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Repatriation is a key troublesome moment in the international assignment of employees in global corporations. The conclusion of an assignment and the transfer of the employee and his/her family back to the organization and to the home culture are often preceded by moments of high anxiety. The situation is often aggravated due to the fact that many corporations do not have policies and procedures to prepare for the return of expatriates and also do not understand the repatriation time as an important period of the cycle of the international assignment ([45] Yeaton and Hall, 2008).
Expatriate employees are often a major source of knowledge and expertise among global corporations; their circulation among subsidiary offices can potentially transfer, absorb, and circulate organizational knowledge between offices, thus enhancing learning and expertise at overseas offices during the assignment, and also at the headquarters office after the termination of the international assignment (IA). Expatriates are often highly expensive employees, and may cost up three to five times the annual salary of their domestic counterparts ([31] Shaffer et al. , 1999). Global corporations, however, do not always succeed in establishing policies and practices to make good use of these expensive employees after the termination of the IA. In many cases, the knowledge acquired by expatriate managers does not widely circulate among stakeholders at the headquarters organization once the manager returns home from the assignment ([35] Stroh et al. , 2000). Career pathing and guidance for repatriates are not always available at corporations, and many returning employees find themselves placed in positions below their level of aptitude and experience. Consequently, decreased performance and lack of commitment towards the organization may occur. High turnover rates are often observed among repatriates, with approximately 20 percent to 50 percent of repatriates leaving their corporations within one year of termination of the international assignment ([3] Baruch et al. , 2002; [35] Stroh et al. , 2000; [44] Tyler, 2006; [45] Yeaton and Hall, 2008).
Repatriation is a relative under-researched topic in the literature of international HR, in special, in regards to the outcome of repatriation toward generating knowledge and learning in global corporation. Much of the literature so far focus on aspects of repatriation related to employee adjustment and retention but is scarce in addressing...