Expatriate career intentions: links to career adaptability and cultural intelligence

Given the increasing rate of global mobility, it is important to have a greater understanding of
the factors that influence intentions for expatriate careers. Guided by the Career Construction
Theory and Intelligence Theory, this study takes the view that self-initiated expatriation as a
form of global mobility is an adaptive vocational behavior driven by an individual's self-regulatory
capacity to thrive in another country and work to build one's career. This study posits
that individuals who want to work overseas rely mainly on their adaptive resources to develop
their careers. Additionally, career adaptability, as a self-regulatory competency, is posited to be
reinforced by an individual's intercultural capability (i.e., cultural intelligence). To test these assertions,
data were collected in a sample of university students (n = 514) in the Philippines, a
country reported to have high rates of overseas migration for economic and career-related reasons.
Career adaptability was found to be positively and significantly related to overseas career
intentions. In addition, cultural intelligence was found to moderate the said relationship. These
results offer the groundwork for understanding the earlier stages of expatriate careers and, in
particular, how the intention to have a career in another country is developed and influenced
by the interaction between the self-regulatory characteristics and intercultural capability of
individuals.