Title: Home sweet home: dealing with return to a home country after an assignment abroad

Authors: Patrick Zvara, Gangaram Singh

Addresses: Department of Management, College of Business Administration, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182, USA. ' Department of Management, College of Business Administration, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182, USA

Abstract: Multinational corporations have created a unique class of employee known as the expatriate. Expatriates face numerous issues prior to, during, and after their assignments abroad. It is often believed that repatriation is easier than expatriation since the expatriate is returning ||home||. However, this is not the case. How the multinational corporation handles the cycle of events surrounding expatriate workers can impact organisational effectiveness, retention, employee effectiveness, and the employees| personal life. In this paper, we sketch the fundamental differences between repatriation and expatriation and design a repatriation programme from an organizational perspective which incorporates programs that address the entire cycle of events from expatriation to repatriation.

Keywords: repatriation; international human resource management; international management; expatriation; international employees; multinational corporations; HRM; human resources management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHRDM.2004.004716

International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 2004 Vol.4 No.2, pp.215 - 222

Published online: 07 Jul 2004 *

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