What does expatriate success mean? Developing a comprehensive definition through a systematic literature review

Abstract

Purpose

Despite being one of the most used dependent variables in expatriate management research, no clear-cut understanding exists of what expatriate success means. Thus, this study aims to propose an integrative definition of expatriate success by providing an overview of expatriate success's dimensions, antecedents, and their interplay.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to achieve the purpose. A total of 249 empirical studies (quantitative 111, qualitative 50, mixed-methods 17), literature reviews (67) and meta-analyses (4) on expatriate success were reviewed from Web of Science and Scopus databases published from 1990 until December 2021. The study selection criteria followed the PRISMA flowchart steps, and then descriptive and network analyses were performed to identify expatriates' success dimensions, antecedents and their interplay.

Findings

The findings show the interplay among antecedents and dimensions of expatriate success across three levels (individual, interpersonal and organisational) to clarify the concept of expatriate success. Also, the study offers a comprehensive definition of expatriate success based on the dimensions identified.

Research limitations/implications

The suggested definition of expatriate success elucidates the “atheoretical”, multidimensional and socially constructed nature of the construct and hence, calls for more “theoretical”, multidimensional and subjective considerations of the term to ground human resource management practices addressed to attain expatriates' success.

Originality/value

This paper provides an integrative definition of expatriate success, giving greater insight into the construct, in addition to critically reflecting on it.

Citation

El Amine, N.R. and Cascón-Pereira, R. (2024), "What does expatriate success mean? Developing a comprehensive definition through a systematic literature review", Career Development International, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 3-79. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-12-2022-0326

Introduction

Despite the worldwide crises and current global turmoil (PWC Global Crisis Survey, 2021), organisations largely remain dependent on expatriates for business success and expansion. They rely on them to establish business relations, transfer knowledge, control the subsidiary, or achieve goals set before the assignment (DeNisi and Sonesh, 2016). Accordingly, expatriate success demonstrates a prominent position in the literature on expatriate management as the primary dependent variable (e.g. Kraimer and Wayne, 2004; Reiche and Harzing, 2011).

Nevertheless, this literature presents no consensus on what expatriate success means or how it is measured (Hemmasi et al., 2010). Expatriate success has been conceptualised in various ways, from individual and organisational perspectives and through objective and objectivist measures. Traditionally success depended on whether the expatriate stayed or left the mission (Caliguiri and Cascio, 1998) which is a direct, objective and observable fact from the organisational perspective. Next, the second and most extended conception of expatriate success has been an adjustment-defined as the extent to which expatriates are comfortable living abroad (e.g. Black, 1990; Black and Gregersen, 1991)– to the new assignment and environmental context. However, this is an “objectivist measure” of career success since respondents rate their level of adjustment with researcher-imposed expatriate success criteria without considering the concept's subjective nature (Briscoe et al., 2021). A third and more contemporary conception of expatriate success is based on achieving the organisational goals for the assignment (Harzing and Christensen, 2004). Even though this measure of success is not standard but adapts to the nature of each organisation and international mission, it still leaves out the phenomenological and subjective nature of the construct. The lack of consensus on expatriate success measures and definitions extends to the studies investigating their antecedents. For instance, they associated expatriate success with one or more of the following: adjustment (Black et al., 1991), withdrawal cognitions (Shaffer and Harrison, 1998), job performance (Caligiuri, 1997), organisational commitment (Florkowski and Fogel, 1999) and assignment completion (Reiche and Harzing, 2011). The most widely used dimension as a proxy measure of expatriate success is cross-cultural adjustment (CCA), performance, satisfaction and organisational commitment, respectively (Hemmasi et al., 2010). Also, this disagreement is evident in how studies used one concept (e.g. adjustment) as either a measure (e.g. DeNisi and Sonesh, 2016) or antecedent of success (e.g. Benson and Pattie, 2009; Templer, 2010; van Bakel et al., 2011). Regarding this, a more comprehensive understanding of expatriate success that considers its multidimensionality is needed.

On another note, according to the dictionary, success is “the fact that an individual has achieved something they want and have been trying to do or get” (Oxford University, 2022). Also, contemporary careers literature suggests that career success is “the experience of achieving goals that are personally meaningful to the individual, rather than those set by parents, peers, organisation, or society” (Mirvis and Hall, 1994, p. 366). Both definitions are synonymous with individual achievement and depend on objectives, which are subjective and differ from one individual to another. Hence, being “successful” holds different meanings for different people (Nugin and Onken, 2010. Furthermore, success is a socially constructed phenomenon (Dries, 2011). However, this socially constructed, phenomenological and subjective nature has been overlooked in the extant definitions of expatriate success often disregarding various aspects of expatriate success depending on whether it's explored from an individual or organisational perspective (e.g. Kraimer and Wayne, 2004; Van der Laken et al., 2016). For instance, defining expatriate success as the completion of the assignment (Tung, 1981) overlooks the expatriate performance throughout, the repatriate turnover from the organisational perspective (e.g. Mezias and Scandura, 2005), expatriate subjective perceptions of success (e.g. Mello et al., 2020) or their perceived career expectations from the individual's perspective (Haski–Leventhal et al., 2020; Sokro et al., 2021). Thus, this “objective” conception is insufficient to capture the multidimensionality of the construct of expatriate success particularly when recently the subjective dimension of expatriate success expressed as forms of work satisfaction, life satisfaction, or well-being related to career (Canhilal et al., 2015) has gained importance. Therefore, a broader conception of expatriate success that considers its subjective nature is needed.

Therefore, this study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of expatriate success by conducting a systematic literature review (SLR) guided by the following objectives: (1) identify the dimensions and antecedents of expatriate success, (2) determine the interplay among them and (3) identify previous definitions of expatriate success in the literature and provide an integrative definition of it. By achieving these objectives, the contribution of this SLR to the expatriate literature is twofold. First, it provides greater insight into the different dimensions of expatriate success and their interplay, highlighting the construct's multidimensional and socially constructed nature. Second, it provides an integrative definition, combining individual and organisational perspectives with subjective and objective measures of success.

In what follows, we describe in detail how we proceeded with the SLR following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) steps (selection process, article risk of bias assessment, methods of analysis) and, then discuss the findings. Finally, we conclude and reflect on the possibilities for future research that this new integrative understanding of the construct provides.

Methods and methodology

Study selection process

We conducted a SLR (Tranfield et al., 2003) to elucidate the concept of expatriate success further and critically analyse what has been missed from this concept. Compared to narrative literature reviews, SLR minimises the bias involved in identifying, selecting and analysing studies, as it is based on replicable methods (Needleman, 2002). Our SLR documents were selected, and the findings reported according to the PRISMA approach (Moher et al., 2009). This approach is most suitable for SLR because it eliminates bias in the above tri-phasic (article selection, analysis and reporting) workflow (Petticrew and Roberts, 2006; Priyashantha et al., 2021a, b).

Following the 3-step PRISMA flow diagram (Figure 1: Page et al., 2021) for study selection, the first step involved determining search terms, selection criteria and electronic databases. Preliminary results show that “expatriate success' was commonly associated with keywords like adjustment, performance, productivity, satisfaction, turnover and withdrawal. Our inclusion criteria (Table 1) were document types (book chapters, conference proceedings, journal articles), English language, and published between 1990 and 2021. Next, we searched Scopus and Web of Science separately using the combined terms (“expatriate success”) AND each keyword in the topic, title and abstract.

Searches on Scopus and WOS yielded 895 studies. After eliminating duplicates, we reviewed the titles and abstracts of 650 studies for relevance. We excluded 388 unrelated documents (e.g. seasonal marine life expatriation, novels). After which, we conducted a second round of inspection, resulting in 262 studies. Out of these, 13 studies were excluded because of inaccessibility. Then, we screened the remaining 249 eligible studies, recording the journal name, year, author, information on the nature of the study, theory(ies) adopted, variables used as either antecedents and/or dimensions, methods, themes and whether an explicit definition of expatriate success is provided (Table A1 in appendix).

Study risk of bias assessment

Study selection and subsequent analysis may be significantly influenced by the researcher's subjectivity, negatively affecting the review's quality (Kitchenham and Charters, 2007). However, the empirical evidence in support of quality assessment is so little that no consensus exists on the basis of such assessments (Thomas and Harden, 2008). As such, the selected studies were subjected to an assessment that is based on the relation with our focus on the research, and the inclusion and exclusion criteria only, and coupled with the fact that only WOS- and Scopus-retrieved publications were considered on the basis that such documents have already been peer-reviewed (Xiao and Watson's, 2019). That was done independently and in parallel by the two authors of this article (Brereton et al., 2007) who formed a consensus regarding the 249 included studies.

Methods of analysis

We performed a ‘descriptive analysis (see Findings) by identifying the frequency that expatriate success-related variables were treated as dimensions and/or antecedents of success, authors, dates, journals, research methodologies, data collection techniques, unit of analysis (individual, interpersonal and organisational levels) and theories. This allowed us to satisfy objectives to (1) identify the dimensions and antecedents of expatriate success (Table A1 in the appendix) and (3) clarify the definition of expatriate success in the previous literature (Table A2 in the appendix). Hence, antecedents, dimensions and definitions were the overarching themes or analytical codes extracted deductively from the research objectives.

Through inductive thematic analysis of the articles (Thomas and Hardens, 2008), we were able to identify different dimensions (e.g, CCA, Performance, Satisfaction) and antecedents (e.g. CCA, Motivation to migrate, Interaction with HCNs) of success as first-order codes and classify them into three levels (individual, interpersonal and organisational). Subsequently, we used these first-order and second-order codes to analyse expatriate success definitions and trends based on the frequencies of these codes (see findings). Next, we conducted this analysis manually by tabulating the information in chronological order for a better understanding (Table A1 in the appendix) and to highlight the contrast and trend of expatriate success definition across the years (Table A2 in the appendix). Drawing on Rousseau et al.'s classification (2008), we used integration and interpretation methods to analyse and synthesise our data. Integration is a process of triangulation across different studies and methods to answer specific questions and examine the approaches taken to the topic. This enabled us to answer the following questions: What variables did the studies consider and how? How did the studies define expatriate success? And what theoretical framework did they adopt? Interpretation involves collecting descriptive data, pinpointing its common concepts and transferring them to new classifications to develop new constructs. Although, we didn't explicitly develop a new construct, however in systematically classifying its dimensions and critically indicating what is missed from the extant definitions we extended and developed the construct further.

We used VOSviewer version 1.6.11 (Van Eck and Waltman, 2010) to generate a perceptual map of the final sample to satisfy objective (2), that is to determine the interplay between antecedents and dimensions of expatriate success. VOSviewer is a software tool that helps create and visualise maps based on network data using objects of interest (e.g. keywords). The relationship between these items is shown by the way they link together. All of the links and items constitute the network. After running our sample, the final list contained 29 terms (Figure 2). These terms are connected by lines and are labelled with coloured nodes. The node's size is positively correlated with the occurrence of terms in the titles and abstracts. The more co-occurrences between two terms is evident in their closer proximity on the map, colour similarity and the stronger the link between them (Van Eck and Waltman, 2010). Finally, we obtained a complex visualisation of clusters and networks (Figures 3 and 4). The five clusters demonstrate how the antecedents and dimensions of expatriate success are interrelated, thus helping us to attain objective 2. For example, in the blue cluster-the biggest node- (CCA) is linked to HCNs, attitude, satisfaction and turnover intentions. This linkage helps answer our objective to determine the interplay between antecedents and dimensions of expatriate success.

Findings

Profile of included studies

This section explains the characteristics of the final 249 studies we included (Table 2). The 249 studies were published between 1990 and 2021 across 104 journals, 14 books and 15 of which were conference proceedings. These studies involve 482 authors from 41 countries, indicating broad coverage. The average citation rate for each article during this period was 34. In total, 531 author keywords were determined. 111studies adopted quantitative methods (44.6%), 64 were conceptual (25.7%), 50 qualitative (20%), 17 mixed-methods (6.8%), four meta-analyses (1.7%) and three conducted SLRs (1.2%).

Identifying the dimensions and antecedents of expatriate success

This section addresses our first objective: identifying the dimensions and antecedents of expatriate success. Across 249 studies, relationships between factors considered antecedents or dimensions of expatriate success were investigated (Table A1). Noticeably, 167 studies (67.1%) were atheoretical in contrast to, 82 (32.9%) which were theory-informed (the 10th column in Table A1). Although in this analysis, we do not distinguish between Oes (organisational expatriates) and SIEs (self-initiated expatriates), and our findings confirm Pinto et al.'s (2020) criticism of SIE's studies as atheoretical or theoretically fragmented without further understanding underlying motives and drivers of success. However, in the last 4 years, theory-based explanations of expatriate success increased (Figure A1 in the appendix).

Two dimensions received the most attention in expatriate studies, namely the individual (62.6%) and the organisational (45%). Recently, the interpersonal dimension gained further attention (6.8%). Various studies investigated the individual dimensions: subjective and self-reported such as CCA (Webb and Wright, 1996; Cao et al., 2013), satisfaction, whether life, self, career, or job (Gabel et al., 2005; Canhilal et al., 2015), success, whether in the career, job or in self-development (Cerdin and Le Pargneux, 2009; Bashir et al., 2021), the expatriate's perspective on work-family balance (Valk et al., 2014), job security, personal growth, authenticity and ability to live contentedly (Valk, 2021). Other dimensions investigated were knowledge gain (Bonache and Zárraga-Oberty, 2008), financial gains (earnings, salaries) and promotions and the duration to obtain the latter after the assignment (Bolino, 2007).

