Understanding self‐initiated expatriates: Career experiences of Lebanese self‐initiated expatriates in France

Abstract Drawing on a field study based on interviews with 43 Lebanese skilled self‐initiated expatriates from the Paris region in France and six policymakers and immigration specialists, the article offers an alternative to theories of management that frame expatriate careers as either organizationally or individually driven. In doing so, we explicate how the international work experiences of self‐initiated expatriates can be captured in ways true to their nature as multifaceted and multilevel phenomena. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.