Dickmann, MichaelSuutari, VesaBrewster, ChrisMäkelä, LiisaTanskanen, JussiTornikoski, Christelle2016-06-242016-06-242016-05-04Michael Dickmann, Vesa Suutari, Chris Brewster, Liisa Mäkelä, Jussi Tanskanen and Christelle Tornikoski. The career competencies of self-initiated and assigned expatriates: assessing the development of career capital over time. International Journal of Human Resource Management.0958-5192http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2016.1172657http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/10023Building on a modern careers approach, we assess the effects of working abroad on individuals’ career capital. Given the dearth of longitudinal studies, we return to a sample of economics graduates in Finland eight years later. We measure changes in three dimensions of career capital; ‘knowing how’, ‘knowing whom’, ‘knowing why’ and find that company assigned expatriates learn more than self-initiated expatriates. All three career capital areas benefit from international experience and all are increasingly valued over time. Based on our findings, we conclude that a dynamic notion of career capital acquisition and use is needed. Managerial implications include the need for a wider view of talent management for international businesses.enThe final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2016.1172657Career capitalexpatriationinternational careerslongitudinal studiesself-initiated expatriationArticle