This is a self-archived – parallel published version of this article in the 
publication archive of the University of Vaasa. It might differ from the original. 
The global chameleons: the impact of early life 
international exposure on the career capital of adult 
third culture kids 
Author(s): Caselius, Mireka; Suutari, Vesa 
Title: The global chameleons: the impact of early life international exposure 
on the career capital of adult third culture kids 
Year: 2023 
Version: Accepted manuscript 
Copyright ©2023 Emerald Publishing Limited. This manuscript version is made 
available under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 
4.0 International (CC BY–NC 4.0) license, 
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 
Please cite the original version: 
 Caselius, M. & Suutari, V. (2023). The global chameleons: the impact of 
early life international exposure on the career capital of adult third 
culture kids. Journal of Global Mobility, 11(4), 530-553. 
https://doi.org/10.1108/JGM-03-2023-0021 
 
1 
 
The global chameleons: 
the impact of early life international exposure on the career capital of 
adult third culture kids 
 
 
Abstract 
Purpose – The purpose of the present study is to explore the effects of early life international exposure on the career capital (CC) of adult third culture kids (ATCKs). Design/methodology/approach – The study adopts a qualitative research design, based on 34 semi-structured interviews with ATCKs who have had international exposure in their childhood as a member of an expatriate family. Findings – The results show that a globally mobile childhood has extensive long-term impacts on ATCKs’ CC in the areas of knowing-why, knowing-how, and knowing-whom. Additionally, their early international experience also had several negative impacts across these aspects of CC. Originality/value – This paper provides a novel understanding about the long-term impacts of early life international exposure on ATCKs’ CC, and is the first study to use the CC-framework among an ATCK population. 
Keywords Career capital, Career development, International assignment, Adult third culture kids, Expatriate children 
Paper type Research paper 
 
Introduction 
Expatriation has been found to be a very transitional and developmental experience, both 
for expatriates (Dickmann et al., 2018; Mello et al., 2022) and their family members 
(Kanstrén and Suutari, 2021; Tan et al., 2021). The majority of expatriates have children, 
and most take their families abroad with them (Van der Zee et al., 2007). There are thus 
a significant number of adults who have developed international expertise during their 
parents’ international assignment (De Waal and Born, 2020; Tarique and Weisbord, 
2013) when living abroad during their developmental years, when people are at a highly 
receptive age (Pollock et al., 2017). One of the greatest human resource challenges in 
multinational organizations lies in finding skilled people for international roles (Kirk, 
2021), and it has been recognized that such people could be an important recruitment pool 
for multinational corporations or companies (MNCs) (Nash, 2020; Westropp et al., 2016). 
The global mobility literature often centers on expatriate experiences, and family has been 
typically presented only when their actions are linked to an expatriate’s performance 
2 
 
(Lazarova et al., 2015). However, there has been a recent increase in studies focusing on 
partner experiences from perspectives such as acculturation (Stoermer et al., 2021), well-
being (Kanstrén and Mäkelä, 2020), career capital development (Kanstrén and Suutari, 
2021), and career impacts (Mutter and Thorn, 2019). Nonetheless, the experiences of 
expatriate children have been studied much less through the lens of development or future 
career (Abe, 2018; Lauring et al., 2019; Nash, 2020). Consequently, it has been argued 
that we need more research on the experiences of such expatriate children, and the long-
term impacts these experiences have on their lives and careers (Caselius and Mäkelä, 
2022), concentrating on their positive traits, strengths and competencies (Tan et al., 
2021). 
The experiences of expatriate children have also been analyzed in cross-cultural (see e.g. 
Purnell and Hoban, 2014; De Sivatte et al., 2019; Banerjee et al., 2020; De Waal and 
Born, 2021), international education (see e.g. Fail et al., 2004; Poonoosamy, 2018; 
McKeering et al., 2021), and psychology literature (see e.g. Hervey, 2009; Davis et al., 
2010; Mosanya and Kwiatkowska, 2023). There, expatriates’ offspring are referred to as 
‘third culture kids’ (TCKs), and as ‘adult third culture kids’ (ATCKs) when they come of 
age. The main focus of TCK-research has been on the challenges associated with a 
globally mobile childhood (Tan et al., 2021), from perspectives such as the ATCKs’ 
identity (Cranston, 2017), their feelings of rootlessness and restlessness (Pollock et al., 
2017), loss and grief in transitions (Gilbert, 2008), cultural homelessness (Hoersting and 
Jenkins, 2011), and repatriation adjustment (Smith and Kearney, 2016). Another set of 
studies has underlined the advantages of a TCK background, such as their possible talent 
potential for becoming future expatriates as adults (Bonebright, 2010; Selmer and Lam, 
2004; Westropp et al., 2016). Research on the development of TCKs has mainly focused 
on the development of cross-cultural competences (De Waal and Born, 2020; Tarique and 
Weisbord, 2013). However, we could expect that their time abroad offers a wider scope 
of developmental experiences for expatriate children, similar to those reported among 
expatriates (Dickmann et al., 2018; Jokinen, 2010) and their partners (Kanstrén and 
Suutari, 2021), and which can also have long-term impacts on their later work life and 
career choices (Caselius and Mäkelä, 2022). 
The career capital (CC) gained from international assignments has often been explored 
through career capital theory (Dickmann et al., 2018; Dickmann and Doherty, 2008; 
3 
 
Jokinen et al., 2008). The CC theory is based on three ways of knowing: ‘knowing-how’, 
‘knowing-whom’, and ‘knowing-why’ (Inkson and Arthur, 2001; Jokinen et al., 2008; 
Suutari and Mäkelä, 2007) which are seen to impact on careers and the career success of 
individuals. While CC theory has been used among expatriates (Dickmann et al., 2018; 
Jokinen, 2010; Suutari and Mäkelä, 2007) and their partners (Kanstrén and Suutari, 2021), 
it has not yet been utilized to understand the development of TCKs. 
In light of this background, the aim of the present study is to increase our understanding 
of CC among ATCKs by answering the following research questions: Does early 
international experience develop the knowing-why, knowing-how and knowing-whom 
career capital of ATCKs, and if so, in what ways? Especially, we report ATCKs’ 
perceptions at a career stage when they have already started their adult careers, and are 
thus able to reflect on how their early international experiences have influenced them 
from the CC perspective. It is noteworthy that the participants of the study reflect on their 
childhood international experiences which are based on their memories, and therefore, 
the descriptions of their experiences might be biased (Sikkel, 1985). Moreover, this study 
differs from earlier studies where the main focus has been on the experiences of TCKs 
abroad (Hartman, 2022). Thus, by adopting such a broad CC-perspective, the current 
study contributes by expanding our knowledge beyond the development of cultural 
competences, which has previously been the main focus of research in this area. 
 
Literature review 
Existing research on third culture kids and adult third culture kids 
A third culture kid (TCK) has been defined as “a person who spends a significant part of 
his or her first eighteen years of life accompanying parent(s) into a country that is different 
from at least one parent’s passport country(ies) due to a parent’s choice of work or 
advanced training” (Pollock et al., 2017 p. 404). In this approach, the ‘first culture’ is the 
parents’ home or passport country. The ‘second culture’ is the one where the family has 
moved to and lived, while at the same time belonging to a ‘third culture’ which is not a 
physical culture, but more a lifestyle and shared experiences with other individuals living 
in a similar way (Pollock et al., 2017). Since the third culture is a created culture, it has 
been described as a “culture between cultures” (Walters and Auton-Cuff, 2009 p. 755). 
4 
 
An adult third culture kid (ATCK) refers to an individual who has had such international 
experiences, meaning that an ATCK “is someone who grew up as a TCK” (Pollock et al., 
2017 p. 404), and is thus able to reflect on the impacts that their experiences have had on 
their later lives and careers. 
Previously, TCK experiences have been analyzed from a variety of perspectives, 
including childhood adjustment (Banerjee et al., 2020; De Sivatte et al., 2019; Weeks et 
al., 2010) and coping (Van der Zee et al., 2007) abroad. Further studies have focused on 
how expatriate children establish relationships during international transitions (Adams, 
2016; Lijadi and Van Schalkwyk, 2014). Research conducted on globally mobile children 
has also covered their perceptions of being international (Lam and Selmer, 2004; Selmer 
and Lam, 2004), their international mindedness (Poonoosamy, 2018), global awareness 
(Sheard, 2008), their sense of belonging to the home country (Nette and Hayden, 2007), 
and adolescents’ stress reactivity and depressive symptoms (Thomas et al., 2021); and 
scholars have shown interest in TCKs’ future career interests when they are still young 
(Gerner and Perry, 2000; Lam and Selmer, 2004; Selmer and Lam, 2004). There has also 
been some research on the educational experiences of TCKs which raised that these may 
differ depending on the school type the person attended. Some may study in international 
schools such as International Baccalaureate (Dickson et al., 2018) or European Schools 
(Housen, 2002), while some may study in local schools (Groves and O’Connor, 2018). 
While most research has examined the experiences of TCKs abroad, the number of studies 
on their adulthood experiences has been gradually increasing. Initial studies have 
examined ATCKs’ cultural identity (Greenholtz and Kim, 2009; Moore and Barker, 2012; 
Rounsaville, 2014; Walters and Auton-Cuff, 2009), insecurity of identity (Cranston, 
2017), and cultural homelessness and identity (Hoersting and Jenkins, 2011). The 
wellbeing of ATCKs has been analyzed from perspectives such as their life satisfaction 
(Mosanya and Kwiatkowska, 2021), depression, anxiety and stress (Davis et al., 2010; 
Davis et al., 2013), levels of prejudice (Melles and Schwartz, 2013), and loss and grief 
experiences (Gilbert, 2008). Research has also covered ATCKs’ transitions to college 
(Smith and Kearney, 2016; Hervey, 2009) and university life (Purnell and Hoban, 2014), 
their adulthood expatriate adjustment (Lauring et al., 2019; Selmer and Lauring, 2014), 
as well as their repatriation experiences (Bikos et al., 2009; Peterson and Plamondon, 
2009). A range of studies have analyzed the competencies found among ATCKs 
5 
 
(Bonebright, 2010; Tarique and Weisbord, 2013; Westropp et al., 2016). But although 
ATCKs have been studied from different perspectives, the understanding of the CC they 
gain (and lose) during their early international experiences and the longer term impacts 
of such developmental experiences has been highlighted as needing further attention 
(Abe, 2018; Caselius and Mäkelä, 2022; Lauring et al., 2019). 
We next discuss the development of CC abroad by applying the CC-framework to analyze 
these developmental experiences during early life international exposure. 
Career capital development abroad 
Career capital theory includes the idea of three forms of knowing, and provides a 
framework for understanding how changing conditions affect an individual’s knowledge, 
skills, and career interests (Inkson and Arthur, 2001). It consists of three key aspects of 
CC; individual beliefs, values and identities relating to ‘knowing-why’, gained skills and 
knowledge relating to ‘knowing-how’, and the network of personal relationships and 
overall contacts relating to ‘knowing-whom’ (Defilippi and Arthur, 1994). Importantly, 
CC is seen to have transferability across organizations, industries and national borders, 
creating economic benefit. 
Expatriation has been found to be a highly developmental experience both for expatriates 
and their family members, and thus the CC-framework has been seen as a means of 
analyzing such developments. Expatriation offers opportunities for self-reflection and 
learning, and has an extensive developmental effect on CC among both expatriates 
(Cappellen and Janssens, 2008; Dickmann and Cerdin, 2018; Dickmann and Doherty, 
2010; Suutari et al., 2018; Suutari and Mäkelä, 2007) and their partners (Kanstrén and 
Suutari, 2021). However, far less research on development and the long-term career 
impacts of such development has been conducted among former expatriate children. 
While the main focus of the present study is on the CC-development experiences of 
ATCKs, we will also briefly discuss findings on the development of CC among 
expatriates and their partners, since they all share the experience of living abroad. 
Knowing-why 
Knowing-why CC answers the question of ‘Why?’, and consists of a sense of purpose, 
values, identity interests, and career motivations (Cappellen and Janssens, 2005; Defilippi 
6 
 
and Arthur, 1994) that enhance learning and performance (Kanstrén and Suutari, 2021). 
Expatriation has been found to increase the knowing-why CC of expatriates and partners 
with regard to self-awareness, self-confidence, the understanding of personal strengths 
and weaknesses, as well as the understanding of work-related values, career-related 
preferences, and motives (Dickmann et al., 2018; Kanstrén and Suutari, 2021; Suutari 
and Mäkelä, 2007). Notably, individuals are found to become aware of these personal 
drivers, since expatriation is often perceived as a journey into oneself (Jokinen, 2010). 
While the CC-framework has not been similarly applied in ATCK research, there are 
some relevant findings that can be connected with this framework. The accompanying 
children also experience a major life change of adjusting to a new culture that has been 
found to lead to the development of a multicultural identity (Tan et al., 2021), cultural 
open mindedness and a global mindset (Weeks et al., 2010; Westropp et al., 2016), and a 
desire for an international career and travel (Caselius and Mäkelä, 2022). As studies have 
typically utilized TCKs as informants, we still lack an understanding of the CC of ATCKs 
who are able to reflect on their CC-development abroad after entering work life. 
Furthermore, research has paid less attention to the broader issue of ‘knowing-why’ 
development, and focus has been placed on international orientation though other aspects 
such as self-confidence and self-awareness which could develop quite similarly among 
TCKs as among expatriates and partners. However, in addition to the positive 
development of knowing-why, some more negative changes have been reported, and due 
to their multicultural identity, ATCKs have been found to face cultural struggles, anger 
and depression (Smith and Kearney, 2016), to feel rootless (Pollock et al., 2017), and to 
face challenges with fitting into their home country culture after their return (Bikos et al., 
2009). 
Knowing-how 
Knowing-how CC reflects the skills, expertise and knowledge which a person draws into 
a career, and these skills may be technical, interpersonal, or conceptual (Inkson and 
Arthur, 2001). Such capital may be transferrable to new positions across countries, but is 
sometimes also partly organization- or country-specific (Jokinen, 2010). International 
experience has been noted to develop knowing-how CC with regard to general 
competencies such as social skills and coping, as well as international competencies, 
7 
 
therefore increasing the individual’s capabilities for international and domestic careers 
(Dickmann et al., 2018; Suutari and Mäkelä, 2007). Similar findings have also been 
reported among partners, but the extent of their development varied depending on the 
situations of their partners (e.g. their family and job situation abroad) (Kanstrén and 
Suutari, 2021). 
With regard to the development of TCKs, the focus has often been placed on analyzing 
the cross-cultural skills and sensitivity that these children develop abroad (De Waal and 
Born, 2020). A TCK background is also connected to the ability to cope in cross-cultural 
transitions (Van der Zee et al., 2007; Walters and Auton-Cuff, 2009), and having good 
language skills (Pollock et al., 2017; Haneda and Monobe, 2009). 
Global mobility has been found to develop broader social and communication skills 
among expatriates (Dickmann et al., 2018; Jokinen et al., 2008) and their partners 
(Kanstrén and Suutari, 2021). Thus, similar development could be expected to take place 
among TCKs, and to be present in their adult work life. Some of the developments that 
take place among adults naturally relate to their work experiences abroad, while children 
may have developmental experiences, stemming for example from the schools they attend 
abroad. Consequently, further research is needed on TCKs’ knowing-how development 
when studying abroad, and on the transferability of such CC to their career. While most 
development can be considered as a positive CC development, ATCKs may also face 
obstacles due to decreasing competencies in areas such as their home country language 
skills and their understanding of home country culture (Smith and Kearney, 2016). Thus, 
further research with international samples would help to further investigate this aspect. 
Knowing-whom 
Knowing-whom CC includes the relationships, attachments, and sources of information 
that people gather along their careers (Inkson and Arthur, 2001). The CC-framework 
highlights the importance of knowing-whom for an individual’s career success (Inkson 
and Arthur, 2001), and an expatriates’ networks have been noted to be crucially important 
for their career progress (Dickmann et al., 2018; Linehan and Scullion, 2002). Diverse 
social relationships were also found to be important to expatriate partners, and often their 
social activity was beneficial to expatriates by way of opening up new networks abroad 
(Kanstrén and Suutari, 2021). From the TCK perspective, it is known that they often enjoy 
8 
 
an expatriate-centric lifestyle during their parent(s)’ international assignment (Weeks et 
al., 2010), and thus have other expatriate families in their social network. It has further 
been found that individuals with a globally mobile childhood are good at forming 
meaningful relationships with other TCKs (Walters and Auton-Cuff, 2009), also after 
their time abroad (Peterson and Plamondon, 2009). However, we still lack an 
understanding of what kinds of networks TCKs form abroad, how long-term the 
relationships are, and how useful such connections are in their future career. 
TCKs may also face challenges due to the specific nature of their knowing-whom CC. 
First, TCKs have been found to face challenges in forming relationships with non-TCKs 
who do not have an international childhood background, because they lack similar 
worldviews, values, and experiences (Choi et al., 2013). They also have fewer 
international connections with locals than might be expected (Weeks et al., 2010), and 
relationships formed abroad might also be challenging to maintain in the long-term, since 
a typical pattern for TCKs is to form less emotional relationships if they have formed new 
relationships due to relocation (Choi et al., 2013). However, more information is needed 
on how TCKs are able to re-enter their home country networks after repatriation, and how 
this impacts their careers as ATCKs. 
 
