Career Orientations of Expatriates and Host Country Nationals in International Development Organisations Prior and During the Covid-19 Pandemic

You are cordially invited to a lunchtime seminar presented by Rebecca Yusuf on Wednesday 2nd February at 1pm.

It will be held in person in Room 108, Henley Business School and lunch and liquid refreshments will be provided. Please contact Ellie Biggs prior to the event to ensure your attendance is registered for lunch and any dietary requirements are noted.

You can access the event online, via Teams, please follow the link in the email invite.

Abstract

International Development Organisations (IDOs) have a humanitarian nature and it is likely that their employees, both expatriates and host country nationals (HCNs), have career orientations that may differ from those in profit-driven organisations. This paper is theoretically based on calling literature to advance our understanding on career orientations of expatriates and host country nationals (HCNs), as this may influence their career trajectories. We explore this in the context of IDOs in Nigeria. Our research has a semi-longitudinal design, using qualitative data to explore changes that may have occurred in IDO workers’ career orientations given the contextual challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our study shows that calling-related career orientations have lost their relevance among both groups of employees amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with implications for their career trajectories. These results also have relevant implications for the management of international careers and assignments in the context of IDOs.

Keywords: IDOs, Expatriates, HCNs, Career orientations, Calling, Covid-19 Pandemic.