ABSTRACT
Self-initiated expatriation happens at different points in time and has substantial consequences for the self-initiated expatriates’ lives, careers, and social environment and, in particular, for their families. This chapter presents two conceptual lenses that help to frame the analysis, i.e. stage models of life, career, and family, in order to grasp the domains involved and the social chronology framework to identify major elements and processes of this career transition. It looks at the existing empirical literature on various aspects of family in relation to self-initiated expatriation. An in-depth view on family aspects of self-initiated expatriation at different life, career, and family stages requires conceptual lenses on various stage concepts and on such expatriation as a specific form of career transition. The traditional family life cycle is a concept that has been derived from the developmental approach to study families.
