Content and Objectives

More than half of the world’s population lives in cities today. According to the UN, in 2030 it will be three-fifths of the population. One aspect of increasing urbanisation is the growth of “megacities”, i.e. cities with more than 10 million inhabitants, especially in Africa and Asia. While none of these megacities existed at the beginning of the twentieth century, according to UN data their number has now risen to more than 30 – with a further rapid increase anticipated. At the same time, international secondment mobility has consistently become more important over the past decades, as global social and economic connectivity has increased. The probability of expatriates living in megacities increases along with this trend. Living conditions in megacities tend to be different from those in other (large) cities due to high housing density, low green and recreational areas, air pollution, congested infrastructure, noise and crime. The extent to which this influences the quality of life and job satisfaction especially of expatriates has scarcely been investigated scientifically so far.

In addition, central aspects of international secondments are also analysed with other data sets within the framework of the project. The focus is on the consequences of international secondments for the accompanying partners as well as the interactions at the couple level. Among other things, it will be investigated how individual experiences and emotions (such as stress) are transferred between employees and accompanying partners (crossover effects) and what consequences this has for successfully coping with secondment mobility.

In cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office’s health service, the study therefore investigates the extent to which working in megacities influences the subjective quality of life, perceived stress and job satisfaction of seconded employees of the German Foreign Office. In addition to the identification of risk factors, it also aims to identify protective factors that can increase resilience and facilitate adaptation. The findings promise valuable information for the Federal Foreign Office and other sending organisations regarding the development of suitable preventive measures in occupational health management.