European Management Journal xxx (2017) 1e12

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European Management Journal

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/emj

The impact of international business education on career

successdEvidence from Europe
Stephanie K. Schworm a, *, Loic Cadin b, Valentina Carbone b, Marion Festing a,
Emmanuelle Leon b, Maral Muratbekova-Touron b
a
ESCP Europe Berlin Campus, Heubnerweg 8-10, D-14059 Berlin, Germany
b
ESCP Europe Paris Campus, 79, Avenue de la R

epublique, 75543, Paris cedex 11, France

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In today's globalized world, career paths are becoming increasingly international, and so managers need
Received 12 January 2016 respective cross-cultural strengths in order to act effectively in various cultural environments. Even
Received in revised form though educationdespecially business educationdis progressively becoming more international to meet
24 January 2017
these organizational demands, little is known about whether the extent of international business edu-
Accepted 26 February 2017
Available online xxx
cation inuences careers, and in particular career success. In addressing this research decit, we explore
whether and how international business education affects career success. As the major contribution of
this paper we suggest a conceptual framework which posits global identity and international experience
Keywords:
International business education
as mediators of this relationship. The assumptions of this framework are conrmed by an investigation
International experience amongst 450 alumni of a European business school. Additional contributions include that we extend the
Global identity limited body of research on the construct of international business education and its measurement, by
Career success providing an all-encompassing denition and much-needed operationalization. Furthermore, we
contribute a European perspective on international business education through our empirical evidence.
2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction transnational managers has been identied (Bartlett & Ghoshal,

Managing the complexities inherent in globalization is crucial
for businesses. Despite extensive research on the people managing
the complexities in the elds of international management, expa-
triate management (including cultural adaptation, cross-border
learning processes, and required competencies), and international
career paths (for an overview see Dowling, Festing, & Engle, 2017),
we know very little about the key factors that inuence the success
of international managers. One eld that has been neglected in this
context is research on the career impact of international business
education. In this paper, therefore, we investigate how interna-
tional business education inuences the career success of
managers.
In recent decades, the career paths of managers and pro-
fessionals have become more international, and a shortage of truly
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: sschworm@escpeurope.eu (S.K. Schworm), cadin@
escpeurope.eu (L. Cadin), vcarbone@escpeurope.eu (V. Carbone), mfesting@
escpeurope.eu (M. Festing), leon@escpeurope.eu (E. Leon), mmuratbekova@
escpeurope.eu (M. Muratbekova-Touron).
2003). Such managers and professionals must possess certain
knowledge, qualications and competencies (Earley & Peterson,
2004). Accordingly, business education programs have evolved to
produce these new cosmopolitan managers (Marcotte,
Desroches, & Poupart, 2007). However, research into business ed-
ucation has focused mainly on educational level as a predictor of
career success (Judge, Cable, Boudreau, & Bretz, 1995; Ng, Eby,
Sorensen, & Feldman, 2005), while the international orientation
and international structures of business education programs have
been neglected.
An investigation of the international dimension of business
education is necessary for practical as well as academic reasons.
From a practical point of view, the need to develop international
business education programs is imposed externally on educational
institutions through accreditation processes. Organizations offering
accreditation, such as AACSB International (The Association to
Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) or EQUIS (European
Quality Improvement System), encourage business schools to
ensure a high level of internationalization (EFMD, 2014), and to
offer globalized education and learning experiences also outside
their home countries (AACSB International, 2011). These

