Self-Initiated Academics Work Adjustment: A Systematic Literature Review
Keywords:
Work adjustment, self-initiated academics, expatriation, working abroad
Abstract
Expatriation abroad for work and leisure is becoming the norm these days. This necessitates individuals to adjust to life in their new destination and work environment. This paper focuses on presenting a systematic literature review of how the phenomena of Self-Initiated Academics (SIEs) adjust to their work environment. Method: A systematic literature search was conducted by examining articles published in the field of SIE academics. No restrictions were placed on the date of publication because of the nascent nature of the subject of study. The following electronic databases were searched, where language was restricted to only English: Business Source Complete, Academic Search Ultimate, Scopus, Web of Science, and PsycINFO. Result: The result shows that SIEs face challenges that could affect their adjustment to life in a new country, culture, and work. Among these factors are family, local language proficiency, interaction with local hosts and expatriates, prior international work experience, and trainings that are provided at the workplaces. The differentiated treatment of expatriates based on their looks and the passport they hold by the HCNs (host country nationals) is a significant issue that was identified as well.
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References
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27. Richardson, J. & McKenna, S. (2002). Leaving and experiencing why academics expatriate and how they experience expatriation. Career Development International, 7, 67-78.
28. Richardson, C. & Wong, H. W. (2018). Expatriate academics in Malaysia: Motivation, adjustment, and retention. Journal of Management Development, 37(3), 299-308.
29. Romanowski, M. H. & Nasser, R. (2014). Identity issues: Expatriate professors teaching and researching in Qatar. Higher Education, 69, 653-671.
30. Selmer, J. & Lauring, J. (2011). Acquired demographics and reasons to relocate among self-initiated expatriates. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2, 2055–2070.
31. Selmer, J. & Lauring, J. (2011). Host country language ability and expatriate adjustment: the moderating effect of language difficulty. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(3), 401-420. doi:10.1080/09585192.2011.561238.
32. Selmer, J. & Lauring, J. (2013). Cognitive and affective reasons to expatriate and work adjustment of expatriate academics. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 13(2), 175-191. doi:10.1177/1470595813485382
33. Selmer, J. & Lauring, J. (2015). Host country language ability and expatriate adjustment: The moderating effect of language difficulty. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(3), 401–420.https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2011.561238
Singh, S. K., Edward Pereira, V., Mellahi, K., & Collings, D. G. (2021). Host country nationals characteristics and willingness to help self-initiated expatriates in the UAE. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 32(8), 1707–1730.
34. Showail, S. J., McLean, P. J. & Smith, F. L. (2013). Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia: A field study of role ambiguity, identification, information-seeking, organizational support.
35. Sousa, C., Gonçalves, G., Santos, J., & Leitão, J. (2017). Organizational practices for the expatriates’ adjustment: a systematic review. Journal of Global Mobility, 5(3), 251-274. doi:10.1108/jgm-03-2017-0011.
36. Stoermer, S., Haslberger, A., Froese, F. J., & Kraeh, A. L. (2018). Person-Environment Fit and Expatriate Job Satisfaction. Thunderbird International Business Review, 60(6), 851-860. doi:10.1002/tie.21920.
37. Tahir, R. (2022). Expatriate academics: an exploratory study of Western Academics in the United Arab Emirates.
38. Thirlwall, A., Kuzemski, D., Baghestani, M., Brunton, M., & Brownie, S. (2021). ‘Every day is a challenge’: Expatriate acculturation in the United Arab Emirates. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 21(3), 430–451.
39. Trembath, J. L. (2016). The professional lives of expatriate academics: Construct clarity and implications for expatriate management in higher education. Journal of Global Mobility, 4(2), 112-130.
40. Wilkins, S. & Neri, S. (2019). Managing Faculty in Transnational Higher Education: Expatriate Academics at International Branch Campuses. Journal of Studies in International Education, 23(4), 451–472. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315318814200
2. Alshahrani, S. T. (2022). The motivation for the mobility–A comparison of the company assigned and self-initiated expatriates in Saudi Arabia. Cogent Social Sciences, 8(1), 2027626.
