Repatriation outcomes affecting corporate ROI: a critical review and future agenda

Anika Breitenmoser () and Benjamin Bader ()
Additional contact information
Anika Breitenmoser: University of Hamburg
Benjamin Bader: Leuphana University of Lüneburg

Management Review Quarterly, 2016, vol. 66, issue 3, No 2, 195-234

Abstract: Abstract Traditional corporate expatriate assignments play a crucial role in driving Multinational Corporations’ (MNCs’) business. While expatriate management literature long concentrated on facilitating the employees’ actual stay in the host countries, seminal research in the early 1990s demonstrated that their return home is entailed by crucial challenges as well. Scholarly interest in the topic of repatriation has increased considerably ever since. Over the past three decades, research has addressed a broad array of aspects to be considered upon the return of expatriates. Nevertheless, so far very few MNCs have formal repatriation strategies in place. However, by failing to manage the return of expatriates, firms jeopardize their corporate return on investment (cROI) of expatriation. Many of the repatriation outcomes discussed in existing research can have an effect on cROI as they create late but substantial costs and/or benefits for assigning MNCs. In order to further enhance the strategic integration of repatriation into the expatriate management process as well as to pave the way for future research on this important topic, this study reviews the current state of repatriation literature from a cROI-perspective. By examining 51 articles, we identify the range of cROI-affecting repatriation outcomes addressed so far in order to then classify the variables encountered according to their cost and benefit potential to assigning firms. We thereby outline potential shortcomings in existing literature to eventually deduce an agenda for future research on repatriation that aims at maximizing cROI in the long run.

Keywords: Repatriation outcomes; Repatriation; Repatriate; International assignment; Expatriate management; Corporate return on investment (cROI) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M59 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11301-016-0119-6 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:manrev:v:66:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s11301-016-0119-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/11301

DOI: 10.1007/s11301-016-0119-6

Access Statistics for this article

Management Review Quarterly is currently edited by Thomas Reutterer, Jonas F. Puck, Engelbert Dockner and Anne d'Arcy

More articles in Management Review Quarterly from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().