Method 
Data collection 
The current study adopts a qualitative research method with 34 in-depth semi-structured 
interviews, which enables studying individuals’ subjective experiences (Hirsjärvi and 
Hurme, 2015). Such a qualitative approach was applied because quantitative methods do 
not necessarily offer sufficient tools to illuminate peoples’ subjective experiences and 
how they make sense of and interpret them (Angen, 2000). 
To participate in the research, participants were expected to have relocated before the age 
of 18 from their primary passport country at least once for a period of a year or more, due 
to their parent(s) work. Additionally, participants were expected to have work experience 
after their early life experience as TCKs. The first interviewees were found from the first 
author’s personal network as she comes from an expatriate family herself. Further 
9 
 
participants were found via the snowball method, where respondents provided contact 
information for other individuals who fitted the selection criteria of the study 
(Metsämuuronen, 2006). It is acknowledged that this may be considered as a limitation 
to the generalizability of the findings because a snowball sample selection is often 
inherently biased (Cohen and Arieli, 2011). But in turn, such an approach enabled the 
collection of rich qualitative data which included ATCKs with international experiences 
from around the world. All of the interviewees fulfilled the original selection criteria. 
The data collection was conducted during April and May 2020, and started with two pilot 
interviews (Majid et al., 2017). All of the interviews were implemented through Zoom 
video meetings as face-to-face interviews were not possible during the Covid-19 
pandemic. Even so, face-to-face interviews would still have been very difficult to arrange 
even in normal circumstances, as many of the interviewees lived abroad at the time that 
the interviews took place. All of the interviews were video-recorded and permission for 
the recording was gained from each interviewee at the beginning of the interview session. 
The interview duration varied from 50 to 110 minutes (average 70 minutes). The 
interviews were conducted in Finnish, and the verbatim quotations of this paper have been 
translated into English by the authors. Careful attention was paid to the translation process 
in terms of sense making and reconstructing meanings. After this, a native English 
speaker checked that the translations are accurate in terms of language, while respecting 
the ‘tone’ of the interviewee.  
The interview questions regarding CC were based on the three aspects of knowing-why, 
knowing-how, and knowing-whom. Participants were asked to openly reflect on their 
experiences, and each theme was thoroughly discussed during the interview. The 
interview questions were purposefully wide, such as “Do you feel that you have changed 
somehow due to the international experience? In what way?”, “What kind of skills did 
you develop during your childhood time abroad?”, and “What kind of networks did you 
belong to during your childhood international experience?”. ATCKs were also asked to 
evaluate and explain whether and how the developed CC impacted them and their careers. 
Sequel questions which were not planned in advance were asked throughout the 
interviews. While it is recognized that the retrospective style of questioning about 
previous experiences abroad might incur some degree of memory bias (Sikkel, 1985), in 
10 
 
order to study the perceived long-term impacts of a childhood international experience, it 
is necessary that ATCKs reflect on their experiences over a longer term. 
The ethical approach that guided the research design and practices involved several 
issues. First, it was stressed that participation to one-on-one interactive video interview 
was voluntary and the interview could be terminated whenever they wanted. Due to the 
sensitivity of the research topic, all of participants got a list of the interview questions 
before the interview session, and were asked whether they were willing to take part to the 
research. This was also necessary due to snowball method, so that those contacted did not 
feel any pressure to participate in the research and would have the chance to withdraw 
from the research after seeing the questions. As the participants discussed and described 
sensitive family experiences, they were interviewed in a private environment and 
anonymity of the participants was ensured in all following stages of the research. Thus, 
this work refers to the participants in a way that they cannot be identified, and only a 
limited number of facts about them are given in the sample descriptions. Also, participants 
were reassured that their confidentiality would be respected, and that any personal 
information would not be divulged to anyone outside of the research group.  
The research procedures were arranged so that no potential harm would be caused to 
participants, and that the results of the study would be presented in a way that subjected 
no harm or inconvenience to the study participants. In Finland, research with human 
participants must follow TENK guidelines (Finnish National Board on Research 
Integrity). According to TENK, research is to be conducted in a way that the dignity and 
autonomy of human research participants is respected, and “the research does not cause 
significant risks, damage or harm to research participants, communities or other subjects 
of research” (TENK, 2019). The University of Vaasa Human Science ethics committee 
issued the judgement that since the TENK guidelines were followed in the research 
procedures of the current study, no additional ethical review by the university ethics 
committee was required. Finally, ethical research standards have been followed by 
describing the research design in a transparent way. 
 
 
11 
 
Sample 
The data includes 13 male and 21 female Finnish participants, and their ages varied from 
21 to 41 years of age (average 26.5 years) at time of interview. The participants had lived 
in different countries across the globe, and had experienced between one to five 
international relocations due to their parents work. Table 1 illustrates the participant data 
(Age; Gender; Countries and lengths of stay abroad before the age of 18 (years); 
Education attended abroad) and how they fit Pollock et al.’s (2017 p. 404) definition of 
an ATCK. During the childhood time abroad, most participants (71%) had parents 
working as business expatriates in the private sector, and 29% working in the public sector 
(e.g. for the EU). Also, noteworthy is that many of the parents were in high level positions 
in their organization. The average time spent abroad was 7.25 years, and all of the 
respondents had stayed abroad for at least two years. The participants of the study were 
all studying or working at the time of interviews. They had an average work experience 
of six years across varying positions. Those who had longer work experience typically 
already held more senior expert or managerial level positions, and often in an 
international setup. 
The participants were found to be highly educated since most of the participants (24 out 
of 34) had a master’s level degree or were about to graduate to a master’s level degree 
(two of the participants with a master’s level degree were about to graduate to a doctoral 
level degree). This number can be considered to be relatively high since 13.5 percent of 
the Finnish population with educational qualifications have a master’s level degree (OSF, 
2019). Furthermore, 9 participants had or were about to graduate to a bachelor or 
equivalent level degree. 5 participants had worked after their bachelor’s degree and were 
about to apply for master’s level studies. Typically, participants who had studied in an 
international school (IB) or European School had continued their studies in foreign 
universities after that. 
Moreover, 28 of the 34 participants had lived abroad after their childhood experiences 
abroad with their parents. Some of these had lived abroad only once, while some had done 
so even up to four times. Since most of the participants were still in the primary stages of 
their career, such numbers are relatively high. At the time of the interviews, many of the 
participants were living abroad due to educational or work reasons. However, some who 
12 
 
had been abroad for internships, work or educational reasons had returned to Finland 
temporarily due to the globally critical Covid-19 situation, and some had needed to delay 
their international work plans or even cancel already made work agreements due to the 
pandemic. 
***Insert Table I around here*** 
 
Data analysis 
The data was analyzed through qualitative content analysis which enables a trustworthy 
analysis of qualitative data (Elo et al., 2014), and a systematic analysis of interview 
transcripts, aiming to summarize and generalize the experiences of the research 
participants (Sarajärvi and Tuomi, 2017). It is defined as “a research technique for making 
replicable and valid inferences from texts (or other meaningful matter) to the context of 
their use” (Krippendorff, 2018, p. 24). Therefore, content analysis was deemed to be a 
suitable approach for the current analysis as it has the potential to yield reliable and 
replicable findings of the phenomena under study (Krippendorff, 2018) that lack previous 
understanding.  
The data analysis process already started during the data collection, since careful notes of 
arising themes were made during the interviews. The interviews and their transcription 
were carried out by the first author. The data were processed using NVivo software, which 
enabled advanced data analysis by coding the transcripts and organizing the material by 
way of similar meanings, themes, and keywords (Jackson and Bazeley, 2019). Coding 
started with “values and self-perceptions”, “skills” and “relationships” that reflected the 
core idea of the three CC aspects of knowing. In the next stage, subcodes were used under 
these three ways of knowing as more specific subtopics emerged from the data (e.g. the 
categorization of specific skills that were part of knowing-how career capital). These 
codes advanced the effective analysis of the data. In addition, color coding was used 
within the coding process to separate different depths of experience.  
Finally, many steps were taken to increase the research validity and reliability of the 
study. First, the participants of the study had a range of different backgrounds, ages, time 
spent abroad, and host locations. Also, the expatriate parents represented both the private 
13 
 
and public sectors. Second, semi-structured interviews were conducted since the topics 
were mainly outlined beforehand, and participants experiences were covered in a way 
that the interview questions were not able to be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ 
response (Hirsjärvi and Hurme, 2015). Furthermore, semi-structured interviews are suited 
to the examination of sensitive topics and when the study focuses on participants’ 
evaluations, ideals and arguments (Metsämuuronen, 2006), and the questions allowed the 
participants to speak freely and deeply about the impact of their early international 
experience on their later CC. In addition, pilot interviews were initially conducted to test 
the interview questions, so as to further increase the reliability of the research (Eskola and 
Suoranta, 1998). 
Thirdly, as previously mentioned, the interviews were conducted through Zoom video 
communication, which given that the Covid-19 pandemic had restricted the use of face-
to-face interviews, increased the level of trust between the interviewer and the research 
participants (Oliffe et al., 2021). As all of the respondents had been working virtually 
during the pandemic, they were already used to working via video communication tools, 
which diminished any technical difficulties in the data collection process. Finally, the 
interview transcripts were compiled in full, and sent to the interviewees to check the 
accuracy of the transcripts and to offer them the opportunity to give feedback to the 
researchers. Only a few of the interviewees wished to change or add details to their 
transcripts. The transcripts were saved for possible later checks, and the data stored on a 
personal computer which requires an access code to ensure the sensitive interview data is 
stored safely. 
 
Findings 
ATCKs uniformly felt that their early international experience had an extensive and long-
term impact on their CC across all three dimensions of CC. While the impacts were 
mainly reported to be very positive, some experiences were not seen as positive in nature. 
In the following sections, we report our findings across the three identified aspects of CC. 
In each section, we start from the dominating positive developmental impacts of 
international exposure that emerged from the data, following up with some of the negative 
impacts that ATCKs had experienced. 
14 
 
Knowing-why CC 
An international childhood was connected to ATCKs’ identity formation, since 
respondents saw that their time abroad had shaped their views on who they were as a 
person. Early international experience was perceived as a ‘journey into themselves’, 
which fostered their self-awareness, for example, by helping them to understand their 
personal strengths and weaknesses. 
When other cultures are experienced this way, you begin to realize that there is more than one way to do things. In that process, I started learning more about myself. (Female 31 years, two years in China) 
By becoming aware of their personal strengths, participants have been able to use them 
to their own benefit during their studies and early careers. As ATCKs have gained their 
international experiences during childhood when people are at a highly receptive age, the 
experience had modified their identity and values. 
In general, there have been many benefits [from childhood international experience]. I do not believe that I would be the person I am today without these international experiences. They have changed me so much. For example, they have shaped my values, open-mindedness and general understanding of the world. I am not an expert, but I can see [the world] from more than a Finnish perspective. (Female 23 years, four years in Sweden and USA) 
Participants also developed a strong international orientation when they saw themselves 
as global individuals who blend into international settings easily, and have strong 
international career related preferences. 
I see myself as an international person. International experience has been a significant part of my life. I believe that I will carry an international identity with me for the rest of my life. (Female 30 years, nine years in China and Switzerland) 
Reflecting their international orientation, some respondents had international experiences 
in their early career stages from foreign companies or from international voluntary work. 
Later on, many participants had been working in international teams and projects, been 
responsible for international customers, and had experienced active work travel. Many of 
them had self-initiated their expatriation, but while they had such an orientation, their 
specific future career aspirations were found to vary significantly (e.g. marketing, 
academia, and project management). Thus, international experiences seem to drive 
ATCKs towards different international setups in their careers, but do not seem to steer 
their work-lives into particular occupations or industries. 
15 
 
The respondents also saw changes of their living environment, as well as new schools and 
friends to be major life changes that developed their self-confidence. Some even described 
having a ‘survivor attitude’, which was seen as a state of mind which they used to navigate 
new/difficult and uncertain situations in their later work life. Some participants explained 
that this increased self-confidence, together with realistic expectations of living and 
working abroad, are important assets for their future employment. 
I would generally say that it [the international experience] has had a positive impact on my self-confidence. Maybe because I have proved that I have been in awkward and difficult situations, I have got over them, which brings the self-confidence that I have good tools in use. Whatever the situation in the future, I will dare to go and figure it out. (Female 23 years, four years in Sweden and USA) 
ATCKs also saw themselves as having a high stress tolerance in adulthood because of 
their childhood experiences of moving and living abroad. They explained that having 
faced stressful situations during their developmental years, they now tolerate stress well 
in work life. 
Relocating abroad was a single most stressful experience. As I survived that and came out of it undamaged, I realized that I have nothing to worry about in many other stressful situations, when put into perspective. (Male 26 years, two years in China) 
Moreover, the ATCKs’ constant exposure to uncertain situations was found to develop a 
tolerance of uncertainty, since they felt it easier to adjust to new situations and 
environments. 
Such uncertainty tolerance and being able to adjust to changing circumstances is quite vital in 
today’s working life. (Female 36 years, eleven years in Colombia and Chile) 
They also explained that their time abroad had fostered an openness to experience, and 
developments such as becoming more open-minded were emphasized among the 
participants. 
It [international experience] changed me substantially. I certainly became a more open person because of leaving for such a different culture than I was used to. I became more open and open-minded. […] In that way it has changed me. This probably also applies to other situations: I am open-minded and I want to try and see different places. (Male 26 years, two years in China) 
Finally, an international childhood was also linked to some negative changes from the 
CC perspective. These experiences were connected with the ATCKs’ international 
orientation, and thus part of their CC. In particular, those respondents who stayed for a 
considerably longer time abroad during their childhood were found to see themselves as 
16 
 
international, but also rootless. They felt that they ‘do not belong anywhere’ as they do 
not have a country to call home. Furthermore, even ATCKs who had spent only a few 
years abroad perceived similar feelings of rootlessness, and these feelings were also 
experienced during adulthood, despite them having tried to settle down back into their 
home country or into some other country. Repatriates also discussed that although they 
were again able to speak their home country language, they still did not feel fully familiar 
with their home country culture. For example, their time spent abroad meant that ATCKs 
often missed some experiences that were typical for their generation in their home 
country. But when they lived abroad, they similarly did not feel that they belonged to the 
host country either. These experiences were thus found to increase their feelings of 
rootlessness, and diminish their development of (passport nationality) identity. 
I introduce myself as an expatriate Finn living in Paris, whose hometown is Brussels. It determines me. I still cannot say where my home is. Brussels is the hometown, but although I have lived abroad, I had a Finnish cultural upbringing. I do not feel myself as Belgian or French. This has impacted me a lot as I still cannot say where home is. (Female 25 years, over fifteen years in Belgium) 
As an outcome of such experiences, ATCKs were found to become restless individuals 
who need to change their jobs and locations in order to keep themselves motivated. Some 
even mentioned having a ‘commitment phobia’ as they choose to switch their jobs. 
Particularly, as they were used to a globally mobile childhood, they felt comfortable 
aiming for a similar lifestyle in their future life and career. 
The most important thing is to learn something new, to develop myself and my versatility. I cannot be in the same country for many years in a row before I get itchy feet again. I need a lot of change. (Female 25 years, four years in Belgium) 
International schools were seen to offer a high quality education, where the system was 
felt to set very high standards for student performance. Some respondents felt that the 
demands had been overwhelming, and that such experiences had raised their own 
achievement expectations significantly high for their future career. 
It [school] was really strict and ambitious. IB-School was an extremely tough experience. I was also a bit overachieving, then during the final exams in the spring, I sort of burnout. If I had gone to school in Finland, I think I would not have got the fixation about the necessity of success and high achievement. (Male 27 years, fifteen years in USA, Switzerland and Belgium) 
 
 
17 
 
Knowing-how CC 
All of the respondents saw that their experience had also developed their knowing-how 
CC. First, they saw that their international experience had developed their language skills. 
As an outcome, all of the participants were fluent in more than one language, and some 
participants spoke three, four, or even five languages fluently. Their experiences had also 
increased their overall motivation to study foreign languages. 
In the USA, my English skills became very strong. Then when I moved to Switzerland and I noticed that as no one here uses English, I had to learn French. Then, after learning French and moving to Belgium, I thought about which language I would choose as I had both options in primary school. I chose French since it was my stronger language at that time. Then I noticed that my Finnish and Swedish skills started to deteriorate. In secondary school I strengthened my Finnish, but Swedish was still not that strong. That was one of the reasons why I chose to start studies at Hanken [Swedish School of Economics]. (Male 27 years, fifteen years in USA, Switzerland and Belgium) 
International experience was also found to develop various cross-cultural competencies 
such as being open and aware of different views, having a positive attitude and respect 
towards cultural differences, and overall cross-cultural skills. 
I consider my strengths to be that from childhood I have already been used to co-operating with different languages, and with people from different backgrounds. That is an advantage in quite many jobs, or actually in all jobs. (Female 24 years, twelve years in Germany, Japan and UAE) 
Participants also perceived that the development of general social skills was significantly 
linked to their experience. Such skills as overall communication and teamwork were 
developed through daily interaction with individuals who have different backgrounds. 
They also explained that their time abroad had developed other social skills such as an 
interest in helping others, a non-judgmental approach to new people, higher empathy, and 
conflict avoidance skills. Some even mentioned their social skills had developed so 
significantly that they considered themselves as ‘social chameleons’ who are able to blend 
in across different social situations. Therefore, they often experienced that they had 
become important individuals in their work teams as they were seen to understand 
different people from various language groups and cultural backgrounds, and were tying 
people together. 
Social skills and social intelligence. These have come from a multicultural environment where one needs to adjust quickly and interact with different people. These skills have for sure helped in work life. (Male 27 years, fifteen years in Belgium) 
18 
 
Their experiences were also found to have helped develop important academic skills such 
as writing and presentation skills, and capabilities for independent working. 
In that school, we put a lot of effort into academic learning styles. We were encouraged for our own critical thinking, and not just learning by heart. I needed to work hard to get decent grades. These experiences have impacted so that producing text in Finnish and English is really natural, also in work life. (Male 27 years, fifteen years in Belgium) 
Life abroad was also seen to develop ATCKs’ coping skills. ATCKs learned to cope easily 
with new challenging situations because they had been used to being outside their comfort 
zone during their developing years. 
I have been thrown into the deep end, outside the comfort zone. I have the confidence to manage well in new environments, and to adjust to them. Now that I have work experience, I have noticed that I cope easily in new situations. (Female 25 years, seven years in Spain, Belgium and Switzerland) 
The interviewees also saw that ATCKs develop a special knowledge of international 
markets while living abroad. 
I work a lot around marketing, and by nature can think broadly. I am not just following what companies do in Finland, but I follow the global phenomenon. It is useful to have friends all over the world to have things on my social media feed that friends have liked. Therefore, I might know about Chinese trends or Korean makeup trends. Typically, Finnish people would not know about these issues. (Female 30 years, nine years in China and Switzerland) 
With regard to more negative CC-impacts, some repatriates had faced difficulties with 
their domestic languages of Finnish and Swedish, if they had not studied the languages 
abroad. Challenges regarding their mother tongue often related to academic difficulties 
of not being familiar with specific terms, for example in mathematics. It was also typical 
that participants faced challenges with not speaking the second national language so well 
when entering work life in Finland, especially in jobs that include customer service which 
are typical in the early stages of a career. Some challenges in school following repatriation 
were also linked to differences in educational systems, since some respondents faced a 
situation where their competences were not adequate when the education content taught 
abroad differed to what was taught in the home country. Consequently, ATCKs tended to 
gravitate towards international studies and jobs, both domestically and abroad. 
I would not be able to do many jobs in Finland as I have an international degree [similar degree but with studies composing different content]. I would need to get the degree confirmed in Finland and learn Swedish. My international childhood has caused these challenges, but if I think about the big picture, these international experiences have opened more doors than they have closed. (Male 24 years, eight years in Canada) 
19 
 
Knowing-whom CC 
The development of knowing-whom CC took place with regard to two separate areas: 
host country school relationships and expatriate community relationships. All of the 
ATCKs saw that the host country school was the most significant community when 
forming their social relationships, and relationships were built with other expatriate 
children from all around the world. In addition to peers in their own class, international 
schools offered a large amount of after school activities, which developed networks that 
expanded as they got to know students from different classes. 
All my networks were from the school, and also from the hobbies that were arranged in school. There were also students from the same grade but from different classes in the same dance group. There were not really other opportunities to get to know new people. (Female 26 years, three years in Belgium) 
The relationship development also differed according to the type of the institution, as 
international school (IB) classes are generally composed of international expatriate 
children from around the world, and the teaching is in English. In European Schools, 
students are from EU member states, but children are divided into classes according to 
language. In these schools, young children receive teaching in their own mother tongue, 
even though the schools are international. Therefore, the networks of these ATCKs 
consisted mainly of other Finnish students. Furthermore, ATCKs who had studied in local 
schools had typically lived in English-speaking countries, but these children also tend to 
network with other expatriate students. ATCKs also discussed that internationally 
developed knowing-whom CC was significant in their adult career. Already having a 
wide international network when entering the job market often advanced their 
employment. These networks were actively utilized when many ATCKs later studied 
abroad, or had relocated to take on expatriate assignments in their early career. 
The friends that I spent free time with had an expat background, and most of them were Finnish adolescents. My friends who studied in European Schools were the children of EU parliament employees, meaning that all were expats. […] I also started to do judo in Belgium. Later, one of my judo friends was working in a software company, and that is how I heard about the employment possibility and decided to apply. I have been working there for several years now, and if I would not have done judo in Belgium, I would not be working here. (Male 28 years, thirteen years in France and Belgium) 
Moreover, the parents’ work and expatriate community related networks were found to 
be another important means for extending TCKs’ social networks during their time 
abroad. They built relationships with other expatriate families’ children (both Finnish and 
20 
 
international), and some participants also mentioned that they had formed relationships 
with parents’ business acquaintances and their children. Overall, expatriate children tend 
to live an expatriate-centric lifestyle, which participants often called ‘the expat bubble’ 
which is typically a privileged life compared to the life of the host community. 
Participants explained that they, for example, lived in guarded compounds, attended 
expensive private schools, and went to expatriate churches. These connections were 
found to be important for many ATCKs in their early career stages as they knew people 
from multinational companies which often helped to advance their first employment. 
We got many new family friends through the expat community and from father’s work network. The network supports me, and all the relationships would be easily activated if I  needed help. (Female 23 years, four years in USA and Italy) 
But beside getting into new, international networks, the findings also raise some 
challenges that time abroad generates related to knowing-whom capital. First, ATCKs 
tend to lose their personal social network in their home country when they are relatively 
young. 
Maybe the downside [of having an international childhood] is that I do not have many childhood friends anymore. As I left Vaasa and had experienced a lot in between, after returning back to Vaasa everything felt different. Returning to the last grade of high school was a really tough experience […] maybe that was a disadvantage. I have been used to building new relationships, and not necessarily on the top of old ones. (Female 28 years, three years in China) 
It also appeared that childhood time abroad can negatively impact on first employment 
opportunities after repatriation, because ATCKs (and sometimes also their parents) had 
limited networks in their home country, due to their globally mobile lifestyle. However, 
these obstacles appeared to be mainly temporary challenges, since ATCKs had learned to 
be active in building new networks. 
Those first jobs were so hard to get. I did not have that much work experience because I had not lived in Finland. It was difficult to get those first work opportunities without [Finnish] networks. I had no networks here, but neither did my parents because we had been away such a long time. (Female 24 years, twelve years in Germany, Japan and UAE) 
 
Discussion and conclusions 
The present study analyzed ATCKs’ perceptions on whether and how early international 
experience has impacted their knowing-why, knowing-how and knowing-whom career 
capital. The respondents shared the view that childhood years abroad were a significant 
21 
 
event for their development, and that such development has long-term impacts on their 
CC as adults. In our sample, the respondents perceived their developmental experience 
as something with which they could differentiate themselves positively in the job market, 
while earlier research has focused more on challenges regarding their later career 
development (Bikos et al., 2014). They were also proud of their international background 
and what they had learned abroad. Overall, the findings indicate that ATCKs build CC in 
many similar areas as expatriates and/or expatriate partners, even though they were 
children during their time abroad. 
Regarding knowing-why CC, the international experiences developed self-confidence and 
raised a self-awareness of ATCKs’ personal capabilities. This self-awareness was 
described as a ‘journey into themselves’ that helped or was felt to help with future career 
moves, where they had developed stronger self-confidence and a clearer understanding 
of their personal strengths and weaknesses, as well as more realistic expectations about 
international careers. It has also been reported that expatriates’ have similar experiences 
of a strengthened self-awareness that has helped in their future career moves (Jokinen, 
2010). This novel finding highlights ATCKs possibilities to benefit from their developed 
CC in their later studies and also in their adult career.  
Many ATCKs felt that their international experience had ‘changed them as a person’. 
However, these impacts might actually be lighter on expatriates and their partners, since 
during their childhood/adolescence, TCKs are most receptive to change (Selmer and Lam, 
2004). Overall, the time spent abroad during childhood was found to have long-term 
effects on the development of an international identity, values, broad-mindedness, 
courage, flexibility, stress and uncertainty tolerance, and the desire for an international 
career. Moreover, our study supports the earlier finding that international experience 
fosters ATCKs’ openness to new experiences (Westropp et al., 2016), and was also 
connected to ATCKs’ increased tolerance of uncertainty (i.e. how they tolerate working 
in uncertain situations and new environments) which has also been reported among 
partners (Kanstrén and Suutari, 2021). ATCKs were also seen to have developed a strong 
international orientation during their childhood years that guided their future education 
decisions and career choices (Caselius and Mäkelä, 2022). Their high amount of 
international experience after being a TCK is a significant finding, since many of the 
ATCKs were still in the primary stages of their career. Noteworthy is that they were 
22 
 
studying and working in different sectors, meaning that early international experiences 
drive ATCKs to find an international aspect to their career, but this does not drive them 
towards certain occupations or industries. 
Besides positive developmental experiences, ATCKs often felt themselves to be rootless, 
which is a rather typical perception in the ATCK community (Fail et al., 2004). This 
rootlessness seems to last a long time, since many of the respondents did not feel much 
belonging or familiarity with either their home or the host country(ies). ATCKs also 
missed out on experiences that were typical for their passport country generation (Pollock 
et al., 2017), which were sometimes linked to challenges in their identity formation. 
While rootlessness has already been discussed in literature, the current study contributes 
by recognizing the outcomes of such feelings among ATCKs, as they described that they 
needed regular relocations and changes in work tasks to keep themselves motivated. This 
restlessness was explained to originate from their earlier relocation(s), which is similarly 
experienced by global managers (Suutari, 2003). However, restlessness was perceived as 
a special characteristic that they have, and not in a way typically presented in the literature 
where restlessness is seen to have negative effects on ATCKs’ education, work life, and 
family (Pollock et al., 2017). Instead, ATCKs saw that their restlessness was pushing 
them to apply to foreign universities and higher organizational positions in a rational way 
which had supported their career development. 
The current study reveals that ATCKs gain various kinds of knowing-how CC, which they 
have been able to utilize in their later career. As ATCKs had developed this form of CC 
during their childhood, they had also been able to direct their educational and vocational 
decisions in a way which fits with their developed CC (see also Caselius and Mäkelä, 
2022). Thus, they may be better able to avoid the typical problems faced by expatriates 
who have found that companies often undervalue their developed CC (Mäkelä et al., 
2016), and that repatriates often face challenges in finding jobs that fit with their 
developed CC (Mello et al., 2022). 
Language and cross-cultural skills were perceived as easily transferrable to later 
educational setups and their work life as adults, similar to expatriates (Jokinen, 2010). 
Such competences are typically raised when ATCKs’ suitability as expatriates is 
discussed (Tarique and Weisbord, 2013; Westropp et al., 2016). In addition, our findings 
23 
 
indicate that many other types of CC were developed abroad. In particular, ATCKs 
strongly highlighted the importance of their developed general social skills and the 
transferability of their CC to their later work life. Such skills and an overall confidence 
in facing new social situations in work and life was seen as a major learning gained from 
being abroad. When combined with language and cross-cultural skills, it enabled them to 
feel like a ‘chameleon’ as they felt able to interact easily with people from different 
backgrounds. Previous studies have also recognized ATCKs’ abilities to interact with 
people who have different cultural backgrounds. However, as the study participants have 
often been fairly young (Tarique and Weisbord, 2013; Westropp et al., 2016), little has 
been understood as to if and how they have benefited from such skills in work life. 
Interestingly, ATCKs considered their social skills to be their most important asset, as 
they could stand out from their peers when applying for jobs. ATCKs also saw that they 
were a sort of ‘glue of the team’ due to their good social skills and their ability to 
understand the viewpoints of people from different backgrounds. This is a significant 
finding since Smith and Kearney (2016) reported that US TCKs felt that they were an 
invisible and uninteresting population in the USA. In the present study, ATCKs actually 
found people to be fascinated about their international experiences, for example in job 
interviews. This indicates that ATCK experiences may differ across different countries, 
and thus stresses the need for further research, and also from outside the USA. 
The literature has recognized ATCKs’ high educational achievements (Cottrell, 2002), 
and TCKs’ needs for academic success (De Sivatte et al., 2019; Weeks et al., 2010). 
However, the literature far less recognizes the long-term specific skills and capabilities 
developed at school(s) abroad. The current study revealed that the time abroad was found 
to develop a variety of academic skills which ATCKs could benefit from during their later 
studies, as well as in their jobs later on. This is an important finding because not much is 
understood about (A)TCKs academic competencies (Rounsaville, 2014). The findings 
indicated that due to having such competencies, ATCKs were given projects and positions 
in their organization that require not only cross-cultural skills, but also for example, good 
presentation skills. Additionally, many ATCKs saw that they have gained a variety of 
opportunities from their organizations already from the beginning of their career due to 
their effective independent working (e.g. problem-solving, planning, and organizing) and 
writing skills in foreign languages. All of these findings indicate that ATCKs’ capabilities 
24 
 
in work life should be understood more broadly than just comprising their cross-cultural 
abilities. The analysis also shows that ATCKs learn to cope relatively easily in new life 
situations, and are therefore ready to take on international positions in the future (Caselius 
and Mäkelä, 2022). Knowledge of certain markets and the experience of living abroad as 
an expatriate family were also skills that some participants had been able to harness to 
benefit their work life in positions such as international sales or international HRM 
positions. Thus, ATCKs had developed specific CCs that had helped them in gaining 
employment, without actually having working abroad. 
While the time abroad developed ATCKs’ CC, they also faced decreasing knowing-how 
CC in some areas. As an example, decreased skills in languages that were not used abroad 
were discussed, and therefore, ATCKs typically gravitated towards university studies 
abroad or towards English language programs if they studied in the home country. Also, 
from a learning perspective, they felt that they had missed out on certain knowledge or 
subjects compared to their home country education. While Smith and Kearney (2016) 
found challenges with classroom practices among repatriated TCKs in the USA, the 
present study indicated that content-related gaps (e.g. in knowledge about history, 
religion, geography, native and second national languages, or certain other study subjects) 
were seen to be more critical for later studies. However, these challenges were often short-
term, and ATCKs had tended to overcome them after some years. It was also typical that 
despite facing challenges, the participants were highly satisfied with their experiences 
abroad. These findings are similar to those found among expatriates who highly value 
their developmental experiences abroad, even if they might have been dissatisfied with 
their company’s repatriation practices (Tung, 1998) or sometimes less satisfied with their 
career progression (Mello et al., 2022). 
ATCKs’ most important source of knowing-whom CC is mainly developed in their 
foreign schools, similarly as expatriates are known to form their social networks mainly 
from the workplace (Jokinen, 2010). An interesting novel finding is that ATCKs 
knowing-whom CC development is linked to the type of educational institution they 
attended, as their student populations and class arrangements differed. Especially, IB 
students were already able to benefit from their international networks in their early 
career, whereas ES students’ connections were most valuable when searching for 
vocational and career opportunities in Finland, or among Finns living abroad. As 
25 
 
international schools offer after school activities, this further narrowed any interaction 
with the host country nationals, and so tied their life around an expatriate-centric lifestyle 
(Tanu, 2016). While the establishment of friendships by ATCKs has received some 
research attention (Choi et al., 2013; Westropp et al., 2016), this study revealed that they 
are also active in building wide networks within the expatriate community, as they got to 
know their parents’ business acquaintances and their families. 
Furthermore, the study provides new evidence that knowing-whom CC developed abroad 
during childhood was indeed relevant for the careers of many of the participants, as they 
considered it to be important for their current career success, and it was also predicted to 
provide future career opportunities several years after their childhood time abroad. For 
example, they reported that they had connections to a variety of multinational 
corporations where their international connections now worked. If they had already 
moved abroad again for employment reasons, they sometimes had someone living in the 
host country, or a friend knew someone else working in the country who could help them 
with their expatriation. The childhood experience thus provided them with access to 
broader international networks that were seen as being useful in their career. However, 
the usefulness of such networks is often missing in earlier findings, since these studies 
have typically been conducted among students or otherwise young ATCKs whose work 
experience is still very limited (Tarique and Weisbord, 2013; Westropp et al., 2016). 
An important element in the knowing-whom CC of ATCKs is the learned activity and 
skills in building new social networks, as new relationships need to be developed abroad 
and during the repatriation stage. Similar to expatriate partners (Kanstrén and Suutari, 
2021), ATCKs also felt that they had developed these skills. ATCKs connect particularly 
well with other people who have similar international experiences (Westropp et al., 2016), 
which further developed their networks among internationally-oriented people. Social 
media platforms were found to be important in maintaining their international network, 
and for being able to get the full benefit out of their global connections. However, several 
participants (as well as their parents to some extent) had lost some of their social 
connections in their home country when living abroad over the long-term, and this 
complicated ATCKs’ efforts in finding jobs after repatriation. 
 
26 
 
Theoretical contributions 
The present study has contributed to TCK-literature by indicating that the TCK 
experience has a life-long impact on their CC. As most earlier studies have been carried 
out among TCKs when they were young (Lam and Selmer, 2004; Selmer and Lam, 2004), 
this adds new insights on how relevant such experience is to their CC also as adults. We 
identified three aspects of CC in which ATCKs reported long-term CC developments, 
and the present study is the first study to apply the CC-framework to understand such 
developments in this context. As this framework is very comprehensive (Kanstrén and 
Suutari, 2021), we have been able to provide new insights across three aspect of CC, as 
already discussed in detail above. 
ATCKs carry an international identity (Caselius and Mäkelä, 2022), and their experience 
is rooted deeply in who they are as individuals, and what kind of CC and career 
preferences they have. Although their experiences may involve challenges, ATCKs were 
pleased with their international background, since they considered themselves to have 
greatly benefitted from the CC they had developed abroad. This is a significant extension 
to earlier research, which has often highlighted a negative connection between a TCK 
background and later life (see e.g. Fail et al., 2004; Hervey, 2009; Thomas et al., 2021).  
From the angle of career capital theory, we have provided a new insight on how 
transitional childhood experiences may impact on the CC and career success of adults, as 
this tradition has focused on the career experiences of adults. The current study also 
contributes to the expatriate family literature, since the findings on the CC-development 
of expatriate children complement the view on the impacts of expatriation for expatriate 
families. 
 
Limitations and future research 
As in any study, there are some limitations to be acknowledged when interpreting the 
findings of the current study. First, interviewing with a retrospective style about 
experiences that have occurred in an ATCK’s childhood may run the risk of memory bias. 
Especially, those who had relocated in earlier childhood years may remember their 
experiences less clearly compared to participants who had experienced their time abroad 
27 
 
in late teenage years. As memory is not a replica of reality, it is also possible that the 
interviewees may have connected certain early international experiences to their later CC 
development more strongly than it actually was. Moreover, as the ATCKs were typically 
extremely proud of their globally mobile childhood, the impacts of such experiences to 
their later CC development and career may even be glorified in their memory. 
As a qualitative study, the sample size of the study is somewhat limited and thus limits 
making any extensive generalizations. Future quantitative research is therefore needed to 
provide broader evidence of CC development among TCKs, and on the long-term 
utilization of developed CC among ATCKs. Furthermore, longitudinal studies would also 
be useful to analyze the link between ATCKs’ CC development, and their employability 
and career paths. Another limitation of the present study lies in the homogenous nature 
of the sample, since all of the interviewed individuals were Finnish, and thus had the same 
home cultural background. Therefore, future studies could include more diverse samples, 
as well as individuals with different kinds of international experience beside expatriation. 
For example, the CC development of exchange students or international degree students 
could be analyzed, since limited international exposure has already been found to impact 
on the development of CC (Felker and Gianecchini, 2015). Moreover, as many schools 
have lately offered remote teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic, it would be good to 
analyze how this has impacted on the extent of CC developed abroad. 
 
