Crowley-Henry, Marian (2010) Twenty-First-Century International Careers: From Economic to Lifestyle Migration. In: Irish Business & Society. Governing, Participating & Transforming in the 21st Century. Gill & Macmillan Dublin, Ireland . ISBN 9780717149902

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Abstract

While many chapters in this book examine Ireland-specific research, reports and literature pertaining to contemporary Irish business and society, this chapter takes a different approach. It explores the contemporary career influences and preferences of highly educated knowledge professionals in Europe (Crowley-Henry 2008a), and considers the implications for present and future Irish business and society in the post-Celtic Tiger era. The concept of international careers in modern-day society is studied from a critical and individual, rather than a managerialist or policy, perspective. It investigates what ‘career’ means to people in the twenty-first century and suggests the ramifications of this for human resource practitioners. While large proportions of Ireland’s and other countries’ populations have emigrated for economic, employment, or pure survival reasons (Scally 1995; Schrier 1958; Thomas and Znaniecki 1996), findings from the study shared in this chapter consider a trend towards lifestyle migration (Crowley-Henry 2008a; Heffernan 2008; Schein 1990). There has been a noticeable shift from the mass emigration evident in the Europe of the past, to which Ireland was a very large contributor, to today’s situation, in which highly qualified specialists are increasingly proactive in seeking out new markets for their individual professional and personal development (Heffernan 2008; Vandamme 2000; Yan et al. 2002). The research shared here explores an elite category of international assignees termed ‘bounded transnationals’ (Crowley-Henry 2009a), whose primary concern is the quality of life/lifestyle on offer in a particular host country environment, rather than a focus on objective career success. Based on primary, qualitative, exploratory research, concerning a sample of bounded transnationals in the south of France (2002–2005), a career framework is presented that was induced from the findings, and delineates the relational, individual and economical influences on career preference and choice. While the study concerns a geographical case study in the south of France, the findings are discussed in light of the Irish situation: from the perspective of immigrants to Ireland and the modern-day emigrants from Ireland. The findings emphasise the requirement for organisations’ human resource practitioners to develop human resource management strategies that open up and elaborate career management and planning beyond extrinsic elements. The initial sections present the relevant literature from international human resource management and career theory. Next, the research methodology of the study is outlined briefly (for a more detailed discussion see Crowley-Henry 2009b). Then core findings are considered in light of the Irish situation. Finally, recommendations and suggestions for further research are expounded.

Item Type:	Book Section
Keywords:	Management; Twenty-First-Century International Careers; Lifestyle Migration;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Business
Item ID:	2145
Depositing User:	Dr. Marian Crowley-Henry
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2010 09:24
Publisher:	Gill & Macmillan Dublin, Ireland
Refereed:	Yes
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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