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The purpose of this study is to address two issues relevant to those managing product returns: (1) how customers perceive the returning process and assessing the extent that these perceptions have on satisfaction with the organization, loyalty and word-of-mouth (WOM) and (2) are these outcomes moderated by whether customer returns were planned or unplanned?

The data consisted of 21 semi-structured interviews (pilot study) and a quantitative survey (n = 384; main study) targeted at consumers who had bought fashion items online.

Qualitative insights revealed that perceptions of the returning experience are driven by monetary costs, convenience, stress and guilt. Quantitative findings showed that the returning experience explains return satisfaction for both planned and unplanned returners, and returning satisfaction explains overall satisfaction and WOM. The noteworthy difference concerns loyalty: although customers that planned to return items are more loyal to the organization, it is the unplanned returners whose loyalty can be significantly increased by better managing the returning process.

Returning products online is increasingly common and thus forms an important part of the customer's overall experience with an organization. Returns management can therefore drive key customer outcomes. Understanding the dynamics between the product return experience, return satisfaction and customer outcomes will help practitioners design and implement more informed returns management strategies. Measures are also presented that assess the cognitive and emotional aspects associated with returning products.

Returning products is an increasingly important challenge for online retailers. Understanding what kinds of returning behaviors occur allows companies to design and execute better informed decisions to manage this phenomenon, not only for the sake of firm performance but also for societal and environmental benefits – the triple bottom line.

While scholars have investigated the relationship between return policies (e.g. free vs fee) and profitability, no prior literature has examined the returning experience: how consumers perceive the returning process; motivations for their returns (whether returns were planned or not) and subsequent customer outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the self‐initiated repatriation experience of native professionals as they return to the labour market in the Republic of Ireland of their own volition and without the support of an employer.

A mixed methodology was employed to gather the data. In total, 40 responses were received from an initial open solicitation calling for research participants. Following a short survey receiving 34 responses, individuals who had returned without the aid of an employer to the Republic of Ireland and were willing to participate in further research were invited to participate in either a focus group discussion or in‐depth individual interviews. Ultimately, there were seven participants in the focus group and eleven individual in‐depth interviews.

The study found that the experiences of those in this study returning of their own volition and those of the more traditional repatriate do not seem to differ significantly across the facets of adjustment relating to adjustment in the general home country environment and adjustment to home country nationals, although subtle variations may be found. The main differences may be found when one investigates the facet of adjustment to work. Given that those returning of their own initiative are not returning to a position within a parent company, they must seek out their own employment. This adds a further source of stress and upheaval to an already difficult repatriation process.

This is an exploratory study and hence requires further empirical verification. Nonetheless the study provides some useful signposts for future study in the area.

This research is unique in that it bridges a significant lacuna in the existing international human resource management literature by concentrating on the self‐initiated repatriation experience (SRE). This research is all the more important given that increasing numbers of individuals have returned to Ireland to seek work at their own discretion with the advent of the Celtic Tiger.

Although dysfunctional behaviors by customers is increasingly being recognized by both scholars and practitioners, “illegitimate” complaining, in the form of fraudulent returns by customers, is under‐researched. The aim of this study is to address this gap in extant knowledge through explicitly focusing on uncovering factors which permit consumers to exploit retailers' liberal return policies when fraudulently returning products that they know they have used or damaged.

In‐depth interviews were utilized as the main data collection method. Interviews were conducted amongst service employees and customers. A total of 87 interviews were conducted with front‐line employees and managers of 12 general retail outlets. Customer interviewing involved 96 interviews. Potential customer informants were randomly contacted with a request to participate in a study of customer service and returning goods.

Data analysis revealed ten main factors that appear to be related to customers' likelihood of successfully, fraudulently returning products.

As with other similar studies of this nature, the findings and implications are limited by the research design and methods employed. However, these limitations also indicate potentially fruitful avenues of future research. Future studies could employ different methods and explore differing contexts to gauge the generalizability of findings.

The findings of the study have a range of implications for practitioners and policy makers. Insights are generated into the extent of fraudulent returning and the factors which facilitate successful fraudulent returns. As such, practitioners could use such insights to reduce the frequency of such episodes. Public policy implications centre on highlighting the issues which policy makers may wish to consider.

The current study is the first to explore how (rather than, why) consumers exploit firms' return policies and fraudulently defraud retailers. As such, a fundamental and stark contribution centres on the finding of widespread, recidivist fraudulent returning among those interviewed. Ten facilitators of fraudulent returning were identified, providing rich insights into how customers are able, successfully, to return used and damaged products.

This paper aims to investigate whether the consumers who return a product and those who end up keeping a product after experiencing post-purchase dissonance (PPD) possess distinct underlying characteristics.

Field survey study consisting of two separate surveys conducted with consumers of New York City and neighboring areas of New York and New Jersey.

Product returners and keepers exhibited disparate demographic profiles regarding gender and household income, along with ethnicity to some extent. The two groups also exhibited different predispositions with regard to confidence in the purchase decision and expectations about their purchase. Finally, returners and keepers were engaged in divergent thoughts, feelings and activities to cope with PPD.

The findings of this study offer marketing practitioners new knowledge and insight into understanding product returners and keepers and will assist them in developing strategies to reduce and manage increasing product returns by consumers more effectively.

This study is the first to present empirical evidence that product returners and keepers have distinct profiles of demographic characteristics and predispositions toward purchase. The study also has found divergent PPD coping strategies used by the two types of consumers, which exposes an obsolete understanding of PPD in the marketing literature.

