa-triates, age and gender roles might differ from the gene-rally accepted perception of age and gender because ofacademics’ long careers paths, high knowledge intensityand strong incentives to look for improved employmentabroad. We seek to answer two central research questions:(1) Are SIE academics’ reasons to expatriate differentiatedby age or gender? (2) Does the specific nature of expatriateacademics as members of the professional service industryinfluence their reasons to expatriate in relation to age orgender?

Answering these questions may make a contributionto the yet limited literature on SIE academics. Studies onthe 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 forexpatriation of 30 British SIE academics (Richardsonand McKenna, 2002, 2003; Richardson and Mallon, 2005).Our examination of the inherent demographic character-istics of SIEs and whether these characteristics havea differentiating effect in reasons to expatriate extend theRichardson et al. investigations. We accomplish that bya large-scale quantitative study based on data from 428expatriate academics from 60 countries, employed in 35universities in five northern European countries. Resultsof the Analyses of Covariance (ANCOVA) indicated sup-port 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 expatriateacademic himself for more than 20 years and during hisinternational career met many such colleagues. The resultsof this study ring true to him and therefore also may makeperfect sense to others, expatriate academics and theiremployers alike.

The remainder of the paper first addresses the concep-tual aspects of this investigation: reasons to expatriateand SIE academics. This conceptual framework is succee-ded by the development of propositions to be tested. Themethods section delineates the target group, sample,and measures applied. Results are displayed and subse-quently discussed in terms of main findings, limitationsand implications. Finally, the conclusions of this study aredrawn.

Conceptualizations

Reasons to expatriateFive broad categories of reasons to expatriate were identi-fied by Richardson et al. in interviews conducted withBritish SIE academics: adventure/travel; family; financialincentives; career and life change/escape (Richardson andMcKenna, 2002, 2003; Richardson and Mallon, 2005).

Adventure/travel was cited as the most common reason forself-initiated expatriation. The three main factors influ-encing the decision to expatriate for adventure/travel were:desire to see more of the world; search for new experienceand desire for an adventure/challenge.

Career considerations included a desire to enhance careerprospects as well as an intention to pursue a promo-tion. There was also a presumption that expatriation mightimprove career prospects.

Family reasons to expatriate included a desire to do whatwas best for the whole family and hence, the whole familywas involved in the decision to expatriate, from very youngchildren, to teenagers and adults.

Financial incentives included the opportunity to make andto save a large amount of money. Marriage and/or hav-ing children were found to be an influencing factor whenfinancial incentives were the main reason for expatriation.

Life change/escape involved escaping from negative work-ing situations, and as such, a connection could be drawnbetween the decision to expatriate and the pre-expatriationenvironment. In situations where life change/escape was themain reason for expatriation, the opportunity to expatriatewas perceived as an escape from boredom with the homecountry as well as being an opportunity for change.

SIE academicsAn SIE has been defined as any individual who is hired as anindividual on a contractual basis and is not transferredoverseas by a parent organization (Al-Meer, 1989; Shahidet al., 2001; Lee, 2005). In other words, SIEs are gainfullyemployed abroad and have acquired their job of their ownvolition without being assigned to the host location by anorganization. Consequently, SIEs are expatriates and neithershort-term travellers (sojourners) nor immigrants (Richardsonand Zikic, 2007); they are foreign national employees livingin ‘ex-patria’. SIE academics are a particular type ofexpatriate. Their specific skills make them highly mobilein the international job market. Changing jobs acrossnational boundaries is not only a way for academics to fullyutilize the bargaining power provided by their high non-firm-specific human capital, it is also a merit in itselfadding to their human and social capital (Welch, 1997).

Propositions

Age differencesAge groups vary in physical features and attitudes related tolife 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; Leonardet al., 1999; Maurer, 2001). These alterations may bereflected in the health, cognitive abilities and performanceof the individual (Kooij et al., 2008). For example, Warr(2001) found that cognitive abilities change with age. Morespecifically, crystallized intellectual abilities (general know-ledge and verbal comprehension) increase, whereas fluidintelligence (working memory, abstract reasoning andspeed of reaction) decrease. Although most studies usechronological age to measure variations in characteristics,some studies have argued that other types of aging suchas psychological, biological or social age could also be usedas parameters (Kooij et al., 2008).

Research on work motivation and intended actionsreveals that age often moderates the relationship betweenvarious work characteristics and incentives to engage indifferent types of work activities. This may also be the casewith academic expatriates. Warr (2001) summarized thelimited empirical evidence on the motivational effects ofkey job features at different ages and found that theimportance attached to high job demands and job varietydecreased with aging, while the importance attached to jobsecurity and physical security increased as individuals aged.Mehrabian and Blum (1996) found that achievement moti-vation declined with age. Kanfer and Ackerman (2004)similarly found that with increasing age workers were moremotivated to perform jobs that offered opportunities forpositive events but less motivated to take on new tasks. Thismay be related to younger employees having more favour-able attitudes toward risk-taking (Vroom and Pahl, 1971;Burns et al., 2008).

The distinction between older and younger SIE aca-demics can be made according to two conditions: one, theirpower and options to choose to expatriate; and two, theirincentive to take on an international assignment. Olderacademics generally have higher human, social and econo-mic capital (publication record, visibility, contacts andsalary level) than their younger colleagues. For example,older people were found to be less concerned with financialgain from their work compared with younger people. Apossible explanation for this finding might be that olderpeople have already established their financial security(Greller and Simpson, 1999). Having less concerns aboutfinancial gain than their younger colleagues presents olderacademics with a greater range of employment options.Academics in the early stages of their careers have lesspower to choose an international over a domestic career.They may for various reasons be obliged to follow one typeof career path over another (Carrera et al., 2008).

Apart from the power to choose, incentives to expatriatemay also vary between age groups in academe. Studies havefound younger people to be more focused on advancingin their career, whereas older people find satisfaction incomfortable work situations (Leviatan, 1992; Panek et al.,2006). This can be further enforced by psychological pro-cesses where older employees’ actions are stereotyped, bythemselves or others, as no longer instrumental for achie-ving career advancement (Kooij et al., 2008). Finally, inrelation to going abroad, older travellers have been foundto place importance on visiting friends and family and insafe conditions while younger travellers are more interested

in adventure and new experiences (Jang and Wu, 2006).In consequence, younger SIE academics can be expected tobe more extrinsically motivated, less risk adverse andless relational when choosing to expatriate. Based on theseassumptions we propose that differences in reasons toexpatriate may exist between different age groups in SIEacademics.

Proposition 1a: Reasons to expatriate associated withadventure/travel are stronger for younger individualsthan for older individuals.

Proposition 1b: Reasons to expatriate associated withcareer are stronger for younger individuals than for olderindividuals.

Proposition 1c: Reasons to expatriate associated withfamily are stronger for older individuals than for youngerindividuals.

Proposition 1d: Reasons to expatriate associated withfinancial incentives are stronger for younger individualsthan for older individuals.

Proposition 1e: Reasons to expatriate associated with lifechange/escape are stronger for younger individuals thanfor older individuals.

Gender differencesDifferences 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 thisregard, Balkan (1966) originally argued that males areguided predominantly by controlling tendencies referred toas agentic goals. This includes self-assertion, self-efficacyand mastering (Carlson, 1971). Concurrently, males tend toforcefully pursue goals having personal consequences(Beutel and Marini, 1995). In contrast, females are believedto be guided by communal concerns emphasizing inter-personal affiliation and a desire to be in harmonious rela-tions with others and themselves (Eagly, 1986; Hall andSchmid Mast, 2008). However, while gender differences areoften described as if they were static some meta-studiesimply that changes have occurred during recent years(Greene and DeBacker, 2004). More precisely, the socialdifferences between the males and females are argued tohave diminished (Frankel et al., 2006).

Psychology literature consistently presents men as moreassertive, goal directed and instrumental, than women, whoare presented as more affiliative, sensitive and emotional(Gove, 1994). The affiliative nature of women appears tohave a high influence on their attitudes and intendedactions. As such, it has long been recognized that womenare more integrated into family relations (Marsden, 1987).Moreover, the interpersonal quality of the marital relation-ship has been found to be more important for women thanfor men (Gove, 1972; Segal et al., 2001). Finally, womenhave been argued to be more collaborative in theirdecision-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 moreextrinsically motivated (Bhagat and Williams, 2008).

Regarding careers, studies have consistently reportedthat men are more interested in their careers than arewomen (Bartol and Manhardt, 1979). However, it has beenargued that careers in professional service companies aredriven by intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic moti-vation – not least in the university sector (Doherty andManfredi, 2010). This may point to women’s career pathsbeing relatively more in line with the demands of anacademic work environment compared to other industries.Moreover for women, moving across national boundariescould also be a way to avoid gender-based discriminatorystructures in their home countries (Ituma and Simpson,2009). In this way, highly qualified women from male-dominated countries may be able to use expatriation stra-tegically to gain career promotions.

With regard to financial concerns, Mahmoud (1996)found that pay affected the work satisfaction of men but notof women. Elizur (2001) similarly found that men rankedpay higher than women. Conversely, women valued inter-action with people, convenient hours and job securityhigher than men. Sexton and Bowman-Upton (1990) foundthat women scored lower on risk-taking than men. Womenwere also more likely than men to be concerned with safetyand security while travelling abroad (Carr, 2001). Finally,men have been found to be more focused on escape andself-esteem in leisure activities while women focused onsocialization opportunities (Swanson et al., 2008). In sum-mary, male academics could be expected to be moreextrinsically motivated, less relational and less risk adversethan females when expatriating. Based on these assump-tions we suggest that gender may be associated withdiffering reasons for expatriating:

Proposition 2a: Reasons to expatriate associated withadventure/travel are stronger for men than for women.

Proposition 2b: Reasons to expatriate associated withcareer are stronger for women than for men.

Proposition 2c: Reasons to expatriate associated withfamily are stronger for women than for men.

Proposition 2d: Reasons to expatriate associated withfinancial incentives are stronger for men than for women.

Proposition 2e: Reasons to expatriate associated with lifechange/escape are stronger for men than for women.

Method

Target populationSimilar to that examined in the study by Richardson andMallon (2005), Richardson and McKenna (2002, 2003),the target population for our study was SIE academics.A database of e-mail addresses of academics in sciencefaculty departments in universities in the Nordic countriesand the Netherlands was assembled as a sample frame.Names that were clearly not of local origin or that wereuncommon in the respective host country were selected for

the database. Academics in science faculty departmentswere deemed to be a suitable group to target becausescience as an academic discipline may be less constrainedby cultural, social and institutional factors than, for exam-ple, humanities and social sciences. The discipline contentof science may be relatively easy to transfer and applyglobally. Accordingly, scientists may without much diffi-culty cross national borders making them a suitable targetgroup for our investigation. Academics in 34 universitieswere targeted. Most universities were situated in Sweden(10), while Denmark (3) had the fewest universities in thedatabase.

Data collectionThe data for this investigation were extracted from a largerstudy of expatriate academics. The data were collected elec-tronically and a commercial web survey software packagewas used to administer the questionnaire. However, theuniversity affiliation of the investigators was identifiedas the official sender and the potential respondents wereassured of anonymity and confidentiality as is normalpractice. To ensure that only members of the target groupresponded to the questionnaire, three initial screeningquestions were used asking whether (a) they had acquiredtheir current academic job independently (self-initiated),(b) the current academic job was a regular position at theiruniversity (regular job) and (c) the nationality of therespondent was different than that of the host country(expatriate). If an affirmative response was given to allthree screening questions, the respondent was invited tocomplete the rest of the questionnaire. Otherwise, thesurvey was interrupted and the response was collectedimmediately. Defining the expatriate status of these acade-mics could be difficult since there may be several overlap-ping concepts involved, such as sojourners and immigrants(Richardson and Zikic, 2007). For example, to excludesojourners who may be visiting the host country for shortperiods of time, such as Ph.D. students or staff from uni-versities abroad on sabbatical leave or on secondment,a requirement of regular employment was applied. To leaveout immigrants, only foreign nationals could be consideredas being expatriate academics, indeed working ‘ex-patria’.In total, 1215 academics were invited to participate in thesurvey. A total of 653 responses were received amountingto a response rate of 53.7%. Of these, 428 respondents hadanswered affirmatively to all three screening questions indi-cating that they belonged to the target group. Hence, 65.5%of the respondents satisfied the requirements for the targetgroup (35.2% of all invited academics).

