Mitigating medical brain drain: the role of developmental HRM and the focus on opportunities in reducing the self-initiated expatriation of young professionals

Abstract

Although ‘brain drain’ from emerging economies is a well-documented problem, research on how Human Resource Management (HRM) can potentially address it is still scarce. Based on Signaling Theory, we argue that developmental HRM practices in home countries reduce self-initiated expatriation (SIE) of young healthcare professionals by increasing their focus on opportunities in their home country. Additionally, we hypothesize that individual financial stability as a personal resource constitutes an important boundary condition, as developmental HRM’s positive effect on the focus on opportunities and its indirect negative effect on SIE intention may be even stronger for individuals with lower financial resources. We tested and found support for our hypotheses using a sample of 184 junior doctors in Lithuania in a time-lagged study. By bridging the HRM and SIE literature, our study extends the existing knowledge about the outcomes of HRM and highlights the importance of home country HRM in explaining SIE intention above and beyond its traditionally considered antecedents. In this way, our study has major theoretical and practical implications for decision-makers at organizational and national levels in managing brain drain from emerging economies.

Keywords:

• Self-initiated expatriation
• developmental HRM
• focus on opportunities
• financial stability
• healthcare organizations
• brain drain

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all our study participants who dedicated their time to complete our surveys and Junior Doctors Association in Lithuania and both Vilnius university hospital Santaros Klinikos and Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kauno Klinikos for their support and collaboration.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author (Bernadeta Goštautaitė, [email protected]). The data are not publicly available due to information that could compromise the privacy of the research participants.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Job search abroad was measured using four binary items (1 = yes, 0 = no). They were inspired by job search behavior scales used in prior research (Blau, 1994; Tharenou, 2008; Tharenou & Caulfield, 2010) but mainly developed for this study based on a dozen semi-structured interviews with junior doctors. Based on the content analysis of the interviews, we selected the four most common actions junior doctors take when they prepare for work abroad. The items were: “Learned a foreign language,” “Asked people from your network to help you in finding a job abroad,” “Contacted a prospective employer or a recruitment agency, participated in their recruitment events, or sent them your resume,” and “Prepared and translated the certificates and licenses you need to apply for a job.”

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially supported by the Lithuanian Research Council [Project No. GER-17071].