This study examines the evolving leadership identity among a new generation of Russian business leaders, challenging the temporal stability of static cross-cultural frameworks. Based on qualitative interviews with 30 MBA graduates in Moscow, Russia, the findings propose a model of hybrid leadership characterized by confidence, result-driven inspiration, relational care and ingenious concept of otvetstvennost (ownership and moral responsibility). The research reveals a significant shift in leadership perceptions, where emerging leaders favor participative, humane-oriented, and transformational leadership styles over traditional authoritarian approaches. However, this transition is marked by a sociolinguistic tension: a persistent reluctance to internalize the term "leader" despite demonstrating leadership behaviors. This generational shift is theorized as an identity struggle between entrenched national prototypes and global managerial exemplars. The implications suggest that leadership development in transitional economies functions as an "identity laboratory," requiring programs that reconcile local cultural nuances with evolving global standards.

Purpose While developmental programs act as identity workspaces, existing frameworks treat leader self-efficacy (LSE) as a static antecedent rather than a dynamic regulator. Addressing this gap, this study investigates the co-evolution of leadership identity and LSE within a post-Soviet MBA context to explain how initial confidence dictates divergent developmental trajectories. Design/methodology/approach Anchored in an interpretivist paradigm, we employed qualitative research methods to analyze 30 in-depth narrative interviews from two MBA cohorts. Thematic and narrative analyses were used to capture longitudinal identity shifts and LSE recalibration. Findings We reveal that identity evolution is regulated by LSE recalibration, manifesting in two distinct trajectories: empowerment (for low initial LSE) and grounding (for high initial LSE). These trajectories progress through four phases – Preparation, Orientation, Experimentation and Confirmation. From these findings, we derive the Confidence-Framed Leadership-Identity Evolution (CF-LIE) model, demonstrating how peer validation and cultural holding environments catalyze identity shifts. Research limitations/implications The retrospective, single-cohort qualitative design captures meaning-making but precludes real-time observation of LSE fluctuations. Furthermore, because the CF-LIE model emerged within a post-Soviet institutional context characterized by high power distance, its theoretical transferability requires longitudinal testing across divergent cultural and organizational typologies. Practical implications This study shifts the architectural focus of leadership programs from competency acquisition to targeted identity scaffolding. Curricula must be structurally calibrated to incoming LSE baselines – engineering early mastery experiences for the empowerment trajectory and strategic dissonance for the grounding trajectory. Furthermore, institutions must intentionally design “holding environments” that normalize identity friction as a core mechanism for leader emergence. Originality/value This study reconceptualizes LSE from a static antecedent into a dynamic regulator of identity work. The emergent CF-LIE model bridges social identity and self-efficacy theories, providing a processual architecture for leadership development in transitional economies.

Career resilience is critical to the world's aging workforce, aiding older workers in adapting to the ever-evolving nature of work. While ageist stereotypes often depict older workers as less resilient when faced with workplace changes, existing research studies offer conflicting evidence on whether older age hinders or improves career resilience. In response to this conflicting evidence, the present study employs multi-level data from 6772 employees in 28 countries to examine the age-career resilience relationships and underlying mechanisms, hence advancing our understanding of career resilience across the life course. By integrating macro-contextual factors such as the unemployment rate and the culture of education with individual-level mechanisms such as positive career meaning and career optimism, we provide a comprehensive model explaining how career resilience varies across age groups. Grounded in life course theory, our findings resolve prior inconsistencies in resilience research, contribute to bridging the micro-macro gap in HRM literature, and challenge existing age-based stereotypes.

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected the global mobility (GM) policies of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Through interviews with policy decision-makers in 32 companies, we applied Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to examine how the pandemic accelerated changes in MNE policies and the management of GM. Our framework builds on contingency theory, traditionally concerned with aligning organizational policies with macro- and meso-level contextual factors. We extend this by integrating micro-level individual variables, such as career aspirations and well-being, as contingent factors influencing GM practices. There is variation in GM responses in relation to the volume of GM activities, GM-related policies, investments in digitalization and technology, and variations in mobility types. We observed a potential paradigm shift that affords employees greater agency in their global mobility paths, thereby greater granularity to contingency theory. This nuanced approach opens new research avenues and equips organizational leaders with a comprehensive set of variables for GM decision-making. Our findings indicate lasting global mobility changes but foresee gradual implementation due to associated risks.

The year 2023 witnessed intensified geopolitical tensions, military conflicts, and international economic sanctions, with heightened risks and uncertainties for businesses, especially multinational enterprises. In this editorial for 2024, we focus on two phenomena-international sanction and mental health-as critical issues for human resource management research and practice. These two issues are closely related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 3: Good health and wellbeing and Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions). We draw on dynamic capability theory to illustrate how organizations can develop corporate capabilities to survive and thrive in a volatile global business environment. We suggest sets of research questions to inform policy decisions and practice. We also outline practical implications for human resource professionals.

