Cosmopolitan career choices: a cross-cultural study of job candidates' expatriation willingness

Abstract

Cosmopolitanism, i.e. openness to divergent cultural experiences, has become a desired characteristic of today's global managers. This study investigates the antecedents of cosmopolitanism and expatriation willingness as a final outcome. The results of surveys in Germany and South Korea demonstrate that cosmopolitanism is a strong predictor of job candidates' expatriation willingness. However, there are some differences in the antecedents of cosmopolitanism between the respondents from the two countries. Living and travelling abroad increase cosmopolitanism for Germans, whereas they have no effect on Koreans. For Germans, cosmopolitanism mediates the relationship between various international exposure variables and expatriation willingness. Explanations and practical implications are provided.