3. Alsharif, F. (2022). Undocumented migrants in Saudi Arabia: COVID‐19 and amnesty reforms. International Migration, 60(1), 188–204.
4. Alshammari, H. (2012). Self-initiated expatriate adjustment in Saudi universities: The role of previous experience and marital status. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(23), 184-194.
5. Asif, U., Bano, N., & Al-Najjar, H. (2020). Experiences of expatriate university teachers in a health science university in Saudi Arabia: A qualitative study. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(4):799-803. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.4.1896.
6. Al Ariss, A. & Ozbilgin, M. (2010). Understanding self-initiated expatriates: Career experiences of Lebanese self-initiated expatriates. Thunderbird International Business Review, 52, 275-85.
7. Austin, A. E., Chapman, D. W., Farah, S., Wilson, E. & Ridge, N. (2014). Expatriate academic staff in the United Arab Emirates: The nature of their work experiences in higher education institutions. Higher Education, 68(4), 541-557.
8. Black, J. S., Mendenhall, M., & Oddu, G. (1991). Toward a comprehensive model of international adjustment: An integration of multiple theoretical perspectives. Academy of Management Review, 16, 291–317.
9. Bozionelos, N. (2009). Expatriation outside the boundaries of the multinational corporation: A study with expatriate nurses in Saudi Arabia. Human Resource Management, 48(1), 111–134.
10. Danisman, S. (2017). Attitudes towards culture in the new home: self-initiated expatriate academics in Turkey. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 44(1), 1-29.
11. Dickmann, M., Doherty, N., Mills, T., & Brewster, C. (2008). Why do they go? Individual and corporate perspectives on the factors influencing the decision to accept an international assignment. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19(4), 731-751.
12. Farndale, E., Horak, S., Phillips, J., & Beamond, M. (2019). Facing complexity, crisis, and risk: Opportunities and challenges in international human resource management. Thunderbird International Business Review, 61(3), 465–470.
13. Firn, J., Preston, N., & Walshe, C. (2016). What are the views of hospital-based generalist palliative care professionals on what facilitates or hinders collaboration with in-patient specialist palliative care teams? A systematically constructed narrative synthesis. Palliat Med, 30(3), 240-256. doi:10.1177/0269216315615483.
14. Froese, F.J. (2012). Motivation and adjustment of self-initiated expatriates: The case of expatriate academics in South Korea. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(6), 1095–1112.
15. Fu, C., Hsu, Y.S., A. Shaffer, M., & Ren, H. (2017). A longitudinal investigation of self-initiated expatriate organizational socialization. Personnel Review, 46(2), 182-204. doi:10.1108/PR-05-2015-0149.
16. Halim, H., Abu Bakar, H., & Mohamad, B. (2018). Measuring Multicultural Effectiveness among Self-Initiated Academic Expatriates in Malaysia. Jurnal Komunikasi-Malaysian Journal of Communication, 34(2), 1-17. doi:10.17576/jkmjc-2018-3402-01.
17. Haslberger, A., Hippler, T., & Brewster, C. (2014). Managing performance abroad: A new model for understanding expatriate adjustment. Routledge
18. Hawker, S., Payne, S., Kerr, C., Hardey, M., & Powell, J. (2002). Appraising the evidence: reviewing disparate data systematically. Qual Health Res, 12(9), 1284-1299. doi:10.1177/1049732302238251.
19. Isakovic, A. & Whitman, M.F. (2013). Self-initiated expatriate adjustment in the United Arab Emirates: a study of academics. Journal of Global Mobility 1(2), 161-186.
20. Jackson, D. & Manderscheid, S.V. (2016). A phenomenological study of Western expatriates’ adjustment to Saudi Arabia. Human Resource Development International, 18(2), 131-152.
21. Kalmey, F. (2022). Adjustment in international work context: The case of Self-initiated Expatriate Academics in Saudi Arabia. Lancaster University.
22. Kuzhabekova, A. & Lee, J. (2018). Relocation decision of international faculty in Kazakhstan. Journal of Studies in International Education, 22(5), 414-433.
23. McKenna, S. & Richardson. J. (2007). The increasing complexity of the international mobile professionals: Issues for research and practise. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 14, 307-320.
24. McKenna, S. & Richardson, J. (2016). Self-initiated expatriation: Changing the ontological and methodological box. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal.
25. Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & Group, P. (2009). Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. PLoS Med, 6(7), e1000097. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000097.
26. Pham, M. T. & Avnet, T. (2009). Contingent reliance on the affect heuristic as a function of regulatory focus. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 108(2), 267–278.
27. Richardson, J. & McKenna, S. (2002). Leaving and experiencing why academics expatriate and how they experience expatriation. Career Development International, 7, 67-78.
28. Richardson, C. & Wong, H. W. (2018). Expatriate academics in Malaysia: Motivation, adjustment, and retention. Journal of Management Development, 37(3), 299-308.
29. Romanowski, M. H. & Nasser, R. (2014). Identity issues: Expatriate professors teaching and researching in Qatar. Higher Education, 69, 653-671.
30. Selmer, J. & Lauring, J. (2011). Acquired demographics and reasons to relocate among self-initiated expatriates. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2, 2055–2070.
31. Selmer, J. & Lauring, J. (2011). Host country language ability and expatriate adjustment: the moderating effect of language difficulty. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(3), 401-420. doi:10.1080/09585192.2011.561238.
32. Selmer, J. & Lauring, J. (2013). Cognitive and affective reasons to expatriate and work adjustment of expatriate academics. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 13(2), 175-191. doi:10.1177/1470595813485382
33. Selmer, J. & Lauring, J. (2015). Host country language ability and expatriate adjustment: The moderating effect of language difficulty. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(3), 401–420.https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2011.561238
Singh, S. K., Edward Pereira, V., Mellahi, K., & Collings, D. G. (2021). Host country nationals characteristics and willingness to help self-initiated expatriates in the UAE. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 32(8), 1707–1730.
34. Showail, S. J., McLean, P. J. & Smith, F. L. (2013). Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia: A field study of role ambiguity, identification, information-seeking, organizational support.
35. Sousa, C., Gonçalves, G., Santos, J., & Leitão, J. (2017). Organizational practices for the expatriates’ adjustment: a systematic review. Journal of Global Mobility, 5(3), 251-274. doi:10.1108/jgm-03-2017-0011.
36. Stoermer, S., Haslberger, A., Froese, F. J., & Kraeh, A. L. (2018). Person-Environment Fit and Expatriate Job Satisfaction. Thunderbird International Business Review, 60(6), 851-860. doi:10.1002/tie.21920.
37. Tahir, R. (2022). Expatriate academics: an exploratory study of Western Academics in the United Arab Emirates.
38. Thirlwall, A., Kuzemski, D., Baghestani, M., Brunton, M., & Brownie, S. (2021). ‘Every day is a challenge’: Expatriate acculturation in the United Arab Emirates. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 21(3), 430–451.
39. Trembath, J. L. (2016). The professional lives of expatriate academics: Construct clarity and implications for expatriate management in higher education. Journal of Global Mobility, 4(2), 112-130.
40. Wilkins, S. & Neri, S. (2019). Managing Faculty in Transnational Higher Education: Expatriate Academics at International Branch Campuses. Journal of Studies in International Education, 23(4), 451–472. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315318814200
Published
2023-10-31
How to Cite
Kalmey, F. (2023). Self-Initiated Academics Work Adjustment: A Systematic Literature Review. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 19(28), 48. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2023.v19n28p48
Section
ESJ Social Sciences
Copyright (c) 2023 Farah Kalmey
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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