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SPECIAL ISSUE - CALL FOR PAPERS

EUROPEAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW

 

ADVANCING THE UNDERSTANDING OF INFLOWS AND OUTFLOWS OF INTERNATIONAL LABOUR IN MANAGEMENT RESEARCH: EUROPEAN AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

 

Guest Editors:

Akram Al Ariss, Toulouse Business School, France

Liisa Mäkelä, University of Vaasa, Finland

Helen De Cieri, Monash University, Australia

 

This call invites contributions to enhance knowledge in management research on the inflows and outflows of international labour. Our definition of international labour encompasses various forms of international mobility including (but not limited to) expatriation, repatriation, short-term assignees, international migration flow involving different countries, self-initiated expatriation, and international business travellers and other forms of international labour mobility. International mobility of labour might be occasioned by the workers’ own agency or by their being assigned by organisations. Inflows and outflows of international labour represents an increasingly complex phenomenon resulting from globalised business, the needs of multinationals for global talent, and progress on international treaties granting freedom of movement across borders, among other factors (Al Ariss, 2014). According to OECD estimates (2013), almost 232 million people worldwide now live outside their country of origin. Among those, the number of skilled immigrants in OECD countries has increased sharply in the past decade (+70%), reaching 27.3 million in 2010/11 with 17%, of them arriving in the past five years. It has even been argued that a willingness to work abroad has become the ‘new normal’ and recent research report (Strack et al. 2014) has showed that almost 64 percent of the study participants (N=203 756) said they would be willing to go to another country for work. This important pool of international human resources is significant for organisations across the world. The situation demands a better understanding of how management theories and concepts can advance our understating of this phenomenon.

Research focusing on international labour flows has increased recently and the topic has fostered publications in leading journals including (but not limited to) the Journal of International Business Studies (e.g. Cerdin, Abdeljalil, and Brewster, 2014), Academy of Management Journal(e.g. Brady et al., 2014), Journal of World Business (e.g. Riaz, Rowe & Beamish, 2014), the British Journal of Management (e.g. Al Ariss & Syed, 2011), and the European Management Review.( Selmer & Lauring, 2010). From a European perspective, research on expatriate management has become one of the most popular of the themes submitted to EURAM in the last few years and research on self-initiated expatriation has contributed significantly to that phenomenon. It has been argued that management scholars are better able to understand global careers within their respective historical, geographical, institutional, and organisational settings when the contextual nature of talent management of the expatriate workforce can be duly acknowledged (Sidani and Al Ariss, A. 2014; Suutari, Wurtz & Tornikoski, 2014).      

The flows of international labour affect the acquisition and use by individuals, organisations, and nations of a variety of forms of capital including technical and general knowledge transfer, networks of contacts, and financial and business opportunities (Cao et al., 2012; Selmer and Lauring, 2010). On the one hand, international labour flows offer many choices and opportunities and both individuals and their employers could benefit from positive business and management outcomes. For example, establishing a diverse workforce is known to boost innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities. On the other hand, labour inflows and outflows can create additional challenges for management in terms of managing the diverse workforce (Tatli, Vassilopoulou, and Özbilgin, 2013). On a more individual level, this has been found to cause stress to and place strain on employees and their families when moving abroad (Bhanugopan and Fish, 2006; Mäkelä and Suutari, 2011). Therefore, topics linked to diversity, well-being and work-family concerns are important issues to focus upon. Management studies have focused on the more privileged ranks of international labour, and it is therefore necessary to also consider the individuals less privileged in terms of skills, physical ability, ethnicity, and gender when addressing the phenomenon.

There are a number of reasons why inflows and outflows of international labour are also very important to organisations. The issues involved include the understanding of both local and global markets; having knowledge of foreign cultures; cost-effective forms of expatriation (given travel and living expenses, salaries, taxation and the financial issues faced by corporate expatriates). It is therefore very important that companies have a clear sense of the nature of the inflows and outflows of international labour and how best to manage them.

The context of international agreements is important to the inflows and outflows of international labour, particularly the agreements between the more economically developed countries that facilitate international mobility. These include relations such as those between Australia and the UK, Canada and France, the member States of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the opportunities for European citizens to move and work throughout the EU among many others. Accordingly, special attention must be paid to the role of local and international employment legislation in host countries.

The topic of inflows and outflows of international labour is linked to a broad range of general management topics. In this special issue, we are looking for empirical and theoretical contributions that focus on inflows and outflows of international labour from the perspectives of general management, strategic management, organisation theory, corporate governance, human resource management, and managerial economics. We are interested in papers that offer insights into European management issues relevant to the global community. Contributions can be grounded in the basic social disciplines of management, economics, psychology, and sociology or others that make a clear contribution to general management. We welcome both empirical investigation and theoretical analysis. Conceptual articles should provide new theoretical insight that can advance our understanding of management and organisations. All types of empirical methods – quantitative, qualitative, or combinations of both – are acceptable. Empirical papers based on a large volume of empirical data, including inter alia diary studies and longitudinal methodological approaches are welcome. Papers should promote the transfer of research results to real-world management practice. Papers contributing to the following research questions, for instance, would be particularly welcome:

Questions:

-        How can the understanding of inflows and outflows of international labour contribute to general management, strategic management, organisation theory, corporate governance, human resource management, and managerial economics?

