Early Career Stage Academics and Their Expatriation Destination: What Drives Their City Choice in Enhancing Regional Sustainability?

Abstract

Amid a growing interest in how geographical location functions as a motive for self-initiated expatriate (SIE) academics to choose their next employer, more research is needed to understand how academics select a potential location for their expatriation. With the goal of contributing to the literature on SIE academics, this study explores the cues that drive early career-stage academics to choose a destination—Copenhagen or Amsterdam—when accepting an international job offer. The data reveal that four frames drive SIE academics’ meaning-making regarding a potential destination city: positive impression, livable city, familiarity, and political stability and career development expectations. This paper concludes with a discussion of how our findings contribute to the higher education and mobility literature and offers important implications for practice.

1. Introduction

The expatriation of professionals, including academics, is one of the most important factors in the sustainable development of geographical regions [1]. Specifically, as part of regions’ human development, policies are being developed that can provide incentives for expatriate professionals to become long-term residents [1]. In the educational sector, countries such as Korea are increasingly attracting foreign academics by globalizing their curricula and offering competitive salaries [2]. Moreover, the UAE attracts international academics by providing them with a tax-free salary, housing or a cash housing allowance, financial assistance for the private education of their children, annual roundtrip tickets (or cash-in-lieu-of) for employees and their family to return to their home country every year, or paid medical insurance [3].

While there is much research on how institutional practices can attract international mobility [4], there is far less on why and how specific geographical destinations, i.e., cities, attract expatriates. This topic is especially relevant for understanding self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), who are the driving force in the sustainable development of regions [2,4]. By self-initiated expatriation, we refer to expatriation where individuals decide to move abroad on their own initiative to work legally in a host country [5]. Consequently, SIE academics can be defined as a specific type of SIE because they seek job opportunities in universities outside their home countries [6], e.g., professors or associate professors [7], lecturers [8], or PhD students [9].

In recent decades, there has been an increasing harmonization of employment conditions and policies due to the international AACSB and EQUIS accreditations in the educational sector [10,11]. Therefore, while studying institutional conditions is still very relevant, in this study, we posit that more research attention needs to be given to the topic of geographical location, e.g., a city. Indeed, location factors are an important focus in expatriation research [12,13], given that there are more than 1000 cities in the world to choose from according to the World Urban Forum [14]. Studies have shown that SIE academics choose a location that is economically and politically stable [15,16], offers the highest research excellence [17], or is related to their previous study experience [9]. Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that even when SIE academics are attracted to a specific country for relocation, they still evaluate which city would suit them best. However, how such an evaluation proceeds has not been clarified by SIE research.

With this paper, we aim to fill this research gap. Specifically, we focus on early career-stage academics, i.e., PhD students, who accept research placements abroad to complete their postgraduate studies, including writing a PhD dissertation. While recent research on PhD students has proposed that this segment of international professionals often use climate and weather as important determining factors in their decisions [18], we explore whether there are other factors that can explain early-stage academics’ transfer to another country, specifically, their choice of a particular city for their destination [6]. Hence, we focus on a sample of PhD students who moved to Amsterdam or Copenhagen and explore the potential frames that guide how early career stage academics choose a city for their relocation abroad. Our research is guided by the following question: How do SIE academics determine the suitability of a potential host city for their relocation? To answer this question, we follow the sensemaking theory of Weick [19], defined as “a thinking process that uses retrospective accounts to explain the unknown” (p. 4); in our case, this thinking process is used by SIE academics to select and move to another city. According to Weick [19], sensemaking involves a frame, a cue, and the relational concept binding them, which allows individuals to make meaning of an event. To make sense of the unknown, cues derived from communication tools are used [19,20]. These cues or stimuli function as “incoming perceptual information” for a cognitive frame [21], which then structures evaluations in the decision-making process on nonwork-related factors prior to a final choice of location.