SampleFor the purpose of this investigation, respondents weredivided into two age groups by a median split, into youngerand older expatriate academics. The average age of theyounger expatriate academics was 32.19 years (SD¼ 2.96).On average, these younger expatriate academics had spent2.14 years in their respective host country (SD¼ 1.92) andhad worked abroad as an expatriate academic for 4.42 years(SD¼ 3.19), including their current job. As displayed inTable 1, most of the younger expatriate academics weremale (67.5%), married (50.8%), occupied lower positions as

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Research/Teaching Assistants (89.3%), worked in Denmark(37.2%), and were national citizens from non-Nordic EUcountries (51.0%). The older expatriate academics had anaverage age of 47.98 years (SD¼ 8.17). On average, theseolder expatriate academics had spent 8.11 years in theirrespective host country (SD¼ 7.41) and had worked abroadas an expatriate academic for 14.92 years (SD¼ 8.89),including their present employment. Table 1 reveals thatmost of the older expatriate academics were male (73.3%),married (73.7%), occupied higher positions as Full/ChairProfessor (40.4), worked in Sweden (35.7%), and werenational citizens of non-EU countries (41.5%). One-wayAnalyses of Variance (ANOVA) was applied to detect anyinter-group differences among the background variables foryounger and older expatriate academics and it was dis-covered 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 inthe analysis of inter-group differences between younger andolder expatriate academics.

The total sample of expatriate academics was thendivided into two groups based on gender. Male respondentshad an average age of 40.87 years (SD¼ 10.27). On average,male expatriate academics had spent 5.46 years in theirrespective host country (SD¼ 6.71) and had worked abroadas an expatriate academic for 10.00 years (SD¼ 8.81),including their current job. Table 1 reveals that most of the

male respondents were married (65.4%), occupied lowerpositions as Research/Teaching Assistants (56.3%), workedin Denmark (29.0%), and were national citizens of non-EUcountries (46.7%). The average age of the female respon-dents was 39.44 years (SD¼ 9.53). On average, female expa-triate academics had spent 4.76 years in their respectivehost country (SD¼ 5.10) and had worked abroad as anexpatriate academic for 9.70 years (SD¼ 8.03), includingtheir present employment. As displayed in Table 1, most ofthe female respondents were married (59.5%), occupiedlower positions as Research/Teaching Assistants (63.9%),worked in Sweden (30.3%), and were national citizens fromnon-Nordic EU countries (35.5%). Again, one-way ANOVAwas used to detect any inter-group differences among thebackground variables for male and female respondents butin this case only host country differed between the twogroups. Accordingly, this variable will be applied as a co-variate in the analysis of inter-group differences betweenmale and female expatriate academics.

InstrumentDemographics were based on background variables whichwere estimated through single direct questions to therespondents. The scales depicting reasons to expatriatewere self-developed adapted after Richardson and Mallon(2005) (Appendix).

Table 1 Background of the sub-samples (N¼ 428)a

Background variables Age Gender

Younger (n¼ 196) Older (n¼ 213) Male (n¼ 293) Female (n¼ 122)

Frequency Per cent Frequency Per cent Frequency Per cent Frequency Per cent

Gender:Male 131 67.5 154 73.3 293 100 0 0Female 63 32.5 56 26.7 0 0 122 100

Married: 98 50.8 157 73.7 187 65.4 72 59.5

Position:Full/Chair Professor 5 2.6 86 40.4 70 23.9 23 18.9Associate Professor 13 6.6 56 26.3 53 18.1 17 13.9Assistant Professor 3 1.5 6 2.8 5 1.7 4 3.3Research/Teaching Assistant 175 89.3 65 30.5 165 56.3 78 63.9

Host country:Denmark 73 37.2 43 20.2 85 29.0 33 27.0Finland 27 13.8 35 16.4 50 17.1 11 9.0the Netherlands 38 19.4 20 9.4 40 13.7 18 14.8Norway 28 14.3 39 18.3 47 16.0 23 18.9Sweden 30 15.3 76 35.7 71 24.2 37 30.3

Nationality group:Non-EU 89 45.4 85 41.5 133 46.7 43 35.5Non-Nordic EU 100 51.0 86 40.4 124 43.5 65 53.7Nordic 7 3.6 34 16.0 28 9.8 13 10.7

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

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Inherent demographicsAge was measured by the question: ‘How old were you onyour last birthday?’ The response was then dichotomized bya median cut of the distribution of responses into twogroups: Younger respondents and older respondents.

