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A Typology of Dual-Career Expatriate (Trailing) Spouses: The ‘R’ Profile

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The Management of Global Careers

Abstract

Dual-career expatriation remains a challenge and a top concern for most companies. In a departure from established thinking, we debunk the idea of a universal concept in which there is only one type of dual-career expatriate spouse to conceptualise them as belonging instead to one of four distinct profiles that we term the ‘R’ profile: Ready, Reborn, Resentful and Resigned. The purpose of our typology is to help scholars take a fresh look at the dual-career issue by examining the success factors of expatriate trailing spouses that have sustained a career while living abroad. Our goal is to understand how their career success has been achieved and why some are more successful than others.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    While this comment may seem harsh, it is important to note that each participant in the study self-selected and identified as a dual-career expatriate spouse from which we then analysed success or failure in achieving their dual-career ambitions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. S R Nathan School of Human Development, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Clementi Road, Singapore

    Yvonne McNulty

  2. The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia

    Miriam Moeller

Authors
  1. Yvonne McNulty
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  2. Miriam Moeller
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yvonne McNulty .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University, Cranfield, United Kingdom

    Michael Dickmann

  2. School of Management, University of Vaasa, Vassa, Finland

    Vesa Suutari

  3. School of Management, University of Vaasa, Vassa, Finland

    Olivier Wurtz

Appendix

Appendix

Interview Questions

  1. 1.

    Tell me about your expat journey—when you first moved abroad and the reasons for the move and where you have lived/travelled since then?

  2. 2.

    Whose decision was it to expatriate—your partner’s , yours or both?

  3. 3.

    How empowered did you feel in the decision to expatriate?

  4. 4.

    Tell me about your career—is it the one you had before expatriating or a new one?

  5. 5.

    Did you intend to continue your career once you had relocated abroad?

  6. 6.

    What challenges did you face in continuing your career abroad (personal, professional, institutional, environmental)?

  7. 7.

    Or, what prompted the ‘new’ career you have now?

  8. 8.

    Or, why are you taking a break from your career? Do you think you will go back to your career or embark on a new one?

  9. 9.

    What do you think it takes to be successful as a dual-career family? Is it up to the individual? Or is it more than that? Why?

  10. 10.

    Knowing what you know now about dual-career challenges, would you expatriate again? Why or why not?

  11. 11.

    What advice do you have for other dual-career families considering an international relocation ?

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McNulty, Y., Moeller, M. (2018). A Typology of Dual-Career Expatriate (Trailing) Spouses: The ‘R’ Profile. In: Dickmann, M., Suutari, V., Wurtz, O. (eds) The Management of Global Careers. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76529-7_10

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