Browsing by Author "Mello, Rodrigo"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Career success of expatriates: the impacts of career capital, expatriate type, career type and career stage
    (Emerald, 2023-07-21) Mello, Rodrigo; Suutari, Vesa; Dickmann, Michael
    Purpose This paper investigates whether career capital (CC) development abroad, expatriate type, career type, and career stage affect expatriates’ career success in terms of perceived marketability and the number of promotions. Design/methodology/approach The study presents findings from a 2020 follow-up study among 327 expatriates, including assigned expatriates (n=117) and self-initiated expatriates (n=220), who worked abroad in 2015 and 2016. Among that group, 186 had continued their international career, while 141 had repatriated. Structural equation modeling with robust maximum likelihood estimation was used to test this study’s hypotheses. MPlus 8.6 software supported the analysis. Findings The study outlines that CC developed abroad positively impacts perceived marketability and the number of promotions. Second, repatriates reported a greater degree of perceived marketability than those continuing an international career. Career type did not predict the number of promotions. The expatriate type did not influence any of the career success measures. Finally, expatriates in their late career stage did not achieve a similar level of career success as those in other career stages. Research limitations/implications All the expatriates were university-educated Finnish engineers and business professionals, and the career benefits of expatriation could differ for different sample groups. The study calls for more context-sensitive global careers research. The findings have positive implications for self-guided career actors considering working abroad. Organizations could focus more of their global talent attraction, management, and career efforts on self-initiated expatriates.
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    The future of global mobility
    (HENRY (Finland), 2021-11-10) Mello, Rodrigo; Suutari, Vesa; Escobar-Borruel, Inés; Biswas, Tania S.; Dickmann, Michael
    This article presents different kinds of international work featured in the literature, and a number of new strategic trends following the COVID-19 pandemic, identified in recent interviews with the heads of global mobility units in 22 European companies. Given our findings, which describe the extensive impacts of the crisis on global mobility, we make two main recommendations for MNCs: (1) they need to reconsider global mobility policies in a new situation after the COVID pandemic; and (2) invest in overcoming operational and legal challenges, to reduce uncertainties among globally mobile employees surrounding the use of flexible and remote working arrangements.
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    A potential paradigm shift in global mobility? the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
    (Elsevier, 2023-12-08) Mello, Rodrigo; Erro-Garces, Amaya; Dickmann, Michael; Brewster, Chris
    The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected the global mobility (GM) policies of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Through interviews with policy decision-makers in 32 companies, we applied Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to examine how the pandemic accelerated changes in MNE policies and the management of GM. Our framework builds on contingency theory, traditionally concerned with aligning organizational policies with macro- and meso-level contextual factors. We extend this by integrating micro-level individual variables, such as career aspirations and well-being, as contingent factors influencing GM practices. There is variation in GM responses in relation to the volume of GM activities, GM-related policies, investments in digitalization and technology, and variations in mobility types. We observed a potential paradigm shift that affords employees greater agency in their global mobility paths, thereby greater granularity to contingency theory. This nuanced approach opens new research avenues and equips organizational leaders with a comprehensive set of variables for GM decision-making. Our findings indicate lasting global mobility changes but foresee gradual implementation due to associated risks.
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    Taking stock of expatriates’ career success after international assignments: a review and future research agenda
    (Elsevier, 2022-04-22) Mello, Rodrigo; Suutari, Vesa; Dickmann, Michael
    This systematic literature review explores studies addressing the objective career success and subjective career success of company-assigned and self-initiated expatriates after their long-term international assignments. Expatriate work is defined as high-density work that affects employee learning and career trajectories. We develop a holistic expatriate career success framework exploring the following questions: 1) What individual career impact results from international assignments? 2) What are the antecedents of such career success? and 3) What are the outcomes of assignees’ career success? A previously neglected range of theoretical perspectives, antecedents, and outcomes of expatriate career success is identified. Subsequently, a threefold contribution is made. First, we extend the conceptualization of international work density to unveil the differences between general and global career concepts. Second, we identify promising theories that have not been utilized in expatriation research, emphasizing context-related and learning theories that chime with the specific nature of global careers. Lastly, we suggest an extensive future research agenda.