Gender was assessed by the question: ‘Are you male orfemale?’

Reasons to expatriateAdventure/travel was gauged by a three-item, seven-pointscale developed after Richardson and Mallon (2005).Response categories ranged from 1¼ ‘Strongly disagree’to (7)¼ ‘Strongly agree’, sample item: ‘I want to see more ofthe world’ (alpha¼ 0.88).

Career was measured by a two-item, seven-point scaledeveloped after Richardson and Mallon (2005). The sameresponse categories applied as for travel or adventure,sample item: ‘I hope to save a large amount of money’(alpha¼ 0.82).

Family was assessed by a two-item, seven-point scaledeveloped after Richardson and Mallon (2005). The sameresponse categories applied as for travel or adventure,sample item: ‘The entire family was involved in the decisionto expatriate’ (alpha¼ 0.62; iic¼ 0.461).

Financial incentives was gauged by a two-item, seven-pointscale developed after Richardson and Mallon (2005). Thesame response categories applied as for travel or adventure,sample item: ‘I hope to save a large amount of money’(alpha¼ 0.61; iic¼ 0.44).

Life change/escape was measured by a three-item, seven-point scale developed after Richardson and Mallon (2005).The same response categories applied as for travel oradventure, sample item: ‘I want to escape from my currentsituation’ (alpha¼ 0.71).

ResultsSample means, standard deviations and zero-order Pearsoncorrelations of all variables are provided in Table 2. One-sample t-tests showed that the mean scores for adventure/travel (t¼ 21.94, Po0.001), career (t¼ 30.40, Po0.001),family (t¼ 11.58, Po0.001) and financial incentives(t¼ 4.12, Po0.001) had significantly higher mean scores

than the midpoint of their scales. Only life change/escape(t¼�5.68, Po0.001) had a significantly lower mean scorethan the scale mid-point. This suggests that the respon-dents generally agreed that a desire for adventure/travel,career and family concerns, as well as financial incentiveshad influenced their decision to expatriate. However, theyalso, on average, disagreed that life change/escape was afactor in their decision to expatriate.

Since one-way ANOVA detected that inter-group differ-ences existed both in the case of age and gender, to testthe propositions, between-group differences were exam-ined through one 5� 2 Multivariate Analyses of Covariance(MANCOVA). Table 3 displays a significant multivariateeffect for the age groups of the expatriate academics(F¼ 2.53; Po0.05). Results of ANCOVAs indicated asignificant between-group difference for adventure/travel(F¼ 7.19; Po0.05), career (F¼ 5.68; Po0.05) and finan-cial incentives (F¼ 11.23; Po0.05). In all these cases, theyounger expatriate academics had a higher mean score thanthat of their older counterparts. Table 4 shows a significantoverall effect detected for the gender groups of the expa-triate academics (F¼ 2.61; Po0.05). ANCOVA results indi-cated a significant between-group difference for financialincentives (F¼ 3.53; Po0.10), and life change/escape (F¼12.79; Po0.001). Similarly, in both cases, the first category,male expatriate academics, had a higher mean score thanthat of the second group, the female expatriates. Conse-quently, it could be noted that for each of the examinedvariables, age and gender made a difference to some of thestudied reasons to expatriate. Although most inter-groupdifferences are not large and the significance levels aremostly modest, these results provide support for Proposi-tions 1a, 1b, 1d, 2d and 2e. No support was found forPropositions 1c, 1e, 2a, 2b and 2c.

Discussion

Main findingsA main finding of our study was that, except for family,each of the examined reasons to expatriate was differenti-ated by the two inherent demographic characteristics, ageand gender. Age made a difference to three of the reasons toexpatriate (except for family and life change/escape) whilegender differentiated between two of the five reasons toexpatriate (except for adventure/travel, career and family).Financial incentives were differentiated by both of theinherent demographics.