For early career-stage academics, this implies that while looking for information about cities or interacting with others about cities, they can abstract cues from communication to determine which city suits them. Thus, in this paper, we further elaborate on this process with our qualitative data. We aim to make several important contributions to the expatriation literature on academics and international studies. First, we contribute to the literature on SIE academics’ location choices by focusing on cities. Specific location factors have been explored by others in the expatriation literature, such as Duarte et al. [22], who studied engineers who moved to Africa, and Ridgway and Robson [23], who studied research professionals who moved to Qatar. Additionally, in the international studies domain, McAlpine et al. [24] evaluated African PhD students abroad, and Li et al. [16] investigated Asian PhD students who moved to the United States of America. However, no studies have addressed the topic of how early career-stage academics choose to live in certain cities. Second, we contribute to the broader SIE literature on the motivations to expatriate by exploring additional nonwork-related motivations. Therefore, we contribute to previous research that links the self-initiated expatriation of academics with their career progression goals and motivations [4,6,25].

In the remainder of this article, we first review the literature on sensemaking. Second, we explain how we conducted our research and discuss our findings. Finally, we propose new future research areas to enrich the SIE literature with future studies on the influence of cities on SIE academics’ decisions to move abroad.

Theoretical Background

To explore how early career stage academics determine the suitability of a potential host city for their relocation, we draw on the theory of sensemaking of Weick et al. [26]. Sensemaking is the process of attributing meaning to things or events that happen to individuals [19]. Individuals engage in sensemaking in everyday life. However, it occurs most saliently when individuals experience anxiety. It is this anxiety that prompts individuals to engage in sensemaking and to seek answers to the following questions: “What is happening?” and “What do I need to do?” [26]. These questions bring an event and its meaning into existence, and their interpretation becomes the springboard to action, which allows individuals to determine how to act in relation to a situation [26].

Choosing a location for relocation is essentially a sensemaking process. It involves a frame, a cue, and the relational concept binding them, which allows individuals to make meaning of an event [19]. Frames refer to the cognitive frames of reference defined as the “knowledge structures that help individuals organize and interpret incoming perceptual information by fitting it into already available cognitive representation of memory” [21]. Such knowledge structures include knowledge gained from professional experiences, life experiences, communication, and other general expectations [19,26] Moreover, Weick et al. [26] argue that previous experiences can be considered cues because sensemaking is a retrospective process. That is, frames of reference describe how cues or stimuli guide individuals’ perception and behavior as they attempt to understand their environment [27].

Expatriation research has consistently applied sensemaking theory. Some recent examples are studies that address employees’ interpretations of the roles of expatriates—as spies on the floor [28], trust-building between host and expatriate nationals [29], and competence-building through cultural intelligence [30]. However, very few studies have used sensemaking to study the motivations to expatriate. Moreover, we are not aware of any study that has used this theory to study the motivations of expatriates to choose a destination for relocation. SIE academics, in this case PhD students, choose a new host city, and they then experience uncertainty generated by their need to move to an unknown city. This triggers a sensemaking process about where one should go. They can use any available information about a city to engage in the sensemaking process. Cities often use city branding to offer relevant information about cities. City branding is the articulation of all relevant information related to a city to instill positive images about it in people’s minds [16,31]. Thus, the focus of city branding is to create connections between cities and individuals [32,33] to help meet individual expectations [31]. Cities thereby use branding to stimulate cues that can be used by SIE academics to determine whether a potential host city is attractive to them.

2. Materials and Methods

This research was conducted at two public universities, one of which is located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and the other in Copenhagen, Denmark. SIE academics can be defined as a specific type of SIE because they seek job opportunities in universities outside their home countries [6]. Building on this definition, our paper focuses on international PhD candidates who have initiated their move abroad to be employed by an university. All of them have been living in their host country for more than 6 months and have a collective labor agreement to receive salary, benefits, and legal protection for a minimum of 3 years. Specifically, this study included non-Dutch or non-Danish PhD candidates or PhD graduates with an employment contract. The two case cities were selected for convenience reasons and because they are known for attracting many international PhD students.

To recruit participants, the first author of this article worked with a research assistant who was an international master’s student. The purpose of the study was explained to the PhD coordinators of both universities. Information about participation criteria was also provided to the coordinators, who then distributed this information to their PhD students by email. The criterion of inclusion was that participants had to have moved from their home country or from a third country to Amsterdam or Copenhagen to start a PhD. Those who had moved to one of the mentioned cities to complete a master’s degree and planned to pursue a PhD were also included in our sample. Participants who were interested in joining the study contacted the first author by email. Prior to scheduling an interview with them, the first author provided potential participants with more information about the interview (i.e., the type of questions, purpose of the study, duration of the interview, etc.). Interviews were conducted in person or online. Thus, the final sample consists of 31 participants who were born between 1981 and 1995 (See

Table 1. Sample Characteristics. The final sample of the study.

Respondents	Gender	Year of Birth	Home Country	Host City	Status
R1	Female	1995	France	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R2	Male	1993	Germany	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R3	Female	1986	Indonesia	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R4	Female	1991	Germany	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R5	Female	1992	Germany	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R6	Female	1987	China	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R7	Female	1990	Germany	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R8	Male	1992	China	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R9	Female	1989	Brazil	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R10	Male	1986	Iran	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R11	Female	1986	Germany	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R12	Female	1993	Hungary	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R13	Male	1995	France	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R14	Female	1987	Greece	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R15	Female	1989	Poland	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R16	Female	1988	China	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R17	Female	1990	Portugal	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R18	Male	1988	Iran	Amsterdam	PhD Candidate
R19	Male	1988	Australia	Copenhagen	PhD Candidate
R20	Female	1983	Netherlands	Copenhagen	PhD Candidate
R21	Female	1990	Germany	Copenhagen	PhD Candidate
R22	Female	1993	Netherlands	Copenhagen	PhD Candidate
R23	Female	1994	Germany	Copenhagen	PhD Candidate
R24	Male	1992	Germany	Copenhagen	PhD Candidate
R25	Male	1994	Columbia	Copenhagen	PhD Candidate
R26	Female	1995	Germany	Copenhagen	PhD Candidate
R27	Male	1991	Netherlands	Copenhagen	PhD Candidate
R28	Female	1991	Switzerland	Copenhagen	PhD Candidate
R29	Female	1990	Finland	Copenhagen	PhD Candidate
R30	Female	1991	Pakistan	Copenhagen	PhD Candidate
R31	Male	1993	United Kingdom	Copenhagen	PhD Candidate

).

2.1. The Context of the Universities

Universities in the Netherlands and Denmark offer similar PhD contracts. In both countries, universities have a group of internal PhD candidates [34,35], i.e., a group of PhD students with an employment contract from a university that gives them access to a salary, benefits, and legal protection through a collective labor agreement. There are also external PhD candidates who are not employed by a university but are funded through scholarships (usually from foreign governments or funding organizations) or who are enrolled in a part-time PhD program while working a full-time job [34,36].

2.2. The Context of the Host Cities

Based on the information gathered from Visit Denmark [37] and Iamsterdam [38], both cities are globally renowned for their cultural attractions, including various theatres, cinemas, museums, restaurants, and cafes. Both cities are associated with water and canals and offer many cycling routes. English is widely spoken in addition to the cities’ main languages of Dutch and Danish. Both cities offer easy access to all European countries and cities and other continents via trains, busses, and planes. Amsterdam Schiphol Airport offers more than 316 flight connections with over 120 different airlines from all over the world [39]. Similarly, Copenhagen Airport is an important junction in northern Europe and has been selected as the best airport in northern Europe on occasion [40].

