Master Thesis

How do Greek Self-Initiated Expatriates residing in Denmark account for their international mobility?

Nikolaos Papageorgiou MSc in International Business Aarhus Business School Supervisor: Jakob Lauring September 2011

1. INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1 2. THEORY REVIEW....................................................................................................................3 2.1 Introduction in Theory.........................................................................................................3 2.2 International Migration within the European Union...........................................................3 2.3 Highly-skilled immigration.................................................................................................4 2.3.1 Highly-skilled Immigration to Denmark.....................................................................5 2.4 Highly-skilled Outmigration flows from Greece................................................................6 2.5 What constitutes a SIE?......................................................................................................7 2.5.1 SIEs compared to immigrants.....................................................................................7 2.5.2 SIEs compared to OEs...............................................................................................10 2.6 The Self Initiated Expatriation Literature - A Review.......................................................14 2.7 Why do people relocate?...................................................................................................15 2.7.1 How traditional Immigration Literature explains immigration flows.......................15 2.7.2 How SIE literature explains expatriation flows........................................................17 2.8 Relationships as a reason to relocate in literature.............................................................19 2.8.1 Ways to incorporate relationships as a motive to relocate in existing literature.......20 2.9 Students and global mobility.......................................................................................21 3..METHODOLOGY...................................................................................................................23 3.1 Qualitative and quantitative methods................................................................................23 3.1.1 Quantitative research...............................................................................................23 3.1.2 Qualitative research...................................................................................................23 3.1.3 Reliability and validity..............................................................................................24

3.2 Collecting the data.........................................................................................................25

3.2.1 Method for data collection........................................................................................25 3.2.2 Preparing for the interviews......................................................................................26 3.2.3 The sample.................................................................................................................27 3.2.4 Conducting the interviews.........................................................................................27

3.3 Handling the data...........................................................................................................28

3.3.1Transcribing and translating.......................................................................................28 3.3.2 Analysing and coding the data...................................................................................29 4 EMPIRICAL PART...................................................................................................................30 4.1 The decision to leave Greece.............................................................................................30 4.1.1 Discussion.................................................................................................... ........38 4.2 The decision to come to Denmark.....................................................................................39 4.2.1 Discussion.................................................................................................................47 4.2.1.1 A general randomness.......................................................................................48 4.2.1.2 Relative attractiveness of Denmark..................................................................48 4.3 The decision to stay - initial or evolving?.........................................................................49

4.3.1 Discussion.................................................................................................................54 4.4 Future plans.......................................................................................................................55 4.4.1 Return in Greece........................................................................................................55 4.4.1.1 Motivating and deterring factors.......................................................................56 4.4.1.2 Intention and time plan of return......................................................................58 4.4.1.3 Discussion.........................................................................................................59 4.4.2 Intention of staying in Denmark...............................................................................61 4.4.2.1 Discussion.........................................................................................................63 5 CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................66 5.1 The findings of the thesis..................................................................................................66 5.2 Practical implications for Denmark..................................................................................67 6 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................................69

7 APPENDIX...................................................................................................................78

1. INTRODUCTION In today's world, the issue of international mobility is becoming more and more relevant to our societies, as it is commonly acknowledged that people tend to cross borders more than they did in the past. This mobility can take many forms, like family reunification, student mobility, job seeking (Pedersen et al, 2008) and others. Lately, literature has started to become more aware of a specific part of these international flows, the immigration of the highly-skilled and educated persons (Khoo et al, 2010). This relocation of highly-skilled individuals is often differentiated from other forms of immigration, by being called expatriation (Dumont & Lemaitre, 2005). Expatriation is a common phenomenon that is expected to rise more, due to the developments of global economy (Richardson & McKenna, 2002). So far, the expatriation literature has mainly focused on expatriates sent abroad by their companies (from now on called Organisational Expatriates, or OEs), and is dealing with matters related to the organisation's internal function. (Fitzgerald & Rostellan, 2008). In the last decade though, a new body of literature that deals with persons that were not sent abroad by a parent company but individually chose to expatriate is developing. These individuals are generally called Self-Initiated Expatriates (from now on referred to as SIEs) and the literature dealing with them SIE literature. Self-initiated mobility is becoming increasingly more common (Thorn, 2009) and there is evidence that suggests that SIEs constitute a much bigger and therefore more influential group than OEs (Carr et al, 2005). It is therefore surprising that only recently they captured the attention of academical community. A lot of authors have noted the relevant dearth of studies on them, a dearth so evident that SIES have been called "an almost hidden aspect of the international labour market" (Jokinen et al, 2008). In terms of what influences the decision to relocate, SIE literature differs from traditional immigration studies because it is focusing on the individual's perception instead of examining macro-economical factors (Al Ariss & Syed, 2011). Although the focus is into individual and not structural factors, these individual international moves result in macro-level shifts in the countries involved (Carr et al, 2005), something commonly known as Brain Gain and Brain Drain. Indeed, because of the huge benefits that these professionals can bring to their host countries, but also because the demographic trends of developed counties make them unable to cover their needs for skilled workforce with their own human capital (Al Ariss & Syed, 2011), the global competition for the attraction and retention of SIEs is strong (Thorn, 2009). Therefore, it 1

is imperative to know pacifically what influences the mobility of this category of people, so countries can better attract and retain them (Doherty et al, 2011). Under this light, this thesis is trying to build on and maybe add to the existing body of SIE literature, by examining what influences the international relocation decisions of Greek SIEs residing in Denmark, according to their own perception. So, the research question is formed like that: "How do Greek Self-Initiated Expatriates residing in Denmark account for their international mobility?" This, from a subjective point of view, is a topic close to the heart of the researcher, since she is an expatriate herself, from an academical point of view one of the limited so far studies on factors that influence SIE mobility, and from a practical point of view something that could potentially help to better understand factors that influence SIE's moves in and out of Denmark. Although in SIE literature relocation is usually studied as a holistic process, it was felt that in this thesis's case it could be better examined if it was broken in more specific parts. Hence, the mobility of Greek SIEs was broken down, in a somewhat chronological order, or in the form of research prepositions, in the following parts that try to present the whole picture of these persons' mobility; past and future. What influences the decision to leave Greece? What influences the decision to come in Denmark? For the people that already have been here for some years: Was the decision for a more permanent stay initial or evolving? And finally: What are the future plans of the expatriates? These questions/parts are tried to be answered in the Empirical part.

2. THEORY REVIEW 2.1 Introduction in Theory This kind of people that this thesis deals with has been called a number of related terms, like self-directed expatriates (Inkson et al, 1997), SFEs, from self-initiated foreign work experience (Suutari, 2000), free movers (Favell 2003, 2008; Gaspar, 2009) and SIEs, from Self-Initiated Expatriates (Lee, 2005; Fitzgrald & Rostellan, 2008). In this thesis the term SIEs will be used when referring to these people, even if the referred articles use another terminology. The Theory part is structured in the following manner: First, the current situation and trends on intra-European relocation are presented. Then, since the study group consists of highly educated people who relocated, facts about highly skilled migration and its flows towards Denmark and outwards Greece will be presented respectively. Then, in order to clear up the topic of what exactly a SIE is, SIEs will be contrasted with immigrants on one hand, and OEs on the other and a brief review of the topics that SIE literature has studied so far will be given. After that, an attempt will be made to show how traditional immigration literature accounts for immigration flows, how this is inappropriate in order to explain the international movement of highly skilled professionals, and how the SIE body of literature explains this movement. Also, since a lot of people from the study group had a Danish partner before they came here while others stayed after having taken a Danish degree, the topic of relationships as reasons to expatriate and the phenomenon of international student mobility will be tauched respectively. 2.2 International Migration within the European Union European integration was founded on the principles of the free movement of goods, capital, services and people. People like the ones this thesis is dealing with, who have relocated autonomously from one EU country to another. This right, to move and work in any Member State without any restrictions, is one of the fundamental rights of EU citizens and is safeguarded by EU legislation. EU formation has certainly boosted intraEuropean mobility (Favell, 2003), but despite the legislative framework, data shows that only 4% of Europeans have ever relocated from their home country, temporarily or permanently (Eurofound, 2006). Reasons for this rather small mobility may be found in various legal and social barriers like problems of health care entitlements, social security issues, the breaking of social ties in the home country or the lack of language 3

skills of the future host country (Dobson, 2009). Nevertheless, the numbers are rising, as new forms of mobility besides the traditional guest worker from the South to the North have grown. These new forms include retirement migration, young people relocating in metropolitan hubs like London and Paris, expatriate assignment, and students studying in other Member States. In general, the social composition of intraEuropean migrants has changed, as nowadays they tend to be better educated and highly skilled people, motivated by various other reasons than just to work (PIONEUR, 2006), thus being closer to the term expatriate rather than migrant, as the following paragraphs will illustrate.

2.3 Highly-skilled immigration One of the defining characteristics of contemporary immigration is the bifurcation between skilled and unskilled immigration (Khoo et. Al, 2011). Highly skilled immigrants are normally defined as having a university degree or extensive experience in a given field (Iredale, 2001). The number of skilled immigrants is continously increasing in a global level (Al Ariss & Syed 2010) and even though they represent only a small segment of migration flows, it is the segment that is growing at a fastest rate (Iredale, 2001; Agullo et al., 2009). Although the total number of skilled professional migrants at any given point is unknown, at 2000 they were estimated to be 1.5 million from developing countries to the industrial countries alone (Iredale, 2001). In the European level, the number of skilled immigrants is steadily on the rise as well, with the bulk of movement being done towards the Western countries(Kelo & Wchter, 2004). While unskilled immigration is generally discouraged by receiving countries, skilled migration is encouraged (Khoo et. Al, 2011). This is because the wealth of a country is also represented in the human capital they possess, and a main challenge for OECD countries in the near future will be that they will have fewer people to enter the job market and cover their needs due to the increasing number of elder people and the decreasing fertility rates (Al Ariss & Syed 2010). This has led to a sort of competition between countries in order to attract skilled people and enhance their human capital stocks (Khoo et. Al, 2011). Because of that competition, in general the highly skilled are subject to fewer migration restrictions that their unskilled co-patriates, as countries want to attract them to be globally competitive (Agullo et al., 2009) This tight competition means that some countries will be winners, receiving from around the world the educated professionals they need (what is referred to as Brain 4

Gain) while others will be losing their human capital (Brain Drain). Although normally poor and developing countries suffer a Brain Drain, while developed ones enjoy Brain Gain, there is a number of developed countries, like New Zealand, Canada and Australia, that experience a net loss of human capital (Thorn, 2009). In the European context, in the Northern nations, there is a commonly expressed concern about highly educated people who, partly due to the high taxation, are leaving to work abroad (Suutari & Brewster, 2000). Indeed, a lot of educated Danish people choose to expatriate and statistics, including only highly skilled expatriation to and from OECD countries, reveal that -in the OECD level- Denmark suffers a net loss of brains .
1

(Dumont & Lemaitre, 2005) and Denmark has identified this loss of highly skilled people as an issue of economical importance (Thorn, 2009). 2.3.1 Highly-skilled Immigration to Denmark But of course, the picture of professional mobility in Denmark does not contain only Danes leaving the country. A lot of foreigners are coming every year to work in Denmark. As said before, in order to attract the professionals that they need and ease their entry, countries are relaxing their policies (Iredale, 2001) and a number of European countries, including Denmark, have implemented measures targeted that exempt the highly skilled from the regulations that apply for other immigrants (Kelo & Wchter, 2004). Indeed, Denmark's immigration policies, although stiffening for other kinds of immigrants, are leaning towards attracting highly qualified professionals (Liebig, 2007). Since 2005 a Positive List of specific types of jobs that are needed, like civil engineers, IT specialists and managers is in use by the Ministry of Integration in order to facilitate the issue of work and residence permits for these people (Expat Study, 2010). Also, a gross income tax rate of 25% or 33% per cent has been implemented since 2008 for special categories of knowledge workers. But political action goes even further than that. At April 2010, a taskforce of several ministries of the Government has agreed on a series of initiatives in order for Denmark to better attract international professionals (Expat Study, 2010). The business world seems to be well aware of the need to attract foreign talents in Denmark as well. In January 2010, the Consortium for Global Talent, an organisation comprised by the 15 largest Danish companies was created. Its purpose is it to : attract 1When highly skilled migrants that came in Denmark from outside the OECD zone are counted in,
Denmark presents a better picture. It shows a brain gain, but one cannot say for sure, because in that study Danish expatriates in countries outside the OECD were not counted in.

and retain skilled global professionals in Denmark and improve the conditions for foreign professionals and their families and to contribute to make Denmark one of the best places to live, study and work in and for that purpose it is working closely with the Government and the Ministries. It looks like business and politicians alike have understood the need to attract foreign professionals. An example of the business sector and the government working together on this issue is that the network ''Expat in Denmark'' is jointly run by the Danish Ministry of Economics and Business Affairs (Danish name) and a consortium made up of the Danish Chamber of Commerce (Dansk Erhverv), The Copenhagen Post, and the Danish Bankers Association. 2.4 Highly-skilled Outmigration flows from Greece Greece has traditionally been an immigrant-senting country. In its latest history -after 1900-, for reasons having to do with economy and the political turmoil of the period, Greeks, mainly unskilled workers and political refugees, were massively emigrating to Western industrialized nations. The phenomenon was so intense, that for example, from 1950 to 1974 it is estimated that a total of 1,155,000 Greeks emigrated, a number that represents the amount of 13% of the -then- county's population (Gavaki, 1977; Lianos, 2004). After 1975, the phenomenon of outmigration continued, but at a smaller scale. Nowadays, Greece is experiencing a resurge of the outmigration phenomenon, but in a different form. The people who choose to leave their motherland behind, are mainly not unskilled workers, but young, highly educated and skilled people. This modern Greek Brain Drain phenomenon, has been studied very recently, although it is a well-known fact for a lot of years. In his book that studies the Greek graduates that work abroad, Lambrianidis (2011:264) finds out that the high educational level of these people is surprising: 73% of them holds a Master degree, while 51% holds a F degree along with the Master. When they found their first job abroad, 80% of them had one Master degree, or higher. It is also rather interesting to note that 41% of them have studied in some of the 100 top Universities in the world. No matter whether they studied in Greece or abroad, the majority of them (60,9%) have not even looked for a job in Greece, before they decided to go or to stay abroad. Lambrianidis attributes the modern Greek Brain Drain to the fact that these graduates cannot find jobs in Greece in accordance to their qualifications, the familiarity with foreign environments through travels and international educational programmes and the common EU job market. Under the light of the recent economical crisis in Greece, it would not be far from 6

wrong to believe that this phenomenon will only intensify. According to data from the Greek Organisation for Employment (a governmental organisation), at 2010, the people who asked for information regarding employment in another EU country have been double the ones that did so at 2009 and triple the ones that did so at 2008 (To Vima, 3/1/2011).Another indicator is that the search phrase "Jobs outside Greece" has had a very steep frequency increase after 2009 according to a presentation from Google Greece. 2.5 What constitutes a SIE? Maybe one of the most accurate definition of what a SIE is, is the one given by Myers & Pringle (2005) who define SIE experiences as long-term individually initiated travels to other countries to pursue cultural, personal and career development experiences. The points of importance here are long term, which means that they are settling down in the host country, which differentiates them from sojourners, individually initiated, which contrasts them to OEs who are sent by their companies, and the purpose; to pursue cultural, personal and career development which, along with the free and not forced nature of movement sets them apart from immigrants, who are characterized by a forced nature of movement and/or economical motives. The SIE body of literature, although growing, is not as extended as the Immigration or Organizational Expatriation literature is and a lot of authors have noted the relevant dearth of studies in this field (Brewster & Suutari, 2005; Jokinen et al, 2008). In order to get a better understanding of what exactly a SIE is, they are following contrasted with Immigrants on one hand, and OEs on the other. These comparisons might seem long, but they will present some very important facts that one needs to know about SIEs. These facts are chosen to be presented in this contrasted way, because like that they also define, as much as possible, the kind of people this thesis is dealing with, with other, often related and mistaken for, categories of relocated people.

2.5.1 SIEs compared to immigrants The definition as a SIE is a very foggy issue, because of the relationship with adjacent terms like sojourner and immigrant (Richardson and Jelena Zikic, 2007). Sojourners are defined as individuals who travel to a foreign country, voluntarily, on a temporary basis and for a distinct, usually non-business purpose(Harrison et al, 2004) .The term sojourner will not be referred in this thesis anymore, because the controversy in 7

literature is focused between the terms SIE and immigrant. Both the terms immigrant and SIE are used to describe an individual that leaves her home country to seek employment in another. This two terms, although they denote two different categories of people, are not clearly defined (Richardson & Zikic, 2007), and are used in an inconsistent way in literature. (Al Ariss, 2010a). The purpose of the following section is not to define exactly what a SIE is as opposed to an immigrant, since such an agreement in terminology has not been reached, but to present the view the literature holds on the topic so far. Al Ariss, (2010), while doing a review of how the literature uses these two terms, defines four main themes on which immigrants differentiate from SIEs: The geographical origin and destination of international mobility, the forced or chosen nature of the movement, the period of stay abroad and the status of the migrant as opposed to this of a SIE in the host country. These four themes that Al Ariss identified are presented, discussed and enriched with further insights form the literature.

Geographical origin and destination The term expatriate means literally one that lives out of his homeland (From ex="out of" + the Latin patrie="native land". The noun is from 1818 and meant "one who has been banished". The modern sense of "one who chooses to live abroad" is from 1902 (Online Etymology Dictionary). In fact, this by itself, living abroad, is for some authors an adequate reason for an individual to be considered a SIE, without any further limitations (Vance, 2005; Lee, 2005; Fitzgerald & Rostellan, 2008). Although the word by itself does not differentiate between the type of countries the movement is made from and to, SIEs are mainly considered by some authors to relocate from a developed home country to another one (Doherty & Dickmann, 2008), developed or not. Others do not make this distinction thought, considering as SIEs also persons who move from developing to developed countries (Fitzgerald & Rostellan, 2008 ; Al Ariss & zbilgin, 2010; Lee, 2005). Immigrants on the other hand, are generally thought to be moving from developing to developed countries (Baruch et al, 2007). Nature of movement Migrants are supposed to be driven to relocation by factors outside their control (Al Ariss, 2010), like economical or asylum reasons (Robinson, V. 2002), while SIEs are considered to be free to relocate to their country of choice independently (Inkson et al.,

1997; Crowley-Henry, 2007). An issue mentioned by Al Ariss here, is also that the motives that drive an individual to relocate in the first place, and the reasons that make her eventually remain in the host country might differ, as new reasons emerge. This leads to Richardson (2006) that also spoke of emerging reasons that make expatriates stay longer that initially planned, and it is pointing our attention to the fact that if we accept certain differentiating factors between SIEs and Immigrants, the status of an individual between SIE and immigrant can also change over time. It is also something that this thesis touches, as it deals with also with people that have stayed here for a lot of time and have developed bonds of their own with Denmark, that kept them here. Period of stay The period of stay in the host country as a differentiating characteristic of migrants and SIEs seems to be quite blurry in literature, as some authors consider it to be a factor on whether one can be consider a SIE, while others do not. This dimension can be considered to have two factors: Actual duration of stay so far, and intended duration of stay. A lot of authors (Inkson & Myers, 2003), Bozionelos,2009) are not making a distinction between SIEs and migrants in terms of time. Others (Agullo & Egawa, 2009) point out that SIEs have a more temporary mode of residence than immigrants. For some authors, a SIE can only remain in the host country for a certain time, after which she is then considered an immigrant (Thorn, 2009; Al Ariss & zbilgin, 2010). Richardson for example, in her studies of SIEs, does not include persons who have been residing in the host country for more than 10 years. Regarding the intended duration of stay, a lot of authors state that SIEs relocate without a concrete time plan (Al Ariss 2010a, Doherty et. al., 2011), although they might eventually come to stay in the host country permanently. From a philosophical point of view, the French-Algerian sociologist Sayad describes this ambiguity by explaining that one no longer knows if migration concerns a temporary condition, which one is content to prolong indefinitely, or, on the other hand, if it is more a permanent state in which one must live with an intense feeling of the temporary (Sayad, 2004). The intention to stay or not in the host country is a dynamic process and changes over time. This however, leads the discussion to something previously discussed too, that if one accepts certain limitations on who can be considered a SIE, then the status of an individual can change over time from a SIE to a migrant. Again, an example from Richardsons studies is offered, where she does not consider as SIEs 9

persons who intend to prolong their stay in the host country for ever, although a time limit in their return plans was not specified. Others thought, (Suutari & Brewster, 2000) study as SIEs also persons who are willing to accept a more permanent stay abroad. From the literature review, it seems that even the scholars who accept a distinction between SIEs and immigrants on the duration of stay theme, do not draw a clear line between these two. Status in host country Finally, the term migrant seems to imply a negative condition, somewhat unwelcome and inferior, and maybe a burden to the host society, while the term SIE is connected with more positive views, such as being accustomed and motivated to interact with the host country nationals (Al Ariss, 2010). Furthermore, besides this integration aspect, they seem to be not an economical burden, but an advantage for the host country. SIEs are seen as a key global resource (Inkson et al, 1997) whose enormous potential benefits for the host countries should be utilized (Carr et al, 2005).

2.5.2 SIEs compared to OEs While, as explained above, a SIE is a person that chooses to go work abroad individually, OEs are employees who leave their home country temporarily in order to complete an assignment in a foreign subsidiary that was given to them by their company, lasting anywhere from a few months up to a few years, and then return back to the home organization after it is completed (Cerdin &Pargneux, 2010). Although there is evidence that suggests that globally the number of SIEs working is greater than the number of OEs (Carr et al, 2005; Doherty et al, 2011, Expat Study, 2010), they have received much less attention from scholars so far (Fitzgerald & Rostellan, 2008; Biemann & Andersen, 2010) and direct comparison of SIEs and OEs has been minimal in literature (Doherty et al, 2011). Nonetheless, there is a number of studies that explore the possible differences between these two kinds of expatriates. In order to present these differences, the typology of differences that Suutari & Brewster used in 2000 will be used too, namely Source of initiative, Source of funding, Goals for foreign job and Career type, enriching them with further insights from recent theory and adding at the end some other differences as well.

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Source of initiative For SIEs, the source of the initiative for expatriation comes from the individual, not the employer (Inkson et al, 1997). Also, the fact that they come independently, might mean that they are motivated by high unemployment and perceived constraints of the domestic labour market, as Suutari and Brewster (2000) showed. This fits with Dohertys et. al.,(2011) study, which showed that SIEs place much more importance than OEs on the status of the host country, and the potential for a successful career there.

Source of funding For OEs the source of funding for their international move is the company salary, while for SIEs it is their personal savings and casual earnings (Inkson et al, 1997). Jobs are usually not prearranged, but especially for young people (Suutari & Brewster, 2000), they are found on the host country (Inkson et al, 1997). This adventurous spirit was noticed also by Inkson and Myers (2003) who suggested that often SIEs engage in little planning, something that was confirmed by Richardson and Mallon (2005), who found that serendipity played a major role for self-initiated British academics.

Goals for the foreign job For OEs, the explicit goal of their relocation is to perform a specific organizational task. For SIEs the goals are more diffused and holistic, such as adventure, exploration, and the individuals development in general (Inkson et al, 1997; Doherty et al, 2011). OEs also have their personal goals, such as financial benefits and personal interest in the assignment but career progression within the organization plays a major role (Dowling and Welch, 2004). SIEs, since they are willing to undertake suck a task without the backing of an organization, have a much higher motivation towards an international career and experience (Suutari, 2000). In Dohertys et al (2011) comparative study of OEs and SIEs, career related factors played a significantly higher role in the decision to go abroad for OEs, indicating that, in the absence of the more holistic factors that SIEs feature, their desire for an international experience is coupled more explicitly with career development and progression. It seems that for SIEs, career aspirations go hand to hand with their life path, rather than lead it (Doherty et al, 2011). 11

Career type OEs and SIEs differ in terms of the career type they follow, the former being described as organizational career and the latter being described as boundaryless career (e.g., Inkson et al, 1997; Jokinen et al., 2008). OEs depend on the organization for support and career guidance on their international move, and their career path unfolds upwards inside the organization (Inkson et al 1997; Suutari & Brewster, 2000;). They achieve seniority with time and age (Thorn ,2009a), while often the international move itself is often seen as a preparation for further ascendance (Suutari, 2000; Dowling & Welch. 2004) These careers are careers conceived to unfold in a single employment setting(Arthur & Rousseau 1996, 5). Lately, contemporary business realities such as a shift towards a knowledgebased economy, telecommunication advancements, more flexible working conditions, job insecurity, increased individualism and decreased loyalty to the organization have lead to a re-assessment of career theory and the development of an alternative model of career progression; the boundaryless career concept (Crowley-Henry, 2007). The work experiences of individuals who embark on a boundaryless career unfold not only across multiple organizations, jobs and occupations, but also countries. This way, self-initiated expatriation can be described as the most extreme form of a boundaryless career (Thorn, 2009). The main characteristic of these new international careers is that they are selfmanaged, as the persons are individually taking charge of their career trajectory, meaning that they plan, design and evaluate it themselves, instead of relying on the organizations to define it. (Inkson et al, 1997; Carr et al., 2005). This also means that their identity is less based on their job or the organization they work for, as it is for the people who follow traditional careers, but is developed around skills and competencies and they are prepared for frequent interorganisational moves (Biemann, 2010). A further concept situated inside the context of the boundaryless career is the protean career (Gratton, Zaleska, and de Menezes, 2002, Hall and Harrington,2004;). The protean career suggests a more holistic approach to someones career, where work is not playing the central role, but people are aligning their career path in order to fit with their personal life-style. Here, the criteria for success are not external, but internal, relying on the individuals perception of how much the work outcomes are valued against their own personal goals and the persons' core values are freedom and growth (Crowley-Henry, 2007). The protean career, as Hall & Harrington (2004) put it, 12

represents the subjective perspective of the individual careerist who faces the external career realities of the boundaryless career (Briscoe & Hall, 2002) In general, for protean careerists, the drivers of behaviour are value-based and, as in the boundaryless career, they exhibit self-directed career management which appears to transcend organizations. (Doherty et. al., 2011). It is argued by authors that SIEs have the characteristics of a protean careerist (Doherty et. Al., 2011, Biemann), because, as said before, their move abroad seems to be supported by more holistic factors, while OEs exhibit motivations and behaviours focused on job and work issues, where the desire to have an international experience is more centrally part of the individuals organizational career development.

Other differences OEs are sent by their companies in order to fill in roles or transfer knowledge, so they usually work in high level positions, while SIEs are working in lower levels in the organizations hierarchy (Suutari & Brewster, 2000 ), performing less challenging roles (Doherty, 2011). This is because they are a more heterogeneous group that includes people in their early career stages along with more experienced people who have chosen an international career (Suutari & Brewster, 2000). Indeed, the literature suggests that in general SIEs start their international career at a younger age than OEs (Doherty, 2011; Biemann, 2010). They are also more likely to be single, or if they are married, then they have a much higher possibility of having a spouse abroad (Suutari, 2000), a fact that underlines the importance of social factors in expatriation. They exhibit a higher organizational mobility in their careers and have more intentions to change organizations (Biemann, 2010). Also, although research has indicated that both SIEs and OE place the same amount of importance to their career, career orientation remains relatively stable for SIEs over different age groups, whereas it declines for OEs with increasing age (Biemann, 2010). Not surprisingly, The SIEs are more willing to prolong their stay in the host country, or accept another position abroad than the OEs, who are more willing to return home after their assignment is over (Suutari & Brewster, 2000; Doherty et al, 2011). This reflects the earlier insights that SIEs have a somewhat unplanned nature of stay in the host country. Furthermore, SIEs feel a greater urge to integrate in the local environment, and appear to be better integrated than OEs are, because of the more holistic and personal character of their choice to be specifically there. (Sargent, 2002; Peltokorpi, 2008). As a 13

supporting point on that, Doherty et al (2011) showed that SIEs feel that the host location played a much bigger role in their decision to expatriate than OEs do.

2.6 The Self Initiated Expatriation Literature - A Review The SIE literature starts at 1997 with Inkson et. al., who studied the common phenomenon of international travel and experience abroad for young New Zealanders during their years after graduation. In 2000, Suutari and Brewster, while studying the differences between OE and SIE Finnish engineers, extended the original study group of Inkson et al. by more experienced individuals who independently chose an international career. Since then, SIEs have been studied from a lot of different perspectives. A number of studies contrast SIEs and OEs in different themes. They have been contrasted in terms of work and non-work related adjustment in the host country (Sargent, 2002;Peltokorpi, 2008), of the type of career they follow (Biemann, 2010), their relevant development of career capital (Jokinen et al., 2008), their career anchors -roughly meaning the factors that define their career orientation- (Cedrin & Pargneux, 2010) and their motives for expatriation (Doherty et al, 2011). Other studies focus on specific types of SIEs. Inkson and associates have kept studying self-initiated New Zealanders in terms of the effect of their experience abroad in their career development (1999; 2003), the motivations to stay abroad versus returning home (2005), and as a talent flow (2005). Akram Al Ariss, being interested in self-initiated skilled workers that belong to an ethnic minority in the host country, has studied their career experiences and how they cope with the barriers they face (2010). Richardson and associates have studied British SIE academics. They have focused on their motives for expatriation, their perception of its value for their career development and their boundaryless careers (2002; 2005), the role of family on self initiated expatriation (2006), the feelings of transience and risk that self-initiated expatriation raises (2007), the SIEs relationships with their home and host country (2006) and the need for realistic descriptions on work and non-work related issues from the prospective employers to the prospective SIEs (2008). Based on the taxonomy of motives for expatriation that Richardson and associates created, Selmer and Lauring further extended the scope of the above papers by examining how the reasons for expatiation can differ according to the individuals inherent (2010) demographics, using a large number of international academics.

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Some authors have focused on the influences of gender in self-initiated expatriation. Male and female SIEs have been compared in terms of reasons and experience of expatriation (Myers et al, 2005; Tharenou, 2009), family dependencies and how they influence the willingness to expatriate and the realization of this willingness (Tharenou, 2008) and reasons to repatriate and opportunities while abroad and after repatriation (Tharenou, 2009). Fitzgerald & Rostellan (2008), using a sample of only female SIEs have studied their motives and experiences of expatriation. Finally, other studies have dealt with the development of the receptivity of the idea to work abroad on possible future SIEs (Tharenou, 2003) and the SIEs motives for mobility (Thorn, 2009), while Vance (2005) has developed a taxonomy of strategies that SIEs follow in order to relocate. SIEs have also been studied in terms of underemployment and its consequences (Lee, 2005), and the influence of job characteristics and the employee demographics on the organizational commitment of SIEs (Bhuian et al, 2001). 2.7 Why do people relocate? Although, as explained before, the terms SIE and immigrant are sometimes used interchangeably, two distinct and disconnected bodies of literature, SIE and Immigration literature exist, which do not share and use each others insights(Al Ariss & zbilgin, 2010). Following, the way these two different bodies of literature account for international people flows is presented.

2.7.1 How traditional Immigration Literature explains immigration flows A very generic way to view migration was proposed by Lee in 1966. Lee divided factors that affect migration in two categories: Pull and Push. Push factors are things that are negative about the home country and are driving the person to immigrate, while push factors are the things that attract this person to a specific area. Economical reasons in this theory are one more factor among others, such as demographic pressure, low living standards, natural disasters, security, ech. The nature of this theory is such, that it can explain any kind of migration, forced or voluntary (Datta, 1998). Traditionally, immigration literature has mainly focused on the macroeconomical factors in order to explain immigration flows (Remund, 2010) and when reviewing the literature for the most often cited push and pull factors, economic and labour-market aspects are in a top position (Kelo & Wchter, 2004). Labour market 15

inequalities, meaning unemployment at home and employment opportunities at the host country and income maximization are seen as the core of the explanatory model (Verwiebe et al, 2010). This is based on the hypothesis formulated by Hicks at 1932, stating that differences in net economic advantages, chiefly differences in wages, are the main causes of migration (Hicks, 1932, from Dustmann et al, 2003). According to Hicks, if legal and institutional barriers are absent, the main determinant of migration decision is the difference in wages between sending and receiving country and the migration costs. Following this logic, models that describe migration flows have been constructed, and in the simplest framework, the decision of individual i (i = 1n) in source country h to migrate to destination country f can be expressed as: di= wfi whi z c > 0 where wfi, whi are the earnings of that individual in destination (f for foreign) and source (h for home) countries respectively, zi is the individuals compensating differential in favor of h, and c is the direct cost of migration.(Hatton and Williamson, 2002). A large part of literature though is focusing on non-economical factors that influence migration decisions. The most prominent of these themes are Network Migration and Marriage Migration. Network Migration is referring to the phenomenon where immigrants prefer to immigrate in countries where a same-nationality community is already settled at (Haug, 2008). Marriage Migration refers to the phenomenon of already established immigrants importing host-nationals with the purpose of marrying them (elikaksoy, 2003), or (mostly) women from developing countries marrying men from developed ones (Delia, 2007). Both of these themes are irrelevant to the topic of this thesis, which has to do with highly-skilled professionals who independently chose to relocate, but they underscore the social tone that the decision to relocate can have, although immigration authors argue that they should not be viewed as some alternative to the economic model and that economical reasons still dominate the decision (Hatton, 2002). These non-economical factors that influence migration can also be attempted to be represented in the above equation in an an economical way, represented in the zi and in the c differential. For example in network migration the social factors can be incorporated in this economical model in two ways: By viewing them as a part of z i, meaning that the other immigrants already there are increasing the destination-specific utility and reducing the loss of ethnic capital that happens during the migration, or as a part of c, meaning that the other immigrants are directly reducing the costs of 16

immigration by providing loans or gifts to the newcomer (Hatton, 2002). This initial macroeconomic approach to immigration decisions was and still is the target of much critique regarding its ability to explain patterns of immigration and especially of highly skilled immigration. (Bach, S., 2007). Even at 1989, Winchie & Carment were criticizing the focus on economic motives for explaining the movement of people and raising the question: if such factors affect everyone, why do only some move? Academics who were following this train of thought -called the individualistic school of immigration research- stated that it is not that much the actual factors at origin and destination that affect migration, but rather the individual's perception of these factors (Verwiebe et al, 2010). These thoughts led to an increasing study of the individual level expectations, perceptions and demographic characteristics. Over the last two decades, the macro-migration systems have lost the importance they initially held. The focus has shifted towards individual migration patterns and an attention to the individual's characteristics and how they influence the decision to immigrate.(Remund, 2010). An outcome of this shift is the SIE literature (Jackson et al, 2005), that focuses on the individual motives and experiences of expatriation of highly skilled professionals. In general thought, and especially regarding the specific topic of high-skilled immigration (that is the theme this thesis is dealing with), the body of immigration literature is still focusing on macro-factors like brain gain, brain drain and migrants' remittances, making it inappropriate in order to examine the individuals motives (Al Ariss & Syed, 2010). The SIE literature that is developing at the moment on the other hand, is somewhat disconnected from the macro-context of immigration (Jokinen et al., 2008), looking for more variant and subjective factors that influence the decision to relocate. Therefore it seems to be more in focus of the individual choices and career development and thus more adequate for studying individual attitudes and perceptions.

2.7.2 How SIE literature explains expatriation flows As expected, SIE literature rejects the monodimensional explanation for the movement of people that traditional immigration literature offers. Its focus is on the individual and her multitude of motives, but without being blind on the broader macro economical environment. For example, as written above, one of the motivations for expatriation identified by Suutari & Brewster (2000) is the unemployment and perceived constraints of the domestic labour market. In SIE literature, economical incentives, or even career 17

development, is but one of many motivators. Without exception, all the studies that have focused on the motives of these professionals, have found out that they are motivated by broad social and life factors as opposed to a single economical or career betterment. This multitude of motives that the SIE literature suggests is echoed by Ackers (2005), who proposed that there is a range of factors involved in a decision to be mobile, and that the menu and significance of factors might change over time as careers develop and lives evolve. The Different typologies of reasons for expatriation that authors have suggested are presented followingly. Inkson et. al.(1997) stated that career factors are not the dominant ones in the decision of these people for relocation, but the initial goals are diffuse: see the world, try something different, find myself, ech. Barry, (1998), identifies three reasons: General exploration, Specific career goals and Escape from an undesirable work or personal situation. Inkson & Myers (2003) suggest a more complex picture of the motives, by identifying eight different main motives: Social attraction, Exploration, Escape, Predisposition, Timing, Specific oversees opportunity, Impulse, General career development and Earn money. It is interesting to see that their sample indicated that career, expressed in conventional terms of employment/paid, ranks very low on the frequency of reasons mentioned, while other more "holistic" factors, like social relationships and new experiences seem to dominate. Jackson et al. (2005) found that in the New Zealand expatriates' perception, factors related to career, economics and couture tended to be push factors, meaning keeping them abroad, while lifestyle and family/friends were factors pulling them back home. Richardson and Mallon (2005) identified five reasons that urge people towards expatriation: Desire for adventure, Life change, Family reasons, Career opportunities and Financial reasons. The role of family here is different, as people in this sample have chosen to relocate for the benefit of the whole family, and the whole family was included in the taking of the decision to relocate. When considering the option to move, desire for adventure, life-change and benefit to the family were the primary incentives. The common element in all these studies is that, contrasting traditional Immigration literature, they suggest a multitude of subjective reasons for expatriation. Common themes are a desire for travel and exploration, for personal development, escape from current circumstances and career development that does not dominate, but is rather equal or even falls short of the other, holistic motives.

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2.8 Relationships as a reason to relocate in literature In the age of globalization, people cross borders much more than they did before, for various reasons. People who relocate in another country in order to be with their foreign-national partner is a common phenomenon and this is the reason that specific legislation has been made in most countries in order to cover these cases. In the European context, although there is a dearth of studies on EU inter-marriages, it is acknowledged that relationships between two different EU nationals are rising, as a result of the advanced mobility that EU citizens enjoy (Gaspar, 2008, 2009). Interestingly, Gaspars study of intra-European couples is focused on free movers, defined by Favell (2003) as highly educated and skilled professionals who decided to move individually -so basically SIEs-, who constitute an emerging marriageable European group. But what about the opposite, meaning relationships causing the mobility? It was very hard to find relationships mentioned as a reason for relocation in Immigration literature. Only extremely sporadically (e.g. Pedersen et al, 2008) love is just only listed as one of the possible factors driving relocation, in the periphery of the main theme the article/paper/book is dealing with. As far as I was able to research, and after having inquired on the topic a number of immigration authors from different countries, I concluded that there is no identifiable body within the Immigration stream of literature dealing with this phenomenon, as there is for example with network or marriage migration. This is unfortunate, as a number of empirical publications show that love is a much more common reason for relocation than what literature suggests. For example, in the general European context Favell (2008), while studying the intra-European migration of SIEs found that love was one of the (common??) reasons to relocate mentioned. In 2006, data collected from the PIONEUR group on intra-EU migration showed that the main reason for relocating was love and not economic interests, with family/love scoring a percentage of 29.7% on reasons to relocate . In the Danish context, it is accepted by officials that love is one of the prevalent reasons for foreigners coming to Denmark (Nygaard 2009 ). Offering some qualitative backing data to this
2

well known phenomenon, the Expat 2010 Study, conducted among 1505 expats living in Denmark, revealed that 9.6 percent of them stated Family or love as the reason that brought them in Denmark . Even more specifically, Christou (2008) states in her study
3

2 Rasmus Nygaard represents the Ministry of Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs in Denmark lecturing on matters such as the history and features of Danish Immigration and Integration Policies. He sent me slides from a presentation he did in 2009. 3 Anecdotal data, revealed by Oxford Research after request.

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that a large percentage of Greeks in Denmark has relocated because of their Danish partners. Unfortunately thought, academic literature has not focused on this topic a lot. In the SIE literature, the only reference of a relationship with a host-country national as a reason for expatriation is from Thorn (2009). In her quantitative survey she found that a partner from the host country was the second most important sub motive, after the desire for travel that SIEs used in order to account for their relocation decision. A second author in the SIE stream that connects relationships with expatriation is Vance (2005), while studying the strategies that American managers used to relocate to Asia. In his study thought, the relationships (or marriages) of these people with Asian partners were treated as a predisposition, rather than a reason to relocate.

2.8.1 Ways to incorporate relationships as a motive to relocate in existing literature Pull, push: Since the pull-push theory of migration factors offers a more holistic understanding of the factors involved than the economical approach, it would make more sense to consider the relationship with a host country national as a pull factor that attracts oneself towards the partner's country. Economical logic: As we explained before, although Immigration literature is mainly offering a monodimensional, economic-minded explanation for immigration, certain aspects of it allow room for the inclusion of some social aspects. This way, in a manner similar to that used for Network Migration in point 2.7.1, a partner in the host country can be viewed as either enhancing the destination-specific utility (zi) or as reducing the costs of relocation (c). In any case, economical factors are still considered the prominent reason for relocation. This model could maybe be used for Marriage Immigration that deals with movement from developing to developed countries, but it is irrelevant in this case. Social Relationships/Family: The third way to view it is the way Thorn (2009) has seen it, meaning to consider it as a composite of the Social Relationships general theme. If one were to follow Richardson's and associates taxonomy of motives, then it can be similarly incorporated in the Family motive. This is because Richardson uses the interpretive interactionism approach in order to define Family as anyone who is a significant other. Under this view, a significant other is any person who can exert influence on individual behaviour and interpretation, including perceptions of self and identity and during adulthood may include spouse/partner, close friends and work 20

colleagues (Richardson, 2006).

2.9 Students and global mobility Some of the participants in this thesis have gotten a job and stayed in Denmark after they completed a university degree outside Greece. It should not strike as unusual that these people are referred as SIEs. They chose to expatriate and for them the studies abroad was a stepping stone into finding a job somewhere outside Greece. Al Ariss (2010a) is using a similar rationale when he is referring to people who moved in France to study and then decided to pursue a career there as SIEs. As it was said at point 2.3.1, the relocation of highly skilled professionals is rising in today's globalised world. Although these flows are driven by industry and market requirements, the internationalization of higher education serves as a lubricator, speeding up and facilitating these movements (Iredale,2001). Indeed, literature acknowledges that students constitute a large part of the migration flows (Pedersen et al, 2008) and data (available till 2009) show that at 2009 there were 3.3 million international students of tertiary education (ATLAS, 2009), with a steady upwards trend since 1975 (Woodfield, 2009). As expected, not all of these students return home. There is an increasingly strong link between student migration and skilled migration, with students who move to a country in order to study finally remaining there after the completion of their education(Siew-Ean Khoo et. Al, 2010) and it is a common phenomenon that skilled foreign workers in a certain country are often former students of tertiary education in one of its institutions (Robyn Iredale, 2001). According to literature, the most influential factors in the decision to remain at the host country after studies or return home are the perception of the labour market in the host country, the degree of adjustment, and any existing family ties in the host country (Baruch et al, 2007). The percentage of people that choose not to return home constitutes a very large proportion of the international student population and of course it differs according to the specific context of each study. In the Danish context, an analysis done by the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation in 2008 showed that approximately one third of the international full-degree students have obtained employment in Denmark after their studies (CIRIUS, 2008). This is emphasising the link between the number of international students (especially full-degree students) and the number of foreign

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employees and it is showing that a common way of entering the Danish labour market is by obtaining a Danish university degree. Danish policy-makers have understood this connection and have increased the country's national-level strategic focus in raising the number of international students it accepts (Woodfield, 2009). Indeed, from the individual's point of view, an international education, besides being taken for a variety of reasons and enhancing ones internal career in a similar manner the boundaryless career does (Baruch et al, 2007) has also very practical implications. A degree from a foreign national educational institution in often seen as a ticket for employment in the said country(Iredale, 2001). In the SIE stream of literature thought, Vance (2005), while developing a taxonomy of career path strategies that SIEs use in order to self-expatriate, regards an educational taken abroad as an exposure that provides a limited international experience that could lead to a deeper career experience" rather than as a conscious move towards an international career, as the narrations of the people in this thesis suggest.

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3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Qualitative and quantitative methods Research methods are often divided in two main types: qualitative and quantitative methods. Each one of them has its own advantages and disadvantages which often discussed. They are usually used in different parts of the research process due to their particular strengths - qualitative in the beginning, to determine connections and dynamics, and qualitative later on, to measure the discover frequencies and distributions-. These two research methods will be presented shortly here. 3.1.1 Quantitative research Quantitative research is explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data that are afterwards analysed using statistical methods (Muijs, 2004:1). Due to that, they are used on providing answers to particular questions that are suited to be answered with numerical data, such as how many.., What percentage of.. etch. They are concerned with creating research designs that allow for the generalization of the findings and the ommitance of the researchers influence, through methods such as standardized surveys and sampling (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000:9). Quantitative methods can also be used to answer questions that relate to phenomena that are not by initially presented by numbers. For example, they are used to measure attitudes and beliefs. The way to form these abstract data in numbers, is to construct scales and ask the respondents to rate them (Muijs, 2004:2). Quantitative methods are also used to measure the relationship between different variables. A common critique against them in that point is that these variables are predefined by the researcher before the study begins, so they might have little relationship with reality or important variables for explaining the issue in question might be missing altogether (Silverman, 2006). 3.1.2 Qualitative research Here is where qualitative research comes in. It is used to examine phenomena that are complex by their nature, and where objects cannot be broken down to single variables, but are studied in their complexity and entirety (Flick, 2002). Qualitative research is more interested in the meaning rather than the measurement of phenomena (Christer Karlsson, 2008) and is not using numerical data but is encompassing a wide array of methods, like interviews, case studies, ethnographic research and discourse analysis. Due to its nature, it is not concerned with the generalization of the findings, 23

but rather the in-depth study of a particular phenomenon (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000:10). The goals of this method are usually not to test what is already known, but to discover new things and develop empirically grounded theories (Muijs, 2004:8). The choice between qualitative and quantitative methods depends on the object under study (Silverman, 2006:34). For my case, I chose to use a qualitative approach, because the issue I am studying (relocation of SIEs) has not been studied in detail in the past. There might be aspects that have been missed and I want to gain a deep understanding of the factors influencing this international movements. Also, the particular issue, Greek SIEs in Denmark, has never been studied before, so the findings of other studies might not be relevant or have a satisfying explanatory strength in this case. Of course, there is a helpful available theoretical background, but the study is considered to be an exploratory qualitative study, which will be backed up by theory, but guided by the data collected (Taylor & Bogdan 1998). 3.1.3 Reliability and validity Reliability and validity are two concerns for every type of study, either qualitative or quantitative. Followingly, what these notions mean for qualitative studies will be discussed. Reliability refers to whether a different researcher studying the topic at hand, or the same researcher studying the topic under other occasions, would conclude to the same results (Silverman, 2006:46). The issue of reliability in social studies has been a point of controversy, as some researchers point out that since the researchers influence is unavoidable in qualitative research and the same circumstances can never be reproduced, reliability is not attainable and not a point of concern. But other qualitative researchers argue that reliability can be achieved by making the research process as clear as possible to the reader (Flick, 2002, Silverman, 2006) so they can evaluate it and form their own assumptions. There is a number of ways Flick and Silverman propose in order to do that, which have been tried to be followed in this thesis. Ways to increase reliability are to make as clear a distinction as possible between the data collected and the assumptions derived by them by the researcher, which was made by recording and transcribing the interviews so a future researcher can access them; making the raw data available and not only presenting the conclusion and summaries made by the researcher, which was achieved by inserting in the thesis extracts from the transcripts; setting up and presenting the transcription rules, which will be presented later on, pre-testing the 24

interviews, which was made in order to ensure that all questions are understood in the same way by all respondents, and in general making the choice of theory and the process followed to reach the conclusions as clear as possible, which the researcher did her best to do by explaining every step taken and why it was so in the Methodology and Analysis part. Also, the fact that extracts from the transcripts were inserted in the thesis was the reason why it had to exceed the usual 60-page limit. By validity, it is simply meant if the researchs conclusions are true or correct (McBurney & White, 2007:173). This means whether the researchers data and conclusions based on them correspond with reality (Flick, 2002). The way to check that in qualitative studies is to ensure that the findings are grounded on the empirical material, and that the methods that have been used for data selection and analysis have been appropriate for the subject under study (Flick, 2002). Another, more technical way to ensure validity that has been incorporated to this thesis is deviant case analysis (Silverman, 2006:55). 3.2 Collecting the data 3.2.1 Method for data collection As said above, there are a variety of methods available for collecting the data needed for a qualitative research. The method chosen was interviews. This happened for four reasons. First of all, as Silverman (2010:24) notes, interviews are something that our society is in extensive familiarity with, so it was easy for the researcher to consider that way of collecting data, and would also be easy for the participants to be familiar with the process. Secondly, interview data would allow answering the research question faithfully, as the data gathered would represent the respondents reality rather than the researcher's reality, which is the case in other methods like observation. Thirdly, the time frame available for the writing of the thesis did not allow for a longitudinal study, so the researcher had to rely on the people informing her of their past experiences in order to collect the data in a limited time. The interviews were face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. A face-to-face interview allows for a better interaction and greater insight into the interviewees subjective experiences than other methods like internet or telephone interviews do (Rapley, 2004). A semi structure interview allows for the in-depth coverage of a number of topics in a structured way. Semi-structured and unstructured interviews are the opposite of structured interviews, where questions are all predefined, the researcher 25

does not delve further into obscure or interesting points and the answers to the questions are sometimes pre-determined (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000:649). In semi-structured interviews, the researcher has a much greater freedom to handle the interview process and it allows for a more in-depth understanding of the topic under study but it is not completely unstructured. Even thought the phrasing of the questions, order of the topics discussed and level of attention paid to them can be adjusted by the researcher ad hoc, the interview guide keeps track of what has or has not already been covered. This way, its consistent use across all the respondents, secures both the in-depth coverage and the comparability of data (Flick, 2002). The limitation often attributed to interviews, meaning that they are simply accessing the perceptions of the interviewees about the topic in question, and not necessarily the objective reality of it (Silverman, 2006) is not considered a disadvantage in this thesis, as the research question is asking exactly for these individual perceptions. 3.2.2 Preparing for the interviews This thesis is representing only a part of the data originally collected. This is because in the beginning the researcher had not concluded in which exact theme related to Greek SIS to focus. The two general themes were the factors that influence relocation on one hand and perception of Danish workplaces on the other. Both of them seemed equally attractive, so data related to both of them were collected, and the decision to choose on one of them was left for after the coding process. Before making the interviews an extensive literature review, a part of which was also presented in the Theory part, was conducted. From this literature review, possible factors that influence the relocation decisions of SIEs and aspects related to this relocation were able to identified. The theory served as an inspiration for constructing the questions that would allow to examine these themes. The interview guide was divided in different parts, each one of them dealing with one of the four themes to be examined. Before the actual beginning of the interviews, two test-interviews were made. This has two positive results. First, it allowed the researcher to become more comfortable with the interviewing process, and with the ability to let the respondent answer the questions uninterrupted and let them set their own pace instead of rushing them or cutting them short when they drifted to another topic than what the question was accessing. Secondly, to become sure that the topic chosen was appropriate for a study, since the researcher has never had any experience with qualitative research or any research of that scale before. Apart from the 26

need to better word some questions, no problems were discover related to the interview guide and the results from these two pilot interviews were deemed able to be included in the actual research. 3.2.3 The sample In qualitative research, probabilistic sampling methods are not used, since generalization is not an objective for this kind of studies. Rather than that, purposeful sampling is used, meaning that cases that maximize what can be learned are chosen (Audet & dAmbrois, 2001). Because of the exploratory character of the thesis, it was not possible to determine beforehand the characteristics on which these cases would be differentiated upon. Instead, cases that differed on a wide range of demographical characteristics were chosen, so as to provide as great coverage as possible. The expatriates participating were both males and females, with ages ranging from 27 to 53, and their stay in Denmark ranging from 1 to 32 years. A detailed table of the characteristics of the expatriates can be seen on the Appendix, Table I. In total, 16 expatriates were interviewed. The search for them took place online, in social network groups for Greek people in Denmark, or through my personal connections. Every person who was willing to participate was asked to provide further contacts, and from a total number of about 70 people, finally 16 were chosen. In the beginning of this paragraph, it was written that the purpose of qualitative studies is not to generalize their conclusions. Nevertheless, although there is an ongoing discussion in academia about whether there is possible or even needed for qualitative studies to generalize, it seems that there are ways to achieve at least a moderate potential for generalizing the results to similar categories of cases. These ways are to secure the robustness of a studys design and methods for gathering and analyzing the data, strive for validity and reliability, and present a well developed theory emerging from the findings (Falk & Guenther, 2007). The researcher, hoping to her best of her abilities that these requirements were covered, even in a moderate degree, did not refrain from some mild generalisation of the findings. 3.2.4 Conducting the interviews The interviews were taken between mid February and mid April. Six of the interviews were conducted in the respondents offices, nine in their homes and one in a public place. Before the initiation of the interview, anonymity was promised to the participants 27

and permission was asked to record the interviews. All 16 interviews were recorded. The interviews were conducted in Greek, and were later transcribed. Qualitative research stresses the intimate relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee (Taylor & Bogdan 1998). Before the beginning of the interview, the participants were briefly informed of my life story and the facts that led me in Denmark. This way, they could be more comfortable sharing bits of their life with me. During the interviews, different methods as probing, reassuring and agreeing were used to encourage them talk about the topic in question. After the coding of the transcript, the need to go back to six participants for some additional questions emerged. These additional questions were made through telephone for four of them and in person with two that the researcher was very familiar with. 3.3 Handling the data 3.3.1 Transcribing and translating In order to be able to use the initial material in the thesis, it had to be transformed from Greek speech to English text. Therefore, it had to undergo two processes, transcription and translation. There are a lot of approaches towards transcription, differing in the detail of the representation of the speech. Some go as far as to try to transfer pauses, change in the tone and volume of voice etch. This level of detail is useful for certain types of studies that have a linguistic or conversational analysis focus, but in the case of this thesis, a simpler technique was chosen. Only what the respondents said not how they said it was transcribed, with the exception of exclamation marks, following the logic of to transcribe only as much and as exactly as is required by the research question (Flick, 2002:171). After all the interviews were transcribed verbatim, they were doublechecked to ensure faithful representation of the original recordings. The only editing that was done, was to remove words such as uhhm,eee, and the such and replace them with for the ease of the reader. Translating texts can also be a controversial subject. There are two different types of translation, overt and covert translation (Ross, 2010). An overt translation is oriented towards the original text, and trying to represent it as faithfully as possible, word by word, while a covert translation is oriented towards the reader, and strives for equivalence at the contextual level. Covert translation was chosen in this thesiss case. The participants were often using Greek expressions, words that have no translation in 28

English and Greek Grammar, that would make an overt translation look strange. In total, regarding both transcription and translation, no effort was made to hide the fact that the data originated in speech form, so long sentences, repetitions, the absence of commas and syntactical peculiarities were preserved in the final form of the data. 3.3.2 Analysing and coding the data Analysis of qualitative data is a very complex process, and it is based on the researchers intuitive and inductive abilities (Taylor & Bogdan 1998). It is not something that happens at the end, a separate stage of the research process, but it happens slowly, as data are collected, throughout the research process (Silverman, 2005:152). During the process of the data collection, and as more interviews were conducted, themes were already starting to emerge, connections with theory identified, points of interest were emerging for increased focus in future interviews, and a basic structure of the thesis was becoming evident. Coding was the second step. Coding is a part of analysis and a methodological continuation of the subconscious analysis that has already begun (Taylor & Bogdan 1998). Some of the categories that the material was going to be coded into were defined a priori, formed from the literature review. Some others became evident during the interview process, and then some more were noticed only at the coding process, when the material was looked carefully upon. This is something that Silverman (2006:163) notes, that the researcher has to be careful not to miss on data that do not fit into the existing categories. Therefore, new categories had to be formed in order to accommodate them. The transcripts were read, and parts that correlated with the different themes (categories) were underlined with different colours. After working on that and stabilizing the categories that the data was inserted at, the titles of the categories and the relationships between them were depicted on a mindmap. This created an overview of the material that was available and the way it was structured. At that point it became evident that the material gathered was too large to be comprised under one single research question. In general, the data were divided in two large themes, one dealing with perceptions of relocation and one with perceptions of the workplace. Considering the time frame of the thesis and the availability of data, it was decided to focus on the first theme.

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4 EMPIRICAL PART In this part of the thesis, the data and the way they got analysed in order to answer the research question are presented. 4.1 The decision to leave Greece Not all of the people participating in this thesis came in Denmark directly from Greece; some of them have made an intermediary "stop" in another country. This is why the factors that led their path from Greece to Denmark were broken down in two parts: factors that influence the decision to leave Greece and factors that influence the decision to come in Denmark. These two sets of themes should not be confused with push and pull factors, because they do not fully correspond to each other. The theory suggests that push factors are negative things about one's country that push one away, and pull factors are positive things dragging them to another, so there are two different sets of reasons, each one of them referring to a different part of the process of the decision to relocate. All the identified reasons to come in Denmark are at the same time pull factors for Denmark, but not all reasons to leave Greece are push factors from Greece. For example, the reason "relationship with a Dane" is a pull factor towards Denmark, but at the same time a reason to leave Greece, without being a push factor. The choice was made to present the reasons in this way and not in a pull/push manner, because there are some reasons that could not be identified as either pull or push ones. For example the desire to "experience, live and be" is not referring to something negative about the home country, so it is not a push factor, and it cannot be exactly classified as a pull factor either, as it does not apply to a specific destination, but probably to all. In this section I will examine the factors that made these people leave their homeland and expatriate in the first place, in Denmark or elsewhere. The answers relative to this section were derived by questions such as: " how did you decide to go away from Greece?, you came in Denmark to [...] but what made you think of leaving Greece in the first place? " etc. The reasons that were mentioned by the participants as responsible for making them leave Greece were deemed to be able to be grouped in the following six categories: Career/Disappointment with work related factors, a Desire to experience, live and be, to be with a Partner, Economical motives, Studies and to Escape from a negative situation. These different reasons rarely do appear by themselves. In most cases they are mixed with each other in the narratives of the respondents. These reasons are presented below, and some examples are also given. 30

They are not presented separately, broken down from each other, but as the participants expressed them, even if they get mixed together, in order to present the multiplicity and complexity of the reasons that take part in the decision to expatriate. As a final remark before the listing and explanation of the factors begins, I will accord with what Thorn (2009) noted about the motives for expatriation she identified: "While the categories are discussed here as discrete entities, there is obviously some overlap between them and as such, the categories serve as a simplifying tool rather than a strict categorical distinction". To experience, live and be A common reason expressed by the participants, was a desire to leave Greece in order to experience an other way of life and to promote their personal development needs. This desire to "be", can be a powerful one, as exemplified in the case of Christos:
There were reasons of career... actually of self-fulfilment. I was in a period that professionally I was ok, I had a job and... It was going like that. And at some point I just realised that the professional course I was following was not satisfying me and the things I was doing were not satisfying me, and I decided to move towards the academic direction that I always wanted, since I was young, but for some reasons I had forgotten... And I thought to do it well. And I asked myself "how is it going to happen?- I have to go at a very good University". And I started sending applications for America...

[Christos, 36, 2 years in Denmark, Ph.D. student] Or just the desire to live an interesting life, as it was for Alexandros, whose Erasmus semester created a strong predisposition, as Vance (2005) would have said.
The reasons... One of the most important reasons is that I have been to an Erasmus semester. So I had a very good experience from living abroad, and I had met a lot of people, and I had...I liked a lot living abroad. And in general I have travelled and I felt that it fits me to live outside Greece. I would say that this is the main reason. And second one and very close to the first one, work. As I said before, I saw that there are a lot more opportunities abroad than in Greece.