Table 2 Means, standard deviations and correlations among the variablesa

Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5

1. Adventure/travel 5.35 1.24 1.002. Career 5.52 1.00 0.29*** 1.003. Family 4.81 1.39 0.00 0.16*** 1.004. Financial Incentives 4.28 1.36 0.28*** 0.35*** 0.29*** 1.005. Life change/escape 3.62 1.35 0.38*** 0.16*** 0.06 0.16*** 1.00

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

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We found that in the group of SIE academics, youngerindividuals were more extrinsically motivated and less riskaverse when expatriating than their older colleagues.Accordingly, younger academics were more motivated byadventure, career and money when choosing to expatriatethan older academics. Hence, our results are consistent withprior empirical findings which show that younger people aremore risk-taking (Vroom and Pahl, 1971) and adventurous(Jang and Wu, 2006) whereas older people are more con-cerned with comfort (Panek et al., 2006), convenience(Leviatan, 1992) and safety (Jang and Wu, 2006). Theresults of our study are also congruent with the argumentthat younger people are more concerned with career issuesthan older people (Panek et al., 2006). Finally, our findingssupport the argument that young people value financialbenefits from working more so than older people (Grellerand Simpson, 1999).

The finding that younger academics are more motivatedby financial reasons and by career opportunities than areolder academics, is in line with theories on professionalservice firms arguing for a link between motivation andtypes of human, social and economic capital (Nordenflycht,2010). Hence, our empirical findings support the theorythat the power to decide the direction of one’s career pathand the incentive to leave one’s home country provideyounger individuals in academe with stronger and moreexplicit reasons to expatriate compared to their oldercounterparts.

We also proposed that when making the decision toexpatriate, younger people would have stronger reasonsrelated to life changes than older people, who tend to

place more importance on family relations. However, noneof those propositions were confirmed by our findings.This could be due to limitations related to the use ofchronological 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 supportour predictions that men are more strongly motivated,than are women, by money and opportunities to changeone’s life. This is in line with extant studies showingmen to be more risk-taking than women, (Sexton andBowman-Upton, 1990) who are more concerned with safetyand security (Carr, 2001). The findings also support theargument that men have stronger financial incentives forengaging in work activities than do women (Mahmoud,1996). Finally, some studies have indicated that men,more so than women, can be motivated by opportunitiesto change their life and escape problems in their currentsituation (Swanson et al., 2008) whereas women aremore focused on stability and harmony (Hall and SchmidMast, 2008). This was also confirmed in our study.We speculated that women expatriates in the academicworld would to a high extent find their motivation in careeropportunities; however, this was not supported by thefindings.

Consistent with earlier empirical results (Bartol andManhardt, 1979; Greene and Debacker, 2004) we found mento be more motivated by money than women. However, thisfinding is not in line with recent findings in sex role theorysuggesting that differences between the roles of males andfemales are diminishing (Kooij et al., 2008).

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

YoungerMean (SD) (n¼ 177)

OlderMean (SD) (n¼ 190)

Multi-variate effect Uni-variate F- ratios

2.53*Adventure/travel 5.61 (1.13) 5.17 (1.27) 7.19*Career 5.80 (0.79) 5.37 (1.05) 5.68*Family 4.87 (1.33) 4.72 (1.48) 0.10Financial Incentives 4.58 (1.25) 4.02 (1.40) 11.23*Life change/escape 3.75 (1.32) 3.51 (1.34) 0.60

a n¼ 367 due to missing values.b 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

MaleMean (SD) (n¼ 276)

FemaleMean (SD) (n¼ 107)

Multi-variate effect Uni-variate F- ratios

2.61*Adventure/travel 5.45 (1.17) 5.21 (1.34) 3.53Career 5.59 (0.94) 5.44 (1.01) 1.20Family 4.88 (1.38) 4.61 (1.43) 3.30Financial Incentives 4.39 (1.28) 4.08 (1.48) 5.19w

Life change/escape 3.76 (1.35) 3.25 (1.24) 18.34***

a n¼ 383 due to missing values.b Covariate: Host country.wPo0.10, *Po0.05, ***Po0.001.

Self-initiated academic expatriates Jan Selmer and Jakob Lauring

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To summarize, inherent demographic characteristicscould make a difference as to why SIEs go abroad. This isimportant, since the practical implications of this findingcould be associated with other outcomes at the host loca-tion, as discussed below. While our results are partly com-patible with the argument that SIE academics, as membersof the professional service industry, exhibit specific quali-ties relevant to expatriation reasons, these findings are notconclusive.

