Understanding Treechangers and Their Employment Mobility: Applying Expatriation Theory to Construct A Model of the Antecedents of Mobility in a Sub-National Context

Research into expatriation, and specifically the adjustment processes of expatriates and their families, offers an interesting opportunity to understand a more recent phenomena that is occurring in a sub-national context: counter-urbanisation associated with amenity lifestyle changes, commonly referred to as treechangers. Many similarities exist between the two trends specifically in terms of the psychological factors of the individual that can be identified as leading to a positive adjustment experience. This papers develops a model of sub-national mobility that has been drawn from the extensive expatriation literature and empirical evidence that suggests factors that contribute to the likelihood of expatriation success and adjustment. In particular, the variables proposed include demographic, family, job-related and personal traits. The linear regression equation proposed will be further tested.