Performance Management Practices for Self-initiated Expatriates

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to determine if there are performance management practices that would enhance self-initiated expatriates’ adjustment and performance in a host country. As defined in this thesis, self-initiated expatriates are people who move abroad to work on their own initiative, in contrast to assigned expatriates sent by their organization. In addition to selection and recruitment, this thesis emphasizes the importance of other performance management practices such as goal-setting, performance evaluation and training.

First, this paper offers a literature review of the previous research on performance management of assigned expatriates. In addition, a comparison is drawn between two types of earlier mentioned expatriates and domestic employees. As revealed in the literature review, there are not many differences in performance management between assigned expatriates and domestic employees.

The empirical study, conducted by interviewing six Finnish females living abroad, exposes that language skills and self-management assist in adjustment the most in contrast to assigned expatriates who appreciate organizational support. The performance of an expatriate originates from adjustment, which has a direct link to motivation and background of the expatriate. Consequently, the organization should pay attention to performance management practices, such as training and selection and recruitment to enable self-initiated expatriate’s good adjustment and performance.

By focusing on self-initiated expatriates, this study extends the existing literature on expatriate performance management and adjustment. There are still emerging gaps in the literature on self-initiated expatriates, which provide opportunities for future research.