The organisational dimensions considered are expatriate performance (e.g. Hiltrop and Janssens, 1990; Caliguiri and Phillips, 2003), intention to complete the international assignment (IA) (Kraimer and Wayne, 2004), completing the IA (Caliguiri, 1997), effectiveness during the IA (Lee and Donohue, 2012), achieving organisational goals (Porter and Tansky, 1999), job withdrawal intentions (Harcar and Harcar, 2004), turnover intentions (Bozionelos, 2009), commitment to the organisation (Hemmasi et al., 2010), tenure after repatriation (Varner and Palmer, 2005), expatriate return on investment (McNulty and Cieri, 2013), ability to work effectively (Lee and Donohue, 2012) and the organisation's use of knowledge gain (Toh et al., 2012).

Lastly, the interpersonal dimensions are concerned with relationship building and identification with the team abroad (Harrison and Shaffer, 2005), knowledge transfer among host-country nationals and their career capital gain (Toh et al., 2012), contribution to society and family (Valk et al., 2014) and work-family balance (from the family's perspective) (Kempen et al., 2015).

Despite the many studies covering the different dimensions, we rarely found studies that addressed those antecedents and dimensions across all three levels jointly except for Porter and Tansky (1999) and Toh et al. (2012) further clouding the meaning of expatriate success. This was evident in the 3 SLRs, which each address expatriate success's dimensions and antecedents differently. Van der Laken et al. (2016) focused on perceived organisational support's impact on expatriate success. Weisheit (2018) studied expatriate success from an individual standpoint, emphasizing the importance of an employee's readiness to relocate. Lastly, Faeth and Kittler (2020) explored expatriate management in hostile environments from a multi-stakeholder perspective. Despite the fragmented studies, our findings confirm that expatriate success is multidimensional, as indicated by previous literature (Toh et al., 2012) (Table A1).

The interplay between individual, interpersonal and organisational antecedents and dimensions of expatriate success

This section addresses our second objective showing the intertwined relationships between the antecedents and dimensions. In what follows, we discuss the most frequently studied dimensions and show how some antecedents are related.

Depending on the study, adjustment was designated as an individual dimension or antecedent of success. The most widely studied dimension was CCA in its different forms (psychological, socio-cultural and work). Then, 111 studies (44.6%) considered CCA a dimension of expatriate success. In contrast, 33 articles (13.3%) considered it an antecedent of expatriate success, good performance, intention to complete the IA and expatriate well-being. Thus, adjustment has been mostly equated to success rather than an antecedent of it despite several individual antecedents shaping expatriates' CCA. For example, the Big Five personality characteristics explicitly related to expatriates' CCA (Ones and Viswesvaran, 1997). Also, other antecedents of expatriate adjustment were also investigated: cultural intelligence (CQ, e.g. Huff, 2013) 12 studies (4.8%), (emotional intelligence (EQ; e.g. Cray et al., 2018) six studies (2.4%); motivation to migrate (Van den Bergh and Du Plessis, 2012) and willingness to go on IAs (e.g. Wan, 2019) six studies (2.4%)). Other explored factors were language proficiency (e.g. Caliguiri et al., 2009; Huff, 2013), management and leadership skills (Harjo, 2016).

Also, interpersonal antecedents played a significant role in expatriates' CCA: the family's (and spouse's) adjustment and their willingness to go on IAs (e.g. Van Vianen et al., 2008) and interaction with HCNs (e.g. Varma et al., 2012; Van Bakel, 2019). Several organisational antecedents also affected expatriates' CCA such as selection criteria. Organisations whose primary selection criteria were the expatriate's mental ability, Big Five personality characteristics and EQ facilitated the expatriate's CCA (Gabel et al., 2005). Selecting the right candidate, providing them and their accompanying families with adequate cross-cultural training (CCT) and preparation (e.g. Hiltrop and Janssens, 1990; McCabe, 1993) were crucial to adjustment. Organisational support also contributed to CCA (Hiltrop and Janssens, 1990; Webber and Vögel, 2019). Kraimer and Wayne (2004) believe that this perceived organisational support and efforts is crucial for expatriates' CCA and well-being. David et al. (2021) showed that POS and family-supportive work perceptions could enhance the odds of an expatriate's success as it alleviates the burdens they potentially face when accompanied by their family. If expatriates perceive the company's support positively, they will adjust more readily.

Performance is the second most frequent dimension involved in expatriate success. Although only one study (0.4%) considers it an antecedent of success, 80 (32.1%) consider it one of the critical dimensions of success from the organisational perspective. Similarly, various individual antecedents shaped CCA and satisfaction and impacted expatriates' performance. For instance, in addition to Big Five personality characteristics, CQ (Huff, 2013), EQ (Cray et al., 2018), motivation to migrate (van den Bergh and Du Plessis, 2012), willingness to go on IAs (e.g. Wan, 2019), language proficiency (e.g. Caliguiri et al., 2009; Huff, 2013), management and personal leadership skills (Harjo, 2016) have also been correlated with expatriate performance as a dimension of success.

Furthermore, to ensure optimal performance, organisations must also consider the expatriate candidate's technical abilities, stress tolerance, flexibility, communication skills, cultural empathy, spouse adaptability and subsidiary-parent company relations (Hiltrop and Janssens, 1990). Harvey et al. (2001) showed the impact of a candidate's level of motivation on their performance. Lee and Kartika (2014) suggest that both CCA and expatriate performance and knowledge transfer are influenced by interpersonal factors, for example. Similarly, performance is primarily shaped by the same interpersonal and organisational antecedents.

The third most frequent dimension of expatriate success was expatriate satisfaction. Satisfaction appeared as a dimension of success in 35 studies (14.1%) but as an antecedent in only three (1.2%), which indicates that satisfaction was mainly considered an essential dimension of success but not a contributing factor, and various antecedents shaped it. Although satisfaction is one of the critical dimensions of expatriate success, unlike CCA, it is not considered a dimension of success on its own. Instead, satisfaction complements other dimensions of success, such as CCA (Supangco and Mayrhofer, 2014), intention to complete the IA (Mezias and Scandura, 2005), turnover intention (Bozionelos, 2009) and withdrawal cognition (Canhilal et al., 2015). Further, several factors contribute to expatriate satisfaction. Interaction with HCNs relates to expatriate job satisfaction and intention to complete the IA (Konanahalli et al., 2011; Templer, 2010). Organisational support and the extent to which expatriates and HCN support perceive it contributes to their satisfaction with their career and intention to complete the assignment (Cao et al., 2014). Similarly, this perceived organisational support affects their life and family satisfaction (David et al., 2021).

Other dimensions of expatriate success from the organisational perspective were the completion of the IA (e.g. Lazarova et al., 2015) and willingness to remain (e.g. Braga and Kubo, 2010), both with 20 studies (8%); intention to stay with 13 studies (5.2%) (e.g. Cao et al., 2014); premature returns with four studies (1.6%) (e.g. Canhilal et al., 2015); and withdrawal cognition with four studies (1.6%) (e.g. Davis et al., 2018). Ten studies (4%) address commitment to the organisation as another dimension of success (Chen, 2015; Gallego-Toledo, 2015; Van Der Laken et al., 2016). To a lesser extent, other organisational dimensions of expatriate success that were considered sporadically were knowledge transfer (2%), tenure after repatriation (0.4%) and effectiveness (2%). As for achieving organisational goals like financial targets and market shares (0.2%), Porter and Tansky (1999) showed that specific individual antecedents (e.g. assimilation, endurance, psychological factors and career expectations) play a significant role in increasing expatriate chances of achieving such goals, adjusting better and completing the IA.

Finally, knowledge transfer was considered one of the interpersonal dimensions in only three articles (1.2%). While Toh et al. (2012) investigated the role played by organisations in providing adequate CCT to expatriates to ensure this transfer, Wang and Varma (2018) highlighted the critical role of HCNs. Bonache and Zárraga-Oberty (2008) echoed this and added the need for the right abilities and motivation. Contribution to home country society and family, work-family balance and satisfaction were other dimensions of expatriate success at this level (Valk et al., 2014). Moreover, as one key interpersonal dimension of expatriate success, CCA affects relationship building and identification with the team abroad (Harrison and Shaffer, 2005; Denisi and Sonesh, 2016). Hence, the interplay of individual, interpersonal and organisational antecedents shapes these interpersonal dimensions.

To complement these findings, we used VOS viewer to generate several maps highlighting our sample's networks of the keywords co-occurrence. These maps represented five clusters, namely the following: International career success (Cluster 1 in red); Success determined by selection based on personal characteristics (Cluster 2 in green); Success as adjustment and satisfaction influenced by interpersonal factors (Cluster 3 in blue); Success as the lack of expatriate failure facilitated by spouse's organisational support and training (Cluster 4 in yellow); and finally, success linked to commitment and performance enabled by social support (Cluster 5 in purple).

Figure 3 represents the network of co-occurrences of all 29 terms in the five clusters. Figures 2 and 3 show that the “Expatriate success' node is the largest in our sample. It occurred 233 times and is linked to the other terms. This is expected as the studies in our sample specifically relate to expatriate success, the main keyword. The “Expatriate adjustment” node has the highest total strength link (1,364). This node has 27 links (out of 28), reflecting that expatriate adjustment was highly researched and considered the most frequent dimension or antecedent of success. “Performance” has 26 links, the third strongest links (920) and occurred 139 times.

The five clusters show that expatriate success is not a uni- or bi-dimensional concept. Instead, it is multidimensional and affected by diverse factors at differing levels. The main dimensions considered were adjustment, performance, satisfaction, commitment, effectiveness, turnover intentions, career success and repatriation success, therefore, taking the individuals' and the organisation's perspectives into account.

This map (Figure 4) echoes our previous finding about expatriate success, shifting to focus on global career success and involving the whole career, not only the IA. For instance, none of the terms is shaded in blue (oldest), and most are in light orange (more recent). Although authors explored adjustment, performance and expatriate success since the 1990s, these terms appear to be emphasised more recently (light orange) as the research intensity increased as of 2009. Our findings show that research on these dimensions tripled from 67 articles between 1990 and 2006 to 182 articles from 2007 to 2021. The dimensions considered from 2009 onward are career success, repatriation, satisfaction and turnover intention.

Definitions of expatriate success

In this section we satisfy the third objective, by reviewing the existing definitions of expatriate success and suggesting an integrative one. Although researchers studied expatriate success in many ways and from various lenses, no consensus on one definition exists. As mentioned, different dimensions have been considered for the same concept making comparing them difficult. Our findings reveal that very few studies explicitly define expatriate success: only 31 (12.4%) studies, from which only half, 16 (51.6%), were grounded in some theory (Table A2 in the appendix). In 5 out of 16 studies, authors adopted Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964) thus reflecting the predominance of the organisational perspective when defining expatriate success. Conversely, the importance of the interaction and exchange between the organisation and the individual to define expatriate success also seems relevant, with 5articles out of 16 using either Person-Environment Fit Theory (Kristof, 1996), Social Exchange Theory (Blau, 1964) or relational models of procedural justice (Tyler and Lind, 1992), thus highlighting the organisational perspective in the definition of expatriate success. The use of psychological theories focussing on the subjective dimension of expatriate success at the individual level, such as Anxiety and Uncertainty Management Theory (Gudykunst and Nishida, 2001), Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989) and Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins, 1997) are less used to define success, with only three articles out of 16.

Of these 31 articles that define success, 12 (38.8%) considered either individual (e.g. CCA) or organisational (e.g. performance) dimensions, 17 (54.8%) took both dimensions into account, 1 (3.2%) considered the individual and interpersonal dimensions (e.g. knowledge transfer) and 1 (3.2%) highlights all three.

Also, these studies differed in how they refer to success: 12 (38.8%) used the term “expatriate success”, eight (25.8%) used “career success”, eight (25.8%) used “success in the IA”, 2 (6.4%) contrasted “expatriate success” and “failure” and one (3.2%) combined “expatriate success” with “success in the IA”. More than half, 16 (51.6%), focused on the success of OEs. The rest either investigated SIEs (five studies, 16.2%), did not specify the type of expatriate of interest (eight studies; 25.8%), or investigated both OEs and SIEs (two studies, 6.4%). So, comparably, fewer studies defining expatriate success were referred to as SIEs. It is also worth noting that when referring to success in the IA, which is bound to the assignment's corporate goals, authors studied OEs solely, whereas both OEs and SIEs were the subjects of the studies on career success with a broader focus going beyond the attainment of the corporate goals.

The first to suggest a definition of expatriate success was Zeynep Aycan in 1997. She considered both individual and organisational perspectives and proposed that success can be defined by expatriates' levels of adjustment and performance. Also, Caligiuri (1997) explored these two dimensions and suggested that the three most common criteria for evaluating expatriate success were the following: completion of the foreign assignment, CCA and performance on the foreign assignment in this order. Also, Porter and Tansky (1999) considered success "in terms of the expatriate achieving specific objectives but considered from the organisational perspective. These objectives often include some financial goals but might also be in the form of market share gain, introducing a new product or service, cycle time improvements, or quality objectives” (p. 47). Other researchers (Caligiuri, 1997; Kraimer and Wayne, 2004) reported similar definitions of expatriate success and related it to adjustment, performance, completion of the IA, or even the organisation's return on investment on its expatriates (McNulty, 2008). Hence, authors have been more interested in equating expatriate success to tangible and organisational dimensions rather than subjective and individual dimensions, showing a predominance of the organisational perspective in their definitions of expatriate success.

Another trend observed when analysing these definitions is that while previous studies mainly emphasised objective and factual measures of success, such as completing the IA or promotions, more recent definitions started incorporating more subjective measures. For instance, Gabel et al. (2005) introduced life satisfaction as an additional measure of success. Other subjective measures, such as expatriates' gain in knowledge from IAs, fulfilled psychological contracts reflecting the individuals' perspective (Kumarika Perara et al., 2017), and career and job satisfaction (Traavik and Richardsen, 2010) have been considered. Hence, research attempted to provide greater insight into expatriate success by simultaneously focussing on subjective and objective measures that capture the individual's and the organisation's perspectives.

Finally, another consideration that can be drawn from the findings is that of a broader time scope that goes beyond success in the IA and encompasses long-term career success. Cerdin and Le Pargneux (2009) proposed this idea and incorporated both the IA and the long-term career. They added expertise, career, job and development success concepts. They also shed light on the importance of measuring all these during expatriation and after repatriation to define success. Traavik and Richardsen (2010) also explored career success and proposed subjective (e.g. career, job satisfaction) and objective outcomes (e.g. rewards, promotions) to measure it. Valk et al. (2014) considered new dimensions of expatriate success while relating it to career success. They found that the outcome of a successful international career is the work-family balance, self-satisfaction and contribution to the family and home-country society. Three other studies (Blanco and Castillo, 2020; Hamori and Koyuncu, 2011; Schmid and Wurster, 2017) also related expatriate success to career success but considered the time required to get to the top as the measure of this success. Blanco and Castillo pointed out that the longer expatriates are away from the HQ, the longer they will take to get to the top and, therefore, the less successful they will be. Conversely, Ramaswami et al. (2016) considered that the more international experience expatriates exhibit, i.e. the more time spent on IAs, the more human capital they possess, the more rewards they obtain and, therefore, the more successful they are.

This perspective was recently updated. Harry et al. (2019), Waxin and Brewster (2020), Mello et al. (2020) and Lazarova et al. (2021) all provided more recent definitions of expatriate success and linked it to career success and its objective and subjective outcomes. Mello et al. (2020) defined expatriate success as including different subjective and objective measures at the individual level. They mainly focused on the accomplishment of desirable, positive psychological or work-related outcomes, on tangible, objective and measurable features such as promotions or salaries as objective outcomes, and career satisfaction, career success and finally, the multidimensional evaluation criteria of career facets, such as growth and development, personal life and authenticity as subjective outcomes. Then, we found that the definitions by Valk et al. (2014) and Mello et al. (2020) are the most integrative, comprehensive and inclusive. They tackle the individual, interpersonal and organisational aspects and use the subjective and objective measures of an expatriate's success to describe this complex and multi-faceted concept, even though their definitions apply to SIE.

In sum, over time, the definition of expatriate success evolved. First, it was associated with merely completing an assignment measured factually and objectively. Then, it incorporated the expatriates' ability to adjust, measured in a self-reported way, perform well and achieve organisational goals, measured by the organisation. Finally, it considered the efficient transfer of knowledge and expertise and several subjective dimensions of career success.

Discussion

Research on expatriate success often overlooked the construct's multidimensionality and subjective and socially constructed nature failing to achieve a consensus on defining it. Our findings support this notion and show the various antecedents and dimensions to understand expatriate success. These antecedents and dimensions were not independent, as a visible interplay was found among them across individual, interpersonal and organisational levels. Considering the dimensions identified and discriminating them from antecedents, we suggested a comprehensive definition, complementing the extant ones (e.g. Aycan, 1997; Mello et al., 2020). Next, we discuss each of our findings to their respective objectives next.

The first objective of identifying the dimensions and antecedents of expatriate success has been thoroughly fulfilled through our findings, which comprehensively address individual, interpersonal and organisational ones. Specifically, our SLR clarifies the concept by systematically categorising and integrating the antecedents and dimensions that were previously primarily investigated separately and only rarely in combination. It also identifies which dimensions (CCA, performance and satisfaction in this order) have been most frequently studied as proxies of expatriate success, which level of analysis (individual and organisational mostly) and which perspective (primarily organisational). From these findings, we conclude that expatriate success is a multidimensional construct that needs to be analysed individually, interpersonally and organisationally from two perspectives, namely individual and organisational (e.g. Harry et al., 2019; Lazarova et al., 2021) jointly to be adequately measured. While each level is essential to understanding expatriate success, no single level can be considered the sole determiner. Thus, categorising these antecedents and dimensions (Table A1) provides a much-needed boundary-clarification of the concept of expatriate success. This clarification calls for attention for future studies in expatriate management research to specify what they mean by success when analysing it as a variable. This specification is necessary to compare studies and create an integrated corpus of knowledge.

Our second objective of the SLR, the interplay among the factors across the different levels is evident in the five clusters that emerged from VOSviewer. Interestingly, four out of the five clusters evidenced the importance of interpersonal and organisational factors on the dimensions of success. The interplay between the antecedents and outcomes at the individual and interpersonal levels contributes to understanding expatriate success. Personality traits play a significant role in facilitating the expatriates' adjustment and, subsequently, success in their IA. Also, the HCNs' attitudes toward expatriates are equally important as emphasized by some studies that a good level of communication between the two parties often leads to a better CCA, performance, intention to complete the IA and overall satisfaction (Templer, 2010; Konanahalli et al., 2011; Cao et al., 2014). All these factors increase expatriates' satisfaction with their job and career, which will likely be reflected in their decreased turnover and withdrawal intentions. Furthermore, the interplay is also evident across the three levels together. For instance, expatriates' commitment to the mission and organisation and their performance seems to be highly influenced by the level of social support provided at the interpersonal level. The social support from the expatriates' family, community, and new work surroundings can play either a positive or a negative role in an expatriate's commitment levels to the job, performance and CCA, all of which consequently reflect on their success (Goby et al., 2002). Undoubtedly, this success is also ensured by a positive performance which is also impacted by the level of social support (Konanhalli et al., 2011; Araci, 2015).

Finally, in line with our third objective, we propose an integrative, multidimensional and multi-level definition of expatriate success. Expatriate success is a socially and scholarly constructed term that comprehensively and integratively evolved and acquired new dimensions at the individual, interpersonal and organisational levels. The trend in this evolution has been divergent rather than convergent making the concept more broadly defined with new, previously unnoticed dimensions. The definition we put forward reflects this expansive trend and incorporates less-noticed dimensions and perspectives for a more holistic understanding of the construct. Hence, we propose the following definition: “expatriate success encompasses all dimensions: the individual (adjustment, satisfaction, career success and work-life balance), the interpersonal (HCNs and expatriate relationship, HCN career capital gain, knowledge transfer and work-family balance) and the organisational (performance, commitment, completion of IA, achieving organisational goals, repatriation success, turnover intention, knowledge transfer and effectiveness).” The interplay between these three dimensions shows that expatriate success can only happen when all the stakeholders across the three levels can capitalise on the expatriation process. Moreover, expatriate success is the outcome of pre-, during and post-assignment factors that ensure the appropriate candidate selection, transition into the assignment and environment through the various individual, interpersonal and organisational factors, and a post-assignment path forward. Our definition integrates all the dimensions previously addressed fragmentedly, to offer a broader conception of expatriate success. It also incorporates a new processual and more comprehensive focus on the long-term rather than short-term success. This long-term view shows that expatriate success is conceived as the overall career success that extends s beyond the termination of an assignment, as suggested in recent research addressing both subjective and objective measures and outcomes (e.g. Harry et al., 2019; Lazarova et al., 2021).

The attainment of these objectives has allowed for covering an extant gap in previous expatriate research where the concept of success had been differently and incongruently addressed (Hemmasi et al., 2010) leading to a lack of comparability among studies (Black, 1990; Caliguiri and Cascio, 1998; Harzing and Christensen, 2004). Also, satisfying our objectives allowed the crafting of a broader conception of expatriate success that considers its subjective and socially constructed nature in line with the career's literature (Briscoe et al., 2021). As we indicate below, this new conception opens a range of avenues for future research.

Limitations and future research

This research is not without its limitations. The studies included do not investigate different kinds of expatriates, such as flex-patriates, short-term assignees, international commuters, business travellers and non-traditional and minority expatriates (Mäkelä et al., 2017; Hutchings, 2021). Instead, it focuses only on OEs and SIEs, which we distinguish between (Table A2). However, understanding whether the measures and definitions of success differ among different groups of expatriates is critical to enriching the conception of expatriate success and should be further investigated by future studies. Specifically, a SLR can be conducted to explore the dimensions of success considered in the studies using these atypical samples of expatriates. Furthermore, delving into the subjective nature of success, it will be interesting to compare the key dimensions used by organisations and the different groups of expatriates to define success (i.e. the protean career of SIEs in contrast to other kinds of expatriates might emphasize individual dimensions such as work–life balance or satisfaction). In a similar line, comparing the dimensions used by expatriates to define success with those of migrants can be also a fruitful avenue for research to enrich the understanding of the socially constructed nature of this concept.

The suggested conception of expatriate success exhibits three important implications for further research in expatriate management. First, given that 15 out of the 31 articles (48.39%) defining expatriate success are not theoretically grounded, it might be time to abandon the concept of expatriate success altogether and instead focus on the overall career success of our international employees. HRM and occupational psychology theoretical models on career achievement and success (Pinto et al., 2020) such as the Theory of Work Adjustment (Dawis and Lofquist, 1984) can be drawn upon to further enrich, ground and theorise the understanding of career success concerning international workers' work-life experience, and subsequently success. These theoretical models can enrich and complement the existing organisational perspective (Kristof, 1996; Becker, 1964) in the definition of expatriate success by giving more prominence to the individual level and subjective nature of this construct.

Second, the suggested broader and multidimensional understanding of expatriate success highlights a necessary shift in the measurement criteria of it and for considering its subjective and socially constructed nature. Multiple indicators covering the highlighted dimensions should be employed to measure the complex nature of expatriate success, as it is neither limited to “objectivist” measures such as CCA, job, life or career satisfaction and organisational commitment, nor to observable measures such as financial compensation or promotions, assignment completion, knowledge transfer, or performance measures, but also expands to include the expatriates' subjective perceptions of their career success defined in their terms (Spurk et al., 2019). While subjective and objective career success measures were addressed in the career development literature (Briscoe et al., 2021), they have not been so in expatriate research, often ignoring the multidimensional, subjective and socially constructed nature of expatriate success. To further understand expatriate success, objective and subjective measures must be accounted for. Thus, to account for the subjective experience of success, we suggest that future studies include subjective measures of expatriates' success. We recommend incorporating the expatriates' perspective into studies on expatriate success by exploring their expectations before, during and after the assignment and how they define success through qualitative or mixed-methods designs.

A third research avenue on expatriate success is to develop and validate a questionnaire with the previously qualitatively identified meanings and idiosyncratic definitions of subjective expatriate success. Given that the meanings of success, like all personal meanings, are particularly sensitive to cultural differences, we recommend conducting this study cross-culturally to account for possible differences across cultures and to develop a culturally sensitive scale.

Implications for practice

Also, the evolution of the concept of expatriate success entails practical implications for organisations. In line with the new, more integrative conception of expatriate success, organisations should now not merely focus on selection and training but also incorporate career development support and career path planning in harmony with the expatriates' perceptions and expectations of their career success which contributes to expatriates' career success, their willingness to share their acquired knowledge and experience with others and ultimately contribute to the organisation's success.

But before deploying HR actions to facilitate expatriate success, organisations should ask expatriates to define what success means to them in their own words, to clarify expectations, help to satisfy them or understand some paradoxical situations that are assessed as expatriate success. Also, this knowledge should be translated into using multiple rather than single indicators (e.g. the completion of the IA) by HR professionals when evaluating expatriates' success. With these steps, organisations may also overcome the issue of expatriates disengaging after repatriation or abandoning the organisation despite completing the IA and outperforming during it, because their expectations and mental representations of success have not been considered by their organisations.

Further, capitalising on these considerations can foster a sense of loyalty and commitment among their expatriates particularly when they realise that their organisations are concerned with the expatriates' perceptions and expectations of success, not just the organisational goals, which align with the move toward protean and boundaryless career models (McDonald and Hite, 2008).

Conclusion

This study (1) identified the dimensions and antecedents of expatriate success, (2) determined the interplay among them and (3) clarified the definitions of expatriate success in the previous literature to provide an integrative definition of it. Following the PRISMA guidelines, 249 studies were included for the review from WOS and Scopus databases, These studies were thoroughly reviewed, coded and analysed manually and with VOSviewer.

In attaining these objectives, the review has made two important theoretical contributions: first, to highlight the construct's multidimensional, subjective and socially constructed nature, calling for this consideration in future research. Second, to suggest an integrative definition incorporating all the dimensions and combining individual and organisational perspectives with subjective and objective measures of success.

