Motivations of global careers among expatriates in German companies: A comparison with the year 2002

Abstract

This study analyzes the motives of expatriates to go abroad, replicating and extending the part on expatriate motives of a study originally published by Stahl, Miller, and Tung (2002a). Doing so, it allows to account for the change of motives between 2002 and 2015 of expatriates in German companies to accept an international assignment. Findings indicate that while the originally most important motives, “personal challenge” and “opportunities for professional development,” are still the most important ones, there was some interesting development leading to the notion that boundaryless and protean careers gained in importance. Moreover, an analysis distinguishing between different age cohorts gives additional insights in the motivation and reasons to go abroad depending on the generation people belong to. Finally, all findings are discussed in the light of recent research, and implications for future research are derived.