Why and How Women and Men Acquire Global Career Experience

Building on prior research on expatriation, this qualitative study applies the Vance (2005) pre-expatriation international career development model to examine the experiences arising from women undertaking self-initiated expatriation (SIE). Utilizing a mixed sample of female and male expatriates, the authors interviewed 45 American expatriates in five major cities in Western and Central Europe to determine similarities and differences across gender in the selection and effective utilization of the SIE track to acquire international competencies and career development. Findings show that female expatriates: (1) experience fewer encounters with gender bias in the international business environment than prior research suggests; (2) have a tendency toward self-initiated expatriation over assigned expatriation as a way to obtain valuable international work experience; (3) rely heavily on entrepreneurship and on-site networking to further their self-initiated expatriate experience; (4) experience dual-career-couple issues; and (5) often gain important sources of support from local close personal relationships in the host location. Our study, which has important implications for both women and men in guiding international career planning, also addresses three limitations of the original Vance (2005) model upon which the study is based by: (1) extending the model beyond East Asia to another region (Europe) in order to enhance its generalizability; (2) broadening the concept of "expatriate" from the traditional narrow parent-country national characterization to include in our sample both company-assigned and self-initiated expatriates; and (3) significantly increasing female sample representation.