SHRI-RMIT Study - Managing Non-traditional International Staff (NTIS) - Challenges & Opportunities (Ongoing)

It has been common for organisations with operations in the Asia Pacific region (including Australia) to employ international employees as expatriates on medium or long term contracts, for their special expertise and knowledge, or their global experience.

Accordingly, there is an extensive body of research which has explored the challenges and opportunities presented to those responsible for attracting, retaining, and managing such expatriates, in a variety of regional locations. However, there are indications that some regional organisations are choosing to complement or replace the use of expatriate staff with other international employment options (non-traditional international staff – NTIS) such as short term assignments, project managers, regular cross-country commuters, frequent business travelers, and even ‘virtual managers’.  

This research study explores:  

1. The reasons why such alternative choices have been made;
2. The manner in which organisations manage these non-traditional international employees; and
3. The challenges and opportunities posed by their use  

For the purposes of this study, traditional international employees (or ‘expatriates’) are defined as employees from a foreign country who relocate to Singapore (or other countries in the Asia Pacific region) for contract periods of more than one year. All other methods of employing international staff are considered non-traditional international staff (NTIS).  

The study is a joint project of the School of Management at RMIT University and the Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI), and it has received formal ethics approval from the College of Business Ethics Committee at RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia).