The Work-Life Interface of Self-Initiated Expatriates: Conflicts and Enrichment

Research interest in self-initiated expatriation has been increasing steadily due to the globalization of business life and job markets. The emerging research tradition has already covered themes including career motives, development, adjustment, HR support, repatriation and careers. There is, however, limited research on the work-life interface (WLI) of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), despite the fact that international work affects not only expatriates’ working lives but also their whole life situation. Moreover, if expatriates have a family, moving and living abroad is at least as challenging for their spouses and children as it is for them (Shaffer & Harrison, 2001; Richardson, 2006). Issues affecting spouses and family are also important to the repatriation process since repatriation adjustment has been found to be challenging. Spouses often have to interrupt their own careers in order to follow the expatriate abroad, and the job-related arrangements of the spouse are among the key challenges reported by repatriates (Riusala & Suutari, 2000). If companies are seen as unsympathetic to the problems faced by repatriates and their families, individuals will be even more reluctant to accept the offer of foreign assignments in future (Scullion, 1993). From these perspectives, it is unsurprising that work-life balance (WLB) concerns (Mäkelä & Suutari, 2011; Hearn, Jyrkinen, Piekkari & Oinonen, 2008) rank highly among the key challenges related to international careers. It has even been argued that such careers would be too challenging for most individuals and their families (Forster, 2000). At the same time, it has been found that international jobs may also have positive WLI outcomes — known as work-life enrichment (Mäkelä & Suutari, 2011).