-        How do European and international perspectives on inflows and outflows of international labour differ from each other?

-        What kinds of managerial challenges and advantages can be identified when comparing inflows and outflows of international labour to other forms of global mobility?

-        What theoretical models and concepts can be used on this topic?

-        What is the role of inflows and outflows of international labour in organisations’ strategic management processes, dynamic capabilities, and global talent management?

-        How are inflows and outflows of international labour related to career expectations and outcomes of individuals, organisational performance, and knowledge transfers?

-        How can organisations use the inflows and outflows of international labour when internationalising their businesses? Should they instead develop the indigenous workforce?

-        How does business entrepreneurship and management innovation relate to inflows and outflows of international labour?

-        How do gender, diversity, well-being, and work-life issues relate to inflows and outflows of international labour from the individual and organisational perspectives?

-        How are corporate social responsibility and ethical managerial issues linked to inflows and outflows of international labour?

-        How are inflows and outflows of international labour and leadership issues linked?

-        What is the role of diasporas in international business exchanges, networks and social media?

 

Submission and Timetable for the special issue:

Submissions should be made online using EMR manuscript central between 1st and 15th of September 2015 (deadline)       

15 December 2015:            Authors will receive feedback.

15 March 2016:    Full papers with first revisions due.

15 June 2016:        Full papers due.

2016/2017:                        Journal volume to be published.

All papers should be submitted according to EMR authors’ guidelines:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1740-4762/homepage/ForAuthors.html

 

References

Al Ariss, A. 2014. Global Talent Management: Challenges, Strategies, and Opportunities. New York: Springer.

Al Ariss, A & Syed, J. (2011). Capital Mobilization of Skilled Migrants: A Relational Perspective. British Journal of Management, 22(2), pages 286–304,

Bhanugopan, R. & Fish, A. (2006). An empirical investigation of job burnout among expatriates. Personnel Review, 35:4, 449-468.

Brady M. Firth, Gilad Chen, Bradley L. Kirkman, and Kwanghyun Kim (2014). Newcomers Abroad: Expatriate Adaptation during Early Phases of International Assignments. Academy of Management Journal, 57(1), 280-300.

Bhanugopan, R. and Fish, A. 2006. "An empirical investigation of job burnout among expatriates". Personnel Review, 35(4): 449-468.

Cao, L., Hirschi, A., and Deller, J. 2012. "Self-initiated Expatriates and Their Career Success". Journal of Management Development, 31(2): 159-172.

Cerdin, J.-L., Abdeljalil, M., & Brewster, C. 2014. Qualified immigrants’ success: Exploring the motivation to migrate and to integrate. Journal of International Business Studies, 45: 151–168.

Riaz, S., Rowe, W.G. & Beamish, P. W. (2014). Expatriate-deployment levels and subsidiary growth: A temporal analysis. Journal of World Business, 49(1), 1-11.

Mäkelä, L & Suutari, V. (2011). Coping with Work-Family Conflicts in the Global Career Context. Thunderbird International Business Review, 53(3), 365-375.

Selmer, J. & Lauring, J. (2010). Self-initiated academic expatriates: Inherent demographics and reasons to expatriate. European Management Review, 7(3), pp. 169–179.

Sidani, Y., & Al Ariss, A. (2014). Institutional and corporate drivers of global talent management: Evidence from the Arab Gulf region. Journal of World Business, 49(2), 215–224.

Suutari, V., Wurtz, O. & Tornikoski, C (2014). How to Attract and Retain Global Careerists: Evidence from Finland. In Al Ariss (Ed) Global Talent Management: Challenges, Strategies, and Opportunities. New York: Springer. Pp. 237-249

Tatli, A., Vassilopoulou, J., & Özbilgin, M. (2013). An unrequited affinity between talent shortages and untapped female potential: The relevance of gender quotas for talent management in high growth potential economies of the Asia Pacific region. International Business Review, 22(3), 539–553.

Mäkelä, L., and Suutari, V. 2013. "Work-life interface of self-initiated expatriates: Conflicts and enrichment". In: Vlad Vaiman and Arno Haslberger (eds), Managing Talent of Self-initiated Expatriates: A Neglected Source of the Global Talent Flow. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 278-303.

OECD-UNDESA.2013. World migration in figures. Paris: OECD-UNDESA.

United Nations. 2011. "Human Development Report 2011". New York: United Nations Development Program.

Sidani, Y., & Al Ariss, A. 2014. "Institutional and corporate drivers of global talent management: Evidence from the Arab Gulf region". Journal of World Business, 49(2): 215-224.

Selmer, J., and Lauring, J. 2010. Self-initiated academic expatriates: Inherent demographics and resons to expatriate. European Management Review, 7(3): 169-179.

Tatli, A., Vassilopoulou, J. and Özbilgin, M. 2013. ‘An unrequited affinity between talent shortages and untapped female potential: The relevance of gender quotas for talent management in high growth potential economies of the Asia Pacific region’, International Business Review, 22(3): 539–553.

Akram Al Ariss, PhD

Professor of Human Resource Management

Habilité à Diriger des Recherches (HDR)

Toulouse Business School, France


Associate Editor for Career Development International


New book: Global Talent Management: Challenges, Strategies, and Opportunities (Springer, 2014)

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