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2017.02.009
0263-2373/ 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Schworm, S. K., et al., The impact of international business education on career successdEvidence from
Europe, European Management Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2017.02.009
2 S.K. Schworm et al. / European Management Journal xxx (2017) 1e12
institutions emphasize that a reluctance to adapt to today's global
reality would be at the school's own peril (AACSB International,
2011, p.4). Furthermore, we point to the increase in international
business education over time and across countriesdbetween 1975
and 2008, for instance, the number of students studying abroad
rose from 0.4 million to 4 million, and additional growth is ex-
pected (Nyland, Forbes-Mewett, & Ha rtel, 2013, p. 656). One of the
most popular elds of study for internationally mobile students is
the area of business and management (AACSB International, 2011).
These developments underline the importance of understanding
the impact of international business education programs on
managers.
From an academic point of view, even though international
business education has existed as a topic and as an activity for well
over half a century (Kwok, Arpan, & Folks, 1994), it is not a well-
dened eld in research on management education. Some studies
have examined various aspects of the development of international
business education, such as curricula (Fugate & Jefferson, 2001),
specic disciplines (e.g. Adhikari, Flanigan, & Tondkar, 1999;
Eisenberg, Ha rtel, & Stahl, 2013), or the characteristics of certain
regions, such as Europe or the US (e.g., So derqvist, 2002; Terpstra,
1970). However, an all-encompassing denition and operationali-
zation of the construct of international business education is still
missing.
International business education is associated closely with
learning. Key explanations of learning, such as behaviorist, cogni-
tive, and social learning theories, assume that it involves both
cognitive and emotional processes which may inuence values,
attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviors (Festing, 2012). From a
didactic perspective, the integration of experiential learning in the
curricula of higher education institutions has received more
attention than other approaches (e.g., Brennan, 2014; Regehr,
2013). Experiential learning theory (Kolb, 1984) is commonly
used in association with learning in an intercultural environment
(Yamazaki & Kayes, 2010). We build on this view to argue that in-
ternational business education is a learning process that contrib-
utes to the development of a global identity through, for example,
global collaboration in intercultural teams (Erez, Lisak, Harush,
Glikson, Nouri, & Shokef, 2013). Furthermore, students often do
not have a lot of international experiences before they start their
education, and thus it often provides students with their rst in-
ternational experiential learning experiences (e.g. a semester spent
abroad), which have the potential to create an interest in gaining
more international experience throughout the individual's profes-
sional career (Felker & Gianecchini, 2015). In summary, the will-
ingness to interact in an international context can be strengthened
during the education process through appropriate approaches to
learning. Ultimately, these learning processes and their outcomes
can result in career success (Vermeulen & Schmidt, 2008).
Career success manifests in an individual's own subjective
perception, such as satisfaction, and in displays of objective and
measurable factors (Arthur, Khapova, & Wilderom, 2005), such as
total compensation, promotions, and/or hierarchical status (Heslin,
2003). Some researchers stress the importance of subjective career
success over objective career success (e.g., Aryee, Chay, & Tan,
1994). In this study, subjective career success is in the focus for
several reasons. First, variations in objective career conditions,
owing to industry and organizational specicities as well as the
increasing unpredictability of employment and globalization, in-
crease the signicance and importance of subjective career success
(Arthur et al., 2005). In turn, objective career success becomes
difcult to measure, especially when dealing with an internation-
ally and organizationally diverse sample, as is the case in this study.
Second, increasing numbers of managers design their careers ac-
cording to their individual (rather than organizational) choices.
Please cite this article in press as: Schworm, S. K., et al., The impact of international business education on career successdEvidence from
Europe, European Management Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2017.02.009
They therefore become the most important evaluators of their own
career success (Collin, 1998; Kohonen, 2005). Third, recent research
comparing the conceptualizations of career success across 11
countries has shown that satisfaction is considered a highly
important theme across the majority of those countries (Shen et al.,
2015). Moreover, there are convincing indications that across 189
countries employees highlight the importance of intrinsic rewards
that contribute to their job satisfaction more than they stress
compensation (BCG & The Network, 2014).
The explanatory goal of this study consists of shedding light on
how international business education inuences subjective career
success. Therein, career success is not investigated across its full
range of predictors, including dispositional and organizational
variables as well as stable individual differences (for an overview
see Ng et al., 2005). Rather, we analyze phenomena closely related
to the development of international business education in times of
increasing complexities in the global market. The descriptive goal
of the study is to provide an empirical analysis of parts of the Eu-
ropean business educational environment and thereby contribute a
much-needed European perspective (Khapova, Vinkenburg, &
Arnold, 2009) to the US-dominated education research. In our
investigation, we study alumni of the Master in Management
(MIM) program, which has been developed by a leading European
business school. The MIM is mainly offered in Europe, but also in
Asia, Australia, and Canada. In the US, the Master in Management is
just emergingdin contrast to the MBA that is the most established
postgraduate management education in North America (Graf,
2015). Our normative goals are to provide guidance to individuals
with regard to their choice of education programs and education-
related investment decisions, and to support educational in-
stitutions in improving their offerings to match the needs of the
globalized (corporate) world. Finally, our academic contributions
include a new conceptual framework, which details the interplay
between international business education and career success; new
empirical evidence; and the development of an international
business education measurement scale. In summary, we contribute
to the eld of international business education as well as career
research.
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. First, based
on a literature review, we suggest a new framework for explaining
the impact of international business education on career success,
positing global identity and international experience as mediators.
We then describe the methods chosen for the empirical study and
present the results. Thereafter, we undertake an overall discussion
of our study, including its limitations, directions for future research,
and implications for theory and practice. We conclude with a brief
summary of our results.
2. Literature review and conceptual framework
2.1. The impact of international business education on subjective
career success
Bartell (2003, pp. 51e52) denes international business educa-
tion as a synergistic, transformative process, involving the cur-
riculum and research programs that inuence the role and
activities of all stakeholders, including faculty, students, adminis-
trators and the community-at-large. Given this denition, a high
level of international business education implies building cross-
cultural interactions into the formal and informal experience of
educational life, and infusing the curriculum with international
cases, perspectives, foreign-language studies, and exchange pro-
grams. These potential learning processes may result in three
outcomes, respectively: International awareness, which is stim-
ulated by infusing the curriculum with international examples,
