International mobility in executive labour markets
Type
doctoral thesis
Date Issued
2009
Author(s)
Abstract
The international mobility of executives offers both opportunities and challenges for multinational firms. In this study, we draw upon economic and sociological approaches to labour market mobility to outline the key properties of mobility in executive labour markets. Subsequently, we apply our basic model of executive labour market mobility to the context of internationalising firms and employ theories of information-processing and legitimacy to develop a theoretical framework that identifies the drivers of international executive labour market utilisation and the constraints on cross-border mobility of executives.
Empirical analysis is based on a large unbalanced panel dataset consisting of 415 large non-financial firms from seven European countries (Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK) and 4,552 unique executive profiles recorded over a five-year period between 2000 and 2005. We use this dataset to empirically test 26 hypotheses related to the antecedents and effects of cross-border mobility of executives, using a variety of analytical techniques.
We draw three main findings from our data analysis. First, firms exert demand for foreign executives as a function of needs imposed by the type and magnitude of their internationalisation strategies. Internationalisation strategies are therefore key drivers of international executive labour market utilisation. Second, firms discriminate between foreign and domestic candidates in the executive labour market due to perceived information constraints and place narrow demands on the candidate profiles of foreign relative to domestic executive appointees. This imposes fundamental constraints on the international mobility of executives. Third, effective utilisation of the international executive labour market adds requisite levels of international capacity to the top management team, enabling firms to pursue expansive internationalisation strategies without incurring substantial performance losses.
Empirical analysis is based on a large unbalanced panel dataset consisting of 415 large non-financial firms from seven European countries (Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK) and 4,552 unique executive profiles recorded over a five-year period between 2000 and 2005. We use this dataset to empirically test 26 hypotheses related to the antecedents and effects of cross-border mobility of executives, using a variety of analytical techniques.
We draw three main findings from our data analysis. First, firms exert demand for foreign executives as a function of needs imposed by the type and magnitude of their internationalisation strategies. Internationalisation strategies are therefore key drivers of international executive labour market utilisation. Second, firms discriminate between foreign and domestic candidates in the executive labour market due to perceived information constraints and place narrow demands on the candidate profiles of foreign relative to domestic executive appointees. This imposes fundamental constraints on the international mobility of executives. Third, effective utilisation of the international executive labour market adds requisite levels of international capacity to the top management team, enabling firms to pursue expansive internationalisation strategies without incurring substantial performance losses.
Language
English
Keywords
executive labour markets
international mobility
top management teams
firm internationalisation
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Publisher
D-Druck Spescha
Publisher place
St. Gallen
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
55339