[Alexandros, 27, 2 years in Denmark, Graduate programme trainee] Konstantinos wanted to live an active life, and take up a new challenge:

31

In general, compared to my friends, I always had it inside me to go away, to do something, to do something different, not the usual stuff, to not live a dull life lets say. Yes, a new challenge [Konstantinos, 29, 3 years in Denmark, engineer]

Indeed, the motive of the personal challenge of working in another country is a very strong motive for expatriates, as discovered by Stahl & Cerdin (2004). This reason, to experience, live, and be, can be almost entirely identified with the Travel/Adventure reason as identified and described by Richardson, with the note that in this thesis, it is not only confined on new experiences and travelling, but it also includes a desire for self-fulfilment, as expressed by Christos, 36, 2 years in Denmark, Ph.D. student. Similar reasons have been identified by all the studies that deal with the SIEs' decision to expatriate, but it is interesting to note that in Doherty's et al (2011) paper on the topic, the desire for adventure and to see the world, were holding two of the top three places on the list of factors that influence the decision to expatriate. This signifies how important this factor can be, something that is evident also from the narratives in this thesis, and goes in line with the Theory, which suggested that broad life motivations are in work in the case of SIEs, something that differentiates them from OEs and immigrants. Career/Disappointment with work related factors Only one respondent, Katerina, said that one of the reasons to go and work abroad was because she thought that it would help her career. This is how she expressed it:
I had no reason to stay in Greece. From a personal and professional point of view... In general I had no reason. I had stayed there for so many years, I have done all my studies there, I needed to change environment anyway, because in the academic field you cannot stay for ever in the same university.

[Katerina, 36, 8 years in Denmark, associate professor ] This is related to Richardson's (2005) findings, about academics managing their career according to their interpretation of the "rules" of the academic world. Also in her study, only one respondent listed Career explicitly as a factor influencing mobility. For all the rest where work reasons played a part in the decision to go abroad, it 32

was either because they did not think they could find something satisfying for them in Greece, or they were disappointed with the working conditions. This disappointment for some was playing a central and sole role in their justification of their decision to expatriate, as in the case of Iosif, who was frustrated with not being able to find a job in the academic field
Things were hard, I worked in a lot of different fields, but I always wanted to work at the academic field, that finally it proved to be very hard, it was very hard for a position to open if you didn't know somebody... I was sending applications for which I was receiving no answer, or I was receiving an ironic answer, and at some point I got an invitation to come here as an associate professor, at the same department and under the same professor I have done my Ph.D., so I didn't think a lot of it...

[Iosif, 43, 11 years in Denmark, professor] Or was in close quarters with other reasons as for Sofia, who was experiencing very bad working conditions
After I graduated, I worked for a while in Greece...and the conditions were very hard for a young doctor, really hard. A lot of hours of work, I did not believe I was learning anything, and then I had already met my boyfriend, who is Danish, and he proposed to me to try to work in Denmark, as an alternative. I had already thought during my studies to travel abroad, to experience something different, I had thought of England, of Netherlands, so Denmark seemed to me one of the same, "Lets try it" [Sofia, 31, 5 years in Denmark, doctor]

Indeed, limited employment opportunities (Iredale, 1999; Suutari & Brewster, 2000) and bad working conditions(Richardson & Zizic, 2007) have been identified as a motive to relocate to a better job market. While Richardson (2005) includes the desire to get away from negative working situations in the Escape factor, in this thesis it was chosen to extend Career into Career/Disappointment with work related aspects and include it there. This happened because: a) it was not deemed desirable to mix work and non-work themes under the same factor, b) disappointment with these work related themes made these people look for a better career abroad, so expatriation influenced by work disappointment can be seen as a measure taken for career betterment, not simply of escaping a negative situation, and c) because also Thorn (2009), while examining

33

motives for SI expatriation lists all factors related to work, working conditions, career development and future career aspirations under the Career category. The categories in her study were constructed by the respondents themselves, which a strong point for the interdependence of all these variables and their grouping under the same name. This disappointment with the job market and conditions in general, was a very common characteristic in the respondents' answers, but it did not lead to an outward decision to expatriate in all cases. For example, one respondent who disliked her job and long working hours but could not find another one, felt that she wanted to take a break for a Ph.D. Finally this is what led her abroad, because she could not find a paid Ph.D. in Greece. So we see that there is a much more complex picture of the factors than a taxonomy (e.g.: the motives are: A, B, C, etch.) would suggest. Factors not only intertwine with each other, but they can also have a relationship of causality with each other. One factor can lead to another, which finally leads to the decision to leave the home country. Similarly, for some others, low expectations about their job prospects in Greece led them to decide to study abroad so they could slowly infiltrate a foreign job market. In the above example it is hard to say why these people left Greece. Is it because they were disappointed with the local work prospects and were looking for better ones, or was it to study? In their case it seems more reasonable to say both, with bad career prospects being the causal factor for the decision to study abroad. So, according to them, they used studying as a means to get away from Greece and enter a foreign job market. This relationship will be analysed further in the presentation of the next factor. In general, this factor can be identified with Career, as identified and described by Richardson, and broken down in more detailed sentences by Selmer and Lauring, meaning as an opportunity to enhance ones career or do the right thing for promotion. The difference is that in this thesis's case, it is also heavily charged not only with the meaning of people wanting to enhance their career, but to actually be able to have a career/job that they can be satisfied with. This is because the disappointment with workrelated themes in Greece is very intense and they were seeing expatriation as an opportunity not only to enhance/promote themselves but to find an acceptable job. Studies A reason to leave Greece can clearly be to study. For some, what made them leave 34

Greece in the first place, without any further implications, was studies, as it was for Elena and Petros. Petros left his native island in order to study a subject not offered in Greece and at the same time to experience the world.
I left at 76, after I finished high school and I went to England. The reason was a mixed one: I wanted to start my studies but also to see the world. I had a will to see the world. Kreta was seeming so little to me back then. Not that I had travelled a lot, I havent been almost almost anywhere. But yea, I wanted to see the world. [Petros, 53, 32 years in Denmark, vice rector]

Others, as explained before, used studying not as an end in itself, but as an instrument to get away from Greece.
Look, I wanted to study more, because I was working as a civil engineer and I didn't like it, and I decided to stop working as civil engineer so I can study Environment. And I decided to go to study Environment abroad, because in Greece it has no great prospects in the job market. Number one. And number two, because I always wanted to go abroad to study...to live. [Andreas, 28, 3 years in Denmark, environment engineer] My problem was that I liked technology, and this is what I studied, and always, the industry that I was trying to get a job at, this industry was dead. So the job I had in Greece was all in the grease and dirtiness and in.... nothing to do with computers and th stuff... I mean no relationship with the 21 century. And I had some friends that had left for abroad, England, and they told me "why don't you try?" [Konstantinos, 29, 3 years in Denmark, engineer]

It is evident how the respondents believed that taking a degree abroad would also allow them to find a job abroad. This finding is in accordance with the Theory part, where it was written that a foreign degree is often seen as a means of entry to the host country's job market. This maybe calls for an updating of the SIE literature on that matter, as studies abroad are so far considered a predisposition, and not a strategy/conscious move towards an international career (Vance, 2005). Taking a full-time degree abroad is not uncommon for Greeks. England, the country where almost all of the respondents in this thesis that have studied abroad have 35

been, is traditionally receiving a large number of Greek students each year. At the academic year 2009/2010 it received 11,785 Greek students, making Greece, despite its small population and absence of colonial ties with UK(as other countries in the top places of the list have) the 4
th

in the EU level and the 9

th

in the global level

international student provider of the UK universities (HESA, 2011). In general, among all EU countries, Greece has the largest number of students that leave their country in order to study in another county's university. It is estimated that each year, approximately 60,000 Greek students study abroad (Greek Ministry of Education report). A relationship A desire to be with their loved one can also be a powerful reason, as explained clearly by Maria.
It was a chance to be with Rasmus [Maria, 37, 15 years in Denmark, engineer]

Not a lot of attention has been given to this factor/motive for expatriation by SIE literature, with the exception of Thorn (2009) who identified it as a powerful reason driving expatriation. This factor will be further elaborated in the next section, about factors that influence the decision to come in Denmark. To escape from a certain situation A desire to escape from a negative or dull situation also appeared in the narrations of a few people, as with Elena, who needed a change in her life but the job market was not very accommodating towards her needs.
I wanted to make a change in my life. And for that I also needed to change my job, because where I was, I didn't have any development, nor taking anything good out of it. In fact, my first thought was to stay in Greece. But at some point I saw that, after 8 months that I was searching, that I went to 2-3 interviews and I was listening things ranging between crazy and insane, I thought that I had no reason to stay. So, this is how I decided to leave for abroad. [Elena, 37, 4 years in Denmark, manager]

Again we see how reasons are not only intertwined but also have a relationship of 36

causality. Her desire to change her life, and also her job, led her eventually, because she got disappointed with the local job market, to decide and leave Greece. The desire for a life change is closely linked by Richardson (2005) with the theme of escape, and actually in Selmer & Lauring's study, these two related themes are merged into one. This is also the logic that I followed in my thesis, grouping them under the same factor. This will to escape a negative situation is much more evident and straightforward in the case of Jiannis, who had a very tumultuous course through the educational system until he got accepted in a University. Disappointment with what he experienced there was the initial motive, followed by the unattractive job prospects.
The Greek reality shocked me. After all this effort to get into a University, lets say, I was shocked and I started looking for ways to escape. What shocked me was the political parties.... Their role inside an educational institution. The political parties and the fact that there was no meritocracy. Anyway, this is how I got the first motives to escape abroad....I started reading all the bibliography in English, so I would be ready if it happened to go away. And professionally also, I was thinking that I wanted to go to another job market, because in Greece, in the field of IT, there is not a lot you can do... [Jiannis, 33, 4 years in Denmark, software developer]

It is interesting to note that he is the only one who actually uses the word escape, denoting how strongly this situation was distressing him and was a motive for him to leave Greece. Financial Incentives In line with theory, that considers financial reasons as not important for SIEs, financial reasons were not mentioned spontaneously by any respondent, with the exception of Markos. Even for him, they were mixed with career factors, and underlined by the disappointment with the local job market.
Leaving Greece was clearly a matter of the work situation of the country. At the time that I was looking for a job, at the beginning of 2009 there were still some hopes, the situation got worst at about after February 2010. The available positions got fewer, the wages got less and I soon realised that the prospects of finding something good were very small...And when I say good, I also mean money wise. Career wise and money wise. And at about March I started looking seriously for a position abroad. [Markos, 44, 1 year in Denmark, manager]

37

Nevertheless statistically he seems to be a peculiarity if one is allowed to generalize the findings of Selmer & Lauring (2010) who showed that it is mostly young SIES that get motivated by monetary incentives. His attention towards a good salary can probably be attributed to the fact that he was the only one who has a family to support back in Greece. Under this light, his case is identical to the results of Richardson (2005), who found out that financial incentives only became relevant for the respondents after they had created a family. The fact that with age there come different motivational factors got very nicely pointed out by Ackers (2005), who wrote that there are a lot of factors influencing the decision to expatriate and that the menu and significance of factors might change over time as careers develop and lives evolve. For all the rest, when questioned whether the thought that they probably would be able to earn and save more money by working out of the country, the answers where either negative or very mild, indicating that financial reasons are not an important motive for SIEs, but other reasons take precedence in their decision. For example:
No, I was not thinking of it financially. Not at all. [Adam, 29, 12 years in Denmark, doctor] Financial reasons...yes... Even though in Greece I did not have any problem, lets say. I had my car, my job... Of course I don't think I could save more than 50 Euros per month. And, basically at the age I left, I was 25 then, so, ok, I was not thinking like that... Because I was not living by myself, I was living with my parents, I was still inside their protection bubble... [Konstantinos, 29, 3 years in Denmark, engineer]

Theory is accounting for this phenomenon by acknowledging that although financial motives were very dominant in the early literature, in today's society where work/life balance has become more important, the priorities have changed (Thorn, 2009). In general, both in Thorn's and Selmer & Lauring's (2010) quantitative studies, economical incentives play a relatively small role (they score lower points that the other factors) in the decision to self-expatriate. 4.1.1 Discussion Although in SIE literature relocation is usually studied as a holistic move, while here

38

only the move outside Greece was examined, the reasons for it did not come as a surprise, as they are similar with the ones identified in other studies. The most obvious issue to note about the factors that are driving expatriation from Greece, is the multiplicity of them. There are several factors that influence the decision to self-initiate from Greece, and these factors can be at work at the same time. Sometimes the decision to expatriate is taken under the influence of only one factor, but in most cases, the motives for expatriation are multiple. The multitude of the motives for expatriation is something that has been noted by all the researchers that have dealt with this matter, and it is an indicator of the complexity of the decision to self-initiate. Besides that, the key findings of this section are: a) the re-establishment of the fact that traditional immigration theories with their economical focus cannot explain highly skilled selfinitiated moves. SIE literature, with its broad-life approach of motives has to be used. b) the causal relationship that can exist between different factors, and c) how studies abroad are actively used by young SIEs as a way to start their international career and are not only a passive predisposition, a finding new for the SIE literature. 4.2 The decision to come to Denmark In this part I will examine what brought these people in Denmark, after they have taken the decision to leave Greece, or already were in another country. Jackson et al (2005) have suggested that not all locations present the same motives for SIEs, as different locations attract them with different ways. So it is important to try and identify the pull factors, the special characteristics of Denmark that attracted these professionals here. After coding the responses of the participants, 7 categories were identified. It is very interesting to see that four of them are country-specific, and although this is not a quantitative study, one can say that from these four only one holds a weight in the participants responses, meaning that the other three are mentioned by only one or few of the participants. In general there was a great degree of randomness regarding the way they found themselves here. The categories identified are the following: Free studies, Geographical proximity to Greece, a Relationship, that they Happened to find a job here, Cultural attraction, Working conditions and Positive job market. Again, as before, these reasons rarely appear in isolation, but are usually intermingled with others, underlining the complexity of the decision to relocate.

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A Relationship The reason of a relationship with a local appears here as well, as it did in the previous part that was examining the reasons to leave Greece. It is pretty straightforward that this factor is influencing both the decision to leave Greece and to come to Denmark and is not only relevant to one end of the process, like others. For example, one might want to escape an unattractive job market in Greece (reason to leave Greece) and then find a job in Denmark (reason to come to Denmark), but the desire to be with a foreign partner is a reason that is at the same time a reason to leave and to go as such. A question here could be what makes one and not the other part of the couple to relocate, and the answer to this question comes from the narratives of the participants. It was interesting to discover that before some of the people who had a Danish partner decided to move here, they had made an effort as a couple so that the Danish partner relocated in Greece instead.
Of course we had thought about Greece, but it was a bit unlikely for Mette to find a job related with her studies. We had searched, we had searched a lot for 2-3 months. There was nothing, no job in Greece related to her. So we thought to come in Denmark, because first of all it would be easier for both of us to find a job. [Konstantinos, 29, 3 years in Denmark, engineer] At some point I took the decision that either I had to come in Denmark or she would have to come in Greece. And because my CV had many more chances of finding a very good job in Denmark than hers in Greece -although she has a very good CV for Denmark-, I decided to leave and come in Denmark.