Figures

Figure 1

PRISMA article selection flow diagram

Figure 2

Links, total strength links and occurrences of the terms in the VOSviewer maps

Figure 3

Network visualisation of terms’ co-occurrences

Figure 4

Overlay visualisation of terms

Figure A1

Trend of theory's grounding over the years

Table 1

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criterion	Focus on
1	Published studies starting 1990 to December 20213
2	Various document types (journal articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings)
3	Publications address expatriate success and related factors
4	Publications must be in English

Note(s): ³ Studies investigating expatriates and their success started to emerge after the seminal work by Black and Stephens (1989), who addressed expatriate adjustment. Our cut-off date was December 2021, as we started the search in January 2022

Source(s): Authors ‘own (2023)

Table 2

Profile of included studies

Description	Results
Timespan	1990:2021
Journals	104
Journal articles	220
Conferences	15
Books	14
Authors	482
Countries	41
Average citation per article	34.166
Authors keywords	531

Source(s): Authors ‘own (2023)

Table A1

List of manuscripts used in the SLR

Serial	Source	Authors (year)	Method	Tools	Study foci	Antecedents			Dimensions			Explicit definition of expat. success	Theory/ies employed
						Individual	Interpersonal	Organizational	Individual	Interpersonal	Organizational
1	EMJ	Hiltrop and Janssens (1990)	LR	–	Antecedents: Personal characteristics of the expatriate manager, Spouse's adaptability, Selection, Training, Support - Dimensions: Performance	✓	✓	✓			✓		Atheoretical
2	TDJ	Hogan and Goodson (1990)	LR	–	Antecedents: CCA - Dimensions: Performance, Efficiency	✓					✓		Atheoretical
3	SLMR	Black and Gregersen (1991)	Qual	Case studies	Antecedents: Commitment to parent and local firm	✓							Atheoretical
4	JIBS	Feldman and Thomas (1992)	Mix	Personal narratives - Surveys/ANOVA	Antecedents: Job Satisfaction, Internal Work Motivation, Feelings of influence, Mastery over the new environment	✓							Atheoretical
5	IJVBM	Mccabe (1993)	LR	–	Antecedents: Selection, Pre-departure trainings for expatriates and their families			✓					Atheoretical
6	PP	Arthur and Bennett (1995)	Quan	Survey/MANOVA	Antecedents: Job knowledge, Motivation, Relational Skills, Flexibility, Adaptability	✓							Atheoretical
7	HRMR	Bell and Harrison (1996)	LR	–	Antecedents: Training and Pre-departure visits to host country to enhance the interaction of expatriates with HCNs - Dimensions: CCA			✓	✓				Atheoretical
8	APJHR	Davidson and Kinzel (1996)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Organizational Support			✓					Atheoretical
9	LQ	Thomas (1996)	LR	–	Antecedents: CCT - Dimensions: CCA			✓	✓				Atheoretical
10	CDI	Webb and Wright (1996)	LR	–	Antecedents: Selection (traits and technical skills), Preparing the employee for the expatriate assignment, CCT - Dimensions: CCA			✓	✓				Atheoretical
11	IJLE	Armitage and Powell (1997)	Qual	Case studies	Antecedents: Cultural, Social and Health causes - Dimensions: CCA	✓	✓		✓				Atheoretical
12	IJCM	Ashamalla and Crocitto (1997)	LR	–	Antecedents: Pre-departure preparation of expatriate			✓					Atheoretical
13	NAEM	Aycan (1997)	LR	–	Dimensions: CCA, Performance				✓		✓	✓	Social Exchange Theory (Homans, 1958), Vernon's Life Cycle Theory (Vernon, 1966), Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977), and Adaptation-Level Theory (Helson, 1964)
14	IJHRM	Aycan (1997)	LR	–	Antecedents: Expatriate's competencies and skills, Support and assistance prior and during IA	✓		✓					Social Exchange Theory (Homans, 1958), Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977), Attribution Theory (Heider
15	NAEM	Caligiuri (1997)	Quan	Survey/CFA	Dimensions: Completion of the IA, CCA, Performance				✓		✓	✓	Theory of Expatriate Performance, including contextual
16	NAEM	Ones and Viswesvaran (1997)	LR	–	Antecedents: Big Five (Emotional stability, Extraversion, Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness) - Dimensions: Performance, CCA, Satisfaction, Adaptation, Completion Rate, Premature Returns, Culture Shock, Effectiveness, Professional Effectiveness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Acculturation, Overseas Success	✓			✓	✓	✓		Atheoretical
17	JWB	Punnett (1997)	Mix	In-depth interviews/FG - Survey	Antecedents: Selection, Training (pre, during and after the assignment) of the expatriate and the accompanying spouse - Dimensions: Expatriate's Success		✓	✓	✓				Atheoretical
18	Book 5	Sinangil and Ones (1997)	Quan	Survey/CFA	Antecedents: CCA (affected by Job Knowledge and Motivation, Relational skills, Flexibility/Adaptability, Extra-cultural openness, Family situation) - Dimensions: Performance	✓	✓				✓		Atheoretical
19	JTI	Woodard et al. (1997)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Selection, Training, Support			✓					Atheoretical
20	IJHRM	Harvey (1998)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Spouse's career difficulties - Dimensions: Performance, Expatriate's Success		✓		✓		✓		Atheoretical
21	LODJ	Jordan and Cartwright (1998)	LR	–	Antecedents: Openness to experience, Extroversion, Low anxiety/neuroticism, Relational ability, Cultural sensitivity, Linguistic skills, and the ability to handle stress, Selection -Dimensions: CCA, Personal Growth, Performance	✓		✓	✓		✓	✓	Atheoretical
22	IJHRM	Caliguiri and Tung (1999)	Quan	Survey/CA/Moderated RA/ANOVA	Antecedents: Characteristics (e.g., Language skills, technical skills, Open-minded Personality), Interpersonal (Family: supportive and well-adjusted spouse and children), HCNs' Support, Support from headquarters, Maintaining the psychological contract -Dimensions: Adjustment, Desire to terminate the IA and Supervisor rated performance	✓	✓	✓	✓		✓		Atheoretical
23	IJHM	Feng and Pearson (1999)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Adjustment and Adaptation skills, Interpersonal relations skills, Cultural stress management skills	✓							Atheoretical
24	HRM	Porter and Tansky (1999)	LR	–	Antecedents: Assimilation, Endurance, Psychological Factors, Career Expectations - Dimensions: Achieving the goals (financial, market share etc), CCA, Completion of IA	✓			✓		✓	✓	Atheoretical
25	PP	Caligiuri (2000)	Quan	Survey/RA/DM/BC	Antecedents: Personality type - Dimensions: Willingness to complete IA, Performance	✓			✓		✓		(Buss, 1991; MacDonald, 1998)
26	JCCP	Dalton and Wilson (2000)	Quan	Survey NEO PI-R	Antecedents: Big five personality characteristics - Dimensions: Performance	✓					✓		Atheoretical
27	EJP	Van Oudenhoven-Van and Van Oudenhoven (2000)	Quan	Survey (MPQ)	Antecedents: Openness, Flexibility, Social Initiative, Emotional stability	✓							Atheoretical
28	IJIR	Grant-Vallone and Ensher (2001)	Quan	Survey/HRA	Antecedents: Balance between personal and work life, Organizational support - Dimensions: CCA, Performance, Expatriate's Success	✓		✓	✓		✓		Atheoretical
29	IJHRM	Harvey et al. (2001)	LR	–	Antecedents: Candidate motivation level, Selection of fitting candidates, Parent host: Information Asymmetry, Goal Congruence	✓		✓					Agency Theory (Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Eisenhardt, 1988; Nilakant and Rao, 1994) and Expectancy Theory (Vroom, 1964; Nadler and Lawler, 1977; Porter and Lawler, 1968)
30	JEIT	Linehan and Scullion (2001)	Qual	Semi-structured interviews/Cross-case analysis -	Antecedents: Breaking the glass ceiling, Accompanying spouse's Adjustment status, Mentorship, Interpersonal networks		✓	✓					Atheoretical
31	IJIR	Van Oudenhoven et al. (2001)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Traits and Skills (Orientation to action, Adventurousness, Open-mindedness, Flexibility, Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Cultural Empathy, Perseverance, Commitment to the company) - Dimensions: CCA, Performance	✓			✓		✓		Atheoretical
32	CCMIJ	Varma and Stroh (2001)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: High LMX -- Dimensions: Communication, Success	✓	✓		✓	✓			Leader-Member Exchange Theory (Liden and Maslyn, 1998)
33	WMR	Cordano et al. (2002)	Quan	Survey (WAMS)/CFA/MANOVA and ANOVA	Antecedents: HCNs' Support – Dimensions: CCA, Social and Work Adjustments		✓		✓	✓	✓		Atheoretical
34	ITJ	Edmond (2002)	Quan	Survey/RA	Antecedents: Selection Criteria (Task-Cross-cultural)			✓					Atheoretical
35	JTMD	Goby et al. (2002)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Harmony between the perception of expats (and the spouse) and the HRDs about social and employment support - Dimensions: Job Commitment, Organization Loyalty, Expatriate's Success	✓		✓	✓		✓		Atheoretical
36	JWB	Harvey and Novicevic (2002)	LR	–	Antecedents: CCA	✓							Atheoretical
37	IJHRM	Napier and Taylor (2002)	Qual	Semi-structured interviews/Workshops, seminars and FG	Antecedents: Host nation's culture, Level of economic development of the host country		✓						Atheoretical
38	WMR	Paik and Vance (2002)	Quan	Survey/Small group interviews/MANOVA	Antecedents: Status as foreigners, Gender	✓							Atheoretical
39	JSP	Stierle et al. (2002)	Quan	Survey/CA/HRA	Dimensions: Performance, CCA, Job Satisfaction, Identification with the work team abroad				✓	✓	✓		Atheoretical
40	IJIR	Vance and Ensher (2002)	Qual	In-depth interviews	Antecedents: Training - Dimensions: Performance			✓			✓		Atheoretical
41	CTRJ	Woodard et al. (2002)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Selection, Training, Support - Dimensions: Expatriate's Success			✓	✓				Atheoretical
42	IJIR	Ali et al. (2003)	Quan	Survey/HRA	Antecedents: CCA (Enhanced by the adjustment of the spouse)	✓	✓						Atheoretical
43	IJHRM	Caligiuri and Phillips (2003)	Quan	Experiment (pre-test and post-test)	Antecedents: Realistic job preview's effect on expat's self-efficacy and his/her ability in making informed decision - Dimensions: Performance	✓		✓			✓		Atheoretical
44	JMP	Guthrie et al. (2003)	Quan	Survey (NEO-PI-R, HPI)	Antecedents: Social and Psychological adjustments, Family Situation, Job Knowledge and Motivation, Relational Skills, Flexibility, Adaptability, Extra-Cultural Openness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness	✓	✓						Atheoretical
45	IJHM	Magnini and Honeycutt (2003)	LR	–	Antecedents: Technical Competencies, Learning Abilities - Dimensions: CCA	✓			✓				Atheoretical
46	JIM	Martin and Bartol (2003)	Quan	Survey/RA	Antecedents: Performance expectation, Clarification, Consideration of the local environment, Frequency of PA, Fairness, Career development - Dimensions: Expatriate's performance system	✓		✓			✓		Atheoretical
47	HR	Cerdin and Dubouloy (2004)	Qual	Qualitative interviews	Antecedents: Psychoanalytical approach to look into the past to find determinants that shed light on success on IA			✓	✓				Work Role Transition Theory (Nicholson, 1984) and Psychoanalytical Theory (Freud, 1890)
48	JTMD	Harcar and Harcar (2004)	LR	–	Antecedents: Family Issues, HR Policies - Dimensions: Job Withdrawal Intentions, Performance		✓	✓	✓		✓	✓	Spillover Theory (Pleck, 1977)
49	IJIR	Harvey and Kiessling (2004)	LR	–	Dimensions: CCA				✓				Atheoretical
50	JM	Kraimer and Wayne (2004)	Quan	Survey/CFA/SEM	Dimensions: CCA, Commitment to the organization, Performance, Intentions to complete IA				✓		✓	✓	Atheoretical
51	JIBS	Shay and Baack (2004)	Quan	Surveys/SEA	Dimensions: Premature Returns, CCA, Effectiveness				✓		✓		Work Role Transition Theory (Nicholson, 1984), Uncertainty Reduction Theory (Berger and Calabrese, 1975), and Contact Theory (Homans, 1950)
52	JCCP	Ward et al. (2004)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Psychological Adaptation, Sociocultural Adaptation (both are affected by neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, less discrepancy between extraversion and host-culture norms less discrepancy between openness and host-culture norms)	✓	✓						Atheoretical
53	IJHRM	Anderson (2005)	Mix	Semi-structured interviews - Survey	Antecedents: Selection (Technical and interpersonal skills, Family situation)			✓					Atheoretical
54	CDI	Gabel et al. (2005)	Mix	Semi-structured interviews - Survey	Antecedents: Mental Ability (Perf), Big five characteristics (Perf), EQ (CCA, Perf, Satisfaction, Withdrawal decisions) Selection - Dimensions: CCA, Performance, Completion of IA, Life Satisfaction	✓		✓	✓		✓	✓	Atheoretical
55	IJHRM	Harrisson and Schaffer (2005)	Quan	Survey/FA	Antecedents: CCA - Dimensions: Task Performance, Relationship Building, Overall Performance	✓				✓	✓		Work motivation Theory (e.g. Vroom's VIE theory, 1964; Naylor et al., 1980), Withdrawal Theory (e.g. Hulin, 1991), also referred to as Reduction of Inputs Theory (Harrison, 2001) or Propensity to Withhold Effort Theory (Kidwell and Bennett, 1993)
56	PR	Holopainen and Björkman (2005)	Quan	Survey (longitudinal)/DM/RA	Antecedents: Personal Characteristics - Dimensions: completion of IA, CCA, Performance	✓			✓		✓		Atheoretical
57	IJHRM	Huang et al. (2005)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Big five personality characteristics - Dimensions: CCA	✓			✓				Theory of Personality (Digman, 1990; Mount and Barrick, 1995)
58	JIBS	Mezias and Scandura (2005)	LR	–	Antecedents: Mentoring - Dimensions: CCA, Completion of IA, Successful Repatriation, Transfer of Knowledge			✓	✓		✓		Development of International Mentoring Theory by integrating current perspectives on protean and boundaryless careers with the literature on mentoring and expatriates
59	JCCP	Mol et al. (2005)	MA	–	Antecedents: Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness - Dimensions: CCA, Performance	✓			✓		✓		Atheoretical
60	JEIT	Neupert et al. (2005)	Qual	Critical incidents interviews/Needs assessment	Antecedents: The development of professional skills (Leadership, management), Personal characteristics (Patience, Flexibility, Confidence, Innovation, Experience, Maturity)	✓							Atheoretical
61	JCP	Swagler and Jome (2005)	Quan	Survey/HMR	Antecedents: CCA	✓							Atheoretical
62	CCMIJ	Tan et al. (2005)	LR	–	Antecedents: CCA	✓							Atheoretical
63	AME	Toh and Deinisi (2005)	LR	–	Antecedents: HCNs' Support - Dimensions: CCA		✓		✓				Atheoretical
64	SMR	Varner and Palmer (2005)	LR	–	Antecedents: Self-knowledge, Selection, Training Dimensions: Effectiveness, Knowledge Gain, Tenure after repatriation	✓		✓			✓	✓	Atheoretical
65	IMDS	Lee and Croker (2006)	Quan	Survey/HRA	Antecedents: CCT - Dimensions: CCA			✓	✓				Atheoretical
66	HRDR	Littrel et al. (2006)	LR	–	Antecedents: CCT - Dimensions: Expatriate's early return, Delayed productivity and start-up time, Disruption of the relationship between the expatriate and HCN, Damage to the MNC's image, Lost Opportunities, Problematic repatriation resulting in high turnover rates					✓	✓		Atheoretical
67	IEJ	Richardson et al. (2006)	Quan	Survey	Dimensions: CCA				✓				Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977)
68	IM	Andreason (2007)	LR	–	Antecedents: Spouse's Adjustment		✓						Atheoretical
69	IJCHM	Avril and Magnini (2007)	LR	–	Antecedents: Holistic approach in selection and training while taking in consideration the family status, EQ, Learning orientation and lifestyle habits (diet and exercise)			✓					Atheoretical
70	JIBS	Bolino (2007)	LR	–	Dimensions: [Subjective] satisfaction with one's career/[Objective] promotions				✓				Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964; Judge et al., 1995; Wayne et al., 1999), Career-Cone Model (Schein, 1971)
71	IJHRM	Kupka and Cathro (2007)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Well-being of the spouse before, during and after the IA		✓						Atheoretical
72	IJHRM	Paik et al. (2007)	Mix	In depth interviews - Survey/ANOVA	Antecedents: HCN's Support (influenced by perceived compensation's gap) - Dimensions: CCA		✓		✓				Equity Theory (Adams, 1965)
73	JOB	Toh and Deinisi (2007)	LR	–	Antecedents: HCNs' Support - Dimensions: CCA		✓		✓				Social Identity Theory (Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel and Turner, 1979)
74	IJHRM	Bonache and Zárraga-Oberty (2008)	LR	–	Antecedents: Abilities, Motivation, Quality of relationship between the individuals - Dimensions: Success of knowledge transfer	✓	✓		✓	✓	✓		Atheoretical
75	Book 2	Burrus (2008)	LR	–	Antecedents: Personal characteristics, Families, HCNs	✓	✓						Atheoretical
76	IJFIP	Flytzani and Nijcamp (2008)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Locus of control - Dimensions: CCA, Performance	✓			✓		✓		Locus of Control Theory (Rotter, 1966, 1975, 1990)
77	IJIR	Herleman et al. (2008)	Mix	Interviews - Survey/CA/HR/MRA	Antecedents: Social Support, Ibasho, Stressor - Dimensions: Satisfaction, CCA, Well-being		✓		✓				Atheoretical
78	SBP	Lee and Sukoco (2008)	Quan	Survey/CFA/SEM/ANOVA	Antecedents: Personality Characteristics, Social Support - Dimensions: CCA, Performance	✓	✓		✓		✓		Theory of Evolutionary Personality Psychology (Buss, 1991)
79	GBOE	Mcnulty (2008)	Qual	Case study	ROI: a calculation in which the financial and non-financial benefits to the firm are compared with the financial and non-financial costs of the IA, as appropriate to the assignment's purpose						✓	✓	Atheoretical
80	IJHRM	Seak and Enderwick (2008)	Qual	Email questionnaire containing open-ended questions	Antecedents: Selection (traits and technical skills), Preparing the employee for the expatriate assignment, CCT - Dimensions: CCA, Performance			✓	✓		✓		Atheoretical
81	Book 6	Van Vianen et al. (2008)	LR	–	Antecedents: Selection (self-assessment, family's opinion, organisation's opinion)- Dimensions: Completion of the IA, Meet performance standards, CCA	✓	✓	✓	✓		✓	✓	Atheoretical
82	JCAF	Yeaton and Hall (2008)	LR	–	Antecedents: Selection (right skills), Training and Support during the different stages of the IA - Dimensions: CCA			✓	✓				Atheoretical
83	HRM	Benson and Pattie (2009)	Quan	Survey/RA	Antecedents: LMX Interactions - Dimensions: CCA, Performance			✓	✓		✓		Leader-Member Exchange Theory (Liden and Maslyn, 1998)
84	HRM	Bozionelos (2009)	Quan	Survey/ANCOVA/HRA	Antecedents: CCT, Protégé Experience (Affected by gender), Peer Support (affected by gender), Cultural clusters of the home and host countries - Dimensions: Job Satisfaction, Turnover Intentions	✓	✓	✓	✓		✓		Atheoretical
85	HRMR	Caligiuri et al. (2009)	LR	–	Antecedents: Selection (Personal Characteristics, Language Skills, International experience as predictors)			✓					Atheoretical
86	HRM	Cerdin and Le Pargneux (2009)	LR	–	Dimensions: Career Success, Job Success, Development Success, Performance				✓		✓	✓	Theory of Fit (e.g. Kristof, 1996), Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964) and Signal Theory (Spence, 1973)
87	IJMR	Harvey and Moeller (2009)	LR	–	Antecedents: Selection (motivation), Training, Repatriation	✓		✓					Atheoretical
88	IJHRM	Kreng and Huang (2009)	LR	–	Dimensions: Performance						✓		Atheoretical
89	HRM	Olsen and Martins (2009)	LR	–	Antecedents: HCN's Support - Dimensions: CCA		✓		✓				Social Identity Theory (Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel and Turner, 1979)
90	IJHRM	Thite et al. (2009)	Mix	In-depth interviews - Survey	Antecedents: Cultural Distance - Dimensions: CCA		✓		✓				Atheoretical
91	HRM	Tungli and Peiperl (2009)	Quan	Mail survey/interviews with HR professionals/Comparative analysis	Dimensions: Premature Termination, CCA, Performance				✓		✓		Atheoretical
92	Book 3	Braga and Kubo (2010)	LR	–	Antecedents: Strong Organizational Culture - Dimensions: Willingness to remain till the end of IA, Premium Pay			✓	✓		✓		Atheoretical
93	PR	Cogin and Fish (2010)	Quan	Survey/SEM/OLS regression	Antecedents: Selection, Predicting individual's value, Orientations - Dimensions: Performance	✓		✓			✓		Atheoretical
94	BAR	De Macedo-Soares and Schubsky (2010)	Mix	Interviews - Survey	Antecedents: Commitment, Interdependence, Coordination, Communication	✓							Atheoretical
95	CRIBJ	Downes et al. (2010)	Quan	Survey/MRA	Antecedents: Expatriate's personality - Dimensions: CCA, Performance, Assignment Value	✓			✓		✓		Atheoretical
96	IJHRM	Hemmasi et al. (2010)	Quan	Survey/Scale development	Dimensions: CCA, Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, Performance Professional development, Career advancement, Macro-organizational Contribution, Effectiveness				✓		✓		Atheoretical
97	AJBM	Lee (2010)	Qual	In-depth interviews	Antecedents: IQ, CQ, EQ - Dimensions: CCA, Performance	✓			✓		✓		Atheoretical
98	ARCOM 2010	Moore and Elmualim (2010)	Qual	A face-to-face questionnaire interview	Antecedents: Cross-Cultural Difference		✓						Atheoretical
99	IJHRM	Templer (2010)	Quan	Survey/HRA	Antecedents: HCN's perceived importance of expatriate's personal attributes, Ethnocentric attitudes of HCNs - Dimensions: Work Adjustment, Subordinate Commitment, Job Satisfaction, Unit Performance		✓		✓	✓	✓		Atheoretical
100	IJHRM	Traavik and Richardsen (2010)	Quan	Survey	Dimensions: [Objective] Earnings and Promotions/[Subjective] Career and Job Satisfaction				✓			✓	Atheoretical
101	IJCHM	Causin et al. (2011)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: CCT - Dimensions: Expatriate's Success			✓	✓				Atheoretical
102	AOM 2011	Cerdin and Dickmann (2011)	Quan	Survey/HRA	Dimensions: Career Satisfaction, Job Satisfaction, Intention to leave the organization				✓		✓	✓	Person-Environment Fit Theory (e.g. Kristof, 1996) and the Boundaryless Career Perspective (e.g. Arthur and Rousseau, 1996)
103	COBRA 2011	Cerimagic and Smith (2011)	Qual	Case studies/In depth interviews	Antecedents: Selection (Learning Orientation Skills) - Dimensions: CCA	✓		✓	✓				Atheoretical
104	IJHRM	Hamori and Koyuncunot (2011)	Quan	Surveys/HRA	Dimensions: Shortest time to get promoted to the top				✓			✓	Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964; Ng et al., 2005)
105	AJCEB	Konanahalli et al. (2011)	Qual	In-depth interviews	Antecedents: HCNs' Support, Job Parameters, Organizational Parameters - Dimensions: CCA, Completion of IA, Job Satisfaction, Performance		✓	✓	✓		✓		Atheoretical
106	AJBM	Lai (2011)	Quan	Survey/MRA	Antecedents: Selection, Training, Family Support (Specialty Capacity, Interface Ability, Leadership, Family Status and Cultural Perception)			✓					Atheoretical
107	AJBM	Lee and Wu (2011)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Person-Organization Fit, Psychological Climate, CCA, Personality Traits, Innovative Climate - Dimensions: Performance	✓		✓			✓		Psychological Climate Theory (James and Sells, 1981) and Personality-Job Fit Theory (Holland, 1997)
108	JMP	Manson and Carr (2011)	Quan	Survey/ANOVA MANCOVA/RA	Antecedents: Demands-Abilities Fit, Supplies-Values Fit, Perceived Fit - Dimensions: Job Satisfaction, Work Engagement, Satisfaction with life	✓			✓				Theory of Vocational “Fit” (Bretz and Judge, 1994)
109	IJHM	Miao et al. (2011)	Qual	In-depth semi-structured interviews	Success of multiple stakeholders is the ultimate expatriate's success				✓	✓	✓		Atheoretical
110	IJHRM	Pattie and Parks (2011)	Quan	Survey/RA	Dimensions: CCA, Turnover Intention, Performance				✓		✓	✓	Atheoretical
111	CDI	Shen and Kram (2011)	Qual	In-depth interviews	Antecedents: Psychosocial Support, Expatriates' developmental networks - Dimensions: CCA	✓	✓		✓				Atheoretical
112	JWB	Soltani and Wilkinson (2011)	Qual	Open-ended questions interviews	Antecedents: Salient Factors, Person Factors, System Factors - Dimensions: Performance	✓		✓			✓		Institutional Theory (DiMaggio and Powell, 1991; Scott, 1987, 2001; Tolbert and Zucker, 1996)
113	TIBR	Van Bakel et al. (2011)	Quan	Experiment (longitudinal study)/ANOVA MANCOVA	Antecedents: HCNs' support - Dimensions: CCA, Performance		✓		✓		✓	✓	Atheoretical
114	GBOE	Arp (2012)	Qual	Case studies	Antecedents: Soft Skills (the need for diversity of ideas, perspectives, cross-cultural experience, and people management), Hard Skills (the specific knowledge and technical expertise), Local spouse increases the chance of the expatriate to have better networking in the host country - Dimensions: CCA	✓	✓		✓				Atheoretical
115	JMD	Cao et al. (2012)	LR	–	Antecedents: Selection (Career Capital, Protean Career Attitude, CQ), Training - Dimensions: CCA			✓	✓				Career Capital Theory (Arthur et al., 1995; DeFillippi and Arthur, 1994)
116	TQR	Gupta et al. (2012)	Qual	Open ended questions interview	Antecedents: CCA accompanying spouse – Dimensions: Expatriate's CCA		✓		✓				Atheoretical
117	IJHRM	Harrison and Michailova (2012)	Mix	Semi-structured interviews - Survey	Antecedents: Previous IAs - Dimensions: CCA	✓			✓				Atheoretical
118	IJHRM	Ishii (2012)	Mix	In-depth interviews - Survey/HRA	Antecedents: Local Identification (through language proficiency and adopting of communication styles of the subsidiary) - Dimensions: CCA, Expatriate's Success	✓	✓		✓				Atheoretical
119	IJHRM	Kim and Froese (2012)	Mix	Informal interviews - Survey	Antecedents: Willingness to accept IA - Dimensions: Completion of IA, CCA	✓			✓		✓		Role-Identity Salience Theory (Dupuis et al., 2008)
120	IJHRM	Lee and Donohue (2012)	Quan	Survey/PA	Antecedents: CCA - Dimensions: Completion of IA, Achieving expected outcomes, On the job effectiveness	✓					✓		Job Performance Theory (Mol et al., 2005)
121	IJHRM	Pichler et al. (2012)	Quan	Survey/RA/SEM	Antecedents: Systematic selection expatriate's preparation, Spouse's ability to adjust, Acceptance and Support of HCN		✓	✓					Similarity Attraction Paradigm (Byrne, 1971) and Social Identity Theory (Tajfel et al., 1971; Tajfel and Turner, 1979; Tajfel, 1981)
122	Book 11	Toh et al. (2012)	LR	–	Antecedents: CCT (Cultural Sensitivity, Communication, Management) - Dimensions: Knowledge Transfer (Expats, HCNs, Organization)			✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	Social Identity Theory (Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel and Turner, 1979) and Justice Theories (e.g., Blader and Tyler, 2009; Tyler and Lind, 1992; Smith and Tyler, 1996; Leonardelli and Toh, 2011)
123	JMD	Van Den Bergh and Du Plessis (2012)	Qual	In-depth qualtiative interactive FG/NVivo	Antecedents: Status, Identity, Motivation to migrate - Dimensions: Career Success	✓			✓				The Adult Learning Theory (Kolb, 1984)
124	EJIM	Varma et al. (2012)	Quan	Survey/ANOVA	Antecedents: HCN and Expatriate interactions - Dimensions: CCA		✓		✓				Atheoretical
125	CER	Veach (2012)	LR	–	Dimensions: CCA				✓				The psychic distance theory (Johanson and Valhne, 1992), Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1972), and Cultural Intelligence Theory (Earley and Ang, 2003)
126	CDI	Cao et al. (2013)	Quan	Survey/SEM	Antecedents: Protean Career Attitude - Dimensions: CCA	✓			✓				Developmental-Contextual Career Theory (Vondracek and Schulenberg, 1986)
127	MRR	Huff (2013)	Quan	Survey/HSFA/HMR	Antecedents: CQ, Language Proficiency - Dimensions: CCA, Willingness to complete IA	✓			✓		✓		Atheoretical
128	IJHRM	Kim and Tung (2013)	Mix	In-depth interviews - Survey	Antecedents: Expatriate's Position, Expatriate's Expectations, Work-Life Balance - Dimensions: Satisfaction with IA	✓			✓				Atheoretical
129	CDI	Lee et al. (2013)	Quan	Survey/SEM	Antecedents: Social Support (Socialization of HCN's, CQ), Transformational Leadership - Dimensions: Performance, CCA	✓	✓		✓		✓		Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977) and Social Exchange Theory (Wayne et al., 1997)
130	GBOE	Mcnulty and Cieri (2013)	Qual	Case study	Dimensions: Expatriate ROI						✓		Psychological Contract Theory (Rousseau, 1989)
131	IJHRM	Pattie et al. (2013)	Quan	Survey/RA	Antecedents: Goal Congruence (between the sending supervisor and the expatriate) - Dimensions: Performance, Turnover Intention			✓			✓		Goal Congruence Theory (Deutsch, 1973; Johnson and Johnson, 1989; Chen et al., 2005) and Leader-Member Exchange Theory (Liden and Maslyn, 1998)
132	JGM	Schütter and Boerner (2013)	Qual	In depth interviews	Antecedents: Family, Work Interface - Dimensions: Family Adjustment		✓			✓			Atheoretical
133	WASJ	Zainol et al. (2013)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Organisational Support Training (Language and Cultural aspect of the host country), Communication between HCN's and expatriates - Dimensions: CCA		✓	✓	✓				Atheoretical
134	IJHRM	Bader and Berg (2014)	LR	–	Dimensions: CCA				✓				Atheoretical
135	IJHRM	Bonache and Noethen (2014)	LR	–	Antecedents: Selection, Compensation - Dimensions: Performance			✓	✓		✓		Atheoretical
136	IJHRM	Cao et al. (2014)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: POS, HCNs and expatriates' interactions - Dimensions: Career satisfaction, Intention to stay	✓	✓		✓		✓		Social Capital Theory (Bourdieu, 1985) and Theory of Transnational Network for Migrants (Saxenian, 2005)
137	IJHRM	Cerdin and Le Pargneux (2014)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Protean Career Attitude, Boundaryless Career Attitude, Careerist Orientation - Dimensions: Career Satisfaction, Job Satisfaction, Intention to leave IA	✓			✓				Person-Environment Fit Theory (e.g. Kristof, 1996)
138	KSSJ	Danisman (2014)	Qual	In-depth interviews NVIVO	Antecedents: Previous IA's experiences - Dimensions: Expatriate's attitude towards the new culture	✓			✓				Atheoretical
139	Book 12	Haslberger et al. (2014)	LR	–	Antecedents: CCA - Dimensions: Performance, Retention, Career Satisfaction	✓			✓		✓		Person-Environment Fit Theory (e.g. Kristof, 1996) and Theory of Work (Dawis and Lofquist, 1976)
140	IJRDM	Jones et al. (2014)	Qual	Semi-structured interviews/Open, axial and selective coding	Antecedents: Training targeting managerial decision-making, Organizational culture, Management vision, International market mind-set			✓					Personality Trait Theory (Ewen, 1998)
141	JCPS	Kishori and Kumar, (2014)	LR	–	Dimensions: CCA, Performance, Completion of IA				✓		✓		Atheoretical
142	APBR	Lauring and Selmer (2014)	Quan	Survey/ANCOVA ANOVA	Dimensions: CCA, Time to proficiency, Performance, Satisfaction				✓		✓	✓	Atheoretical
143	Book 9	Lee and Kartika (2014)	Quan	Survey/CFA/RA	Antecedents: Individual factors, Family factors, Social factors - Dimensions: CCA, Performance, Knowledge Transfer, Innovation Work Behaviour	✓	✓		✓		✓		Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977), Family System Theory (Bowen, 1978) and Spillover Theory (Pleck, 1977)
144	JGM	Supangco and Mayrhofer (2014)	Quan	Survey/RA	Antecedents: Self- efficacy, Role conflict, Role discretion, Supervisory support, POS - Dimensions: Satisfaction, CCA	✓		✓	✓				Atheoretical
145	SAJHRM	Valk et al. (2014)	Qual	In-depth interviews/Kodani 1.2	Dimensions: Work-family balance, Self-satisfaction, Contribution to the family and home country society				✓	✓		✓	Career Capital Theory (Arthur et al., 1995; DeFillippi and Arthur, 1994)
146	SOSE	Windiarti et al. (2014)	Qual	In-depth interviews	Dimensions: CCA				✓				Atheoretical
147	EDP Sciences	Zainol et al. (2014)	Quan	Survey	Dimensions: CCA				✓				Atheoretical
148	IJOA	Almazrouei and Zacca (2015)	Qual	Structured face-to-face interviews	Antecedents: Leadership (Enhanced by EI)	✓							Atheoretical
149	SBS	Araci (2015)	MA	–	Antecedents: Selection, Training (Intercultural), Organisational and Social Supports - Dimensions: Performance		✓	✓			✓		Atheoretical
150	JSOD	Bartolo-Ribeiro and Andrade (2015)	LR	–	Antecedents: Selection (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities)			✓					Atheoretical
151	JGM	Canhilal et al. (2015)	Qual	Semi-structured interviews/content analysis	Dimensions: Job and Personal well-being, Satisfaction, Withdrawal Cognition, Premature Termination, Performance				✓		✓	✓	Atheoretical
152	IJIR	Chen (2015)	Quan	Survey/HRA	Antecedents: CCA (affected by CQ) - Dimensions: Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction, Turnover Rate, Performance	✓			✓		✓		Atheoretical
153	JGM	Davies et al. (2015)	Quan	Survey/CFA/ANCOVA	Antecedents: Spouse's Adjustment Status - Dimensions: CCA		✓		✓				Relational Demography Theory (Tsui and O'Reilly, 1989)
154	JCHRM	Gallego-Toledo (2015)	Qual	Case study	Antecedents: Well-being, Job satisfaction, Performance, Trainings - Dimensions: Organizational Commitment, Job Commitment	✓		✓	✓		✓		Atheoretical
155	IJIR	Gibson et al. (2015)	LR	–	Antecedents: Targeted expatriate's expectation - Dimensions: CCA	✓			✓				Atheoretical
156	IJHRDM	Howe-Walsh et al. (2015)	LR	–	Dimensions: Performance, Completion of IA				✓		✓	✓	Atheoretical
157	JWB	Itani et al. (2015)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Language proficiency - Dimensions: CCA	✓			✓				Atheoretical
158	BJM	Kawai and Mohr (2015)	Quan	Survey/CA/HRA	Antecedents: Role ambiguity, Role novelty, Organizational support, Supervisor support	✓		✓					Role Theory (Katz and Kahn, 1978)
159	IJHRM	Kempen et al. (2015)	Quan	Survey/CFA/BCs/HRA	Antecedents: Role overload, Role ambiguity, Work–family, CCA	✓	✓						Atheoretical
160	Book 4	Kierner (2015)	LR	–	Antecedents: Spouse's adjustment status - Dimensions: CCA		✓		✓				Atheoretical
161	PJMES	Krishnaveni and Arthi (2015)	Qual	In depth interviews	Antecedents: Organizational support, CCT - Dimensions: Performance			✓			✓		Atheoretical
162	Book 4	Lazarova et al. (2015)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Spouse and family adjustment, Willingness to go on IA- Dimensions: Completion of IA, CCA, Performance	✓	✓		✓		✓		Work/Life Balance (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985; Greenhaus and Powell, 2003, 2006), Family Systems Theory (Caligiuri et al., 1998a, b; Olson, 1993; Rosenbusch and Cseh, 2012), Crossover Theory (Westman, 2001; Westman et al., 2004), and the Job Demands-Resources Model (Bakker and Demerouti, 2007; Demerouti et al., 2001; Karasek, 1979)
163	APJHR	Li and Jackson (2015)	Qual	In-depth interviews	Dimensions: CCA				✓				Theory of Anxiety and Uncertainty Management in Intercultural Communication Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey, 1988, Gudykunst 1993, 2005)
164	JGM	Linder (2015)	Mix	Personal interviews and expert interviews - Survey/PLS-SEM	Antecedents: Leadership - Dimensions: CCA	✓			✓				Symbolic Leadership Theory (Winkler, 2010)
165	Book 1	Morley and Parkinson (2015)	Qual	In-depth interviews/Analytic induction approach followed by coding and generation of meaning	Antecedents: Personal Attributes, Knowledge and skills, Effective management of operations	✓		✓					Atheoretical
166	JWB	Ren et al. (2015)	Quan	Survey/Multiple RA/Logistic RA	Antecedents: Engagement - Dimensions: Performance	✓					✓		Self-Determination Theory (Ryan and Deci, 2000) and Relative Deprivation Theory (Crosby, 1976; Martin, 1981)
167	JGM	Salomaa (2015)	Qual	IPA/Semi-structured interviews	Antecedents: Coaching			✓					Integral Theory of Ken Wilber (1995, 2000, 2016)
168	IJHRM	Shen and Jiang (2015)	Quan	Survey/MRA	Antecedents: Expatriate's self-efficacy, Family problems, POS - Dimensions: CCA, Performance	✓	✓		✓		✓		Atheoretical
169	IJOA	Almazrouei et al. (2016)	Qual	Structured face-to-face interviews	Antecedents: Leadership (Enhanced by CQ)	✓							Atheoretical
170	JGM	Bucker et al. (2016)	Qual	In-depth interviews	Antecedents: Know-why, Know-how, Know-whom - Dimensions: CCA	✓			✓				Atheoretical
171	JWB	Caligiuri and Bonache (2016)	LR	–	Antecedents: Change in individuals' competencies as a function of living and working in another country, Personality characteristics, Motivation for success abroad	✓							Atheoretical
172	IJTD	Caligiuri and Tarique (2016)	Quan	Survey subscale of (NEO-PI-R) NEO – FFI	Antecedents: Personality traits (e.g., Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Agreeableness Conscientiousness)	✓							Atheoretical
173	JGM	Caliguiri et al. (2016)	Quan	Survey/RA	Antecedents: HCN's Support (depends on his/her ethnocentrism and cultural humility) - Dimensions: Performance		✓				✓		Atheoretical
174	Book 10	Causin and Ngwenya (2016)	Quan	Survey	Dimensions: Willingness to complete IA						✓		Atheoretical
175	JGM	Denisi and Sonesh (2016)	LR	–	Antecedents: CCA, Absorptive Capacity - Dimensions: Task performance, Relationship building, Contextual Performance, Retention	✓			✓	✓	✓		Atheoretical
176	APJHR	Furusawa and Brewster (2016)	Quan	Survey/MRA	Antecedents: Selection, Pre-departure trainings. Organizational support - Dimensions: CCA, Performance			✓	✓		✓		Atheoretical
177	ISBCD-16	Gitonga and Zhang (2016)	LR	–	Antecedents: CQ - Dimensions: CCA, Performance	✓			✓		✓		Atheoretical
178	HRDR	Greer and Stiles (2016)	LR	–	Dimensions: CCA				✓				Atheoretical
179	ISCLO 015	Harjo (2016)	Quan	Survey/MRA	Antecedents: Big 5 personality characteristics, Language proficiency, Leadership and management skills - Dimensions: CCA, Performance	✓			✓		✓		Atheoretical
180	TIBR	Makela et al. (2016)	Quan	Survey	Dimensions: Salary development or Promotions				✓				Atheoretical
181	ER	Mcnulty and De Cieri (2016)	LR	–	Dimensions: Corporate ROI, Individual ROI						✓		Psychological Contract Theory (e.g, Pate and Scullion, 2009; Yan et al., 2002)
182	IJCCM	Okpara (2016)	Quan	Survey/HRA/CA	Antecedents: CCA				✓				Atheoretical
183	JMD	Pinto and Araujo (2016)	Qual	Semi-structured interviews/Thematic content analysis	Antecedents: Interpersonal contacts, Organizational Contacts		✓	✓					Social Capital Theory (Bourdieu, 1985)
184	HR	Ramaswami et al. (2016)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Renumeration (relation between human capital and compensation building)			✓					Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1993)
185	JIBE	Selvanathan et al. (2016)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Selection, Training - Dimensions: Expatriate's success			✓	✓				Atheoretical
186	JGM	Van Der Laken et al. (2016)	SLR	–	Antecedents: Social support by supervisor, Organizational support - Dimensions: Performance, Retention, CCA, Commitment			✓	✓		✓		Stress Management Theories (Ashford and Taylor, 1990; Kahn et al., 1964; Katz and Kahn, 1978; Minuchin, 1974; Lazarova et al., 2010; Gudykunst and Nishida, 2001), Social Capital Theory (Bourdieu, 1985), Social Networks Theory (Dunn, 1983), Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977), Exchange theories (Blau, 1964; Gouldner, 1960), Psychological Contracts Theory (Rousseau, 1995) and Leader-Member Exchange Theory (Liden and Maslyn, 1998)
