The impact of gender and location on the willingness to accept overseas assignments

Abstract

Business students in two universities were queried regarding their willingness to accept international postings. In contrast to Adler's (1984a, 19 86) findings, gender was a significant predictor when specific referent countries were identified. Country characteristics considered here included cultural distance (or the difference between the cultures of the respondent's home country and that of the referent location) and the levels of development and political risk in the referent country. Differences among countries on indices of cultural distance and human development explained substantial variance among males and females in their willingness to accept international assignments. Political risk, however, was not significant in explaining these gender differences.