Navigating the American Dream: Unraveling the Hierarchical Influences on Self-Initiated Expatriation in the United States

The application of a grading strategy in self-initiated expatriate evaluation is critical with regard to the goals and objectives. Unfortunately, researchers are not paying attention to the state of self-initiated expatriates in the process of empowering communities on the presentation of issues including prevention, adjustment, and the most critical criteria that influence them in getting jobs as well as the technical qualities that are involved. The aim of this study is to investigate the hierarchical criteria that influence individuals to become self-initiated expatriates in the United States of America (USA). This study conceptualized five main variables as the motives of self-initiated expatriates, namely: “Economic”, “Professional development”, “Lifestyle”, “Culture” and “Family”. The self-initiated expatriates used for this study are those people who have lived and worked in the United States for an extended period of time. Meta- analytical techniques were integrated with multi-criteria decision analysis in order to find the key attribute that empowers self-initiated expatriates. Ultimately, at the time of writing this paper, the results of this kind of study were not yet available in the public domain, to the best of the research knowledge. As a result, the study makes a contribution by revealing that the “family factor” is the principal reason for self-initiated expatriation, while its effects are shown in economic, professional, lifestyle, and cultural elements. “Lifestyle factors” have no effect on other components in this study. This suggests lifestyle has no effect on self-initiated expatriation variables. Self-initiated expatriates don’t mind the US lifestyle. This suggests that none of the other factors thought to be related to self-initiated emigration are affected by one’s way of living. Also, any expat who leaves on their own will not miss the American way of life.