Leveraging Weiner's attribution theory of intrapersonal motivation at the micro level and varieties of capitalism theory at the macro level, we conduct a multi-country and cross-level study examining whether individuals' career goals (i.e., perceived importance of learning and development), behaviors (i.e., proactive career behaviors), and outcomes (i.e., perceived employability) as well as the relationships between these variables, differ between different market economies. We challenge extant literature that focuses on the agentic role of individuals and understates the role of context (i.e., market economy influence) in an individual's career development. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, we draw on a survey of 15,201 individuals between 2014 and 2016 from 22 countries representing four different varieties of capitalism. The results showed that workers in hierarchical (HME) and Mediterranean (MME) market economies systematically differed from individuals in coordinated (CME) and liberal (LME) market economies in proactive career behaviors and perceived employability. Moreover, while the positive relationship between perceived importance of learning and development and proactive career behaviors was stronger in CMEs and LMEs compared to HMEs and MMEs, the positive association between proactive career behaviors and perceived employability was weaker. Our study bridges the micro-macro gap in career studies, adding new insights into the ongoing conversation of contextual influence in individuals' career development.

Despite two decades of evolution as an area of research and practice, talent management faces ongoing criticism for being overly static in its approach, offering little in terms of enabling strategic agility. This is problematic as organizations increasingly rely on strategic agility to manage their dynamic business operations. Drawing on matching theory and adopting an agility lens, we explore the link between talent management and strategic agility. Through a qualitative research design, encompassing 34 interviews in 15 organizations, we explicate a skills-matching perspective on talent management, including initial and dynamic skills-matching in external and internal labor markets. Through this process, organizations can build a set of dynamic capabilities, underlying two meta-capabilities, strategic sensitivity and resource fluidity, which enable strategic agility. In doing so, we portray skills-matching as an illustration of a processual view on talent management and create a model of developing strategic agility through skills-matching, responsive to external and internal demands.

Expatriation significantly influences the career paths of individuals after their international work experience. This study draws on person-environment fit and career construction theories to examine the role of job fit, career adaptability, and expatriate type in shaping both objective and subjective career success. Our 2020 sample comprised 191 expatriates who had worked abroad four to five years prior. This group included both self-initiated and assigned expatriates, as well as repatriates and re-expatriates, providing a broader scope than is typical in expatriation studies. The research reveals that job fit, career adaptability, and expatriate type substantially affect career outcomes. It also identifies that the type of expatriate moderates the relationship between career adaptability and objective career success. Our work extends the applicability of person-environment fit theory and career construction theory within the complex landscape of expatriate careers. The investigation not only deepens our understanding of the factors driving career success post-expatriation but also provides valuable insights to aid the effective management of international careers.

International assignments (IAs) are a common feature of international business and human resource management, yet evidence of their organizational value is mixed and contradictory. We argue, contrary to extant IA literature, that this is due to the need to investigate the value to each of the home and the host organizations separately. We apply such an approach in a public sector case study using a dynamic capabilities lens, relevant given its theoretical underpinnings in value creation. Extending the IA value literature, we find that the value to the home and host differs both in type and timing, that the value to one may be detrimental to the other, and that the funding of the underlying costs of an IA is a critical feature. Understanding and assessing these factors separately is key to managing the overall combined organizational value of IAs.

Intersectional studies have examined the impact of personal characteristics upon employment experience, but little attention has been given to specificities of the neurodiverse and the military veteran. Both may possess skills and abilities that are desirable but there are several negative stereotypes that impact the acquisition and retention of work. Additionally, talent sourcing practices by employers can favour neurotypical people with a civilian background. Adopting a multi-method approach, this study explores barriers to employment and how they are compounded at the intersection of being a neurodiverse veteran (NDV). We surveyed 232 people with a medically diagnosed condition and conducted 21 semi-structured interviews to explore NDVs’ views about how the recruitment process and HR practices impact their employment relationship. Extant studies often depict the intersection of qualities to be disadvantageous for the populations studied, however, our research suggests that NDVs can have highly beneficial work capabilities. Our practical contribution includes the identification of key positive and negative aspects in the employment of NDVs and how organizations can refine their talent sourcing and management. Our theoretical contribution is made through a framework depicting the influences on NDVs’ employment relationships and a set of propositions that illuminate the intersectionality of neurodiverse and military veterans at work.

