Dual-career expatriate partners' motives for supporting international assignments: evidence from a patriarchal society

Tania Nery-Kjerfve and Daiane Polesello

Journal of Global Mobility, 2023, vol. 12, issue 2, 241-264

Abstract: Purpose - Extant expatriate literature largely adopts a global north/western focus and expatriate-centric approach in investigating spousal/partners’ motives for supporting expatriation. Contrastingly, this study focuses on the lived experiences of dual-career female partners from an emerging global south economy and a patriarchal society as it relates to motives for supporting a partner’s international assignment (IA) to a developed country. Design/methodology/approach - This investigation adopts a hermeneutic interpretive phenomenology research design. Twelve career-oriented female partners from an emerging global south economy (Brazil) who supported a partner’s IA to a developed country (USA) participated in this study. The data included semi-structured interviews and field notes. Findings - The study indicates that societal constraints, gendered career experiences and career and life stage reasons influenced women’s decision to engage in career opt out and/or interruption in support of their partners' IA. Further, patriarchal long-lasting structures and ideologies shaped women’s career experiences; women perceived IAs as a means of acquiring embodied and institutionalized cosmopolitan capital for themselves and their families in order to gain a better position in a transnational/globalized world. Research limitations/implications - Although the sample size of this study is appropriate for the methodological choice adopted, future studies should include more participants and address different socioeconomic, political and cultural contexts. Originality/value - This study highlights dual-career female partners' lived experiences in an emerging global south economy and a patriarchal society as it relates to motives for supporting IAs.

Keywords: Expatriation; Dual-career; Expatriate partner/spouse; Gender; Patriarchal; Global south; Cross-cultural study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:jgmpps:jgm-03-2023-0020

DOI: 10.1108/JGM-03-2023-0020

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