[Thomas, 41, 6 years in Denmark, manager] These comments bring in mind the work of Gorny & Kepinska (2004) who claim that a mixed couple chooses to stay at the market where they can generate the higher income. This means that, in a manner true to the homo economicus, apart from the sentimental benefits of finally being together other factors can come into consideration as well in the decision of who moves where. It would be very interesting here to see how these qualitative findings resonate with the quantitative work of Thorn (2009). In her study on the motives for self initiated expatriation, she found that while only a percentage of 15.1% of the respondents identified a relationship with a host national as an important (score wise) motive for relocation, when it is considered as a salient sub-motive 40

(meaning when seeing how many people allocated at least some points on it, and then counting those points) it surprisingly becomes the second most important sub-motive of the total 56. This means that while in some cases it becomes a very important motive for relocation, in some others it is another benefit of it, with others taking predescence. One example for each of these cases is given below. For Michalis, love was the most important pull factor for Denmark, followed very lightly by better work prospects,
At that time, we are talking now about '86, that I finished University, it was probably love. Not that there were any big prospects, because as a Physics graduate you were one among many thousands, so there was not a job with goals, nothing was keeping me back. But I was not thinking about that. Not much. Especially after 5 years together, in love. [Michalis, 48, 24 years in Denmark, Gymnasium teacher]

While for Sofia, who had a very bad working experience in Greece, better work prospects along with her relationship seemed to do the trick:
After I graduated, I worked for a while in Greece...and the conditions were very hard for a young doctor, really hard. A lot of hours of work, I did not believe I was learning anything, and then I had already met my boyfriend, who is Danish, and he proposed to me to try to work in Denmark, as an alternative. I had already thought during my studies to travel abroad, to experience something different, I had thought of England, of Netherlands, so Denmark seemed to me one of the same, "Lets try it!" [Sofia, 31, 5 years in Denmark, doctor]

Free studies A factor that pulled in Denmark some people who have already decided to study abroad is the fact that for EU citizens, studies are free of charge. Again, reasons can be mixed, as exemplified by the story of Petros who met a Danish girl while studying in England:
[...] and through her I found out that there were also options to study in Denmark, and in fact better options. Financial wise, because there were not fees in Denmark even then, while in England they were very high. And that was a big motive, not to spend a whole fortune to study. And this is how I took the decision to come to finish my studies in Denmark. So the reasons were mixed: personal and financial

[Petros, 53, 32 years in Denmark, vice rector]

41

The fact that not only studies are free of charge, but also, in contrast with Greece a Ph.D. is always a paid position also seems to make Denmark a tempting destination
I had thought of doing a Ph.D. in Greece, and I have found one too...The problem was that I did not want to keep asking money from my parents for another year.

[Anna, 36, 10 years in Denmark, associate professor] No fees being a pull factor towards a country of course does not come as a surprise. It is something both known from common sense and supported by other empirical studies. For example, a study of Chinese students in New Zealand, showed that the -comparatively to other countries- low cost of education there was the most important motivational, or according to our onomatology, push factor, towards the country (Observatory, 2007), while, in the European context, one of the reasons why UK students apply to study abroad, is to avoid the high fees of the UK universities (Findlay & King, 2010). More specifically, the rising fees for non-EU students that study in Denmark, has been identified as an issue with negative impact on the amount of students. In the last few years, in par with the general global trend, the total number of international students in Denmark has risen steadily. But this rise is caused by the rise of the EU-nationality students. The number of non-EU students has dropped since 2006/2007 and this drop has been accredited to the introduction of tuition fees at the same year (Woodfield, 2009). Geographical proximity to Greece It seems that one of the factors that SIEs can take into consideration when they are choosing a country to relocate to, is its geographical proximity to the motherland, which affects the ease with which they can visit it.
And I did not have any problem to go anywhere else than Denmark, because I did not see it as something of importance, when you are inside Europe, that it is 3 hours of flight away...Copenhagen-Athens-Copenhagen. It is not far away. I do not go to America or Australia. I go somewhere close by.

[Katerina, 36, 8 years in Denmark, associate professor] Christos said that one of the reasons that made him leave the United States, where he already had started a Ph.D., and start a new one in Denmark, was that its proximity to 42

Greece allowed him to keep in touch with the people that were important for him.
Also, another reason is that, like, after I lived in America, I saw that its very hard, being a professional in America, to keep contacts with Greece, I understood that it is something like a life decision that I cut off and I am now away from my own people and everything, while being in Europe, but very close with a flight of 3 or 2 hours, is something that I dont think is terrible. It is something that I would be able to do, and do it pleasantly.

[Christos, 36, 2 years in Denmark, Ph.D. student] Doherty (2011), while studying how the specific characteristics of the host country influence the decision to expatriate there had identified a number of factors but the proximity to the home country was not one of them. Maybe this is because it was a quantitative study with a pre-constructed standardized questionnaire. It was pleasant to see that in a qualitative study, allowing for open discussion, geographical proximity to the home country emerged as another reason influencing the decision of where to selfinitiate, acting as a pull factor in favour of the countries closer to the homeland. While SIE literature has so far remained silent on this factor, literary backup can be provided from the Immigration literature. For example, Datta (2004) identifies geographical proximity as a pull factor for Bengali Indians to Bangladesh. That they Happened to find a job here While some of the participants came in Denmark without having secured a job beforehand, some others had already found a job before they came. This is considered a pull factor, because they were not attracted here by other factors, came, and then found a job, but reversely, the fact that they found a job here acted as a pull factor. Lets see some examples of how they expressed that:
I came in Denmark basically because [company name] is here. I was looking for Europe, no way for Asia or anything else, I didn't want to go so far away, and the positions that become available for Europe, for me, that I could not apply for, are very very few, maybe 1-2. In Denmark there is the central administration, of the whole group, so in fact here were the only positions I could apply for.

[Elena, 37, 4 years in Denmark, manager]

Me coming in Denmark was random. I was doing a Master in England and when I was

43

finishing the Master I was making job applications in different countries because the situation in Greece wasn't the best... So then is was easier to stay abroad than return. I was making applications also outside England. One of them was Denmark. Completely randomly, in a search engine I wrote Graduate Programs and [company's name]'s programme Denmark came up. I made an application, it went ok, and...

[Alexandros, 27, 2 years in Denmark, Graduate programme trainee]

I was not searching for Denmark specifically, I just found this certain company from an English job site, I went in the company's job site and I applied for two positions that seems matching for me and they happened to be in Denmark

[Markos, 44, 1 year in Denmark, manager] It is interesting to note that, from the narrations of the participants it is obvious that they were not looking for a job specifically in Denmark. They were looking for a job, and when they found one, this was a pull factor that dragged them here. In Doherty's (2011) study, the factor the job you were offered scored 13 out of 38 in order of importance of the factors that influenced the decision of SIEs to move abroad. Similar, but more toned-down results are shown in Thorn's (2009) study. This makes it not an extremely influential, but nevertheless a present factor. In the Danish context, anecdotal and published data from the Expat 2010 study reveal that although the sample is composed only by approximately 20% of OEs (who come here for a specific position pre-assigned to them), 47,6 % of the expatriates in Denmark reported that what brought them here was a specific job opportunity. Combining these two facts, one can safely say that a specific job opportunity is an important motivational factor also for SIEs. Working conditions One interviewee, Ioanna, who was very unhappy with the long hours she had to work in Greece, stated that an important reason for her coming in Denmark, apart from her relationship with a Danish man, was the fact that here she could enjoy better working conditions and a better ratio of working time/remittances.
You know what played a big part? That I knew that here I would have a job of 37 hours per week. That I would have my days off whenever I want them, and that, you know, I would be paid for these 37 hours. So yes, the financial part related to the working hours. That played a part...
th

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[Sofia, 31, 5 years in Denmark, doctor] It seems that the attractive working conditions that employees are enjoying in Denmark can be a pull factor for people who are used in a "tougher" working environment. A standard working week in Denmark is normally including 37.5 hours of work, although it seems that some people are working a bit more than that. The 2009 Eurostat Regional Yearbook was showing that while the average Dane worked 39.5 hours per week, Greeks had to work an average of 42.5 hours per week, the highest in the EU. Besides relatively less working hours, employees in Denmark enjoy some of the highest salaries in the world, even when the tax contribution is subtracted. For example, in a comparison of the average after-tax income in 73 international cities, Copenhagen ranks 8 while Athens ranks 33 . Of course, the income level by itself can be a bit misleading because people do not only take into consideration only how much they earn, but how much they have to spend as well. In the same survey, regarding purchasing power, Copenhagen is again in a much better position than Athens, ranking 17 while Athens is 33
rd th th rd

(UBS, Prices and Earnings, 2010). So, data supports that compared to Danes, What is of importance here, is that Sofia found out about the benefits she could

Greeks on average work more and get paid less. enjoy in Denmark from her Danish boyfriend and not because they were promoted from any official Danish organisation. This means that a positive thing about Denmark, that can attract much needed professionals here, should maybe be marketed more in the global job market. More about this will be said in the Discussion part. Positive job market environment One respondent, Christos, said that one of the factors that made him choose Denmark after he had decided to leave the United States was the specific -in his field- and general positive technological orientation that Denmark has.
Also it is that this certain country gives a lot of money in what I am doing and there is R&D-especially at the field of fuel cells there are a lot of money in the market. This creates for me a big optimism for the future, for my professional perspectives. And also I thought that it is, like, a country that has in general a positive, how to say it... At the technological systems it is in a good positioning in general, also outside my field, so this creates a nice dynamism, an environment.

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[Christos, 36, 2 years in Denmark, Ph.D. student] Cultural attraction Jiannis was very positively positioned towards Denmark, because of what he knew of Denmark's culture as a kid, and mainly of what he learned after he started thinking of pursuing a career here.
Besides Hans Christian Andersen that I had read as a kid and I always wanted to go live at an attic, the things that I learned after I started looking towards Denmark, from documentaries and the like, were that people go around with backpacks, they have their lunch inside, they go around with bicycles.. That they have this social...the equality, they are not showing off like we do, that it is quiet,.... And I was a person that always was going around with a bicycle and with all sorts of cables on him in Greece, and... In general I had all this Danish style, the backpack and the bicycle.

[Jiannis, 33, 4 years in Denmark, software developer] Theory is not offering a lot of insights relating to this factor. Something that underlines the significance of cultural attraction, although not being directly related to the concepts worded by the interviewee, could be the factor that Jackson et. al (2005) called Culture. In their study, Culture was composed by components such as opportunities for arts and developing new relationships (not exactly what Jiannis felt he was missing), and it emerged as a factor that was keeping SIEs at their host countries, instead of returning to the relatively culture-less New Zealand (so it was a factor influencing the decision to stay, not to relocate at the first place). Something else, maybe a bit more relevant, is that Doherty (2011) has identified Host Culture as a factor that influences the decision to work abroad, but does not clarify what are the components of this factor (for example, things related to the arts, as Jackson defined it, or relating to the norms and attitudes of the country, as Jiannis meant). Maybe these ambiguities are a result of these two studies being quantitative surveys with preconstructed questionnaires, so there was not space for the respondents to express their own motivations. It seems that in this thesis, the cultural attraction, meaning the attraction towards the norms and attitudes of a society, is clearly identified as a pull factor. The welfare character of the Danish society is indeed advertised in the government-hosted website workindenmark.dk, which is targeting foreigners looking for employment in Denmark. It is important to note thought, that one will enter this website, or start looking elsewhere for this kind of information, after they decide they 46

maybe want to work and move in Denmark. This is the case also for Jiannis who learned the things of the Danish way of life that were attractive to him after he had found an interesting study program here. Again, as in the case for good working conditions, maybe this possible pull factor to Denmark is not promoted enough to the global job market and this will be discussed followingly. 4.2.1 Discussion As in the previous section, what should be noted here is the multiplicity of the factors that influence the decision to relocate to a specific country. This multitude of factors has been evident in the work of Doherty (2011) who presented a plethora of them and actually in all the other studies that deal with the motives for expatriation, although in these studies relocation is perceived and examined as a "whole" process, while here in this thesis it is broken in two parts; leaving Greece and moving to Denmark. Even thought it is not a quantitative study, from the evidence gathered, one can safely say that for the respondents, the chief pull factors for Denmark were a relationship, free studies and a job opportunity, meaning that at least one of them was present for all the respondents. Minor factors that for some people were supplementing the chief one(s) were the geographical proximity to Greece, good working conditions, positive job market situation and cultural attraction. The only exception to this is Christos, for whom geographical proximity held a central role in his decision to relocate in Denmark. In that matter, his case consists a deviant case. Being one of the last persons to be interviewed, this peculiarity became immediately evident and further inquiries were made. Upon a further elaboration of the matter, it became clear that for him the reasons held different weigh because he was the only participant to relocate to Denmark from another continent, so distance was much more important to him. Other factors were still there, as he is paying a lot of attention to his career, and upon inquiry, he listed a whole array of other, career-related reasons that made him choose Denmark. After having presented these pull factors for Denmark, it seems important to elaborate on two themes that might have been evident to the reader already: the general randomness of the course of these SIEs, and the relative attraction of Denmark.

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4.2.1.1 A general randomness As said before, the reason that the factors of relocation were divided in two parts, was to be able to see what influenced these SIEs to leave Greece and what brought them to Denmark. It was interesting to find out that the events that led them to Denmark were rather accidental. Three have met their Danish partners while both of them were studying in a third country, and three of them while they were vacating in Greece. One respondent found out about an interesting study program in a Danish university from a Spanish former student who he met on vacations. Anna learned about the possibilities to do a paid Ph.D. in Denmark from two Danish friends she had made at summer and Christos from a Dane he met while being in the United States. Adam, although initially interested for Sweden, met a Dane who was living in Greece and was able to provide contacts for him in Denmark. Some other respondents just happened to find on the internet an interesting job that happened to be located in Denmark. This general randomness resonated with what Richardson had found out as well in her SIE interviews. She called this not-planned course serendipity, meaning that opportunities for SIEs, at most cases, just arise, and due to the SIEs' openness to them, they get followed. This means that a SIEs' course is not part of a specific plan, and this is something that was also evident in the answers of the participants in this thesis. None of them -apart from the people who had a partner here, and even they met them in random ways- had a plan to expatriate specifically in Denmark. It just happened this way. Some respondents acknowledged that themselves by using expressions as :"it was just lucky" "it happened". 4.2.1.2 Relative attractiveness of Denmark So, if their course is so random, what can Denmark do to better attract professionals like these SIEs? At that point it would worth it to look again at the pull factors that drew the participants here, from the point of view of which of them are characterising only Denmark, meaning which ones of these factors only Denmark has to offer. In Doherty's (2011) study, the reason Desire to live in the host country scored one of the top places in order of importance on the decision to self-expatriate. This means that a lot of the respondents in her study felt a strong attraction and desire to live specifically in the country they have chosen and were at the time of the survey. This (although not a quantitative study) does not seem to be the case here, as the only ones who expressed a desire to live specifically in Denmark were Jiannis, who felt attracted by the Danish 48

culture, and maybe the people who had a partner here. The rest could just as easily have been to another country. Therefore, the only two of the above presented factors that are country-specific are the Danish culture and a Danish partner. The rest, Geographical proximity to Greece, Free studies, Good working conditions and Positive job market are characteristics that other countries have to offer as well. As explained before in the Theory part, countries are competing with each other in order to attract talents, and Denmark is not an exception. In this tight competition, it would make sense to market the only factor identified that can be promoted (as relationships are something that is randomly formed) and differentiates Denmark from other destination countries, the special Danish culture and way of life. The other, nonspecific factors that pulled these SIEs here and can be marketed, meaning the good working conditions, the general positive job market environment and free studies for EU citizens should of course be promoted as well. 4.3 The decision to stay - initial or evolving? In this section the nature of the decision to stay to Denmark will be examined. It is examined separately, because it is distinct from the decision to come to Denmark, as expressed explicitly from one respondent when asked what made him study and stay abroad:
"I had this tendency that I liked to live abroad. But in order to study, ok? In order to stay, I hope you will ask me again, because there are different reasons"

[Andreas, 28, 3 years in Denmark, environment engineer] Is this decision one that is taken initially or is it something that comes with time, and if so, what affects it? In order to access this information, questions like "Did you plan from the beginning to stay in Denmark for as many years as you are now?" were asked. Only the participants that were here for a considerable amount of time (>3) were asked that. Just three of the participants responded that they came in Denmark with a conscious, long-term plan to stay. For two of them, it was the fact that their partners were located in Denmark and their relationship were rather serious that made them have that plan.
Look, I came in Denmark because I followed my girlfriend, Mette. I was in Netherlanders

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and I was thinking more, you know, seriously about my relationship, so...from the beginning I had taken the decision that I am coming to stay. [Konstantinos, 29, 3 years in Denmark, engineer] I had and I have a purpose to stay here for the rest of my life, considering that I came for family reasons and my family is always here [Thomas, 41, 6 years in Denmark, manager]

For Jiannis, 33, 4 years in Denmark, software developer, it was the fact that he was actively looking for an opportunity to get away from Greece, and as presented in the previous section, he was thinking that Denmark is a good option.
From the beginning I came with the purpose of staying. That was the purpose...I didn't want to stay in Greece

[Jiannis, 33, 4 years in Denmark, software developer] The rest of the people, felt that it was a gradual decision. The factors that made them take this decision over time varied, and can be categorized in three broad categories: Work, Quality of life and Relationship/Family. Quality of life Anna, whose job back in Greece was leaving her with no free time, appreciated the work-life balance in Denmark. Also, coming from a little town but having studied and worked in Athens, a city of almost 5 million inhabitants, Copenhagen's size felt more suitable for her.
I think that I wasn't thinking to go or to stay. I had left that blank. That "Well, I am starting that and lets see". I hadn't decided something. To do it or not. I took the decision, I think, 1 year before I finished. Because I liked life here a lot, and I didn't want to go back. I liked that I had personal time. I think that this was the most important... especially after my experience in Athens, that because of the job I didnt have any personal time, I appreciated that a lot. To be able to work 8 hours and also to have time and energy to to things. I also liked the size of the city. It is not very big, it is not very small. You dont feel lost in the city. You can in any given week find 3,4,5 things that you want and do them.

[Anna, 36, 10 years in Denmark, associate professor]

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Anna here seems to have been "measuring" the advantages that life in Denmark was offering her against her past negative experiences (speaking in economical terms, since the homo economicus attributes are evident again), and decided to stay. Relationship/Family Making a family, or feeling that a relationship has a future, is another reason that encourages people to stay. Iosif stayed because eventually he had the career he was looking for, and also he got married and had a daughter in Denmark.
At the beginning I thought that it would be only for 3-4 years, until a position that I would want opened in Greece, but finally things evolved very nice for me here, I took a full chair position, I got married, I started a family, so....

[Iosif, 43, 11 years in Denmark, professor] The fact that creating a family in the host country acts as as a factor tying expatriates to it, is something noted both by the qualitative studies of Richardson (2004) and by the quantitative study of Greek expatriates by Lambrianidis (2011:275) who found that marrying a host country national acts as a deterring factor for returning to Greece. Or for Maria, who, after coming for a few months while she was writing her Greek Master's thesis under a Danish professor (something that she did to test the waters) decided to come back for a more permanent stay.
When I came for the first time in Denmark, at March '98, I didnt know what was going to happen... Both about my relationship, because it was going to be the first time we would be living together for more than a month and because my stay had an expiration date. But when I came for my Ph.D., at Christmas of '99, and I know that I would be here for at least 3 years, then my heart and my logic had taken the decision that I came here permanently... My heart because I wanted to be with my partner and my logic because I knew that Denmark is the country that both of us could find a job.

[Maria, 37, 15 years in Denmark, engineer] The fact that expatriates who came in Denmark following a partner are stating that as a reason that made them prolong their stay (or others to come with no definite intention to

51

return, as shown before) is contradicting the findings of the Expat 2010 Study. There it was found that expatriates who stated "family and love" as the reason that brought them here, are "less likely to stay longer than planned compared to expatriates that came to work". This maybe has to do with peculiarities of the sample, as all the people interviewed were feeling satisfied with their relationships. Work Most of the people thought, felt that it was work reasons that gradually made them take the decision to stay. For Petros, it was the ease of getting a job and the challenge of it.
I didn't have the plan to stay abroad. For me then that was very far away in the future. But when I finally finished at 83, it was a time that there was a big need for mechanics. All my classmates had a job, even before they got their degrees. So, I thought of course, because for me it was a great challenge... "why not use my knowledge now, that it is fresh?". And one year led to the other...

[Petros, 53, 32 years in Denmark, vice rector] For others, it was the fact that her career was evolving according to their wishes.
When I came here I dint have in my mind to stay as well. This came up randomly. Like they say, there is nothing more permanent than the temporary... exactly like that. I came, I wasn't having a bad time, Copenhagen is a charming city... Denmark is in the centre of Europe... And because my career was progressing as I wished, I decided, since I had the chance, to stay. It was not certain that I would stay. I had to see if they could help me professionally, in my career. But they treated me as they should.

[Katerina, 36, 8 years in Denmark, associate professor]

This is something that probably occurred... If someone said to me that I would stay 12 years here I wouldn't... I didnt have it as a plan. Ok, the first years I looked for a Ph.D., to do my medical specialty, to see how things go on here for me. I saw my potentials, I liked the job... In this process I never thought to leave, but I also didnt have it in my schedule to stay. Meaning that in the beginning I came to see it it was satisfying or I should go and... I stayed!

[Adam, 29, 12 years in Denmark, doctor]

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For Andreas it was the fact that he found a student job that continued even after he finished his studies.
When I came to study I had it in my mind that I might also stay, but I hadn't thought of that seriously. It occurred. I was doing my Master thesis...and I was also trying to find how I could work as student employee at the same time...And searching, I found the possibility to be hired as a student at the company that I am now... And they hired me. Then, after my student contract ended, they offered me a full time job. In essence it was random. I mean, they offered me a job with good money, lets say, and I thought "Why not work? And we see. Slowly" The decision was very gradual. I started getting used to things here, I liked it, etch."

[Andreas, 28, 3 years in Denmark, environment engineer] But it is not for all international students as easy as it was for Andreas. Reports from Danish Ministries state that although more than 70% of the international students are positively inclined towards staying in the country after their studies (UNI C, 2006) only 27% of them are still in the country 2 years after they finish their education, and of them who eventually stay, more than a third is unable to find a job- a share significantly lower than their Danish former classmates. The report states that reason for this is their difficulty to get a job, which is caused by the lack of contact between international students and companies and their lack of Danish language skills (FBE, 2009). The same report, by analysing statistics finds that people who were working during their studies have higher possibilities to remain in the country, and an example of how and why this happens, can very well be the case of Andreas. So far, factors related to Denmark that influenced the SIEs decision to stay have been discussed. Some expatriates mentioned also factors related to Greece, or the rest of the world. It seems that for these people the decision to stay more permanently was weighted against their other possible options
Yes, the other option was to go to Greece and do my military service and I didn't want it then. It was very far away from my thought and my...my ambition then.

[Petros, 53, 32 years in Denmark, vice rector]

...of course, under the surface, there were also other reasons...From my working

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experience in Greece I had noticed certain negative things. Of working in Greece. Like e.g. that I had to be in contact very often with public organisations. And they dysfunction. One. Two, there is traffic in the streets. A lot of these "small" factors lets say, were creating... a lot of stress, a lot of irritation to me. So you can say the main reason I stayed was because I didn't want to go back to Greece. It is different to say "I want to stay in Denmark" and different to say " I dont want to return to Greece". They are two different things, distinct for me.

[Andreas, 28, 3 years in Denmark, environment engineer] Finally, for some people, staying in Denmark can be not as much an outcome of choice, but of necessity
The purpose was to stay for 2, maximum 3 years and go back, but the situation changed, the crisis.. Globally but also in Greece... So I remain here until there are options again. Then we see...

[Elena, 37, 4 years in Denmark, manager] 4.3.1 Discussion From the above presentation, it seems that the decision to stay in Denmark on a longterm basis, can be either initial or gradual. The fact that SIEs often relocate with no definite schedule in mind was something that Theory predicted, as other authors have noted that as well (Tharenou, 2010; Doherty et. al., 2011). It is also important to see that, in line with the Theory, the reasons that drive somebody to expatriate are not always the same reasons that make one stay in the host country. The decision of staying further or not in the host country is a dynamic decision, that gets constantly reassessed. Factors that influence this decision are related to the professional and personal life. Good working prospects, a meaningful job, a career that evolves satisfyingly, creating a family or seeing a future in a relationship, a good worklife balance and a satisfying life are reasons encouraging SIEs to prolong their stay. Also, quite unsurprisingly, SIEs not only "measure" the "utility" of the host country characteristics in terms of their past experiences, but also weigh that utility against their possible alternative options. Maybe this last finding is what can -partially perhaps- explain the fact that it is mostly Scandinavian students that return to their countries after completing their education in Denmark(FBE, 2009) -for Scandinavian students, the work environment and prospects in Denmark are not much different than 54

in their own countries-, while students from the rest of the world choose to remain. The absence of better options can make SIEs settle for what they can have at the moment. This is a finding that was not encountered in the literature review, and could be an area of further exploration. A much clearer picture of the factors that influence the decision to stay or leave could be formed if also SIEs that left Denmark after a number of years were studied, but an idea of what these might be can be taken from the next section, where it was found that some of the people interviewed have already decided to leave Denmark. 4.4 Future plans Besides examining the course of the SIEs so far, also the future plans of them were tried to be accessed. In the previous section it became evident that expatriates often have an unplanned nature of movement. Under this light, it is not surprising that a lot of the participants have no clear plans of their future course. Nevertheless, their attitudes towards their future mobility or stability were tried to be accessed with questions related to whether they intend to return to Greece, stay in Denmark, or move to another country and the time frame and reasons for these plans. From their answers, it was evident that these parameters were interconnected for them, because the reasons influencing them were, at some degree, shared. One said he intended to return to Greece soon, one that she never intends to return, but does not know where she will be in the future, and the others that they might or will return to Greece at some point, but some might also move or want to move to another country before they do that; two have decided to leave Denmark soon, one to relocate to another country and one to repatriate to Greece. Followingly, an attempt to present their future plans and aspects related to these plans is made. 4.4.1 Return in Greece When asked whether they intend to return to Greece or not, one respondent answered that he already has decided to move back soon, one that she never plans to move back, and the rest were either unsure of whether they would ever return or not, or pushed their return date after their retirement. The intention to return to Greece can be broken down in two parts: the motivating and deterring factors that influence the intention to return, and the time plan for return.

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4.4.1.1 Motivating and deterring factors The respondents mentioned various reasons that made them think, want or decide to return to Greece. The reasons identified were: To be with family and friends, a very prominent explanation given for the possible return by a lot of participants
I would like to go back at some point. It is my country, and there are the people, the family, the friends I love.

[Elena, 37, 4 years in Denmark, manager] Being able to communicate in ones native language, as Alexandros feels
I don't know whether I intend to return to Greece, it is not sure. It's not that I want it 100% but... Ok, obviously one of the main reasons is family, friends, the language is something important... It is different to communicate in your own language and different in another, even in English, that is, like, a second language for everybody abroad. [Alexandros, 27, 2 years in Denmark, Graduate programme trainee]

To enjoy retirement in a more temperate environment

Because...if I don't have to work, so when I am retired, it will be easier to live in a warm climate...Because it is like vacations [Konstantinos, 29, 3 years in Denmark, engineer]

To instil in one's children Greek values

But maybe I would go back if I felt that my children have nothing Greek inside them. I dont have children. I intend to do at some point. But if I felt that they carry nothing from Greece, it might be a motive to return [Sofia, 31, 5 years in Denmark, doctor]

To work in their own country and help with their knowledge there
When I left I was thinking that yes, I make a life circle to take some...to give a better

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value to what I can do, but I was always thinking that I would like to return and offer what I know there. [Christos, 36, 2 years in Denmark, Ph.D. student]

Or because they have strong emotional ties with the country.

But yes, like every Greek I have the dream to return... For purely sentimental reasons...that I can't live without this country

[Jiannis, 33, 4 years in Denmark, software developer] Deterring factors that delay or challenge the return to Greece are: Existing or possible family ties in Denmark, as for Michalis, who after a recent divorce and his older children growing up and leaving home, has only his daughter to keep him here, or Adam, who wants to have a family:
If it wasnt for my young daughter here, I would have already been gone.

[Michalis, 48, 24 years in Denmark, Gymnasium teacher]

I dont say it's impossible, but it's also hard. At my 60s-70s that I will be retired, I was thinking also in the past that it is a possibility, an idea, but it is rather impossible to go back to Greece permanently. Maybe for a limited time, but until then logically other things will have occurred, I will have family, children, grandchildren here...

[Adam, 29, 12 years in Denmark, doctor]

A not completed military service

And there is also an important reason. The fact that I havent been to the military is a great deterring factor for me.

[Andreas, 28, 3 years in Denmark, environment engineer] The perception that an appropriate job cannot be found in Greece, which was a concern

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mentioned by all participants who said they plan or might return

I am sure that in Greece I will never be able to find a job, and if I did it wouldnt be something that makes me happy or is according to my abilities. So for that I dont think it's possible to return at an age where I can still work, right?

[Maria, 37, 15 years in Denmark, engineer] Or, as some people that plan or think of returning when they retire mentioned, the healthcare system:
Although, to be true to you, I am concerned about healthcare. I feel much more secure being an old man here, than in Greece. So, I might not take that decision, because if my health is weak at that point I would feel safer here.

[Thomas, 41, 6 years in Denmark, manager] 4.4.1.2 Intention and time plan of return Only one respondent reported that she does not intend to return to Greece, because as she said she has "no reason to do that... at any point. Even after retirement I can retire in other countries, France, Spain". Maybe this is because she was the respondent that exhibited the least degree of emotional ties with Greece. As she said:
I was always feeling a stranger in Greece...I have a very different culture...Since I was 6 I was going at an American school, so I have completely different values

[Katerina, 36, 8 years in Denmark, associate professor] All the others thought, said that they will return or might return to Greece. A lot of them thought, push their return date for after their retirement. The perception of limited employment possibilities, or employment with bad terms, was a very prominent theme here, and the reason why they do not plan to return while on working age. Here are three examples of how they expressed that.
I would like to, at some point, but I have no concrete plan. I mean, as long as I am in the job market, I don't believe I will. But maybe later, I don't know. We have our house there, we can go live whenever we want. But we need to have time. After retirement nothing will

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hold us back. Ok, the children are here. But they have their own life. So... Maybe we will keep a little apartment here and have two bases...

[Petros, 53, 32 years in Denmark, vice rector]

Professionally no, never. While I am active professionally and if the world doesnt come upside down, no. I think that Greece will have a problem for a lot of years, and it would be a big slashback for me to return. And almost nothing pulls me back. When my children also grow up and go their own ways, absolutely nothing [Markos, 44, 1 year in Denmark, manager] I intend to return to Greece, but after retirement. While I am still at working age, I can't, there is no chance to go back. After retirement yes, because Greece is a much prettier country for your retirement, the nature...Denmark is a bit dull, even compared with other Nordic countries...