2.3. Data Collection

This study utilized 31 semi structured interviews to explore potential frames that guide SIE academics to choose a city (in our case Amsterdam and Copenhagen) for their relocation abroad. Such interviews consist of open-ended questions and follow-up questions that guide the interviewer to address all topics of a study and allow participants to freely share their opinions about the research topics [41]. In our context, semistructured interviews allowed our participants to explore, in depth, why they chose to relocate to Amsterdam or Copenhagen to pursue their PhD. The interview questions were guided by the seven moments of sensemaking described by Weick et al. [26]. First, general questions were asked about an individual’s motivation to pursue a PhD in a host city. Second, questions were asked to explore how participants engaged in the sensemaking process. Third, questions were asked to explore what exactly triggered the participants to select either Amsterdam or Copenhagen. Finally, general questions, oriented toward the desirable and undesirable features of a city, were asked to further explore the expectations participants had about a city prior to their relocation. Several measures were taken to ensure the reliability of the data. First, interviewees were assured that their input would remain anonymous; thus, fictitious names of participants are used in this paper. Second, participants were encouraged to speak in the language of their choice (English or French) to allow them to better express themselves. Third, participants were given the option to end their interview at any time.

2.4. Data Analysis

Transcription software (KONCH) was used to transcribe the interviews. The transcripts were then carefully read, analyzed and reviewed through an iterative process in which the data were structured by recurrent patterns and organized into analytical themes [42,43]. Specifically, we followed three steps to analyze the qualitative data, in line with the following suggestions of Pratt et al. [44]:

Step 1: Create provisional categories and first-order codes. Open coding was utilized to identify which interview statements were relevant [42]. First, we extracted interview statements that explained how SIE academics made sense of the attractiveness of their host city, whether Amsterdam or Copenhagen, through cues they obtained from city branding, personal experiences, or social interactions. Then, themes were created to categorize all extracted statements. These themes were constantly compared to allow new emerging and overlapping themes to (re)form core categories. For example, there were several statements that seemed to fit in many theoretical categories; e.g., “being abroad is amazing” seemed to fall under both “cues from previous experiences abroad” and “cues from previous stay in the host city.” Finally, the second and third authors were consulted to validate the coded categories, and an agreement was reached after several iterations.

Step 2: Integrate first-order codes and create theoretical categories. Here, we moved from open to axial coding by creating categories that are more abstract [42]. For example, we used the category of “cues associated with similarity to home country” to classify all statements that refer to similarity between a home and host country.

Step 3: Aggregate theoretical dimensions by merging theoretical categories. We discussed how the different theoretical categories were connected to one another and brainstormed on how we could merge them with certain themes [42]. Ultimately, this resulted in four main themes: positive impression, livable city, familiarity, and expectation. Following the suggestion of Gioia et al. [45], we created a data structure to graphically depict our data analysis, as illustrated in Figure 1.

In step 1, relevant interview statements were identified, then themes were created to categorize statements that fit together. In step 2, the relevant statements were grouped in theoretical categories. Finally, in step 3, theoretical categories were merged in four aggregate theoretical dimensions.

3. Results

Based on the data analysis, we identified four frames that illustrate how cues from city branding, personal experiences, or social interactions were used by SIE academics to determine whether a host city was suitable for their relocation: positive impression, livable city, familiarity, and expectation.

3.1. Impression Frame

We define impression frame as a knowledge structure that helps our participants understand the images of their host city. The impression frame was mentioned by most of the participants in the study. They referred to having positive impressions of the city due to either online or offline sources. Below, we address each of these cues.

3.1.1. Cues from Online Sources

City branding helps a city communicate all relevant information to create positive images about it in people’s minds [31] through, for example, webpages and social networks [46]. Our findings reveal that cues from the internet are used to create a positive image about a city. One participant described how websites were “cues” for expats like her, showing that many people like Amsterdam:

“I had never been in Amsterdam before deciding to move, so that was a hard decision. But I looked a bit on Google. On the internet, there are a lot of websites for expats in the Netherlands; it is clear that a lot of people like Amsterdam, so there is no reason that I will not like it, you know?” (R1)

Participants also described using the internet and social interactions to make sense of how others experienced one of the cities, as elaborated below:

“It is hard to tell, but it kind of felt like a hotspot in Europe, because I have heard of people who went there for the weekend or to have a Bachelor Party. It was kind of attracting people to go there. I saw it online; it is nice.” (R2)

3.1.2. Cues from Offline Sources

Our participants also derived cues from offline sources, which included their personal social networks, such as their family members. For one of our participants, her father’s positive view of Europe was a cue that Copenhagen must be an attractive city to relocate to:

“So, when I think about Copenhagen, me and my father think about Europe. I knew that it is somewhere I would be happy to go to. I don’t think I would have wanted to go to the U.S., Africa or Australia. My father had traveled a lot to European countries, so there is always a positive attitude toward Europe in my household.” (R30)

The next quote shows that the participant’s decision to relocate to Amsterdam was facilitated by peers who previously made the same decision. The uncertainty of moving abroad was thus decreased because of interactions with these peers:

“Because I just had people who I knew had already done it and in this specific university, I could rely on experiences from other people. And this was really giving me, in this highly uncertain situation, security and guidance. And then, I really felt very good making this decision. Because although there were a lot of uncertainties, I still knew that other people had done exactly this.” (R5)

3.2. Livable City Frame

We define a livable city frame as a knowledge structure that helps our participants understand why their host city is livable for them based on its features and characteristics. During the interviews, our study participants referred to physical and nonphysical city features. Below, we offer quotes from participants to illustrate this finding.

3.2.1. Cues from Physical City Features

One of the significant characteristics of a city is its physical features; they contribute to making a city more visible to individuals [47,48]. Our respondents described how they used the prevalence of museums and recreational spaces as cues to make sense of what living in Amsterdam looks like:

“In Copenhagen, I imagined that I would have the option to go to museums and to have the option to go to nice restaurants and cafes. How are the people like? What does the city life look like? That is really interesting to me, as well as the green areas. All these things suggest how livable the city is.” (R26)

In another example, Amsterdam’s integration with the environment and nature was a salient aspect of the city’s identity, which participants mentioned as an attractive feature of the city:

“I had some experience living in Amsterdam, like going over the canals and attending the university.” (R14)

3.2.2. Cues from Nonphysical City Features

Gartner [49] argued that images about a city involve “cognitive” and “affective” elements. Affective elements refer to how individuals feel about the characteristics of a city [49]. Thus, we explored whether our participants determined their host city to be livable because of positive feelings they had derived from received information about its characteristics. One participant expressed her positive feelings about Amsterdam, which she had developed because of facts about bicycles, coffee shops, and cheese, all of which tourists associate with Amsterdam:

“I know about the bicycles, but I also heard about the things that make Amsterdam popular for tourists. I mean, for instance, the red light district or the coffee shops. Yeah, I also know about cheese. For that reason, I felt I could go out there and have fun. So, I can have a really balanced and calm life.” (R9)

Moreover, the international community that composes the diverse population of Amsterdam reassured academic expatriates regarding their potential integration. Our interviews showed that the perception that Dutch people living in Amsterdam are genuinely open-minded also contributed to a reduced fear concerning life abroad and integration. That people in Amsterdam are considered open-minded, is partly explained by the fact that most of them are able to speak English. In addition, the legality of same-sex marriage, for example, conveys a strong message of tolerance throughout the world:

“The impression about Amsterdam in my mental script is that it embraces diversity. So yeah, I thought it might be an exciting city, you know. And it is the first country to allow gay marriage [...] overall, it is a country that is very open. So that is why it made me think okay, it is a good place to go and it is an exciting city.” (R20)

3.3. Familiarity Frame

We define the familiarity frame as a knowledge structure that helps our participants understand their host city by generating feelings comparable to those in their existing memory. Based on our interviews, our participants referred to an association with their home country and their previous experiences abroad. Below, we present quotes related to these themes.