187	JGM	Egilsson and Dolles (2017)	Qual	Biographical narrative interviews	Antecedents: Strong mental composure (provided by social support and problem-focused coping strategies) - Dimensions: Performance, CCA	✓	✓		✓		✓		Atheoretical
188	HRMJ	Forster (2017)	Mix	Interviews - Survey	Antecedents: CCT - Dimensions: CCA			✓	✓				Atheoretical
189	EMJ	Furnham (2017)	Quan	Survey/ANCOVA MANCOVA/RA	Antecedents: Personality Characteristics (Less Neurotic, More Extraverted, Agreeable, Openness, Conscientiousness) - Dimensions: CCA	✓			✓				Atheoretical
190	HRM	Kumarika et al. (2017)	LR	–	Antecedents: Psychological contract (parent and host companies) - Dimensions: Performance, Intention Turnover			✓	✓		✓	✓	Social Exchange Theory (Blau, 1964; Gouldner, 1960)
191	REEP	Rocke (2017)	LR	–	Antecedents: Expatriate selection criteria, Training, Teaching techniques, Family and social Support, Organisation's Support, Compensation		✓	✓					Atheoretical
192	IJSA	Salgado and Bastida (2017)	Quan	Survey/SEA/BC	Dimensions: CCA, Performance, Intention of early returns				✓		✓		Atheoretical
193	IBR	Schmid and Wurster (2017)	Quan	Survey/MRA	Dimensions: Shortest time to get promoted to the top after IAs				✓			✓	Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1993) and Elite Theory (e.g., Mills, 1956; Davis, 1994)
194	BJM	Silbiger et al. (2017)	Quan	Survey/CFA/SEM	Dimensions: Satisfaction, Intention to withdraw				✓		✓	✓	Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins, 1997)
195	Book 7	Tenzer and Schuster (2016)	LR	–	Antecedents: Relational skills and abilities - Dimensions: Communication	✓			✓				Atheoretical
196	JGM	Baluku et al. (2018)	MA	–	Antecedents: Flexibility, Adaptability Dimensions: Mobility intentions	✓							Atheoretical
197	PJMS	Bednarova et al. (2018)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Intercultural Knowledge - Dimensions: CCA	✓			✓				Atheoretical
198	JIEB	Cray et al. (2018)	Qual	Structured interviews/Content analysis	Antecedents: Social intelligence, EQ, CQ	✓							Atheoretical
199	ODJ	Davis et al. (2018)	LR	–	Dimensions: CCA, Performance, Withdrawal cognition				✓		✓	✓	Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989)
200	IJHRM	Dickmann and Cerdin (2018)	Qual	In-depth interviews/Focus group	Antecedents: Know-why, Know-how, Know-whom	✓							Intelligent Career Theory (Arthur, Claman and DeFillippi, 1995)
201	SJM	Guttormsen et al. (2018)	Qual	In-depth interviews/Iterative hermeneutical approach	Dimensions: Performance, Career development, Life satisfaction				✓		✓		Atheoretical
202	HRMR	Kang and Shen (2018)	LR	–	Antecedents: HCN's Support – Dimensions: Expatriate's Success		✓		✓				Atheoretical
203	MD	Lee (2018)	Quan	Survey/SEM	Antecedents: Previous IAs - Dimensions: CCA, Performance	✓			✓		✓		Atheoretical
204	AJBER	Sokro and Moeti-Lysson (2018)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: HCN's Support - Dimensions: CCA, Expatriate's Success		✓		✓				Atheoretical
205	MEJM	Tahir and Ertek (2018)	Qual	Semi-structured in-depth interviews	Antecedents: CCA (enhanced by CCT) – Dimensions: Performance	✓					✓		Atheoretical
206	JPA	Tsegaye et al. (2018)	Quan	Survey/SEM	Antecedents: Personal value, Environmental factors - Dimensions: Work engagement	✓					✓		Atheoretical
207	CCSM	Wang and Varma (2018)	LR	–	Antecedents: HCNs' Support - Dimensions: CCA, Performance, Knowledge Transfer		✓		✓	✓	✓		Intergroup Contact Theory (Allport's, 1954)
208	JGM	Weisheit (2018)	SLR	–	Antecedents: International Relocation Mobility Readiness (IRMR) - Dimensions: CCA, Satisfaction, Willingness to complete IA	✓			✓		✓		Atheoretical
209	MRR	Akhal and Liu (2019)	Quan	Cross sectional surveys/MLR	Dimensions: CCA, Performance				✓		✓		Atheoretical
210	IJCCM	Bayraktar (2019)	Qual	Digital diary method/Rochester Interaction Record method/Inductive content analysis	Antecedents: Social Support - Dimensions: CCA		✓		✓				Atheoretical
211	CCSM	France et al. (2019)	Mix	Semi-structured interviews/FG - Survey/RA	Antecedents: Self-reflection, Cross-cultural awareness	✓							Atheoretical
212	JGM	Guttormsen and Francesco (2019)	Quan	Survey/MANCOVA/ANOVA	Dimensions: CCA, Satisfaction, Willingness to complete IA				✓		✓		Atheoretical
213	ITJ	Hanke (2019)	LR	–	Antecedents: Use of motivating language enhances expatriate's cross-cultural efficacy and intrinsic motivation - Dimensions: Expatriate's effectiveness			✓			✓		Motivating Language Theory (Madlock and Sexton, 2015), Self Determination Theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985), and Self-Concordance Theory (Sheldon and Elliot, 1999)
214	SABR	Harry et al. (2019)	Qual	Unstructured Interviews/NVivo 9	Dimensions: [Objective] Number of promotions, Salary increases etc,/[Subjective] Personal judgement like career satisfaction				✓			✓	Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964) and Boundryless Career Theory (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996)
215	CDI	Janessari and Sullivan (2019)	Quan	Survey/CFA	Antecedents: Career adaptability construct - Dimensions: CCA	✓			✓				Career Construction Theory (Savickas, 1997, 2005)
216	RCIS	Lin et al. (2019)	Quan	Survey/LISREL model	Antecedents: CCA, Work Stress - Dimensions: Job involvement	✓		✓	✓		✓		Atheoretical
217	TIBR	Van Bakel and Salzbrenner (2019)	Mix	Podcast/In-depth interviews - Survey	Antecedents: Motivation, POS, CCT - Dimensions: CCA	✓		✓	✓				Atheoretical
218	IJHRM	Van Bakel (2019)	LR	–	Antecedents: HCNs' and expatriates'’ interactions - Dimensions: CCA, Performance		✓		✓		✓		Atheoretical
219	HRMR	Van Der Laken et al. (2019)	MA	–	Antecedents: Social support - Dimensions: CCA (proximal), Commitment (proximal), Performance (long term), Retention (long term)		✓		✓		✓	✓	Social Exchange Theory (e.g., Gouldner, 1960; Kurtessis et al., 2017; Raabe and Beehr, 2003; Rousseau, 1989; Seers, 1989) and Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Theory (Gudykunst and Nishida, 2001)
220	JGM	Wan (2019)	Qual	In-depth interviews/Asynchronous emailed interviews	Antecedents: Selection (Big Five personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability), training (cultural diversity), Willingness for expatriation - Dimensions: Motivation	✓		✓	✓				Social Capital Theory (Bourdieu, 1985) and Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977)
221	SAJEMS	Webber and Vögel (2019)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Preparation, Support and training of the spouse - Dimensions: CCA of the spouse, Satisfaction of the spouse			✓		✓			Atheoretical
222	HRH	Alluhidan et al. (2020)	Qual	Case Study	Antecedents: Selection, Training			✓					Atheoretical
223	JGM THEMR	Arokiasamy and Kim (2020)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: EQ, CQ - Dimensions: CCA	✓			✓				Atheoretical
224	IJEM	Blanco and Sastre Castillo (2020)	Quan	HMR	Antecedents: Education, Training, Experience - Dimensions: Performance, Rewards	✓			✓		✓		Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1975)
225	TIBR	Dang and Rammal (2020)	LR	–	Antecedents: Interpersonal relationships between expatriates and HCNs, families of expats relationships in the host country - Dimensions: CCA		✓		✓				Family Systems Theory (Bowen, 1978)
226	JIM	Dimitrova et al. (2020)	Quan	Survey/MRA	Antecedents: CCA (influenced by Cultural novelty, Supervisor's support, Job decision latitude) - Dimensions: Career satisfaction	✓			✓				Job Demands-Resources Theory (Demerouti et al., 2001)
227	JGM	Faeth and Kittler (2020)	SLR	–	Antecedents: Certain skills, Right motivation to work in a hostile environment - Dimensions: CCA	✓			✓				Atheoretical
228	Book 8	Froese and Peltokorpi (2020)	Quan	Survey/ANOVA	Dimensions: CCA, Work Attitudes				✓				Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989)
229	JITC	Kim (2020)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: CCT (enhances CQ) - Dimensions: CCA			✓	✓				Transformative Learning Theory (Cranton, 1994–1996; Mezirow, 1991–1992-1996–1997), Connectionism Theory (Thorndike, 1910)
230	Book 8	Mello et al. (2020)	LR	–	Dimensions: [Objective] Number of promotions, Salary Increases etc/[Subjective] Personal Judgement-like career satisfaction				✓			✓	Atheoretical
231	MRR	Pinto et al. (2020)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Confidence - Dimensions: CCA, Performance	✓			✓		✓		Achievement Goal Theory (Kanfer et al., 2017) and Expectancy-Value Theory (Atkinson, 1964)
232	MOR	Ren et al. (2020)	Quan	Survey	Dimensions: CCA, Performance, Commitment, Retention				✓		✓		Social Capital Theory of Career Success (Lin, 1999; Seibert et al., 2001) and Intelligence Theory (Sternberg, 1999; Sternberg and Detterman, 1986)
233	CP	Setti et al. (2020)	Quan	Survey/CFA	Antecedents: CCA (affected by CQ) - Dimensions: Performance	✓					✓		Atheoretical
234	CCSM	Vora and Kainzbauer (2020)	Qual	In depth interviews/FG/NVIVO 10	Antecedents: Humanistic leadership style - Dimensions: Better Communication within the leader and the team	✓				✓			Humanistic Leadership Theory (e.g. Avolio et al., 2009; Dinh et al., 2014; House and Aditya, 1997; Zhu et al., 2019)
235	Book 8	Waxin and Brewster (2020)	LR	–	Dimensions: [Objective] Number of promotions, Salary Increases etc/[Subjective] Personal Judgement-like career satisfaction				✓			✓	Atheoretical
236	IJOA	Wu et al. (2020)	Quan	Survey	Antecedents: Trust, Social capital, Knowledge sharing behaviour - Dimensions: Financial performance	✓	✓				✓		Atheoretical
237	EBPJ	Zainol et al. (2020)	LR	–	Antecedents: Psychological comfort - Dimensions: CCA	✓			✓				Atheoretical
238	IJEM	Bashir et al. (2021)	Quan	Survey/PLS-SEM	Antecedents: Psychological contract - Dimensions: CCA, Commitment, Intrinsic career success	✓		✓	✓		✓		Signaling Theory Spence (1973) and Motivation Theory (Maslow, 1943)
239	IJBSAM	Chan et al. (2021)	Quan	Survey/ANOVA/PLS-SEM	Antecedents: POS, HCN's Support (Role Information/Social Support) - Dimensions: CCA	✓	✓		✓				Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989)
240	IJHRM	David et al. (2021)	Quan	Survey/Bias-corrected bootstrapping	Antecedents: POS, FSOP, Organizational CQ, Gender - Dimensions: CCA, Commitment, Career Satisfaction, Community Embeddedness	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓		Strategic Human Resource Management Theory (Wright and McMahan, 1992)
241	JGM THEMR	Dolce et al. (2021)	Qual	In-depth interviews	Antecedents: Organisational support (Financial support, Housing relocation assistance, Schooling support for children, Career counselling for partners), Pre-departure trainings - Dimensions: CCA			✓	✓				Gender Role Theory (Eagly, 1987) and Job Demands Resources (JD-R) model (Bakker and Demerouti, 2007)
242	ECKM	Gradim et al. (2021)	Qual	Case Study/Semi-structures interviews	Antecedents: Selection, Knowledge Management			✓					Atheoretical
243	JWB	Lazarova et al. (2021)	Quan	Survey/CFA/MLR	Dimensions: [Objective] Number of promotions, Salary Increases/[Subjective] Personal Judgement-like career satisfaction				✓			✓	Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989)
244	IJHRM	Marques et al. (2021)	Quan	Survey/PLS-SEM	Antecedents: Responsible leadership - Dimensions: CCA, Performance			✓	✓		✓		Responsible Leadership (Pless and Maak, 2012) and Social Identity Theory (Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel and Turner, 1979)
245	JGM THEMR	Ray and Maheshwari (2021)	Qual	Semi-structured interviews/NVivo 8	Antecedents: Social Support from various domains (Community, Family and Work) – Dimensions: CCA- Success		✓		✓				Atheoretical
246	EJTD	Tahir (2021)	Qual	In-depth unstructured interviews/NVivo	Antecedents: Knowing the novel culture and business's norms in the subsidiary	✓							Atheoretical
247	JGM THEMR	Valk (2021)	Qual	Interviews and self-reports/Kodani 1.2	Antecedents: Competencies, Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Other characteristics - Dimensions: CCA, Completion of IA	✓			✓		✓	✓	Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964, 2002)
248	IJPE	Zhang et al. (2021)	Quan	Survey/DEA/SEM/DT	Antecedents: Selection (DT)			✓					Cutural Dimensions Theory (Hofstede, 1980, 2001)
249	IJM	Zhou (2021)	Mix	Cases/Interviews/Observation - Surveys/Harman's single-factor test/CFA/MRA	Antecedents: Psychological Contract of expats and MNCS								Psychological Contract Theory (Rousseau, 1989)
						122249	63249	156249	80249	112249	17249	31249	82249

