Federal Institute for Population Research

International Secondment Mobility in a Family Context

Content and Objectives

In the course of increasing global social and economic networking, international secondment mobility has continuously become more important over the past decades. Although there have been comparatively frequent studies about deployments in private industry, there have not been many in the public sector. Therefore, this research project takes a look at secondment in the public sector using the example of Germany’s diplomatic service.

The focus is on the conditions and consequences of (successfully) coping with international mobility for the civil servants themselves as well as on the interactions at the interface between family and work. In addition, the causes and consequences for family life are at the centre of research.

Data and Methods

The basis of research is formed by BiB data sources on employees, partners and children as well as data on couples and families provided by the study Mobility Skills in the Foreign Service (2011): a standardised, online-based survey of employees of the German Foreign Service as well as their life partners and children (N=3313). The study was carried out in cooperation with the psychosocial helpdesk of the Federal Foreign Office's health service.

Selected Publications

Wiernik, Brenton M.; Rüger, Heiko; Ones, Deniz S. (Eds.) (2018):

Beiträge zur Bevölkerungswissenschaft 50. Opladen, Berlin, Toronto: Barbara Budrich.

Waibel, Stine; Aevermann, Tim; Rüger, Heiko (2018):

Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Mangement Research 6(2): 158–177.

Fliege, Herbert; Waibel, Stine; Rüger, Heiko; Hillmann, Julika; Ruppenthal, Silvia; Schneider, Norbert F.; Bellinger, Maria M. (2016):

International Journal of Intercultural Relations 51: 14–28.

More Publications

Waibel, Stine; Rüger, Heiko; Bellinger, Maria M.; Fliege, Herbert (2016):

Bevölkerungsforschung Aktuell 3/2016: 10–18.

Waibel, Stine; Rüger, Heiko; Ruppenthal, Silvia; Schneider, Norbert F; Wiernik, Brenton (2015):

In: Lessenich, Stephan (Ed.): Routinen der Krise – Krise der Routinen. Verhandlungen des 37. Kongresses der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie 2014. Trier: 846–861.

Rüger, Heiko; Ruppenthal, Silvia; Fliege, Herbert; Hillmann, Julika; Kaukal, Malte; Bellinger, Maria M.; Schneider, Norbert F. (2013):

Beiträge zur Bevölkerungswissenschaft 44. Würzburg: Ergon Verlag.

Hillmann, Julika; Fliege, Herbert; Rüger, Heiko; Ruppenthal, Silvia; Schneider, Norbert F.; Bellinger, Maria M. (2013):

frühe Kindheit 16(3): 26–33.

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