Repatriation of international assignees: Where are we and where do we go from here? A systematic literature review

Repatriation continues to be a current challenge for many international firms. While this topic has received only limited attention in literature in the past, it has aroused an increased academic interest since the 2000s. Until now, however, thorough analyses of advancements in this field, which go beyond a pure content-related review, are still scarce in research. To address this gap, this study provides a systematic and comprehensive literature review of repatriation from an ecological systems perspective. The purpose of this paper is threefold: to analyze where and when repatriation research has been published, what aspects (e.g. topics, theories, and contexts) have been considered in the repatriation literature, and how the research has been conducted (e.g. employed methodologies). Based on the findings implications for future research are developed.

This study is based on a systematic literature review of 96 peer-reviewed articles from 1973 to 2016.

The results of the study reveal that repatriation has found its way into journals of different disciplines. By employing an ecological systems theoretical perspective, the study shows that research on repatriation covers a broad set of ecological systems to explain repatriation outcomes. Quantitative approaches are fairly prominent in repatriation research, whereas the use of qualitative approaches has increased lately. Mixed-methods approaches, however, are still scarce in the repatriation literature. Moreover, the results outline that the majority of scholars collected data on the individual level. With regard to methodological rigor (both design and analysis), a steady use of linear regression modeling in quantitative articles was found, whereas more sophisticated methodological approaches such as structural equation modeling and longitudinal studies have only recently found their way into repatriation research. Finally, by considering that the expatriate literature addresses a variety of types of expatriation, this study highlights that research on repatriation should differentiate more thoroughly between types of repatriates to provide target-group-oriented recommendations and to deepen the understanding of the repatriation phenomenon.

This study contributes to the repatriation research in several ways. First, it provides a systematic analysis of the repatriation literature from an ecological systems theoretical lens. By combining this content-related analysis with an investigation of methodological issues, the study outlines which ecological systems have been covered in the literature on repatriation, where the strengths and weaknesses of this literature stream lay, and in which direction future avenues of research should move. Moreover, the study highlights which methodological shortcomings are still existent in the repatriation literature and shows that a differentiated viewpoint on repatriates like in the expatriation literature is still in an embryonic stage in repatriation research. Finally, it contributes to the repatriation research by deducing valuable recommendations for future research.