Relocation decision‐making and couple relationships: a quantitative and qualitative study of dual‐earner couples

We present the results of two empirical studies of the relocation decision‐making process of dual‐earner couples. The first study is a quantitative survey of 155 management‐level employees and focuses on the variables likely to moderate the influence of the spouse (partner) on the probability of accepting or turning down geographical mobility. The second complementary study is qualitative, consisting of 11 in‐depth interviews of dual‐earner couples; it attempts to identify the dynamics within the couple when making relocation decisions. We found that the couple's decision‐making process in the face of a transfer proposition is above all a search for compromise solutions that are a function of the respective occupational and family roles within the couple as well as their expectations of how to organize their life as a couple. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.