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João Vasco Coelho, ISCTE-Instituto Universitario de Lisboa , Lisboa, Portugal

These differences are often attributed to personality, resilience or motivation. Yet this research shows that the conditions created by organizations play a decisive role, as expatriate resource gains emerge within the policy environment that surrounds the mobility assignment.

Global mobility policies that encourage autonomy, meaningful interaction with local teams and access to developmental opportunities create fertile ground for expatriate resource gains. Expatriates in these environments accumulate new skills, expand their networks and strengthen their sense of professional identity. In contrast, policies that over‑standardize, isolate or limit decision‑making can unintentionally suppress growth, leaving expatriates with fewer gains than expected.

This raises an uncomfortable but important question: Are organizations unintentionally designing expatriation policies and systems that limit the very benefits they hope to achieve?

The study sheds light on this by identifying three motivational profiles that emerge from different organizational resource ecologies: 1) conformist expatriates, who respond to psychological contracts and a sense of belonging; 2) protean expatriates that actively craft their roles, seeking autonomy and strategic career gains; and 3) disrupted expatriates which operate under strain, complying defensively as contextual pressures erode their willingness to grow.

These profiles reflect how individuals adapt to the policy environment that frames their assignment. Dynamic, flexible policies expand room for learning, agency and upward resource spirals. In an opposite sense and direction, rigid, functionalist policies narrow that space, intensifying strain and constraining adjustment. In practice, this means organizations may be producing the very engagement patterns they later interpret as individual differences.

If global mobility is to be more than a logistical exercise, international organizations need to position mobility policies and its design as a strategic activity, one that shapes both the expatriate experience and the long‑term value repatriated to the organization.

As stressed by the research, the contemporary challenge for international organizations is clear: preparing expatriates for expatriation matters, but preparing expatriation for expatriates may matter even more. Expatriates don't fail, policies do.

To read the full article, please see the Journal of Global Mobility publication: