Global Self-Initiated Corporate Careerists: What Drives Them and Implications for HRM

An important aspect of globalization as a social/economic/political reality that began to unfold in the second half of the 20th century and is intensifying in the early decades of the 21st century is the growing flow — of people, capital, information, ideas, services, products — transcending national borders. With transnational corporations increasing in number and aiming to gain a global footprint (Rugman and Verbeke, 2004), with worldwide and regional trade agreements proliferating, people’s careers are increasingly becoming global too (Tams and Arthur, 2007). We evidence a large and growing number of people opting, by intent or default, for a career that transcends national borders, in a variety of modes or types — the nature, feasibility, and management of this variety has been subject to a recent detailed exposition (Baruch, Dickmann, Altman, and Bournois, 2013). This global temporary employment migration wave has been of sufficient magnitude and importance to effect national policies, as for example in the Gulf, where the vast majority of the active workforce is foreign — hence the efforts for ‘Saudization’ of labor in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Al-Rajhi, Altman, Metcalf, and Roussel, 2006) and similar attempts elsewhere in the region (Al-Meraikhi et al., 2012).