 S.K. Schworm et al. / European Management Journal xxx (2017) 1e12
cases, and perspectives; international competence, which can be
stimulated by building cross-cultural interactions into the formal
and informal experience of educational life; and international
expertise, which is stimulated by foreign-language studies and
exchange programs (Edwards, Crosling, Petrovic-Lazarovic, &
O'Neill, 2003).
Therefore, we dene international business education as a
transformative learning process that results in international
awareness, competence, and expertise, and which involves all
stakeholders, especially those students likely to become managers.
Career success can be dened as the real or perceived
achievements accumulated by individuals in the course of their
professional experiences (Judge et al., 1995), or as the accom-
plishment of desirable work-related outcomes at any point in a
person's work experiences over time (Arthur et al., 2005, p. 179).
Career success has both subjective and objective dimensions.
Subjective dimensions are often explained from a sense-making
perspective (e.g., Kohonen, 2005)dthe process through which
people give meaning to experience (Weick, 1996). A combination of
Judge et al.s (1995) and Arthur et al.s (2005) denitions, and
Weicks (1996) sense-making perspective suggests that subjective
career success may be described as the series of accomplishments
that individuals have accumulated as a result of their work expe-
riences that emerges from their efforts to make retrospective sense
of those experiences. Therefore, subjective career success entails
reactions that occur in an individual when unfolding career expe-
riences (Hughes, 1937), or through individuals' evaluations of their
own careers (Arthur et al., 2005). Subjective criteria often include
career satisfaction, job satisfaction, and comparisons of one's own
achievements with those of professional peers (Heslin, 2003).
When examining the link between international business edu-
cation and career success, it becomes evident that the level of ed-
ucation has an impact in this regard (Ng et al., 2005). For instance, a
study by Zhao, Truell, Alexander, and Hill (2006) nds that an MBA
has a positive impact on careers in terms of income, promotions,
and career satisfaction. Another study shows that the completion of
an MBA leads to a signicant increase in self-condence, which is
viewed as a key facilitator of future career development (Sturges,
Simpson, & Altman, 2003). Moreover, the latter study nds that
the learning process underlying the development of an individual's
human capital is the result of formal and informal experiences
acquired within the program.
When globalization progressed and complexities in the global
market increased, management scholars (e.g., Ghoshal, 2005)
began to doubt traditional (i.e. national universalistic) management
education, which often failed to prepare students for the challenges
inherent in working in the global context (Pless, Maak, & Stahl,
2011). Management scholars have been encouraged to spend
more time on teaching global management and, in particular, on
addressing a number of diverse environments and the importance
of intercultural competencies in international business (H artel,
2010). The internationalization of business curricula encompasses
not only academic teaching for cultural learning, but also practical
experience with different cultures (Fairley & Tyler, 2009).
The need to integrate international concepts into business
school curricula is also increasingly acknowledged by corporate
managers (Mpoyi & Thomas, 2008), as there are gaps between the
requirements of organizations operating in the global environment
and the supply of adequately qualied graduates educated by
business schools and universities. For instance, organizations need
candidates with cultural awareness, networking abilities, a focus on
responsible leadership, and general global awareness with regard
to business issues (Milhauser & Rahschulte, 2010; Pless et al., 2011).
A holistic approach to the internationalization of business
schools, in the form of international course content and an
Please cite this article in press as: Schworm, S. K., et al., The impact of international business education on career successdEvidence from
Europe, European Management Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2017.02.009
3
international student cohort and faculty, can improve the supply of
graduates that better match the demands of organizations. This is
evident in research on the role of experiential learning in increasing
the readiness of graduates to follow an international career. For
example, learning in intercultural settings in the form of study or
internships abroad contributes to a graduate's career development
(Adler, Loughrin-Sacco, & Moffatt, 2005) and often raises interest in
international careers (Bozionelos et al., 2015). Along these lines,
Malewski, Sharma, and Phillion (2012) nd that cross-cultural
awareness is developed through experiential learning experiences
in an international setting. Similarly, both service and experiential
learning experiences gained abroad can foster competencies that
are crucial for responsible leadership (Pless et al., 2011; Sroufe,
Sivasubramaniam, Ramos, & Saiia, 2015), a competence that orga-
nizations require.
In sum, we can assume that investments in career capital in the
form of an international business education (Felker & Gianecchini,
2015) can help ensure that the global skills and competencies ac-
quired will t the demands of international corporations better. The
curriculum coverage of international issues is a strong predictor of
students knowledge of global issues (Mpoyi & Thomas, 2008). In
addition, the students are aware of the need to obtain a good
knowledge of global topics, which is provided by international
business education (Mpoyi & Thomas, 2008).
Based on the extant insights that educational level leads to
increased career satisfaction (Sturges et al., 2003; Zhao et al., 2006),
and international business education to better knowledge of global
issues (Mpoyi & Thomas, 2008), and given the increased t be-
tween the demands of organizations and the supply of graduates
from programs encompassing an international aspect, we hypoth-
esize that:
Hypothesis 1. The higher the degree of internationalization in
ones business education, the higher the level of subjective career
success.
2.2. The mediating role of global identity in the relationship
between international business education and subjective career
success
Shokef and Erez (2008) view globalization as a factor in helping
combine local and global identities in a continuous process. While
local identity is associated with a particular national culture, global
identity is independent of any national local identity (Shokef &
Erez, 2008); it assesses how much a person feels they have psy-
chologically and emotionally invested in a global community (Der-
Karabetian & Ruiz, 1997). Global identity is therefore dened as an
individual's sense of belonging to and identication with groups
(such as multicultural teams) operating in the global work envi-
ronment (Shokef & Erez, 2006, p. 335). The extant research in-
cludes a number of concepts related to global identity, such as
intercultural competence, which is the ability to function effec-
tively in another culture (Gertsen, 1990, p. 341); intercultural
sensitivity, which refers to a focus [] on the level of awareness of
cultural differences and the ability to react appropriately in
different cultural contexts (Bcker & Poutsma, 2010, p. 834); and
cultural intelligence, which is dened as [] a specic form of
intelligence focused on capabilities to grasp, reason and behave
effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity (Ang
et al., 2007, p. 337). We also nd references to a global mindset,
which is [] a highly complex cognitive structure characterized by
an openness to and articulation of multiple cultural and strategic
realities on the global and local levels, and the cognitive ability to
mediate and integrate across this multiplicity (Levy, Beechler,
Taylor, & Boyacigiller, 2007, p. 244), and to cosmopolitanism,
4 S.K. Schworm et al. / European Management Journal xxx (2017) 1e12
which can be viewed as part of the global mindset (Levy et al.,
2007). Bcker and Poutsma (2010) relate most of these concepts
to global management competencies, a term they use to sum-
marize the kind of management skills needed in a global environ-
ment. Global identity, in contrast, rather captures the identity-
development process at a specic point in time with regard to a
feeling of belonging to the global context.
2.2.1. International business education and global identity
Similarly to cross-cultural experiential learning experiences
enhancing cultural intelligence (MacNab, 2011), there is pre-
liminary evidence that suggests that multicultural work and/or
travel experience, knowledge of several languages, or living in more
than one country for a considerable amount of timedincluding
time spent abroad during an international business educationdare
related to a global identity (Erez et al., 2013; Shokef & Erez, 2006).
The logic underlying these ndings has also been applied in the
context of international careers; for example, Kohonen (2005)
proposes an identity construction perspective for interpreting the
developmental effects of learning in this context of international
assignments. He suggests that an expatriation experience chal-
lenges an individual's local identity and contributes to the devel-
opment of a global identity (Kohonen, 2005). We draw upon this
reasoning, in that we consider learning experiences in international
business education as having developmental effects similar to
those of international assignments. Cicchelli (2012) conrms the
impact of student mobility on reexivity and identity redenition.
He observes a redenition of subnational, national, and suprana-
tional belongings of students involved in Erasmus exchange pro-
grams. This reexivity process is based on dichotomous
assessments of what someone has in common with others (e.g.
regions, nations or Europe) on the one hand and what is specic to
his or her identity on the other hand. We therefore propose that a
high level of international business education, which provides a
rich multicultural context and enhances a students' sense of
belonging to a global context, contributes to the development of
students' global identities.
2.2.2. Global identity and subjective career success
Individuals with a global identity are more likely to be open to
new ideas than individuals with high local identication
(Westjohn, Arnold, Magnusson, Zdravkovic, & Zhou, 2009). This
skill has become critical as globalization has led teams to become
increasingly diverse. In order to manage such teams efciently,
managers should experience some kind of common grounds with
the people they work with; no matter where these people live and
which culture they belong to (Westjohn et al., 2009). Global iden-
tity is therefore considered to be a key success factor in managing a
diverse workforce in multicultural environments (Gelfand, Lyons, &
Lun, 2011). Research has shown that global identity prevents
managers from segmenting their teams between in-group and out-
group members (Shokef & Erez, 2008). This expands the scope of
inclusiveness (Erez et al., 2013; Shokef & Erez, 2006), which leads to
better collaboration in multicultural teams and organizations.
Therefore, managers with a global identity are expected to perform
better in terms of global leadership skills (see Erez et al., 2013).
Over the last decade, various surveys have highlighted globally
competent leaders as one of the key success factors for companies
(e.g. PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2011). In todays' moving environ-
ment, companies expect managers to be highly resilient. Therefore,
managers with high local identication are less likely to experience
career success as they will be viewed as resistant to change and
more concerned with safety and preservation (Westjohn et al.,
2009, p. 255). As a result, the development of a global identity
through international business education is supposed to contribute
Please cite this article in press as: Schworm, S. K., et al., The impact of international business education on career successdEvidence from
Europe, European Management Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2017.02.009
to subjective career success by increasing job and career satisfac-
tion in today's globalized environment.
Hypothesis 2. Global identity mediates the relationship between
international business education and subjective career success.
2.3. The mediating role of international experience in the
relationship between international business education and
subjective career success
International experience is not a well-dened construct in
academia. The term's denition, and therefore its operationaliza-
tion, differs from study to study (Eisenberg, Lee, Brck, Brenner,
Claes, Mironski, & et al, 2013). Many studies, especially those
focused on the international experience of the CEO or the top
management team, rely on single indicators, such as years spent on
international assignments (Carpenter, Sanders, & Gregersen, 2001)
and the number of international assignments (Daily, Certo, &
Dalton, 2000), or whether time has been spent on an interna-
tional assignment as a binary variable (Slater & Dixon-Fowler,
2009). Moreover, one individual's denition of international
experience may not be the same as another's. For example, a one-
month vacation spent in a foreign country might be interpreted in
different ways.
To overcome these inconsistencies, we propose a denition that
combines several indicators of international experience. We dene
international experience as living in one or more foreign countries
for study abroad purposes for at least six months and/or for pro-
fessional purposes for at least one year. We assume that such an
experience has a learning effect, which may be associated ulti-
mately with career success.
2.3.1. International business education and international
experience
Students may wish to go abroad for several reasons, including
a desire to broaden their academic horizons, expand their
comprehension of the world, improve their foreign-language
skills (Pedersen, 2010), or simply to travel and experience
different cultures. Perceived competence and the authenticity of
dealing with and acting in cross-cultural settings are two
important variables in the acculturation process (Molinsky,
2010). Interactions with other students and faculty in highly
internationalized business studies may increase perceived
competence and authenticity over time and therefore, on the
other hand, make the motives for going abroad more prevalent.
Their desire to spend a semester in a foreign country may be
enhanced.
Study-abroad programs, in turn, increase students willing-
ness to engage in business interactions with other cultures
(Braseld, McCoy, & Reed, 2011) and foster an understanding of
which practices are likely to function well in a global economy
(Ortiz, 2004). This may enhance the will and desire to choose a
job in an international environment, which is one of the most
important characteristics of those seeking an international career
that includes a string of international assignments (Suutari &
Makela, 2007).
We stress the fact that we conceptualize study abroad as part
of international experience and that we do not include it in our
conceptualization of international business education. Never-
theless, as the two concepts share some common ground in the
form of intercultural interactions and experiential learning ex-
periences, we can derive two conclusions. First, experiential
learning experiences in an intercultural setting in the home
country, in conjunction with internationalized content, increase
the student's willingness to engage in a study-abroad program.
 S.K. Schworm et al. / European Management Journal xxx (2017) 1e12
Second, this positively inuences the student's interest in inter-
national careers (Bozionelos et al., 2015; Oosterbeek & Webbink,
2011). Therefore, international business education is likely to
result in high levels of international experience.
2.3.2. International experience and subjective career success
The long-term impact of international experience on career
success is a subject of intense debate (e.g., Biemann & Braakmann,
2013) that centers mainly on expatriation as a provider of inter-
national experience. The growing body of empirical research on
this subject, though, offers sometimes contradictory results, as
some studies nd that international experience may be an obstacle
to career success (Stahl & Cerdin, 2004). Oddou and Mendenhall
(1991), for instance, nd that expatriates struggle to valorize their
international experience when reintegrating into their headquar-
ters, and they often leave the company (Suutari & Brewster, 2003).
The disappointment expatriates experience when returning home,
and their subsequent departure from their companies, is supported
by evidence available in practitioner reports (e.g., Brookeld Global
Relocation Services, 2013).
Other studies show that expatriation is positively associated
with career success (e.g., Biemann, 2009; Richardson & Mallon,
2005). In particular, expatriates experience higher subjective
career success than domestic employees (Biemann & Braakmann,
2013). Many young, motivated employees intend to work abroad,
even though they are uncertain about whether the experience will
have a positive career impact (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2010).
These employees hope to be rewarded for their international
experience by other companies, if not by their own. The growing
body of research on self-initiated expatriation (e.g., Altman &
Baruch, 2012; Jokinen, Brewster, & Suutari, 2008) and interna-
tional careers (e.g., Dickmann & Harris, 2005; Ma kela
& Suutari,
2011) emphasizes the prime importance given to international
experience. In fact, the Global Talent Survey states that a willing-
ness to work abroad has become a norm (BCG & The Network,
2014), and work experience abroad has an important develop-
mental effect on the career capital of managers (Suutari & M ,
akela
2007). Thus, international experience may act as a boost for a
successful career.
In conclusion, the effects of international experience on career
success are a double-edged sword, and there are a range of
contextual factors that may inuence the degree of success after an
international assignment. However, often research capturing the
difculties international experience can engender focuses on in-
dividuals returning from a single assignment abroad, and it is
questionable whether employees reactions to repatriation chal-
lenges after a single assignment represent the right context in
which to assess the nature of international careers in general
(Suutari, Tornikoski, & Ma kela
, 2012). In our study, we look at in-
ternational experience beyond a single expatriate assignment. We
believe that the arguments for the positive effects of and the
importance given to international experience may have a more
generally applicable character, and therefore they may be of higher
relevance to the focal research. Hence, we suggest that interna-
tional experience has a positive impact on subjective career
success.
In sum, international business education has the potential to
result in higher levels of international experience, and broader
international experience is associated with greater subjective
career success.
Hypothesis 3. International experience mediates the relationship
between international business education and subjective career
success.
Please cite this article in press as: Schworm, S. K., et al., The impact of international business education on career successdEvidence from
Europe, European Management Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2017.02.009
5
2.4. International experience and global identity
As already argued by Erez et al. (2013), living in more than one
country for more than two years, among others, has a positive in-
uence on international experience, which may lead to the broader
conclusion that international experience positively inuences
global identity. Even though the two mediators of our conceptual
framework may correlate with each other, they remain two sepa-
rate constructs on different levels, because whereas international
experience is an experience gained through factual time spent
abroad in different contexts, a global identity represents a state of
mind.
2.5. Conceptual framework
Fig. 1 presents the conceptual framework developed in the
previous sections, which indicates that international business ed-
ucation has a direct, positive impact on subjective career success
and indirect positive effects through its inuence on global identity
and international experience.
3. Method
3.1. Sample and procedures
Our empirical study focuses on the alumni of a European busi-
ness school and is part of a larger research project. It is based on an
online survey, which was orally pre-tested with non-native English
speakers. Pre-test participants were asked to comment on any
questions that were unclear. However, this step did not result in any
major changes. Invitations to complete the survey were distributed
electronically through the alumni association's mailing list
(approximately 16,000 individuals). The participants were
informed about the voluntary and condential character of the
study, and the opportunity to contact the researchers in case of
questions, comments, or concerns.
We received 1098 completed questionnaires within the six-
week data collection period, which yielded a response rate of
6.86%. In accordance with Armstrong and Overton (1977), we tested
for non-response bias by comparing the sample characteristics for
early and late responders in terms of gender, age, and the type of
degree obtained. The two groups were not signicantly different
(p
0.25 in the ANOVA analyses).
As the focus of this study is on international business education
we restricted our analysis to the most internationalized program
offered by the business schooldthe Master in Management pro-
gram. Students can determine the degree of internationalization by
studying in one or more languages, studying in one or more foreign
countries, and choosing electives with an international focus. The
Fig. 1. Conceptual framework explaining the impact of international business educa-
tion on subjective career success.
6 S.K. Schworm et al. / European Management Journal xxx (2017) 1e12
utilization of these elements depends on the individual student's
choices, which means that there is variance in the extent to which
international elements are included.
The total number of respondents from the MIM program was
457. Missing values were substituted with the mean. In seven cases
the values for gender were missing and thus were excluded from
the analysis. This led to a total sample size of 450.
The sample was composed of an even number of male (50.7%)
and female alumni, and the mean age was 33 years. Even though
only 17.6% of respondents had two or three nationalities, 59%
identied with two or three cultures, while 20.9% had two or three
mother tongues. Moreover, 69% of respondents were uent in three
or four languages. A large majority (88.5%) worked in the for-prot
sector, and 58.6% were employed by multinational corporations.
3.2. Measures
3.2.1. International business education
In line with previous studies on international business educa-
tion, we suggest a multidimensional international business edu-
cation construct. We generated items (see Appendix A) aimed at
measuring the internationalization of the curriculum, the student
body, and the faculty (Edwards et al., 2003; Kwok et al., 1994), and
we conducted an exploratory factor analysis using principal axis
factor extraction with promax rotation whilst extracting three
factors. The rst factor is reected in items one and two, which
resemble the internationality of business education with regards to
the students. The second factor (items three and four) reects
internationality with regards to the faculty. The remaining items,
which are related to the content of the study, reect the third factor.
Item 5 (To what extent were international topics covered in
class?) was excluded due to cross-loading, which means that eight
of the nine original items were retained as part of the scale. These
items were measured using a ve-point rating scale ranging from 1
(not at all) to 5 (to a very high extent). The measurement was
reliable with a Cronbach's alpha coefcient of 0.90. In the
remainder of the paper, this measure is treated as a second-order
construct.
3.2.2. Global identity
We used the ve-item scale by Erez and Gati (2004) to measure
global identity. The measure included such items as I would dene
myself as a citizen of the global world, and respondents provided
their answers using a seven-point rating scale ranging from 1 (not
at all) to 7 (very much). The factor structure in the exploratory
factor analysis conrmed the uni-dimensionality of the construct,
and the alpha coefcient was 0.86.
3.2.3. International experience
The international experience of the respondents was measured
using an adapted index. As the index was originally developed to
capture the internationality of supervisory boards, it included a
division by the number of members of the supervisory board
(Romer, 2009). We removed this division for the purpose of this
study, which led to the following adapted index:
     
1 1 1
Fi 1  1 ; (1)
3 Ei 1 Wi ,Ci 1
whereby Fi 1 for foreigner, 0 for local; Ei years of study abroad;
Wi years spent abroad in a professional capacity; and Ci the
number of countries in which that professional time was spent.
The respondents reported how many and which nationalities
they held, and in which country they currently spend most of their
professional time. On this basis, we created a dummy variable
Please cite this article in press as: Schworm, S. K., et al., The impact of international business education on career successdEvidence from
Europe, European Management Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2017.02.009
indicating whether the respondent was a local or a foreigner. Years
of study abroad was based solely on the time spent abroad during
the study program at the focal business school.1
3.2.4. Subjective career success
Not only is subjective career success most commonly oper-
ationalized through job or career satisfaction (Heslin, 2005), but
satisfaction is also the overriding criterion in evaluating career
success across generations (Dries, Pepermans, & de Kerpel, 2008).
Therefore, we operationalized this construct using the career
satisfaction scale developed by Greenhaus, Parasuraman, and
Wormley (1990). We asked respondents to use a ve-point Likert
scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) to
rate their agreement with items such as I am satised with the
progress I have made towards meeting my goals for income. In
addition, we added one item from Abele and Wiese (2008)
(Compared with your fellow students, how successful do you
think your career development has been so far?) to capture the
other-referent career success suggested by Heslin (2003, 2005).
This item was measured using a ve-point rating scale ranging from
1 (less successful) to 5 (more successful). The factor structure in
the exploratory factor analysis showed the uni-dimensionality of
the construct, and the scale yielded an alpha coefcient of 0.89.
3.2.5. Control variables
Gender was included in order to account for the different per-
ceptions that men and women might have of their career success,
which has been highlighted in other studies (e.g. Abele & Wiese,
2008). By controlling for age, we accounted for the fact that older
participants might have had more (international) experience and
career advances that might have affected their career success.
According to Shokef and Erez (2006) and Erez et al. (2013), a
global identity is related to working for global organizations
(measured using a dummy variable), working in multicultural
teams, speaking several languages, and having international
experience in terms of living in more than one country for more
than two years (reected in the international experience index, see
2.4). Therefore, we controlled for these variables in our analysis. We
also measured the extent of work in multicultural teams, using the
following item: To what extent do you work in multicultural
teams?, using a scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (to a very
high extent).
We also controlled for the extent of international exposure prior
to business school in private life and in education, the number of
nationalities, and the number of cultures with which the individual
identied, as these factors might contribute to an individual's
motivation to gather international experience and, thereby, foster a
global identity. We measured exposure to international environ-
ments prior to business school, using two items on a ve-point
rating scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (to a very high
extent): To what extent were you exposed to international envi-
ronments before joining the business school as a student a) in your
private life (e.g. through parents or family of foreign origin, foreign
friends, travels, living abroad); and b) during your education (e.g.
1
In the data-screening process, we uncovered some cases with unrealistic data
regarding years spent abroad professionally (measured using What is the total
number of years you have spent abroad in your professional life (at least one
year)?). In these cases, the number of years spent abroad professionally exceeded
the total number of years of professional experience (measured using What is the
total amount of years of professional experience, without any type of leave?). If
this difference was equal to or exceeded three, the data were corrected to a realistic
number by taking total professional experience and the year of graduation into
account. Nineteen cases were adapted before the index was calculated using the
formula.
 S.K. Schworm et al. / European Management Journal xxx (2017) 1e12
school, university, exchange programs, semesters abroad, intern-
ships abroad)?
3.3. Analysis
We rst used Harman's single-factor test (exploratory factor
analysis) and later added a common latent method factor (conr-
matory factor analysis) to test the sample for common method
variance (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Jeong-Yeon, & Podsakoff, 2003).
First, a multi-factor structure emerged even in the unrotated
exploratory factor analysis. The average variance from a common
factor was 29.62%, which suggests that no severe common method
variance is present. Second, despite adding the common latent
factor in the conrmatory analysis, this did not give an indication of
a severe common method variance. The estimates all stayed sig-
nicant when adding the common latent factor (Podsakoff et al.,
2003), and the standardized estimates in the conrmatory factor
analysis, with and without the common latent factor, did not show
a difference greater than 0.14. The squared, unstandardized co-
efcients indicated a common variance of 12%, which additionally
suggests that no severe common method bias is present (Eichhorn,
2014). As we informed respondents that their answers would
remain strictly condential, the risk of obtaining answers affected
by social desirability bias was reduced (Richman, Kiesler, Weisband,
& Drasgow, 1999).
In a rst step, factor analyses were run for the three multi-item
constructs, using principal axis factor extraction with promax
rotation and Kaiser normalization (the latter for global identity and
subjective career success only, see measures section). The resulting
construct measurements were validated through a conrmatory
factor analysis in AMOS. Even though distribution of the data was
not perfectly normal, neither univariately nor multivariately, the
maximum likelihood estimation was applied, as it is highly robust
in relation to non-normally distributed data (Reinartz, Haenlein, &
Henseler, 2009).
In the second step, we employed structural equation modeling
(SEM) to test the conceptual framework. SEM offers signicant
advantages over linear regression models when assessing media-
tion effects, as it controls for measurement errors and can test all
hypothesized relationships simultaneously (Nifadkar, Tsui, &
Ashforth, 2012). We utilized bootstrapping procedures (2000
samples) to test for the signicance of the (standardized) indirect
effect.
The mediation effects were tested in four models. First, only the
direct path was tested, then we included all hypothesized re-
lationships simultaneously (model 2). In model 3, we removed the
direct path from the international business education construct to
international experience, in order to isolate the indirect effect of
global identity on subjective career success. Finally, the direct path
between international business education and global identity was
removed, in order to isolate the indirect effects of international
experience (model 4). The signicance of the mediators was thus
assessed in models 3 and 4.
4. Results
In Table 1, we report the means and standard deviations of the
variables, as well as the correlations between them.
4.1. Conrmatory factor analysis
To validate the measurement model, we conducted a conr-
matory factor analysis, using AMOS for the three multi-item con-
structs and the international experience index. To ensure
identiability in the model, the error variance of the international
Please cite this article in press as: Schworm, S. K., et al., The impact of international business education on career successdEvidence from
Europe, European Management Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2017.02.009
7
experience index as a single-indicator latent variable was xed at 0.
Moreover, a covariance between the error terms of the last two
items of the global identity construct was included, because the
items were conceptually similar to each other, they were placed in
subsequent order in the survey, and they had a high modication
index. All factors differed signicantly from zero. The results of this
four-factor CFA supported the hypothesized factor structure (CMIN/
DF 2.51, CFI 0.95, TLI 0.94, SRMR 0.05, RMSEA 0.06).
The factor structure proved reliable, with the composite reli-
ability (CR) clearly above the threshold of 0.6. Factor loadings,
average variance extracted, and the composite reliabilities of each
multi-item construct are provided in Table 2.
4.2. Hypothesized model
The hypothesized mediation model was tested in four steps, as
described above and presented in Table 3.
The control variables were included in all four steps of the
analysis. For all steps, model t was satisfactory, as shown in
Table 3.
Fig. 2 shows the standardized regression coefcients for each of
the hypothesized paths in the conceptual model. Hypothesis 1
predicts a positive effect of international business education on
subjective career success. The signicant coefcient of b 0.20
(p < 0.01) for the isolated direct path conrms this positive
relationship.
Hypothesis 2 predicts that global identity plays a mediating role
between international business education and subjective career
success. This hypothesis is also supported. The coefcient for the
relationship between the exogenous variable of international
business education and the global identity mediator (b 0.12,
p < 0.05), and the coefcient for the relationship between the
global identity mediator and the endogenous variable of subjective
career success (b 0.13, p < 0.05), are signicant and satisfy the
basic condition for a mediation effect (Iacobucci, Saldanha, & Deng,
2007). The bootstrapping procedure (2000 samples) conrms the
signicance of the indirect effect (p 0.04). The direct path from
international business education to subjective career success also
remains signicant, although its strength and signicance are
diminished (b 0.14; p < 0.05). Hence, there is partial mediation.
Hypothesis 3 suggests that international experience mediates
the effect of international business education on subjective career
success. The basic conditions of mediation are met, given the pos-
itive relationships between international business education and
international experience (b 0.19, p < 0.01), and international
experience and subjective career success (b 0.13, p < 0.05). The
signicance of the indirect effect is p 0.00. Notably, the direct
effect between international business education and subjective
career success remains signicant (b 0.14; p < 0.05), and we can
therefore speak of partial mediation. Hypothesis 3 is supported.
Last, the impact of international experience on global identity is
signicantly positive (b 0.19, p < 0.01).
5. Discussion
In this study, we found support for all of our hypotheses. The
evidence presented herein supports the notion that international
business education contributes positively to career success through
the mediating mechanisms of global identity and international
experience. The results of this study may thus be especially valid in
contexts where such a high degree of internationalization is
possible by the appropriate institutional contexts. Moreover, the
results of this study are most relevant in times of open, globalized
economies, in which it is possible to change countries of residence
and work. We believe that our research has important theoretical
8 S.K. Schworm et al. / European Management Journal xxx (2017) 1e12

Table 1
Variable means, standard deviations, and correlations.

Variable Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

1 International experience 0.58 0.22 1.00

2 Global identity 5.49 1.10 0.28** 1.00
3 International business education 3.83 0.78 0.21** 0.21** 1.00
4 Subjective career success 3.97 0.73 0.19** 0.17** 0.18** 1.00
5 Age 32.96 8.10 0.11* 0.00 0.20** 0.01 1.00
6 Number of nationalities 1.18 0.40 0.04 0.14** 0.02 0.07 0.03 1.00
7 Number of cultures identied with 1.80 0.75 0.22** 0.24** 0.13** 0.02 0.21** 0.29** 1.00
8 International private exposure before international business 3.16 1.27 0.02 0.25** 0.01 0.01 0.09 0.32** 0.20** 1.00
education
9 International educational exposure before international business 3.14 1.31 0.01 0.26** 0.07 0.07 0.05 0.18** 0.20** 0.58** 1.00
education
10 Gender 1.51 0.50 0.09 0.02 0.12* 0.08 0.14** 0.05 0.06 0.01 0.00 1.00
11 No. of languages 2.89 0.71 0.13** 0.15** 0.29** 0.03 0.12* 0.05 0.12* 0.05 0.08 0.06 1.00
12 Extent of work in multicultural teams 3.58 1.36 0.50** 0.30** 0.15** 0.22** 0.04 0.08 0.12* 0.12** 0.13** 0.11* 0.11* 1.00
13 Work in MNC (dummy) 0.59 0.49 0.20** 0.11* 0.01 0.12* 0.18** 0.05 0.04 0.02 0.02 -0.00 0.00 0.46** 1.00

Notes: N 450; construct values are derived from the mean construct scores; Gender is coded 1 female and 2 male *p < 0.05. **p < 0.01.

Table 2
Factor loadings, average variance extracted, and composite reliability of the variables.

Constructs and Indicators Factor loadings AVE CR

International business educationa 0.74 0.91

Item 1 Student internationality 0.75 0.65 0.88
Item 2 0.86
Item 3 faculty internationality 0.92 0.84 0.91
Item 4 0.91
Item 6 study content 0.64 0.57 0.84
Item 7 0.72
Item 8 0.86
Item 9 0.77
Global identity 0.55 0.86
Item 1 0.76
Item 2 0.72
Item 3 0.79
Item 4 0.68
Item 5 0.75
Subjective career success 0.59 0.89
Item 1 0.87
Item 2 0.91
Item 3 0.71
Item 4 0.85
Item 5 0.59
Item 6 0.62

Notes: AVE Average variance extracted; CR composite reliability.

a
Item 5 was excluded due to cross-loading.

Table 3
Fit statistics of structural models.

Model CMIN/DF CFI TLI RMSEA SRMR

Step 1 Direct effect of international business education on subjective career success only 2.38 0.92 0.90 0.06 0.07
Step 2 Full model 2.30 0.93 0.91 0.05 0.05
Step 3 Removing path from international business education on international experience 2.33 0.93 0.90 0.05 0.06
Step 4 Removing path from international business education on global identity 2.31 0.93 0.91 0.05 0.06

and practical implications.
5.1. Implications for theory
Our study makes three main contributions to the literature.
First, we extend the relatively small body of literature on the
development of an international business curriculum and related
pedagogy (Martin, Heppard, & Green, 2011). Even though the 2010
Special Issue of the Academy of Management Learning & Education
captured the topic of business school globalization, research in this
eld is not extensive and the topic is often examined in terms of
hard facts, such as, for example, the use of foreign languages, the
integration of studies abroad, the integration of international
courses, capstone/thesis projects, or the presence of international
faculty (e.g. Kwok & Arpan, 2002; Martin et al., 2011). However, a
sound conceptualization and measurement of the construct of in-
ternational business education has been lacking to date, and so this
can be viewed as the major contribution of this paper. Our study
distinguishes itself by integrating an additional perspective which
captures the degree to which education affects the shaping of
certain skills and behaviors, for instance the extent to which the
motivation to engage in intercultural interactions is addressed

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Europe, European Management Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2017.02.009
 S.K. Schworm et al. / European Management Journal xxx (2017) 1e12
Global
identity
. 13 (.02)
.12 (.04)
International Step 1 (isolated): .20 (.00)
business
(.019
education .14 (.02)
.19 (.00)
.19 (.00)
Interna-
tional
experience
Fig. 2. Structural Model Results with Standardized Regression Weights and p-values
(in Parentheses).
through international business education. This is key, as students
experience varying degrees of international aspects in their edu-
cation, and perceptions of these aspects may differ from student to
student.
Second, we shed light on the eld of international business
education in the European educational context. A diverse range of
cultural, social, political, and economic environments shapes dif-
ferences in careers across the globe (e.g., Davoine & Ravasi, 2013;
Inkson, Khapova, & Parker, 2007). Therefore, comprehension of
the role of international business education in shaping personal
career success is crucial to enhancing our understanding in multi-
lingual and multicultural contexts, such as in Europe. The inter-
nationality of their education prepares individuals to act and
develop in and across these different contexts, including all of their
peculiarities, and therefore presents a highly valuable asset to
become successful. With increasing globalization, the relevance of
such an international business education may rise across those
contexts.
Third, this paper contributes to advancing research related to
the other key variables of the conceptual framework, namely global
identity and international experience. The research stream on
global identity in the context of international education is relatively
limited, with very few papers addressing this variable, its ante-
cedents, or its consequences (e.g. Erez et al., 2013; Lisak & Erez,
2015). We identify international business education as an ante-
cedent of global identity, in addition to other concepts that are
related to global identity, such as working in multicultural teams
and the number of languages spoken (Shokef & Erez, 2006). We
also demonstrate the impact of global identity on subjective career
success. Moreover, our ndings reinforce arguments for a positive
effect of international experience on subjective career success, and
we also suggest the need for a more complex measure that includes
additional facets of international experience. In the future, this
measure may contribute to overcoming inconsistencies in this
research stream (see examples in Carpenter et al., 2001; Daily et al.,
2000; Slater & Dixon-Fowler, 2009) and lead to more comparable
results.
5.2. Implications for practice
The practical implications of this study are manifold. For stu-
dents considering a business education and an international career,
our results may be a stimulus for choosing a program offering in-
ternational content, exposure to different languages and locations,
and an international student body and faculty. Our study shows
that participation in an international business education program
enhances the likelihood of career satisfaction and subsequent
Please cite this article in press as: Schworm, S. K., et al., The impact of international business education on career successdEvidence from
Europe, European Management Journal (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2017.02.009
9
career success. At the same time, our ndings might lead pro-
fessionals who already speak several languages, have lived in
various countries, and have a global identity to undertake an in-
ternational (executive) business education program, where they
can simultaneously deepen their international experience and
Subjective develop their business competence.
career
Educational institutions can take action to rene their curricula
success
and thereby achieve greater international and cultural exposure. In
.13 (.01) addition, the results of this paper suggest that the internationali-
zation of the student and faculty body promises great potential for
students prospects as future managers. International business
education is more than a matter of knowledge and expertisedit
should offer students an opportunity to redene the balance be-
tween their global and local identities. Educational institutions can
support identity redenition within their curricula and thereby
support students in their journey towards becoming successful in
shaping their international careers.
From a corporate point of view, the role of global identity can be
emphasized in job proles as a complementary aspect of the in-
ternational experience that might be required for top management
positions. In other words, recruitment practices can be adapted in
terms of demands for international experience and global identity.
Overall, candidates with an international business education, in-
ternational experience, and a global identity tend to have high
levels of success and satisfaction, which are positively correlated
with individual performance (e.g., Petty, McGee, & Cavender, 1984).
5.3. Limitations and future research
Despite the contributions outlined in the discussion section, this
study suffers from several limitations. One major limitation is that
the sample is composed of alumni from a single study program,
namely the Master in Management, at a single business school. This
focus was appropriate for the purposes of this study, owing to the
relatively unique modularization and extensive international study
alternatives that characterized the program, including the student
body, faculty, contents, languages, location, and opportunities
available to individuals to internationalize their education. As such,
it provided the necessary variance in the exogenous variable.
However, the specic culture and concept of the business school, as
well as the reception of its graduates by the labor market due to its
reputation, may have inuenced the results. Therefore, the validity
of the conceptual framework should be tested in the context of
alumni from other business schools and, possibly, from other pro-
grams. Such research may also benet from the adoption of a
longitudinal perspective.
Second, the results of this study were based purely on an
investigation at a specic moment in time with a group of relatively
young alumni who were, on average, in their early thirties.
Furthermore, as already discussed, the sample was generated in a
European context, which reects one of this study's major contri-
butions to knowledge about this topic. However, the results might
not be generalizable to other regional contexts. It would be
particularly interesting to look at other countries or regions that
also have multicultural student populations, such as Australia in the
Asia Pacic region. Such an investigation could analyze the extent
to which the reasoning of the framework can be applied in other
regions, as students' motivations for studying abroad and for taking
part in an international business program may be different.
The third limitation lies in the fact that this study only looks at
global identity and international experience as mediators in the
relationship between international business education and career
success. Individuals may self-select themselves into diverse expe-
riences such as working or studying abroad, and thus future
research may explore other possible mediators, such as individual
10 S.K. Schworm et al. / European Management Journal xxx (2017) 1e12

motivations or personality traits, and shed additional light on this References

link. Moreover, social determinants such as nancial resources of
the student or family or previous grades may limit the students
choices for an international business education, which may be
considered in future research to investigate the conditions of
selecting an international business education.
6. Conclusion
In this paper, we have developed a new conceptual framework
in which we suggest that global identity and international experi-
ence mediate the relationship between international business ed-
ucation and subjective career success. As our empirical results
conrm the relevance of the framework, we have provided con-
ceptual and empirical evidence in an otherwise largely neglected
eld of research. With our framework, we have shown that the
extent of international business educationdvia formal and
informal learning processesdpredicts the subjective career success
of managers in an international environment. Moreover, we have
emphasized that subjective career success depends on educational
modalities rather than the educational level alone. In addition, we
have shed light on the linking mechanism, which enhances our
understanding of how international business education predicts
career success. In summary, this paper demonstrates the impor-
tance of studying international business education, as it not only
advances our academic knowledge in this discipline, but it also
yields important implications for all stakeholders in international
business. Acknowledgements A former version of this paper was
awarded the Global Forum Best Paper Award of the Management
Development and Education Division at the Seventy-fth Annual
Meeting of the Academy of Management, Vancouver, Canada,
August 2015. The authors would like to thank the reviewers
involved in this process as well as the associate editor and the
anonymous reviewers of the European Management Journal for
their valuable feedback. Further, we thank ESCP Europe for
enabling and funding this research project.
Acknowledgements
A former version of this paper was awarded the Global Forum
Best Paper Award of the Management Education and Development
(MED) at the Seventy-fth Annual Meeting of the Academy of
Management, Vancouver, Canada, August 2015. The authors would
like to thank the reviewers involved in this process as well as the
associate editor and the anonymous reviewers of the European
Management Journal for their valuable feedback. Further, we thank
ESCP Europe for enabling and funding this research project.
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