Career orientations of Singaporean expatriates based in the People's Republic of China and their perceptions of the determinants of their career success.

摘要

With China becoming the world's fastest growing economy, organizations are staying competitive by establishing a presence there. Businesses deploy expatriates to manage and control their overseas operations and to develop future organizational leaders and talents, as well as to improve an organization's overall functioning. Everyone's' staying career success orientation is different. Generally, though, career development of expatriate managers is neglected.; This study examined the career orientations of China-based Singaporean expatriate managers, using a modified version of Derr's (1986) assessment tool for mapping career success. Derr's (1986) 1976 research project with the United States Navy identified five career orientations that were used in this study as the dependent variables---Getting Ahead, Getting Balanced, Getting Free, Getting High, and Getting Secure. The study also explored the effect of the independent variables of levels of education, tenure, gender, age, and marital status. Additionally, this study ascertained Singaporean expatriates' perceptions of the determinants of their career success. Data were gathered from a survey of 411 China-based Singaporean expatriates; 165 responded, for a response rate of 40.1%.; Results showed that the dominant career orientation of Singaporean expatriates in China was Getting Balanced, followed by Getting Ahead, Getting High, Getting Free and Getting Secure. The career orientations of the Singaporean expatriates were not affected by their levels of education, gender, and marital status. Two variables that affected career orientations were tenure and age. Longer tenure (between 5 and 9.99 years) was associated with Singaporean expatriates who held the career orientation type of Getting Ahead. Older respondents (20 to 39 years old) also had a greater chance of having a career orientation type of Getting Free.; The respondents' perceptions of the possible determinants of their career success, analyzed with descriptive statistics, showed that having effective interpersonal skills or networking was rated highest, followed respectively by having international experience, education, tenure, age, gender and marital status. The responses to the open-ended question on the respondents' perception of the determinants of career success were personal characteristics; knowledge, skills, and aptitude/ability; people and relationship skills; work experience; international experience; spiritual support; luck/chance; family support; language skills; and large organizations, respectively.