The paper aims to present research findings on the return intentions of Turkish professionals residing abroad, where the targeted group comprises individuals working at a full‐time job abroad who possess at least a tertiary level degree.

The study uses a descriptive framework to establish the validity of several proposed models of non‐return. The results are based on an internet survey of Turkish professionals conducted by the authors during the first half of 2002. A combination of internet search and referral sampling methods is used to collect the data. Correspondence analysis is used to examine the relationship between return intentions and various factors that may affect this intention.

The results emphasize the importance of student non‐return versus traditional brain and appear to complement the various theories of student non‐return. Many Turkish professionals working abroad are non‐returning post‐graduate students rather than holders of higher degrees obtained in Turkey who subsequently moved. The respondents appear to come from relatively well‐to‐do families with highly educated parents. Many have earned their degrees from universities that have foreign language instruction. The recent economic crises in Turkey have negatively affected return intentions. It is verified that return intentions are indeed linked closely with initial return plans, and that this relationship weakens with stay duration. Specialized study and work experience in the host country also all appear to contribute to explaining the incidence of non‐return. Return intentions are weaker for those working in an academic environment.

The study is the first of its kind for Turkey and other developing countries in terms of the number of responses received and the kind of information collected. Implications are valuable for Turkish and other developing country planners.

While there is a burgeoning literature on self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), the emphasis has been on expatriation not repatriation. The purpose of this paper therefore is to explore how repatriating SIEs perceive the experience of repatriation compared with their pre-repatriation expectations. Further, we examine the seminal work of Black et al. (1992) in the light of current day realities.

This qualitative research draws on interviews with SIE New Zealanders returning home. It is an exploratory longitudinal study, based on interview data collected prior to (n = 32), and after (n = 27) repatriation, comparing expectations and experiences of repatriation.

Findings show that there is a strong level of congruence between the expectations of the return and their experience of repatriation. This congruence eases the transition and mitigates the impact of reverse culture shock. We revise Black et al.'s framework of repatriation adjustment to more accurately reflect the expectations and experiences of repatriating SIEs, recognising the importance of individual agency and the impact of today's technological advances on repatriation.

The contributions of this paper include clarification of repatriating SIEs. Further, through the revision of the framework, we identify new areas of research that would aid our understanding of repatriating SIEs and lead to the development of a more detailed model. We highlight the interplay between variables showing how these might mitigate the shock of repatriation.

Repatriation is an under-researched phase of the SIE, and this study provides empirical data that contributes to our understanding of the construct. Black et al.'s framework of repatriation adjustment is revised in the context of contemporary SIE, highlighting the holistic nature of self-initiated expatriation and repatriation, viewing the events not as discrete, but as a continuum of time.

Research reveals alarming results on the prevalence of the dishonest consumer behaviour known as deshopping. Deshopping is the “deliberate return of goods for reasons other than actual faults in the product, in its pure form premeditated prior to and during the consumption experience”. In effect this means buying something with no intention of keeping it. The authors consider the implications of deshopping and retailers’ prevention of deshopping, exploring the research undertaken to date and the methodology for further research.

This paper aims to present how a realistic view of the situation for the repatriate can help companies increase the retention rate among this important group of employees. A complete understanding of the repatriation process is crucial to offering repatriating employees proper backing and moral support needed during the process.

A thorough review of the literature on repatriation is carried out to present a repatriation process model and a number of research propositions.

This paper suggests that by focusing on motives and individuals' experience of the repatriation process, researchers and practitioners will be better able to understand the measures and support needed in the repatriation process to increase the retention of an organization's repatriated employees.

Suggestions for future research include a test of propositions by a survey, a longitudinal study of repatriates and closer look at the variables of motives and repatriation experience.

This paper combines existing knowledge with new insights for understanding the repatriation process.

With the growth in online purchasing, the return of distressed shipments also increased. The return experience of the online shopper has a huge impact on their next purchase decision-making. This explanatory research aims to identify and empirically explain factors related to the online buyer’s return experience that influence the repurchase intention of young buyers.

Primary data were collected from 235 active online young buyers who have experienced returning the goods through a structured questionnaire. Structural equation modeling is used for analyzing the data.

This study reveals that an online return policy leniency strongly supports service recovery quality, expected return convenience, buyer trust and satisfaction, which lead to repurchase intentions. Moreover, return satisfaction positively impacts repurchase intention while mediating young buyer trust.

This study is one of the few relevant pieces of research that would benefit e-tailers to improve their product return policy and compel young buyers’ intention to make a repeat purchase.

Sustainable return to work remains challenging for workers returning after long-term sick leave due to common mental disorders (CMDs): stress, anxiety and depression. Line managers play a significant role in supporting returned workers. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the supportive behaviors of line managers in supporting returned workers.

The authors conducted a longitudinal study with up to three semi-structured interviews with 20 line managers with experience managing returned workers. In these interviews, the authors asked questions about the supportive behaviors line managers enacted to support workers and the role of the context. The authors conducted reflexive thematic analysis.

The analyses revealed five key strategies, including managing workload, flexible working time arrangements, location of work, mental health check-ups and long-term support. The interviewed line managers reported their own lived experiences and that being aware of the limitations of their role, together with training and support from senior management and human resources (HR), enabled them to provide appropriate support.

The five strategies and the barriers and facilitators to implementing these may enable HR to develop policies and procedures to support line managers, including training of line managers.

This is the first study in the UK on line managers’ behaviors to support workers who have returned to work after a period of long-term sickness absence due to CMDs. The identification of such behaviors is paramount to developing organizational policies and practices. The question, however, remains whether employees see these behaviors as effective.