[Iosif, 43, 11 years in Denmark, professor] Some others, felt that they will, or might return to Greece when and if the job situation would allow it
I intend to return, but not in bad terms. I mean, when the terms will be good, even if salaries will be or 1/3 of the salaries abroad, but they will be able to secure a life with dignity, yes... Of course there are also personal reasons that might occur in the meanwhile, like meeting somebody, and then I would have to think of it again

[Christos, 36, 2 years in Denmark, Ph.D. student]

If I have the ability to...the financial ability and the emotional strength to return, I will. Even now, so to speak. But now things are a bit hard in Greece...

[Jiannis, 33, 4 years in Denmark, software developer]

Greece is still my home, right? One of the two. Denmark has become my second one now. I think of it this way: If in Greece things change, especially in the medical profession and... the working conditions there, I dont cross it out that I might attempt to return. But the way it is now, it doesnt interest me at all.

[Sofia, 31, 5 years in Denmark, doctor]

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4.4.1.3 Discussion As in section 4.3, it is evident again that family is something that ties expatriates to their host country. An existing family, or the expectation of having a family acts as a deterrent of repatriating. But family ties work both ways. The finding that family and friends back in Greece are also a reason to eventually return is something that corresponds with Richardson & McKenna (2006) who found that a lot of expatriates accounted for their relationships with their family and friends back home as the reason for their intention to return, and it is also something generally acknowledged in immigration literature (e.g., Lynn-Ee Ho, 2008). Jackson's (2005) quantitative study also validated statistically this relationship, showing that that the desire to be with relatives and friends is a strong pull factor for expatriates to return home. The finding that the will to be able to speak again one's native language in an every-day basis can be a motivator to repatriate is a new one for SIE literature. The two previous studies (Richarson's & McKenna's and Jackson's) that have dealt with reasons for repatriation have not touched on that subject because they were examining British and Zew Zealandic SIEs respectively, who were naturally speaking their native language everywhere in the world. The OE literature though, has identified the connection of language and premature repatriation, but in a different context. For example, Haslberger(2006) identifies the lack of the host country's language skills as a potential factor that increases frustration, although in the case of this thesis, it was not the lack of native language skills but the possible tiredness of speaking English, and was not expressed as frustration but as a possible irritation. The will to raise one's children in one's own country is something identified before in SIE literature. In Jackson's study (2005) "Bringing up children" was one of the strongest pull factors towards home for New Zealandic expatriates. Another reason people mentioned for their intended or possible return to Greece is to retire there. The fact that elderly, retired people are oriented towards retiring to sunshine places is something that is being discussed in academia as far back as 1979 (Chevan & Rosefischer) and is known as "retirement migration". Concern about the quality of healthcare affecting the decision of where to retire is something also identified before, and mentioned by Aguilera (2004) when examining the reasons that Mexican immigrants in the United States might prefer to retire there instead of returning back to Mexico. It also seems that strong emotional ties with the home country can feel a very 60

strong desire to repatriate at some point, while people with weak emotional ties might not feel the urge to return. Finally, the bad job market condition in Greece is something that strongly disencourages expatriates from returning home. This is something recognised also by Jackson (2005). Quite logically, limited career opportunities seems to be not only a factor that pushes expatriates away from their home country, but hinders the return too, and even makes some people exclude this possibility for as long as they are working. 4.4.2 Intention of staying in Denmark In the above part, the intention to eventually return to Greece was presented. In this part the intention to stay in Denmark or move in another country, and by what it is affected is examined. Questions like "can you imagine yourself staying for ever in Denmark?" or "For how long do you think you will be here? Why?" were asked. Again, the answers varied. For some respondents there was an overlap with their explanation of whether they intend to return in Greece, since if one does not think of moving to a third country, these are the two possible options. No respondent expressed a definite desire to stay for ever in Denmark. Some said that they will stay until retirement, some are unsure about whether they will move in another country in the future, or would like to do so, and one that has already decided to move in another country. The desire to stay in Denmark, as made already clear from the previous part is reinforced by personal ties here
I can maybe think of myself being here for ever, because of...personal reasons...I mean my boyfriend

[Katerina, 36, 8 years in Denmark, associate professor] a satisfying job, which all of the respondents that plan to stay or might stay mentioned as a factor that keeps them in the country
I am already leaving here 12 years! It is not something that concerns me to go

somewhere else. I have been recently promoted to full professor, so this is another reason which makes my will staying here even stronger.

[Iosif, 43, 11 years in Denmark, professor] And, for young people that have a relationship with a Dane, the notion that Denmark 61

seems a nice country for raising children,

Now I also have a girlfriend here... And it is an ideal place to grow a family, there is no criminality, there is egalitarianism... It is a nice place

[Jiannis, 33, 4 years in Denmark, software developer] Some respondents did not cross out the possibility of moving to a third country while still on working age. They explained that this might happen because a better job might present itself, as Elena, who got "trapped" in Denmark because of the recent economical downturn said
I can see myself staying here, there is a certain financial security, and there are also opportunities for me here, but you never know, something better might come up.. Now on the other hand, it is easier for me to move in another country, because I have no family

[Elena, 37, 4 years in Denmark, manager] Or because Denmark's egalitarian culture, which attracted Jiannis here in the first place and is one of the things that makes him think Denmark is a nice place for a future family, might also hinder career development.
Now, to leave Denmark and go to another country, I would do that only if here I reached the greatest... career status I could reach. If I reached the maximum of the money I could get, because here everybody is equal, it's hard to go more up than a certain level

[Jiannis, 33, 4 years in Denmark, software developer] Or because of the, compared to other countries, high taxation
And also the taxes, is something that pushes you away. There are not a lot of motives to stay and develop your career here, because of the taxes

[Alexandros, 27, 2 years in Denmark, Graduate programme trainee] Or finally of the perception that Danes socialize in a way they are not accustomed

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But on the other hand, I see me, and how life is here, and maybe it will deter me from going on for a lot of years here, the fact that, how to say it, they are not the most open people in the world...

[Alexandros, 27, 2 years in Denmark, Graduate programme trainee] This perception was in fact the reason why one participant has decided to leave Denmark and move to France, where he has been before. As he said, he misses a lot that he is not taking part in the social life in Denmark and decided to go to a country where he knows he can socialise with the locals.
I have already decided to leave for Paris once again, mainly for social reasons... Because I think that my mentality, compared with the Danish mentality, is very different.

[Andreas, 28, 3 years in Denmark, environment engineer] For the people that said they might relocate, possible factors that make the decision to relocate again easier can be the absence of family
Now on the other hand, it is easier for me to move in another country, because I have no family

[Elena, 37, 4 years in Denmark, manager] while things that make it hard can be the long term stay so far, that makes one accustomed with life in Denmark
I mean, that I don't have any problem to go, any problems that existed I have gotten used to them now, and going back to Greece is not even an option. I am open to proposals, to go somewhere else, America for example or anything else, but I am not actively looking for it. And as times goes by, that becomes harder and herder, because I have gotten used to the positive things of life here.

[Adam, 29, 12 years in Denmark, doctor] 4.4.2.1 Discussion In general expatriates seemed to be satisfied with their life in Denmark, and most of them were negative or reluctant towards relocating to a third country again, because of reasons that have already been discussed before. Social ties emerged as a very important 63

reason again, as all the expatriates that have a family or partner here mentioned that as a reason for their willingness to stay in Denmark, while all the expatriates that expressed an openness towards relocating to a third country again do not have a family here. The absence of family as a facilitator of international mobility is ricochetting Richardson (2004), where expatriates expressed similar opinions, and Tharenou's (2008) who found that single employees, and especially women with children, are willing but less able to self-initiate. Also, young SIEs committed to a local felt that another factor that makes them stay is that Denmark is a nice place for kids to grow up. Indeed, in the Expat 2010 Study, 82% of expats stated that for them, Denmark is a good country to bring up children. Expatriates that do not exclude the possibility of relocating, stated that they can as well stay in Denmark, and are not actively seeking to move again. What is important to note here, is the two aspects that participants mentioned as what could, or already has, made them decide to leave Denmark: taxes and the social environment. Taxes seem to be a concern in general. According to the Expat 2010 Study taxation is a very important aspect for expatriates when choosing where to relocate, and 48% of expats feel that they are taxed more than they expected. Is seems that taxation is not only influencing where to relocate, but also whether a stay will be prolonged. The link between taxation and staying in a country was presented also in the Theory part, where it was written that there is a discussion in Nordic countries about Nordic citizens leaving partly because of the high taxation (Suutari, 2000). Indeed, taxes in Denmark are pretty high compared to other countries. For example, in a comparison of 73 international cities, while Copenhagen ranks 2 after-tax income. Social life is the other negative factor that makes expatriates to leave or open to leaving Denmark. The Expat 2010 study showed that expatriates in Denmark generally have the impression that Danes are not open and they are difficult to form friendships with. This feeling is something that Richardson (2006) called "outsiderness" and it is connected with the intention to repatriate, therefore, looking this finding from a slightly different point of view, it is a reason for leaving the host country. From parts of the questionnaire that due to size reasons are being left out from analysis in this thesis, it became evident that most of the participants were feeling that they were not participating in the general social life in Denmark. They attributed this outsiderness to 64
nd

in terms of gross income, it ranks 17 in terms of

th

two factors: the fact that they do not speak Danish, and their perception that Danes are generally reluctant towards new relationships. Nevertheless, only three of the participants who left this way said that this is a factor that pushed or might push them away in the future. Maybe this is because the other participants who reported a lack of contact with the local society either did not feel bad about it, or had a strong "foothold" in Denmark: a relationship that was both being a strong motivation to remain in the country, and also offered a number of relationships with the locals. Interestingly, all three respondents for whom the feeling of outsiderness was a factor that motivated them to leave Denmark, were single.

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5 CONCLUSION This thesis had the puspose of identifying the factors that Greek SIES residing in Denmark deem that are influencing their international mobility; their past mobility that brought them from Greece to Denmark, their stay in Denmark so far, and their possible future moves. The conclusion will be written from two point of view: first, the findings will be summarised under a brief statement, and secondly, the possible practical implications for Denmark will be discused.

5.1 The findings of the thesis The findings of this thesis were discussed in detail and connected with the literature in the Discussion paragraps. Here, an attempt to connect all the findings under a common observation will be made. This observation is that it is evident that, as other studies on SIEs have showed, the international moves of Greek SIEs in Denmark should be examined through the lenses of the new literature that is developing. The traditional Immigration literature does not apply to them, since they are not motivated by economical factors. The themes around which their decisions to leave Greece, choose Denmark as a country to relocate at and decide wheather and for how long they will stay, and where they will or might go in the future were not centered around money. As theory suggests, multiple and broader concerns dominated their decisions. A satisfying career, family, relationships, the pursue of a life suitable to their demands, were allpervasing themes, influencing all mobility decisions. In this way, the thesis is a reconfirmation of the previous SIE literature. Even if it was only that, its value would not be neglectable, because the body of SIE literature is only now developing. What is interesting though, is a number of new, for the SIE body of literature, findings, that should also be considered as areas for furure exploration. The most important findings that have not been encountered in SIE literature before are the following: a) SIEs can deliberately use studies abroad as a means to initiate their international career. b) The proximity to one's homeland can be an important factor when choosing where to relocate. c) SIEs see the advantages that a country has to offer throught the lenses of their previous experiences. d) SIEs, when choosing wheather to stay or go in a country weith their different options, while the lack of options can trap them in a country. e) For non-native English speaking SIEs, the toll of having to constantly communicate in a foreign language can big enought to lead to 66

repatriation. 5.2 Practical implications for Denmark As written in the Introduction and Theory part, an important issue for developed countries is the attraction and retention of foreign skilled emploees. Some of the finding of this thesis (by carefully generalising from Greek SIEs, to SIEs from relatively close countries to Denmark, with a relatively worst job market situation and job contition than Denmark) can be used to answer the question of how Denmark can better attract and retain skilled professionals. Regarding the attraction, in part 4.2 it was shown that Greek SIEs are attracted to Denmark by the free studies, its relative proximity to Greece, a partner, a job opening, cultural values, good working conditions and a general dynamism of the country's industry. If Denmark wishes to attract more SIEs, then it's politicians and industry should maybe advertise those of these characteristics of Denmark that can be effectively promoted (e.g. in job forums, educational institutions, or through Danish Diaspora, as in the Empirical part it was shown that a lot of SIEs got steered towards Denmark after information given by a Dane). The possibility for free studies can be advertised, as a large part of those who study in Denmark are also willing to stay, and a smaller part of them actually do. The relative proximity to European countries finding can be used in order to better identify the target group, which could be foreign nationals of a country not very far away from Denmark (or Europe). The good working conditions and work-life balance that is characteristic of Danish workplaces could also be used for promoting Denmark in the global job market. The fact that a country has a developed industry is something that also seems to be make SIEs better predisposed towards it, and Denmark should advertise the fact that it is a developed nation with strong industries. Most importantly, the one characteristic that is specific only for Denmark should be advertised because only this has the power to differentiate Denmark from any other country: its specific culture and values. As seen in the Empirical part, cultural affinity can be a very strong pull factor towards Denmark. Retention is another issue. From the interviews it became evident that issues that influence the decision to stay are related to a satisfying work, the creation of a family and the general satisfaction of life. Suggestions in this topic could be to better help SIEs achieve the kind of career they want through expatriate-assisting organisations, and keep supporting/developing the expatriate networks in Denmark, so expatriates can 67

interact with each other for a better social life. Actions to better integrate expatriates to the Danish life should be taken as well. Expatriates stated that limited interaction with Danes was or could be a reason for leaving Denmark. The expatriates themselves attributed this lack of contacts to the fact that Danes socialise in a more closed way, and their lack of knowledge of Danish. The second one of these reasons could be countered by motivating the foreign expatriates in Denmark to participate in language courses so they become familiar with the language. Although it might seem absurd to make such a statement, better integration should be pursued also because of the possibility that expatriates develop relationships with Danes. It was only those in a relationship of having a family with a Dane that said that they could stay in Denmark for ever, even after their retirement. Taxes were also a factor that can drive SIEs out of Denmark, but no suggestions will be attempted to be made for an administrative issue so out of the scope and knowledge of the researcher. Maybe the relatively high taxation could be countered in other, indirect ways. The fact that, as found in 4.3, SIEs evaluate the advantages of their present host country on terms of their previous experiences, could help Danish industry and policy makers into better choosing the professionals that, if attracted in Denmark they have high chances of appreciating what Denmark has to offer in terms of quality of life and working conditions, and thus choose to remain more permanently. Professionals that come from countries with relatively worst working environments should be in that category. Summarising, the findings of this thesis could propose possible suggestions on how to better promote Denmark to a certain category of SIEs and how to afterwards retain them more effectively.

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7 APPENDIX Table I

Name Petros Katerina Michalis Markos Jiannis Adam Sofia Christos Elena Iosif Alexandros Andreas Thomas Anna Maria Konstantinos

sex M F M M M M F M F M M M M F F M

Age 53 36 48 44 33 39 31 36 37 43 27 28 41 36 37 29

Years in Denmark 32 8 24 1 4 12 5 2 4 11 2 3 6 10 15 3

Occupation vice rector associate professor Gymnasium teacher manager software developer doctor doctor Ph.D. Student manager professor Graduate programme trainee environment engineer manager associate professor engineer engineer

78