Why do they come to London? : Exploring the motivations of expatriates to work in the British capital

Purpose – The literature has hitherto neglected the influence of specific cities on the decision to work abroad, implicitly treating all locations within countries as similar. Using a boundaryless careers and expatriation perspective, the purpose of this paper is to investigate a range of specific motives that individuals have when working in London, the British capital. Design/methodology/approach – The results of semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews and a large‐scale quantitative survey shed light on the relative importance of individual drives, career and development motivations, family and partner factors, organizational context, national and city‐specific considerations to come to London. Findings – A range of London‐specific attributes are identified and their importance assessed. A new framework of individual international mobility drivers is developed. Research limitations/implications – There is limited generalisability of findings of interview studies, especially as “white collar” workers and managers were interviewed. Theoretical contributions consist of the development of a framework for city attractiveness assessment and further insights into international mobility drivers and barriers. Practical implications – The findings reiterate the importance of individual preparation of international sojourns based on proactive location choice. They also inform city policy considerations and organizational strategies, policies and practices with respect to international mobility. Originality/value – The paper moves the literature on new international careers and global mobility to go beyond the organizational perspective to assess city attractiveness factors. The paper develops a framework for evaluating city attractiveness and assesses London's “pull factors”. This results in major implications for public policy, organizational resourcing and individual decision making.