This chapter explores the effects that the ‘hostile environment’ policy of the British government and the eventual exit of the United Kingdom (UK) from the EU, has had on the careers of international workers. Using insights from the career and hostile environment literatures, it concentrates on institutional, psychological and interactional perceptions that impact individuals’ career motivations and behaviors. Specifically, we explore and illustrate this using two cases of EU citizen who have lived and worked in the UK. We trace the development of their thinking and acting in the evolving career space over time to understand the effects of ‘hostile environments’ on their well-being, their identification with the host environment, their identity, career plans and coping approaches.

What outcomes follow expatriates' international experiences? This study investigates the long-term career impact of expatriation. Utilising person-environment fit and career construction theories, we assess how job fit, career adaptability, and expatriate type influence career success. Our 202-expatriate sample had expatriation experience four to five years prior, encompassing self-initiated and assigned expatriates, as well as repatriates and re-expatriates, thus broadening the scope typically seen in expatriation studies. Results indicate that job fit, career adaptability, and expatriate type significantly affect career outcomes. Furthermore, the expatriate type moderates career adaptability's influence on career success. The study enriches our understanding of post-expatriation career success.

Joo, Aguinis, Lee, Kremer and Villamor demonstrated in their article entitled HRM's financial value from obtaining more star performers in the International Journal of Human Resource Management (HRM) the financial value of acquiring star performers by using utility analysis on 206 samples of individual performance encompassing 824,924 workers. The analyses showed that HRM adds greater financial value by obtaining more star performers. Four (teams of) scholars, Michael Sturman, Xueging Fan, and Hanbo Shim, Michal Biron, Carol Kulik, and Mark Huselid responded to an invitation to comment on this article. In this introduction of the first commentary collection, we provide short summaries of the Joo et al. article and the four commentaries and discuss future research.

This systematic literature review explores studies addressing the objective career success and subjective career success of company-assigned and self-initiated expatriates after their long-term international assignments. Expatriate work is defined as high-density work that affects employee learning and career trajectories. We develop a holistic expatriate career success framework exploring the following questions: 1) What individual career impact results from international assignments? 2) What are the antecedents of such career success? and 3) What are the outcomes of assignees’ career success? A previously neglected range of theoretical perspectives, antecedents, and outcomes of expatriate career success is identified. Subsequently, a threefold contribution is made. First, we extend the conceptualization of international work density to unveil the differences between general and global career concepts. Second, we identify promising theories that have not been utilized in expatriation research, emphasizing context-related and learning theories that chime with the specific nature of global careers. Lastly, we suggest an extensive future research agenda.

PurposeThis paper investigates whether career capital (CC) development abroad, expatriate type, career type and career stage affect expatriates' career success in terms of perceived marketability and the number of promotions.Design/methodology/approachThe study presents findings from a 2020 follow-up study among 327 expatriates, including assigned expatriates (AEs) (n = 117) and self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) (n = 220), who worked abroad in 2015 and 2016. Among that group, 186 had continued their international career, while 141 had repatriated. Structural equation modeling with robust maximum likelihood estimation was used to test this study's hypotheses. MPlus 8.6 software supported the analysis.FindingsThe study outlines that CC developed abroad positively impacts perceived marketability and the number of promotions. Second, repatriates reported a greater degree of perceived marketability than those continuing an international career. Career type did not predict the number of promotions. The expatriate type did not influence any of the career success measures. Finally, expatriates in their late-career stage did not achieve a similar level of career success as those in other career stages.Research limitations/implicationsAll the expatriates were university-educated Finnish engineers and business professionals, and the career benefits of expatriation could differ for different sample groups. The study calls for more context-sensitive global careers research. The findings have positive implications for self-guided career actors considering working abroad. Organizations could focus more of their global talent attraction, management and career efforts on SIEs.Originality/valueTo analyze the impacts of these four antecedents on the career success of expatriates, the authors cooperated with two Finnish labor unions in 2020 to explore the careers of 327 expatriates, having surveyed the same group in 2015/2016. Such follow-up studies are not very common in expatriation research since it is difficult to keep track of expatriates who change locations and employers.

Despite its evolution over the last two decades, talent management has been criticised for being too static in its approach. Drawing on matching theory and adopting an agility lens, we show how a skills-matching perspective on talent management fosters the development of strategic agility, responsive to external and internal demands. Through qualitative research encompassing 34 interviews in 15 multinational enterprises, we illustrate how a skills focus required revisiting talent strategies to facilitate initial and dynamic matching in external and internal labour markets, and we highlight key boundary conditions for skills-matching. We reveal a set of dynamic capabilities, underlying two meta-capabilities, strategic sensitivity and resource fluidity, which underpin the skills-matching process and enable strategic agility. In doing so, we shift the focus of talent management towards skills acquisition and development, and emphasise the need to look beyond traditional learning and development to alignment across the wider talent function.