Content area
Full text
1 Introduction
International work is increasingly becoming a regular part of the majority of professional positions in companies. Although different kinds of assignments are used in companies, expatriation is still the most common way of meeting the need for international work. Existing research on international careers indicates that international assignments are very challenging experiences for the people concerned and probably due to that, expatriation is not seen as such an attractive career choice as it once was ([53] Niemistö et al. , 2010). Historically, a very clear majority of expatriates have been males - often males represent from 95 to 85 per cent of total expatriate samples ([3] Altman and Shortland, 2008), but the situation seems to be changing and the proportion of women expatriates has to some extent risen ([66] Tharenou, 2008). This trend may continue due to the increased proportion of highly educated women in the workforce in general - but also due to companies' needs to fill expatriate positions in the face of a decreasing number of eager candidates.
International assignments affect not only the assignee's working life but also the whole life situation. Moreover, if international assignees or expatriates have a family, moving, and living abroad is at least as challenging for their spouse and children ([59] Shaffer and Harrison, 2001). The role of the partner and family is found to be related to positive or negative work-life balance (WLB) outcomes ([27] Harris, 2004; [7] Caligiuri et al. , 1998). From that perspective, it is not very surprising that WLB concerns ([47] Mäkelä and Suutari, 2011; [29] Hearn et al. , 2008) rank highly among the key challenges related to international careers. It has even been argued that such careers would be too challenging for most individuals and their families ([22] Forster, 2000).
However, there is a scarcity of research focusing on expatriates' views of the balance (or imbalance) between work and private life, even though these issues in general have been widely studied recently. The multiple roles individuals play in modern societies, for instance as employees, parents or spouses, have been found to either enrich lives or cause conflicts in them. In other words, experiences in one role diminish or improve the quality of life in another role ([25] Greenhaus...