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Careers of Highly Educated Self-Initiated Expatriates: Observations from Studies Among Finnish Business Professionals

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Global Mobility of Highly Skilled People

Part of the book series: International Perspectives on Migration ((IPMI,volume 16))

Abstract

This chapter reviews existing literature about the careers of self-initiated expatriates and analyzes the different studies carried out among university level educated Finnish business professionals. A series of studies carried out among members of the Finnish Association of Business School Graduates during the last 15 years was cross-analyzed. The studies are based on three surveys and further interviews among their expatriate members (1999, 2004 and a follow-up study in 2012) also involving SIEs. Therefore, this chapter provide an overview of what we know about the careers of Finnish SIEs and show evidence of (1) their career motives, (2) the role of family considerations in the career decision making of SIEs, (3) the development of career capital and social capital during SIE-experiences, and also (4) longer-term career impacts of SIE-experiences. Based on the literature review and analysis of above mentioned studies we highlight the gaps in in the knowledge about SIEs and suggest areas where further research is needed.

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Further Reading on the Experiences of Business-Educated Finnish SIEs

  • Dickmann, M., Suutari, V., Brewster, C., Mäkelä, L., Tanskanen, J., & Tornikoski, C. (2016). The career competencies of self-initiated and assigned expatriates: Assessing the development of career capital over time. International Journal of Human Resource Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2016.1172657

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  • Mäkelä, K., & Suutari, V. (2013). Social capital of traditional and self-initiated expatriates. In V. Vaiman & A. Haslberger (Eds.), Managing talent of self-initiated expatriates: A neglected source of the global talent flow (pp. 256–277). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

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  • Mäkelä, L. & Suutari, V. (2013). Work-life interface of self-initiated expatriates: Conflicts and enrichment. In V. Vaiman & A. Haslberger (Eds.), Managing talent of self-initiated expatriates: A neglected source of the global talent flow (pp. 278–303). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

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  • Suutari, V., & Brewster, C. (2000). Making their own way: international experience through self-initiated foreign assignments. Journal of World Business, 35(4), 417–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suutari, V., Tornikoski C., & Mäkelä, L. (2012). Career decision making of global careerists. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(16), 3455–3478.

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  • Suutari, V., Brewster, C., & Tornikoski, C. (2013). The careers of self-initiated expatriates. In:V. Vaiman & A. Haslberger (Eds.), Managing talent of self-initiated expatriates: A neglected source of the global talent flow (pp. 159–180). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

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  • Suutari, V., Brewster, C., Dickmann, M., Mäkelä, L., & Tornikoski, C. (2017). The effect of international work experience on the career success of expatriates: a comparison of assigned and self-initiated expatriates. Human Resource Management. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21827

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Henley Business School, University of Reading, Henley-on-Thames, UK

    Chris Brewster

  2. Radboud University, Nijmengen, Netherlands

    Liisa Mäkelä & Vesa Suutari

  3. University of Vaasa, Vaasa, Finland

    Liisa Mäkelä & Vesa Suutari

Authors
  1. Chris Brewster
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  2. Liisa Mäkelä
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  3. Vesa Suutari
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Correspondence to Chris Brewster .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland

    Driss Habti

  2. School of Economics, Belt & Road Institute of International Business, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China

    Maria Elo

  3. Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Maria Elo

  4. Migration Institute of Finland, Turku, Finland

    Maria Elo

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Brewster, C., Mäkelä, L., Suutari, V. (2019). Careers of Highly Educated Self-Initiated Expatriates: Observations from Studies Among Finnish Business Professionals. In: Habti, D., Elo, M. (eds) Global Mobility of Highly Skilled People. International Perspectives on Migration, vol 16. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95056-3_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95056-3_2

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