Motivation and adjustment of self-initiated expatriates: the case of expatriate academics in South Korea

Abstract

Globalization and international labor mobility have provided the opportunity for highly qualified people to work in almost any country they desire. The people who take advantage of this opportunity can be categorized as ‘self-initiated expatriates’ (SIE). This study explores the motivation and cross-cultural adjustment of 30 SIE academics in South Korea. The respondents were motivated to expatriate by a desire for international experience, attractive job conditions, family ties, and poor labor markets in their home countries; most of the respondents were well adjusted. Based on our findings, we propose a theoretical framework linking the motivation and cross-cultural adjustment of expatriates.

Keywords:

• cross-cultural adjustment
• expatriate academic
• motivation
• self-initiated expatriate
• South Korea

Notes

1. To protect the anonymity of respondents, aliases are used rather than real names. For countries other than the USA and Germany, only continent/region names are provided for place of origin.