Special Issue Call for Papers
Global Careers & International Assignments:
The Current Discourse
| Guest Co-Editors: | <st1:personname w:st="on">Yehuda Baruch</st1:personname>, Professor of Management, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">University of East Anglia</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region></st1:place>, y.baruch@uea.ac.uk Yochanan Altman, Professor of International HRM & Comparative Management, London Metropolitan University, UK, and Visiting Professor in International HRM, CIFFOP, University of Paris (Panthéon-Assas), y_altman@hotmail.com Nancy J. Adler, Professor of International Management, <st1:placename w:st="on">McGill</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Montreal</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region></st1:place>, nancy.adler@mcgill.ca |
With the rapidly increasing global integration of business, international assignments have come to play a central role in corporate careers and in the business strategies of multinational organizations. While research has been conducted on these issues for years, recent changes in the competitive environment worldwide, business strategy, organizational design, contractual arrangements and cross-border labor markets, are producing new and relevant developments that directly impact theory and practice in this area. Therefore, the purpose of this special issue is to provide a state-of-the-art assessment of our knowledge and understanding of 21st-century global assignments and their career correlates.
A number of issues have contributed to raising the profile of international assignments as a key aspect in contemporary business and HRM strategy, as well as highlighting such expatriate assignments as essential building blocks in successful 21st-century corporate careers. First, a number of expanded career perspectives now co-exist in the HRM strategy field, including protean (Hall 1996; 2002), boundary-less (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996), and post-corporate (Peiperl & Baruch, 1997) which could be explicated to international assignments. Second, the sheer magnitude of global activity heightens the visibility of cross-cultural management issues, including the management of international assignments. Third, the "coming of age" of economically developing economies such as China and India, as well as many of the transitional economies in Central and Eastern Europe has expanded and redefined key geographic locations and the spread of global business activities. And fourth, we are witnessing a structural shift in the nature of global assignments, including a redefinition of their missions, frames of reference, as well as duration. Expatriates today no longer serve as the quintessential long arm of headquarters or "Big Brother"-like cultural comptrollers in far-away places; local hires and third country nationals increasingly compete for selection and promotion with "old style" headquarters expatriates. And the trend for self-initiated expatriation is changing the premise on which international assignments have long been based.
We invite conceptual or empirical papers that address critical issues in the management of international assignments and their career correlates. Preference will be given to papers addressing both expatriation and repatriation, and/or approaching issues at more than one level of analysis (individual, organizational, national, and global). Papers should add value both to theory-building and to practice. We welcome empirical, conceptual, and case-study based papers that increase our understanding of the global career phenomena while stretching theory horizons.
The following are illustrative questions that are consistent with the spirit of this special issue. We invite prospective authors, however, to focus on the questions they consider most relevant to our theme. Suggested questions and focal areas include:
§ Conceptualizing global assignments in the context of careers: boundaries, roles, dynamics
§ What are the relevant antecedents for success and failure (definitions, measurements, conceptualizations)?
§ Much has been written about individual managers' differences. What is the evidence of individual differences for managerial effectiveness and well being on international assignments? What role do (or should) these differences play, if any, in such processes as recruitment, selection, training, managing expectations, and adjustment?
§ What are the implications of the major changes in people's relationship to work (e.g. dual and portfolio careers, virtual teams, work-life/family balance) for the ways we conceptualize and manage expatriation and repatriation?
§ In which ways are expatriation and repatriation similar and different for women and men. Where do they diverge empirically and conceptually?
§ Is there a need for problematization of diversity issues in international assignments, such as sexual orientation, religiosity, disability, and the like?
§ How does career stage interact with the nature and role of international assignments; is there any generational effect (e.g. baby boomers vs. generation X, Y)?
§ Are expatriation and repatriation universal and stable concepts and processes across cultural and national contexts as well as across organizational and industry contexts?
§ What differences exist in how expatriation and repatriation are managed and experienced in MNCs from developing and transitional economies versus those from more frequently studied, economically developed parts of the world?
§ What implications do the multiple levels of theory, measurement, and analysis have for the meaning of expatriation and repatriation?
§ What may be the negative consequences of expatriation and repatriation at the individual and organizational levels and how can each be remedied?
§ In an increasingly converging, global and virtual world, what will the future hold for global assignments and their management?
The above list is not intended to be exhaustive. The co-editors of the special issue encourage authors to contribute papers with wider perspectives, as long as they are consistent with the theme outlined in this call for papers.
Manuscript Submission and Review
All articles for the HR Science Forum will be double-blind reviewed by HRM scholars and practitioners. Papers suited for the HR Leadership Forum (practitioner-focused case studies, etc.) will be single-blind reviewed by subject matter experts. Please see HRM's Publishing Cues for a complete description of each section.
The deadline for submitting papers is February 28, 2007. Questions about content and ideas should be directed to the guest co-editors noted above.
Manuscripts must be submitted electronically using the Journal's web-based submission and review website called Manuscript Central: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hrm. Electronic submission through Manuscript Central is required. Manuscript Central is configured to be very intuitive; however, should you have problems, please contact Managing Editor Leslie Wilhelm at lwilhelm@umich.edu.
When submitting through Manuscript Central, please submit the following documents:
1. Document 1: A "blind" copy of your manuscript. Delete all author identification from this primary document. This document may include your tables and figures, or you may include tables and figures in separate documents. You do not need to blind any of your citations or references to any of the authors.
2. Document 2: Submit a separate document with information that would typically appear on the document's title page (title, author names, complete postal addresses, titles, affiliations, contact information including email, phone and fax.). This document may also include author biographies if you wish.
3. Document 3: A cover letter addressed to the Guest Co-Editors specifically identifying how the paper fits within the special issue them.
In addition:
§ Answer "Yes" to the question regarding special issue submission and clearly label your submission for the "Special Issue on Global Careers and International Assignments" in the text box provided.
§ Direct logistical questions about submitting your manuscript through Manuscript Central to Managing Editor Leslie Wilhelm at lwilhelm@umich.edu or 734-763-0785.