Quantitative and Qualitative Assessment of Job Role Localization in the Oil and Gas Industry: Global Experiences and National Differences

Job role localization is the replacement of expatriates by competent host country nationals. This study investigates the viability of localizing job roles in the oil and gas industry in two stages. The first stage addresses the global level using a survey about local content issues. The second stage focuses on the national level using interviews to investigate how national factors can affect job role localization in Ghana, one of Africa's oil and gas producing nations. The findings show that different stakeholders often share opinions about local content issues. At the national level there are many national context specific factors that affect job role localization including legislations, culture, attitudes and experience within the labour market. This study finds that localization is becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide. Oil and gas companies must adapt their localization strategies to the national context where they are operating.