Why do they go? Individual and corporate perspectives on the factors influencingthe decision to accept an international assignment

This article explores the motives of individuals to accept internationalassignments. It uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative researchmethods to further our understanding of how important a variety of items are inthe decision to work abroad. Employing a mutual dependency perspective itcontrasts individual motives and organizational perspectives. Organizationssignificantly underestimate the importance of career, work/life balance anddevelopment considerations and overestimate the financial imperative and somefamily motives. The analysis showed that for individuals some of these factorssignificantly relate to outcome variables in terms of the perceived careercapital accrued from assignments. The study presents a more nuanced picture ofinfluence factors on the decision to go and advocates the use of context-sensitive, multiple perspectives. Practical implications for multinationalorganizations are discussed.