Repatriation: a qualitative study of repatriates after returning from China assignments
ISSN: 2049-8799
Article publication date: 28 October 2019
Issue publication date: 29 November 2019
Abstract
Purpose
Companies expend significant resources on global assignees’ success during deployment. However, the broader repatriation experience of organizational expatriates and their families, beyond securing employment, is still largely unexplored. Thus, the purpose of this paper, an exploratory study, is to describe the repatriation experience of five US Christian repatriates who returned to the USA after long-term expatriate assignments in China.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was employed, and data were collected through five open-ended interviews with US Christian repatriates, focusing on their social networks and family repatriation experiences.
Findings
Upon repatriation, most global assignees received assistance with relocation and securing stateside employment but no assistance with readjustment issues for themselves or their accompanying family members. Most found repatriation the most difficult part of the assignment, and home churches were of little assistance. The findings support the deterioration of home social networks during longer assignments and extend the literature’s findings to the expatriate spouse and families.
Originality/value
This exploratory study addresses the experiences of Christian US repatriates and their social support through work and non-work home social networks. The findings highlight the importance of intentional efforts by repatriates and their families to strengthen their home social connections in order to minimize repatriation difficulties.
Keywords
Citation
Kimber, J.A. (2019), "Repatriation: a qualitative study of repatriates after returning from China assignments", Journal of Global Mobility, Vol. 7 No. 4, pp. 381-394. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGM-04-2019-0022
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited