Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The aims of the study were: to advance our theoretical understanding of why financial transnational corporations (TNCs) still require British professional and managerial expatriates to be posted to global financial centres (GFCs) in these times of rapid improvements in information technology (IT), and how such labour accumulates knowledge through becoming embedded in an expatriate lifestyle, undertaken in particular networks and spaces; to collect a new and unique set of quantitative and qualitative data on the existence of British expatriate transnational communities from both TNCs and expatriate themselves, in London, Singapore and New York City; to contribute to the development of methodology in migration studies and the new economic geography/sociology by adopting a multi-method approach. In order to address these research aims, the project had seven major inter-linking objectives: to create a new synthesis of migration studies and the new economic geography/sociology by dovetailing their theoretical writings; to investigate the magnitude of British expatriates who move between London and other GFCs, through the use of a postal questionnaire survey; to explore the strategies of London based financial TNCs in their use of expatriation by interviewing Directors of Human Resources (DHRs) in advanced producer services; to use focus group research to provide a study of London-based repatriated labour; to collect unique data through a combination of semi-structured interview surveys and time-space diaries, thus providing an original insight into the networks of British expatriates in Singapore and New York City.
Main Topics:
The postal questionnaire sought data on the geography of expatriation within London based transnational financial corporations for 1998 and 1990. These data show expatriation/inpatriation information for 161 firms. For individual data columns: Sector - records the sector of the firm (e.g. banking) and is coded 1 to 6. World Offices - records the number of offices the firm has world-wide. London Office - records the number of professional staff employed in the London office. Global Staff - records the number of professional staff employed throughout the firm's world office network. Expatriation - records whether the firm is actively involved in expatriation, and is coded 1 to 3 (e.g. 1 = Yes). Outflow 1998 - records the total number of professional expatriates who left London in 1998. Outflow 1990 - records the total number of professional expatriates who left London in 1990. Time-scale - records the time-scale of expatriation, and is coded 1 to 3 (e.g. 1 = 1 to 2 years). 7. Rationale - records the organizational rationale for expatriation, and is coded 1 to 5 (e.g. 1 = As part of a management development programme). No Expats. - records the rationale for the firm not using expatriates, and is coded 1 to 5 (e.g. 1 = Your organization operates only in the UK). Inpatriation - records whether the firm is actively involved in receiving foreign staff into London, and is coded 1 to 3 (e.g. 1 = Yes). Inflow 1998 - records the total number of professional foreign workers entering London in 1998. Inflow 1990 - records the total number of professional foreign workers entering London in 1990. Time-scale - records the time-scale of foreign postings to London, and is coded 1 to 3 (e.g. 1 = 1 to 2 years). 11. Rationale - records the organizational rationale for posting foreign workers into london, and is coded 1 to 5 (e.g. 1 = As part of a management development programme).
Quota sample
Postal survey
