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Why does repatriate career success vary? An empirical investigation from both traditional and protean career perspectives
Author(s) -
Breitenmoser Anika,
Bader Benjamin,
Berg Nicola
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
human resource management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.888
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-050X
pISSN - 0090-4848
DOI - 10.1002/hrm.21888
Subject(s) - repatriation , multinational corporation , career management , career development , public relations , business , human resource management , management , sociology , marketing , psychology , political science , social psychology , economics , finance , law
To increase the long‐term benefits of global mobility for multinational corporations, international assignments and intraorganizational careers must be strategically integrated. However, systematic research on former expatriates' career success upon returning to their home organization remains scarce. Hence, this study transfers findings from the career literature to the repatriation context to identify the predictors of objective and subjective repatriate career success. Integrating traditional and protean career theory, we investigate data from 295 repatriates of publicly listed German organizations. Applying partial least squares structural equation modeling, we reveal that objective career success upon repatriation is affected by international assignment characteristics with human capital implications, repatriation support provided by the organization, and the individual's self‐directed career management. Objective career success, organizational repatriation support, and self‐directed career management further affect subjective career success in terms of career satisfaction. Hence, substantiating an impact of both traditional and protean career factors on repatriate careers, our results lay the groundwork for repatriation strategies that combine organizational and individual career management. In this way, multinational corporations can go beyond managing repatriate elites to make better use of all globally experienced employees.