Practical implications 
Our findings also have several practical implications. Increasing the awareness of 
ATCKs’ CC is important, since recruiting a talented workforce is crucial for a firm’s 
long-term survival and competitiveness (Kerr, 2020). This study supports the view that 
CC can be developed before entering the job market (Felker and Gianecchini, 2015). As 
the development of CC already happens among young TCKs, they are able to offer their 
internationally developed CC to companies from the beginning of their careers. ATCKs 
also saw that companies were able to provide them with more challenging tasks in their 
early career stage, due to their readiness to take on new challenges. As their personal 
growth took place outside home country they became internationally minded adults. 
Thus, ATCKs might be ideal employees for a culturally sensitive international work 
28 
 
environment (Pollock et al., 2017) or a valuable asset for small and medium sized 
companies that are expanding their operations abroad, by facilitating communication and 
co-operation with international partners, due to their cross-cultural intelligence and global 
networks. Also, being familiar with different countries and cultures might lead to 
identifying new business opportunities and building stronger customer relationships 
abroad, as well as a better understanding of customer needs in different regions. ATCKs 
could also be ideal bridge builders in a variety of organizational operations between home 
organization and foreign locations. 
Living and studying abroad due to parent(s)’ work, exposes TCKs to a wide variety of 
different people, languages and cultures due to their social interaction with students from 
all over the world. This might later translate to strong leadership competencies that are 
needed in international teams and organizations. Therefore, organizations seeking to 
recruit people for international work or their talent management programs could look into 
hiring ATCKs, since they might need less support and training for international positions. 
Recruiters might locate these individuals by contacting foreign schools and universities 
with international programs (Tarique and Weisbord, 2013). Also, if organizations are able 
to recognize the special career development needs of their employees and ‘restless’ 
ATCKs by offering interesting career paths, it might lead to their longer-term 
commitment. Otherwise, the organization might lose ATCKs’ international talent to other 
organizations. It should also be highlighted that ATCKs themselves should articulate their 
special skills, needs and career expectations to their employers. From the employer point 
of view, only by recognizing the skills that ATCKs have already in the early phases of 
their career can employers utilize their full potential.  
Finally, women are still underrepresented in international assignments which might 
jeopardize their professional development and career paths to firms’ top positions 
(Bastida et al., 2021). Thus, families are a solid resource to promote the development of 
career capital of their girls abroad than might be available within companies later on, in 
order to support their careers. However, this study also concludes that gender did not play 
a role in ATCKs international orientation or career preferences, and they felt that early 
international experiences have created competitive advantage for them, and if they would 
apply for an international job, they would have good chances of being successful. But 
overall, the majority of the interviewed ATCKs had already built adulthood international 
29 
 
experiences and they considered themselves to have achieved remarkable job positions 
considering that many were in primary stages of their career. So according to this study, 
regardless of gender, ATCKs are ready to work hard to accomplish the high-level 
international careers they often desire. 
 
 
References 
Abe, J.A.A. (2018), “Personality, well-being, and cognitive-affective styles: a cross-sectional study of adult third culture kids”, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 49 No. 5, pp.811–830. Adams, M. (2016), “Young expatriate children forming friendships: a cultural-historical perspective”, International Research in Early Childhood Education, Vol. 7 No.1, pp.85–105. Angen, M.J. (2000), “Evaluating interpretive inquiry: Reviewing the validity debate and 
opening the dialogue”, Qualitative Health Research, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp.378-395. Banerjee, P., Gupta, R., Shaheen, M., David, R., Chenji, K. and Priyadarshini, C. (2020), 
“Exploring adjustment mechanisms of adolescent expat kids from South Asia against sociopolitical stigma”, Journal of Global Mobility, Vol. 8 No. 3–4, pp.273–290. Bastida, M., Pinto, L. H. H. F., and Harzing, A. W. (2021), “No room at the top? A system 
dynamics view of the recursive consequences of women’s underrepresentation in international assignments”, Journal of Global Mobility, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 361–381. Bikos, L.H., Haney, D., Edwards, R.W., North, M.A., Quint, M., McLellan, J. and Ecker, D.L. (2014), “Missionary kid career development: a consensual qualitative research investigation through a social cognitive lens”, Career Development Quarterly, Vol. 62 No. 2, pp.156–174. Bikos, L.H., Kocheleva, J., King, D., Chang, G.C., McKenzie, A., Roenicke, C., Campbell, V. and Eckard, K. (2009), “A consensual qualitative investigation into the repatriation experiences of young adult, missionary kids”, Mental Health, Religion & Culture, Vol. 12 No. 7, pp.735–754.  Bonebright, D.A. (2010), “Adult third culture kids: HRD challenges and opportunities”, Human Resource Development International, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp.351–359.  Cappellen, T. and Janssens, M. (2005), “Career paths of global managers: Towards future research”, Journal of World Business, Vol. 40, pp.348–360.  Cappellen, T. and Janssens, M. (2008), “Global managers’ career competencies”, Career Development International, Vol. 13 No. 6, pp.514–537.  
Caselius, M. and Mäkelä, L. (2022), “Expatriate childhood as the first domino: does early international exposure lead to a later international career?”, Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Management Research, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp.332–350. Choi, K.M., Bernard, J.M. and Luke, M. (2013), “Characteristics of friends of female college third culture kids”, Asia Pacific Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp.125–136. 
Cohen, N. and Arieli, T. (2011), “Field research in conflict environments: Methodological 
30 
 
challenges and snowball sampling”, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 48 No. 4, pp.423–435. Cottrell, A.B. (2002), “Educational and occupational choices of American adult third culture kids”, M.G. Ender, (Ed.), Military brats and other global nomads: Growing up in organizational families, Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT, pp.229–253. Cranston, S. (2017), “Self-help and the surfacing of identity: producing the third culture kid”, Emotion, Space and Society, Vol. 24, pp.27–33.  Davis, P., Headley, K., Bazemore, T., Cervo, J., Sickinger, P., Windham, M. and Rehfuss, M.C. (2010), “Evaluating impact of transition seminars on missionary kids’ depression, anxiety, stress, and well-being”, Journal of Psychology and Theology, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp.186–194. Davis, P.S., Suarez, E.C., Crawford, N.A. and Rehfuss, M.C. (2013), “Reentry program impact on missionary kid depression, anxiety, and stress: A three-year study”, Journal of Psychology and Theology, Vol. 41 No. 2, pp.128–140.  De Sivatte, I., Bullinger, B., Cañamero, M. and Martel Gomez, M. del P. (2019), 
“Children of expatriates: key factors affecting their adjustment”, Journal of Global Mobility, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp.213–236.  De Waal, M.F. and Born, M.P. (2020), “Growing up among cultures: intercultural competences, personality, and leadership styles of third culture kids”, European Journal of International Management, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp.327–356. De Waal, M.F. and Born, M.P. (2021), “Where I’m from? Third Culture Kids about their cultural identity shifts and belonging”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 83, pp.67–83. Defilippi, R. and Arthur, M.B. (1994), “The boundaryless career: a competency-based perspective”, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp.307–324.  Dickmann, M. and Cerdin, J. L. (2018), “Exploring the development and transfer of career capital in an international governmental organization”, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 29 No. 15, pp.2253–2283.  Dickmann, M. and Doherty, N. (2008), “Exploring the career capital impact of international assignments within distinct organizational contexts”, British Journal of Management, Vol. 19, pp.145–161. Dickmann, M. and Doherty, N. (2010), “Exploring organizational and individual career goals, interactions, and outcomes of developmental international assignments”, Thunderbird International Business Review, Vol. 52 No. 4, pp.313–324.  Dickmann, M. and Harris, H. (2005), “Developing career capital for global careers: the role of international assignments”, Journal of World Business, Vol. 40, pp.399–408.  Dickmann, M., Suutari, V., Brewster, C., Mäkelä, L., Tanskanen, J. and Tornikoski, C. (2018), “The career competencies of self-initiated and assigned expatriates: assessing the development of career capital over time”, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 29 No. 16, pp.2353–2371.  Elo, S., Kääriäinen, M., Kanste, O., Pölkki, T., Utriainen, K. and Kyngäs, H. (2014), 
“Qualitative content analysis: a focus on trustworthiness”, SAGE Open, Vol 4 No 1, pp.1-10. Eskola, J. and Suoranta, J. (1998), Johdatus laadulliseen tutkimukseen. [Introduction to Qualitative Research], [E-book], Vastapaino, Tampere. Fail, H., Thompson, J. and Walker, G. (2004), “Belonging, identity and Third Culture Kids Life histories of former international school students”, Journal of Research in International Education, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp.319–338.  
31 
 
Felker, J. and Gianecchini, M. (2015), “Influence of pre-graduation international experiences on early career internationalization: The mediation effect of career capital”, European Management Journal, Vol. 33, pp.60–70.  Gerner, M. E. and Perry, F. (2000), “Gender differences in cultural acceptance and career orientation among internationally mobile and non-internationally mobile adolescents”, School Psychology Review, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp.267–283. Gilbert, K.R. (2008), “Loss and grief between and among cultures: the experience of third culture kids”, Illness, Crisis & Loss, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp.93–109.  Greenholtz, J. and Kim, J. (2009), “The cultural hybridity of Lena: a multi-method case study of a third culture kid”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 33 No. 5, pp.391–398.  Haneda, M. and Monobe, G. (2009), “Bilingual and biliteracy practices Japanese adolescents living in the United States”. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp.7–29. Hartman, C.J. (2022), “Adult third culture kids: impacts on adult lives of living internationally and attending boarding school”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 86, pp.122–133.  Hervey, E.G. (2009), “Cultural transitions during childhood and adjustment to college”, Journal of Psychology and Christianity, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp.3–12.  Hirsjärvi, S. and Hurme, H. (2015), Tutkimushaastattelu: teemahaastattelun teoria ja käytäntö [Research interview: theory and practice of a thematic interview] . 2nd edition, Gaudeamus, Helsinki. Hoersting, R.C. and Jenkins, S.R. (2011), “No place to call home: Cultural homelessness, self-esteem and cross-cultural identities”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 35, pp.17–30.  Inkson, K. and Arthur, M.B. (2001), “How to be a successful career capitalist”, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp.48–61. Jackson, K. and Bazeley, P. (2019), Qualitative data analysis with NVivo, 3rd edition, Sage Publishing, Los Angeles. Jokinen, T. (2010), “Development of career capital through international assignments and its transferability to new contexts”, Thunderbird International Business Review, Vol. 52 No. 4, pp.325–336. Jokinen, T., Brewster, C. and Suutari, V. (2008), “Career capital during international work experiences: contrasting self-initiated expatriate experiences and assigned expatriation”, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 19 No. 6, pp.979–998.  Kanstrén, K. and Mäkelä, L. (2020), “Expatriate partners’ subjective well-being and related resource losses and gains”, Community, Work and Family, Vol 25 No.4, pp. 523-550. Kanstrén, K. and Suutari, V. (2021), “Development of career capital during expatriation: 
partners’ perspectives”, Career Development International, Vol. 26 No. 6, pp.824–849.  Kerr, W.R. (2020), “The gift of global talent: Innovation policy and the economy”, Innovation Policy and the Economy, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 1-37.  Krippendorff, K. (2018), Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology. Fourth edition. Sage, London. Kirk, S. (2021), “Sticks and Stones: the naming of global talent”, Work, Employment and Society, Vol. 35 No. 2, pp.203–220.  
32 
 
Lam, H. and Selmer, J. (2004), “Are former “third‐culture kids” the ideal business expatriates?”, Career Development International, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp.109–122.  Lauring, J., Guttormsen, D.S.A. and McNulty, Y.M. (2019), “Adult third culture kids: adjustment and personal development”, Cross Cultural and Strategic Management, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp.387–400.  Lazarova, M., McNulty, Y. and Semeniuk, M. (2015), “Expatriate family narratives on international mobility: key characteristics of the successful moveable family”, Suutari, V., Mäkelä. L. (Ed.), Work and Family Interface in the International Career Context, Springer, Cham, pp. 29–51.  Lijadi, A.A. and Van Schalkwyk, G.J. (2014), “Narratives of third culture kids: commitment and reticence in social relationships”. Qualitative Report, Vol. 19 No. 49, pp.1–18.  Linehan, M. and Scullion, H. (2002), “Repatriation of European female corporate executives: an empirical study”, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp.254–267. Majid, M.A.A. Othman, M., Mohamad, S.F., Lim, S.A.H. and Yusof, A. (2017), “Piloting for interviews in qualitative research: operationalization and lessons learnt”, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp.1073–1080. McKeering, P. Hwang, Y.S. and Ng, C. (2021), “A study into wellbeing, student engagement and resilience in early-adolescent international school students”, Journal of Research in International Education, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp.69–92. Melles, E.A. and Schwartz, J. (2013), “Does the third culture kid experience predict levels of prejudice?”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 37 No. 2, pp.260–267.  Mello, R., Suutari, V. and Dickmann, M. (2022), “Taking stock of expatriates’ career success after international assignments: a review and future research agenda”, Human Resource Management Review, 100913. Metsämuuronen, J. (2006), Laadullisen Tutkimuksen Käsikirja [Handbook of Qualitative Research], 1st ed., Gummerus Kirjapaino Oy, Jyväskylä. Moore, A.M. and Barker, G.G. (2012), “Confused or multicultural: third culture 
individuals’ cultural identity”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 36 No. 4, pp.553–562. Mosanya, M. and Kwiatkowska, A. (2021), “Complex but integrated: exploring social and cultural identities of women Third Culture Kids (TCK) and factors predicting life satisfaction”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 84, pp.65–78. Mosanya, M. and Kwiatkowska, A. (2023), “New Ecological Paradigm and third culture kids: multicultural identity configurations, global mindset and values as predictors of environmental worldviews”, International Journal of Psychology, Vol. 58, No. 2, pp.103–115. Mäkelä, L., Suutari, V., Brewster, C., Dickmann, M. and Tornikoski, C. (2016), “The 
impact of career capital on expatriates’ perceived marketability”, Thunderbird International Business Review, Vol. 58 No. 1, pp.29–40.  Mutter, J. and Thorn, K. (2019), “Global mobility and the career of the stay-at-home partner”, Journal of Global Mobility, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp.88–102.  Nash, M.P. (2020), “Adult third culture kids: expatriate potential is one piece of the puzzle”, Team Performance Management, Vol. 26 No. 5–6, pp.319–323.  
33 
 
Nette, J. and Hayden, M. (2007), “Globally mobile children: the sense of belonging”, Educational Studies, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp.435–444. Official Statistics of Finland, OSF (2019), Educational structure of population, [E-publication], Appendix table 1. Population with educational qualification by level of education, field of education and gender 2019. Statistics Finland, [referred: 11.5.2023], Helsinki. available at: http://www.stat.fi/til/vkour/2019/vkour_2019_2020-11-05_tau_001_en.html Oliffe, J.L., Kelly, M.T., Gonzalez Montaner, G. and Yu Ko, W.F. (2021), Zoom interviews: benefits and concessions. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, Vol. 20, pp.1–8. Peterson, B.E. and Plamondon, L.T. (2009), “Third culture kids and the consequences of international sojourns on authoritarianism, acculturative balance, and positive affect”, Journal of Research in Personality, Vol. 43 No. 5, pp.755–763.  Pollock, D.C., Van Reken, R.E. and Pollock, M.V. (2017), Third culture kids: Growing up among worlds. Third edition. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, Boston. Poonoosamy, M. (2018), “Third culture kids’ sense of international mindedness: case studies of students in two international baccalaureate schools”, Journal of Research in International Education, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp.207–227.  Purnell, L. and Hoban, E. (2014), “The lived experiences of third culture kids transitioning into university life in Australia”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 41, pp.80–90. Rounsaville, A. (2014), “Situating transnational genre knowledge: a genre trajectory 
analysis of one student’s personal and academic writing”, Written Communication, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp.332–364.  Sarajärvi, A. and Tuomi, J. (2017), Laadullinen Tutkimus Ja Sisällönanalyysi [Qualitative Research and Content Analysis], Tammi, Helsinki, [E-book]. Selmer, J. and Lam, H. (2004), ““Third‐culture kids” future business expatriates?” Personnel Review, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp.430–445.  Selmer, J. and Lauring, J. (2014), “Self-initiated expatriates: an exploratory study of adjustment of adult third-culture kids vs. adult mono-culture kids”, Cross Cultural Management, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp.422–436.  
Sheard, W. (2008), “Lessons from our kissing cousins: Third culture kids and gifted children”, Roeper Review, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp.31–38.  Sikkel, D. (1985), “Models for memory effects”, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 80 No. 392, pp.835–841. Smith, V.J. and Kearney, K.S. (2016), “A qualitative exploration of the repatriation experiences of US third culture kids in college”, Journal of College Student Development, Vol. 57 No. 8, pp.958–972.  Stoermer, S., Selmer, J. and Lauring, J. (2021), “Expatriate partners’ personality and its influence on acculturation into a new cultural context: examining the role of dispositional affectivity”, International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp.474–490.  Suutari, V. (2003), “Global managers: career orientation, career tracks, life-style implications and career commitment”, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp.185–207.  Suutari, V., Brewster, C., Mäkelä, L., Dickmann, M. and Tornikoski, C. (2018), “The effect of international work experience on the career success of expatriates: a comparison of assigned and self-initiated expatriates”, Human Resource 
34 
 
Management, Vol. 57 No. 1, pp.37–54.  Suutari, V. and Mäkelä, K. (2007), “The career capital of managers with global careers”, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 22 No. 7, pp.628–648.  Tan, E.C., Wang, K. T. and Cottrell, A.B. (2021), “A systematic review of third culture kids empirical research”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 82, pp.81–98.  Tanu, D. (2016), “Going to school in “Disneyland”: imagining an international school community in Indonesia”, Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp.429–450.  Tarique, I. and Weisbord, E. (2013), “Antecedents of dynamic cross-cultural competence in adult third culture kids (ATCKs)”, Journal of Global Mobility, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp.139–160. TENK (2019), “The ethical principles of research with human participants and ethical review in the human sciences in Finland”, Publications of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK 3/2019. Thomas, J., Humeidan, M., Barrack, C. and Huffman, K.L. (2021), “Mindfulness, stress 
reactivity, and depressive symptoms among “Third Culture Kids” in the United Arab Emirates”, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 52 No. 2, pp.192–208.  Tung, R. L. (1998), “American expatriates abroad: from neophytes to cosmopolitans”, Journal of World Business, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp.125–144. Van der Zee, K. I., Ali, A. J. and Haaksma, I. (2007), “Determinants of effective coping with cultural transition among expatriate children and adolescents”, Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp.25–45.  Walters, K.A. and Auton-Cuff, F.P. (2009), “A story to tell: the identity development of women growing up as third culture kids”, Mental Health, Religion and Culture, Vol. 12 No. 7, pp.755–772.  
Weeks, K.P., Weeks, M. and Willis‐Muller, K. (2010), “The adjustment of expatriate teenagers”, Personnel Review, Vol. 39 No. 1, pp.24–43.  Westropp, S., Cathro, V. and Everett, A.M. (2016), “Adult third culture kids’ suitability as expatriates”, Review of International Business and Strategy, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp.334–348.