An examination of the influence of business environments on the attraction of globally mobile self-initiated expatriates

Jason Ryan and Sari Silvanto

Journal of Global Mobility, 2021, vol. 9, issue 3, 382-407

Abstract: Purpose - This study examines which dimensions of a business environment are most important for attracting globally mobile self-initiated expatriates to a country. The authors use secondary data from the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, IMD and the World Population Review to test eight hypotheses involving six macro-contextual factors that prior studies suggest attract internationally mobile skilled professionals, such as self-initiated expatriates, to a country's business environment. The macro-contextual factors examined are socio-cultural, economic, natural, ecological, technological clusters and legal and regulatory. Design/methodology/approach - The authors use secondary data from the World Bank, IMD, World Population Report and the World Economic Forum to test eight hypotheses concerning macro-contextual factors that attract self-initiated expatriates to a country's business environment. Findings - The study finds that factors such as the ease of hiring foreign labor, the use of English, macroeconomic stability, the diversity of the workforce and the quality of life in a country positively influence the attractiveness of its business environment to self-initiated expatriates. The study also finds that a business environment's socio-cultural, natural, economic and legal and regulatory macro-contextual attributes make it attractive to self-initiated expatriates. Originality/value - To reduce common source bias, the authors use secondary data from four sources to examine which of six macro-contextual factors make a sample of 63 national business environments attractive to self-initiated expatriates. This study is one of the few to examine the impact of business environments on global mobility.

Keywords: SIE; Business environment; Global mobility; Self-initiated expatriates; Ease of doing business; Talent flows (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:jgmpps:jgm-01-2021-0004

DOI: 10.1108/JGM-01-2021-0004

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