3.3.1. Cues Associated with the Home Country

Wagner and Westaby [50] argue that cultural similarity is an influential factor that drives individuals to relocate to a certain location. Indeed, our findings suggest that individuals made sense of their decision to relocate to Amsterdam or Copenhagen by comparing what they had experienced in their home country to what they knew about their potential host city. Such reflection was related to identifying significant cultural similarities between their home and host countries:

“I think I felt it would be an easy move to Copenhagen because not much would change and because the culture is similar; I think it helped a lot that it was in Europe. The entire culture is quite the same. It doesn’t really feel to me that I’m living abroad.” (R22)

Our interviews showed that a host city can generate a comparable feeling to how participants feel when they are in their home country, which seems to be another factor in their decision to relocate. The home and host cities of many respondents had a lot in common, and they appreciated these similarities. That is, it was somehow reassuring to perceive such similarities:

“I would say that my home city is also a bit different from other cities in Poland. It is called the city of freedom and is where the Solidarity Movement was born. And Amsterdam, I also perceived to be a city of freedom, because you know, you can really feel free when you are riding a bike; you can go wherever you want. And, yeah, it is just a comparable feeling like, two cities of freedom.” (R14)

3.3.2. Cues from Previous Experiences Abroad

Among individuals who have already lived abroad, relocating again is considered simple and not very risky. Past experiences abroad helped our participants build specific and realistic expectations about the process of relocation:

“I had to move within six weeks’ notice and I was like, okay, I’m going to do it. No problem. And I’ve never felt it was easy, but I thought it was fine. And I think that this is because I had done that before.” (R21)

Our participants revealed how identifying their clearly defined priorities stemmed from their previous experiences, which helped them create more realistic expectations:

“Berlin was for me a place where you need a lot of money; like, I was in a super new building. Also, in Berlin, where everyone was speaking only German, I found it very hard to make friends there. And Bordeaux was a place that I loved; the city, it was amazing to live there, but the quality of the research conducted there is not that good, and I think that Amsterdam has it all.” (R16)

Participants also described that positive experiences produced positive impressions of their host city, which is why they selected it:

“Okay, so why I moved here, what was important for me? Okay, so I already knew the city from my master’s program, and I actually really fell in love with Amsterdam.” (R5)

3.4. Expectation Frame

We define the expectations frame as a knowledge structure that helps our participants understand how their host city corresponds to their expectations. During our interviews, the participants referred to their future career and political stability expectations. Quotes related to these themes are outlined below.

3.4.1. Cues Associated with Future Career Expectations

We also explored how participants rationalized whether their relocation would benefit their future career. To do this, several cues were used by participants; for instance, one participant described her goal of using a PhD to obtain a permanent position as a cue that moving to Copenhagen would benefit her future career in many ways:

“It did impact my career in that I would never have done a PhD because I never planned to do a PhD. And, in my country, it is not so developed as it is here. And it is also not encouraged as much.” (R10)

Moreover, when deciding whether to move to Amsterdam, participants looked forward to experiencing a culture different from their past cultural experiences or from those cultures experienced by their peers in the same field but in different cities:

“Well, one of the most important things is the balanced lifestyle, I would say, when I compare my PhD life now with the PhD life of my friends who are studying in the US. I saw them leave their lab at 10 or 11 pm. And come to their lab in the morning at 8 am. And even sometimes during the weekends, or at least one of the days on weekends. Well, they get paid for that; they get much, I would say, they get much more money than I get now. But there should be some time to, you know, spend that money to have a happier life. But they do not have that time. I mean, they fulfill their life by working, working, working. And I do not like that.” (R14)

3.4.2. Cues Associated with Political Stability

Our respondents described wanting to live in a politically stable host city; they looked for a safe place. Participants expected that their host city’s culture would be in line with their values, as echoed by one participant:

“Copenhagen is known as a very safe and prosperous place. I think, politically, both me and my girlfriend are reasonably left wing, and therefore, we thought to find a very humane society where there is low inequality and there are good opportunities for women; it is sort of a good safety net. So, there is an egalitarian culture that we admire as well.” (R31)

Our respondents also described evaluating open-mindedness of the host culture by the extent to which expatriates are accepted in the culture, as mentioned by (R5):

“Politic wise, it is important that they (host country nationals) are open minded so that they are willing to take me. I do not want to be someone who is not wanted. At the moment, there are many countries where I would feel unwanted.”

4. Discussion and Conclusions

This paper explores the potential frames that guide SIE academics to choose a city for their relocation abroad. Prior work has highlighted how SIE academics choose a city that offers the greatest research excellence [17] or is economically and politically stable [16]. We contribute to this extant work by demonstrating how information on cities is gathered by self-initiated academic expatriates prior to relocation. We draw on qualitative interviews with 31 PhD students who moved to Amsterdam or Copenhagen. Our data analysis has shown that SIE academics gathered cues about their host city and made personal assessments about what these cues meant to them. Accordingly, we identified four frames that guided academics’ choice of a city for their relocation: impression, livable city, familiarity, and political stability and career development expectations. Therefore, this study makes several contributions to the expatriation literature on academics and international studies, specifically, to the research that explores the nonwork-related factors salient to PhD students.

First, we contribute to the literature on the importance of positive city images in attracting early career stage academics. We found that the decision to move to Amsterdam or Copenhagen rests on the positive impression of a host city. Cues that were communicated through online city branding via webpages, social media, and virtual communities shaped the positive impressions that respondents had of their potential host city. This finding is related to the findings of other scholars, who suggest that individuals use information on the internet to shape their image about a particular place [51,52,53]. Furthermore, our findings reveal that individuals rely on their personal networks to decide where they want to move. Thus, our participants particularly relied on the opinion of close ties in their networks, such as family and friends. Richardson and McKenna [54] noted that SIE academics do not have organizational support and therefore rely on social networks. Hence, we add to this knowledge by showing that this also seems to hold for city preferences. Future research could further explore how academics seek and make use of available information from online sources through the help of others. One question that remains, for instance, is to what extent do SIE academics use support from others to make sense of online information?

Second, cities’ features are considered by our participants prior to their decision to choose a location. Our findings reveal that prior to making the decision to relocate to their host city, our respondents used cues from physical and nonphysical features to determine whether they wanted to live in a city. For example, canals and cycling. On the other hand, the characteristics of host nationals were a nonphysical feature mentioned by respondents. In line with the study of Li et al. [16] of PhD students who moved abroad, we also explored that the importance of city image is a critical factor in the choice of location; therefore, future research could further explore which other physical and nonphysical features of cities make them attractive to expatriates.

Third, we explored that participants derived cues from the culture of a city and from their previous positive experiences abroad to create expectations about living in that city. As Weick et al. [26] suggest, sensemaking is a retrospective process; therefore, previous experiences can be considered cues. This finding is in line with the arguments of Kelly and Morley [55] and Waheed et al. [9] that similar past experiences help individuals develop realistic expectations. Additionally, Doherty et al. [56] suggested that if an individual has had positive work experiences abroad, these experiences could influence their decision to pursue overseas employment. Here, we reveal that this also applies when one decides which city one wants to move to. Accordingly, we suggest that future research explores how SIE academics make sense of their previous negative experiences to decide whether to move and which foreign city merits relocation to further develop their career.

Finally, SIE academics are a group of professionals in an educational field that includes professors, associate professors, lecturers, and PhD students. Therefore, the choice of location to move abroad might be different for each group of academics. Future research can address how academics in other than early career stages select a city for their international mobility.

5. Practical Implications

Our findings are useful for decision-makers in cities that are trying to attract SIE academics. For example, as emerging economies need to hire more expatriate academics [57] they could use our findings to develop ideas to further develop city branding strategies to generate a more positive reputation for their city. Universities can also use our findings to include their respective cities in their recruitment strategies. For example, they could use their city as a tool to attract more foreign PhD students. Attracting international PhD students from abroad can improve the reputation of universities and the quality of education as it increases the international competition for students and academics. For a host city, international academics contribute to added revenue through their living expenses. Furthermore, they augment the domestic talent pool of high-skilled workers who can help strengthen the regional economy in the long run.