ImplicationsThis investigation explored whether inherent demographiccharacteristics differentiate between the reasons to expatri-ate among SIEs. The findings give rise both to theoreticaland practical implications. These are discussed below.

Theoretically, the findings of this study suggest thatresearchers should be cautious about treating SIEs as ahomogeneous group that is motivated by the same reasonsto engage in expatriation. Instead, we suggest that differentdemographic characteristics are linked to different types ofmotivational patterns. From the results of our study itseems clear that SIEs may respond differently to each kindof reason to expatriate depending on their inherent demo-graphic status. For example, the finding that there wasno gender difference in terms of family does not supportthe argument that the affiliative nature of women appearsto have a high influence on their attitudes and intendedactions and hence being integrated in and value familyrelations (Marsden, 1987).

The findings of this study may have important practicalimplications. Organizations that recruit SIEs may wish toinquire about job applicants reasons for expatriation.However, if there are differences among those reasonsgiven by job applicants with regard to observable inherentdemographics, such as age and gender, there may be aneasily accessible factual basis for contesting some answersof applicants. Of course, there may be other requirementson SIE job applicants than their reasons to expatriate, butthe findings of this study may be used to generate pre-prepared additional information about SIE job applicants.This may amount to a very practical check-list for recrui-ters of SIEs in general and academic expatriates in parti-cular. For example, while recruiting SIEs, HR recruiterscould pay special attention to the reasons younger maleapplicants place on adventure/travel and financial incen-tives, since those reasons may serve as an indicator of theapplicant’s level of commitment to the job on offer as wellas being an indicator of their salary expectations. Further-more, the age-related findings can be used by HR managersto differentiate and customize their advertising strategyaccording to their targeted age group. When young SIEs aresought, themes involving adventure/travel, career andfinancial incentives could be especially featured but thatmay not be necessary or as effective when older, moresenior candidates are recruited. Especially career opportu-nities may be effective for recruiting young expatriateacademics due to the increasing globalization of highereducation. Besides, this may be a beneficial circle, such that,universities already with a substantial expatriate academicstaff may find it easier to attract young promising scholarsthan others. At the same time, HR executives may be well

advised to remember that the special interest youngcandidates may have for these three reasons may wanewhen they get older which could influence the content anddesign of various HR developmental programs and trainingin organizations employing SIEs. This may especially beimportant in efforts to retain the most valuable employeesover time. What attracted them to the organization at onetime may no longer be the same when they considerchanging jobs later in their careers. Considering gender-related differences, the importance male applicants placeon life change/escape, as a reason to expatriate, could beparticularly critical to prospective employers. Such reasonsto expatriate resonate with symptom focused coping stra-tegies, implying that individuals attempt to minimize anxi-eties by physically or mentally withdrawing from a situationor avoiding a problem (Folkman et al., 1986). Such cop-ing strategies have been linked to negative outcomes ofboth socio-cultural and psychological expatriate adjustment(Selmer, 2001). However, whether such possible negativeconsequences associated with reasons to expatriate shouldbe reflected in different job packages offered to SIE jobseekers with different inherent demographics is a matterto be resolved by each hiring organization in accordancewith local practices and legal circumstances.

ConclusionsThis pioneering investigation examined whether SIEs’ rea-sons to expatriate differ in terms of inherent demographics.It is important since little is known of how the reasons forexpatriating may be affected by the personal characteristicsof the SIEs. Hence, the findings of this study contribute tothe limited but growing literature on SIEs. Such newknowledge about SIEs is essential since there are cleardifferences between SIEs and OEs (cf. Inkson et al., 1997;Vance, 2005; Peltokorpi and Froese, 2009) and the knowl-edge on what motivates OEs to expatriate may have limitedrelevance in the case of SIEs (cf. Yurkiewicz and Rosen,1995; Stahl et al, 2002; Dickmann et al., 2008), since OEsmay be assigned abroad for organizational reasons (cf.Edstrom and Galbraith, 1977; Adler and Ghadar, 1990;Harzing, 2001) which are not applicable to SIEs. Conse-quently, building on previous research on SIE academics,reasons for expatriation did not include any organizationalmotives. Instead, a set of five individual reasons to expa-triate was investigated: adventure/travel; life change/escape;family; financial incentives and career (Richardson andMcKenna, 2002, 2003; Richardson and Mallon, 2005) toget-her with two inherent demographic characteristics: age andgender. The results indicated support for half of our pro-positions predicting that reasons to expatriate are linkedto inherent demographics. We also investigated whetherthe specific combination of skills and motivation that arecharacteristic of the university sector would influencereasons to expatriate among different demographic groups.However, while some findings were consistent with theargument that the specific composition of human, socialand economic capital held by the individual SIE academiccould affect their reasons to go abroad, these were notconclusive. Although this pioneering study can be impro-ved in many ways and the results should be regardedas tentative, in the expectation of more investigations in

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this field of research, the findings may nevertheless haveimportant implications for organizations recruiting SIEs.

However, there may be a number of limitations of thestudy that may restrict the extent to which the results may begeneralized. One potential limitation is that the data from theretrospective type of questioning regarding the originalreasons to expatriate could have been biased by memoryeffects (cf. Smith, 1984; Sikkel, 1985). The average stay of therespondents in their respective host location was over fiveyears and during that time the initial reason to expatriate,formed before expatriation, may have become less clear tothe respondents. It is even possible that during the period ofemployment at their host location, a systematic bias mayhave occurred in that respect. It is possible that respondentsharbouring a specific initial reason to expatriate later mayhave been confronted with unexpected circumstances intheir foreign location resulting in a retrospective revision ofthat initial reason to expatriate. Therefore, it is not unlikelythat respondents better remember initial reasons to ex-patriate that were later realized and experienced as successfulthan those which were changed due to unexpected problemsand disillusionment. Another potential bias involves theanalyses. Although a number of background variables weretested for inter-group differences to be used as covariates inthe MANCOVA/ANCOVAs, we cannot be sure that we hadincluded all relevant control variables in our data set, butthat may be an acceptable risk to take in a pioneering studyas this one. Yet another possible restriction is that it is notknown to what extent our findings also are generalizable tobusiness firms. Although there could be some generalsimilarities between the work of business expatriates andexpatriate academics as both groups may have to commu-nicate and work with host nationals and learn how to operateeffectively in a culturally new work environment (Richardsonand McKenna, 2002), there may also be great differences,especially regarding the nature of work. The use ofchronological age as a proxy for age-related processesmay also constitute a potential limitation. However, aging isa complex process involving different psychological,biological and social changes (Kooij et al., 2008). Hence,the chronological age may be a too simplified construct toaccount for all age-related variations that could have animpact on reasons to expatriate. Finally, the methodemployed was cross-sectional in nature. A longitudinalapproach may have produced a more rich data source aswell as dealing more effectively with the limitationpertaining 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 eliminatesome of the weaknesses of the current investigation aswell as extend its scope. For example, a longitudinalapproach may be applied to capture processes over timeto assess to what extent the perception of initial reasonsto expatriate may change by time. Furthermore, futurestudies may target SIEs in business firms to test thevalidity of the findings of the investigation for thisimportant group of SIEs. At the same time, the scope ofthis study may be extended to involve other personalcharacteristics likely to differentiate between reasons forSIEs to expatriate.

Note

1 Since Chronbach’s alpha to a certain extent is a function of thenumber of items, the inter-item correlation (iic) may be a bettermeasure of reliability for two-item scales with a minimum levelof iic¼ 0.25 (Nunnally, 1978).

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Appendix

Reasons to expatriateDeveloped after Richardson and Mallon (2005).

(1¼ ‘Strongly disagree’ to 7¼ ‘Strongly agree’).

Travel/Adventure (alpha¼ 0.88).I want to see more of the world.I desire an adventure/challenge.I want new experiences.

Career (alpha¼ 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 (alpha¼ 0.62; iic¼ 0.46).The entire family was involved in the decision toexpatriate.We wanted to do what was best for the entire family

Financial incentives (alpha¼ 0.61; iic¼ 0.44).I hope to save a large amount of money.I need a well-paying job for my family.

Life Change/Escape (alpha¼ 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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