Note(s): The acronyms are tabulated in Table 2 below

Table A2

List of manuscripts explicitly defining expatriate success

Serial	Source	Authors (year)	Method	Definition of Expatriate's success (ES)	Levels	Key terms	Specific terms referring to success	Type of expats	Theory/ies employed
1	NAEM	Aycan (1997)	LR	….“Therefore, the two most critical criteria of ”expatriate success” are adjustment and performance.” The author links the acculturation process to the adjustment of the expatriate and highlights the importance of studying the process from the Individual and organisational levels	Individual and organisational	Adjustment Performance	Expatriate success	OE	Social Exchange Theory (Homans, 1958), Vernon's Life Cycle Theory (Vernon, 1966), Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977) and Adaptation-Level Theory (Helson, 1964)
2	NAEM	Caligiuri (1997)	Quan	The author suggests the following: the three most common criteria for evaluating expatriate success have been: (1) completion of the foreign assignment, (2) cross-cultural adjustment and (3) performance on the foreign assignment	Individual and organisational	Completion of the IA Adjustment Performance	Success in the IA	OE	Theory of Expatriate Performance, including contextual, managerial, technical and expatriate-specific dimensions is proposed based on (Campbell et al., 1993)
3	LODJ	Jordan and Cartwright (1998)	LR	..“In expatriation, success can be defined as a successful cultural adjustment that leads to personal growth as much as it can be defined as high performance at work.”	Individual and organisational	Adjustment Performance	Expatriate success	OE	Atheoretical
4	HRM	Porter and Tansky (1999)	LR	“Success can be defined in many ways. Here we consider success to the organisation in terms of the expatriate achieving specific objectives. These objectives would often include some financial goals but might also be in the form of market share gain, introducing a new product or service, cycle time improvements, or quality objectives. Accomplishing the stated business objectives will require interaction with people in the host country, so it is unlikely to happen unless the manager assimilates. To avoid unnecessary expense, it is also crucial that the Individual complete the entire term of the assignment, which is more likely if both the employee and his/her family view the experience positively and have expectations for career benefit following the assignment. Although the assimilation, the endurance, the psychological factors and the career expectations can be considered success outcomes in their own right (Gregersen, 1992), we regard all of these as contributing factors to whether the expatriate achieves assigned business objectives.”	Organisational	Completion of the IA Achieving organisational goals	Success in the IA	OE	Atheoretical
5	JM	Kraimer and Wayne (2004)	Quan	“Consistent with this converging view of expatriate success, we define success in terms of expatriate adjustment, commitment to the organisation, job performance and intentions to complete the assignment.”	Individual and organisational	Adjustment Commitment to the organisation Performance Intention to complete IA	Expatriate success	OE	Atheoretical
6	JTMD	Harcar and Harcar (2004)	LR	In this study, expatriate women's success is defined with two variables, job withdrawal and work performance, which are affected by family issues and HR policies	Organisational	Job withdrawal intentions Performance	Expatriate success	OE	Spillover Theory (Pleck, 1977)
7	CDI	Gabel et al. (2005)	Mix	… “Consequently, at the Individual level, the research reported here considers four success indicators: (1) cross-cultural adjustment, (2) performance evaluation, (3) complete a full term of the assignment and (4) life satisfaction.”	Individual and organisational	Adjustment Performance Completion of the IA Life satisfaction	Success in the IA	OE	Atheoretical
8	SMR	Varner and Palmer (2005)	LR	… “How effective is the expatriate during his/her stay? How long does the expatriate stay with the company after repatriation? What knowledge has the expatriate gained and how is the company institutionalising and using that knowledge?”	Individual and organisational	Expatriate's effectiveness during the IA Expatriate's tenure after repatriation Expatriate's Knowledge gain Organisation's use of expatriate's gained knowledge	Expatriate success	Not Specified	Atheoretical
9	Book 6	Van Vianen et al. (2008)	LR	“Expatriates who remain in their assignments until the end of the term (attendance), meet the performance standards and adjust to the new culture (satisfaction, well-being) are considered as the most successful ones”	Individual and organisational	Completion of IA Meeting performance standards Adjustment	Expatriate success	Not Specified	Atheoretical
10	GBOE	Mcnulty (2008)	Qual	The author proposes a definition and a method of ROI calculation using expatriates. In fact, in this article, “expatriate ROI” is defined as “a calculation in which the financial and non-financial benefits to the firm are compared with the financial and non-financial costs of the international assignment, as appropriate to the assignment's purpose.”	Organisational	Expatriate's ROI: financial and non-financial benefits to the firm vs the financial and non-financial costs incurred by the organisation	Expatriate success	OE	Atheoretical
11	HRM	Cerdin and Le Pargneux (2009)	LR	“Individual success during expatriation and repatriation encompasses what we call career success, job success and development success. We also propose to measure IA success at the organisational level during expatriation and repatriation by performance.”	Individual and organisational	Career success Job success Development success Performance Retention of employees	Expatriate success in the IA	OE	Theory of Fit (e.g.Kristof, 1996), Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964) and Signal Theory (Spence, 1973
12	IJHRM	Traavik and Richardsen (2010)	Quan	Objective career success was defined by extrinsic, visible outcomes such as earnings or promotions, whereas subjective career success was defined by intrinsic outcomes such as career and job satisfaction	Individual	Objective outcomes (earnings and promotions) Subjective outcomes (career and job satisfaction)	Career success	OE/SIE	Atheoretical
13	IJHRM	Pattie and Parks (2011)	Quan	“…. three outcomes that are critical measures of expatriate success: adjustment, turnover intentions and expatriate performance.”	Individual and organisational	Adjustment Turnover intentions Performance	Expatriate success	OE	Atheoretical
14	IJHRM	Hamori and Koyuncu (2011)	Quan	This paper focuses on the career success of expatriates and defines it as the shortest time to get promoted to the top	Individual	Shortest time to get promoted to the top	Career success	OE	Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964; Ng et al., 2005)
15	AOM 2011	Cerdin and Dickmann (2011)	Quan	The authors explored two success criteria from an Individual perspective: career satisfaction and job satisfaction. Moreover, from the organisational perspective, they evaluated the expatriate's intention to leave the organisation as a measure of IA success (failure)	Individual and organisational	Career satisfaction Job satisfaction Intention to leave the organisation	Success in the IA	OE	Person-Environment Fit Theory (e.g.Kristof, 1996) and the Boundaryless Career Perspective (e.g. Arthur and Rousseau, 1996)
16	TIBR	Van Bakel et al. (2011)	Quan	“It is therefore important to include both cross-cultural adjustment and performance in studies concentrating on the determinants of the success of international assignments.”	Individual and organisational	Adjustment Performance	Success in the IA	Not Specified	Atheoretical
17	Book 11	Toh et al. (2012)	LR	..“ If an expatriate assignment is truly successful, the expatriate should gain knowledge and experience, the HCN should gain knowledge and career capital and the organisation should benefit both because of the successful transfer of information that motivated the assignment in the first place, but also from the career capital gained by all of its employees”	Individual, interpersonal and organisational	Expatriate's knowledge and experience gain HCN's knowledge and career capital gain Organisation's successful transfer of information	Expatriate success Expatriate failure	Not Specified	Social Identity Theory (Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel and Turner, 1979) and Justice Theories (e.g. Blader and Tyler, 2009; Tyler and Lind, 1992; Smith and Tyler, 1996; Leonardelli and Toh, 2011)
18	APBR	Lauring and Selmer (2014)	Quan	..”The evaluation of an IA (whether successful or failure) can be approached from two perspectives or two different levels. At the Individual level, the main concern is the expatriate. Expatriate retention, Individual performance or cross-cultural adjustment are some factors related on an Individual level (e.g. Caligiuri, 1997, 2000; Takeuchi et al., 2002). On the other hand, organisational perspectives are concerned with the effectiveness of the international human resources strategies practised in the organisation. Recruitment, selection and compensation are some examples of these strategies and return investments.”	Individual and organisational	Job Performance Desire to leave the assignment early Satisfaction	Success in the IA	OE	Atheoretical
19	SAJHRM	Valk et al. (2014)	Qual	“…. this study will primarily deal with four basic variants: work adjustment, time to proficiency, job performance and job satisfaction.”	Individual and organisational	Adjustment Time to proficiency Performance Job satisfaction	Expatriate success	SIE	Career Capital Theory (Arthur et al., 1995; DeFillippi and Arthur, 1994)
20	JGM	Canhilal et al. (2015)	Qual	This article defines an expatriate's success from the Individual perspective. Based on the female (India) expatriates interviewed for their career success, they consider having work-family balance, self-satisfaction and contribution to the family and home country society as the outcome of a successful career	Individual and interpersonal	Work - family balance Self-satisfaction Contribution to the family and home country	Career success	SIE	Atheoretical
21	IJHRDM	Howe-Walsh et al. (2015)	LR	A successful expatriation is one where the individual performs effectively in a foreign country and remains for the planned duration and part of successful expatriation includes retaining the repatriate when they return to the home organisation	Organisational	Performance Completion of the IA Repatriation	Success in the IA	Not Specified	Atheoretical
22	HRM	Kumarika Perera et al. (2017)	LR	… “We base our choice of constructs on Harzing and Christensen (2004), who urge the use of the well-established HRM concepts of performance and turnover in evaluating expatriate success or failure.”	Organisational	Performance Turnover intention	Expatriate success Expatriate failure	OE	Social Exchange Theory (Blau, 1964; Gouldner, 1960)
23	BJM	Silbiger et al. (2017)	Quan	..“Hence, the current study used withdrawal cognition and job satisfaction as expatriation success.”	Individual and organisational	Job satisfaction Intention to withdraw	Success in the IA	Not Specified	Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins, 1997)
24	IBR	Schmid and Wurster (2017)	Quan	… "By using time to the top, we apply a recommended measure of career success as previously used in upper echelons research (Cappelli and Hamori, 2005; Sheridan et al., 1990)."	Individual	The shortest time to get promoted to the top after being on IAs	Career success	OE	Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1993) and Elite Theory (e.g. Mills, 1956; Davis, 1994)
25	ODJ	Davis et al. (2018)	LR	..“Expatriate success is often evaluated in terms of expatriate adjustment, job performance and withdrawal cognitions.”	Individual and organisational	Adjustment Performance Withdrawal cognitions	Expatriate success	Not Specified	Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989)
26	HRMR	Van Der Laken et al. (2019)	MA	..“We included four success criteria in order to balance between psychological processes and organisational outcomes: expatriates' adjustment, commitment, performance and retention. We consider adjustment and commitment to be proximal outcomes as they constitute direct psychological responses to received social support. Performance and retention can be regarded as longer-term behavioral responses to social support and can thus be considered more distal criteria of success.”	Individual and organisational	Adjustment Commitment to the organisation Performance Retention	Expatriate success	OE/SIE	Social Exchange Theory (e.g. Gouldner, 1960; Kurtessis et al., 2017; Raabe and Beehr, 2003; Rousseau, 1989; Seers, 1989) and Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Theory (Gudykunst and Nishida, 2001)
27	SABR	Harry et al. (2019)	Qual	..”The grouping of career success has been on two continuums. Firstly, career success is a subjective experience associated with psychological success and emphasises career satisfaction (Shaffer et al., 2012; Shortland, 2018) and job satisfaction (Hussain and Deery, 2018). Secondly, career success can also be framed as an objective reality, emphasising more on measurable outcomes such as job security, promotions and salary (Egner, 2013; Lee, 2005; Zikic, 2014).”	Individual	Objective measures: Job security, Promotion and Salary Subjective measures: Career and job satisfaction	Career success	SIE	Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964) and Boundaryless Career Theory (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996)
28	Book 8	Waxin and Brewster (2020)	LR	..”Career success is defined as the accomplishment of desirable work-related outcomes at any point in a person's career (Arthur et al., 2005). Career success consists of two dimensions (Ng et al., 2005): Objective career success includes externally comparable or more tangible indicators of a person's career development, such as salary and promotions (Arthur et al., 2005); subjective career success refers to a person's internal reflection and evaluation and is often operationalised as career satisfaction (Ng et al., 2005)”	Individual	Objective measures: Salary Promotions Subjective measures: Career satisfaction	Career success	SIE	Atheoretical
29	Book 8	Mello et al. (2020)	LR	.."Empirical studies of expatriates define career success as the accomplishment of desirable, positive psychological or work-related outcomes as a result of international experiences accumulated over time (Holtbrügge and Ambrosius, 2015; Ng et al., 2005; Suutari et al., 2018). In the careers' literature, objective career success is defined as factors directly observable by others and measurable in a standardised way, such as salary or promotions (Arthur et al., 2005; Gunz and Heslin, 2005). Subjective career success is defined as the focal actor's evaluation and experience of achieving career outcomes meaningful to them personally (Ng et al., 2005; Seibert et al., 2001; Shockley et al., 2016), typically measured as career satisfaction (Greenhaus et al., 1990; Seibert et al., 2013) or perceived career success (Heslin, 2003; Turban and Dougherty, 1994) and, more recently, as a multidimensional evaluation of career facets, such as growth and development, personal life and authenticity (Shockley et al., 2016).”	Individual	Objective measures: Promotions Salaries Subjective measures: Career satisfaction Growth Development Personal Life Authenticity	Career success	SIE	Atheoretical
30	JWB	Lazarova et al. (2021)	Quan	..“ Career satisfaction as a measure of career success.”	Individual	Subjective measures: Career satisfaction	Career success	OE	Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989)
31	JGM THEMR	Valk (2021)	Qual	..'”Hence, we offer a definition of expatriate effectiveness and success that is more broad than these four criteria and the definitions of Bird et al. (2010), Ross (2011), drawing upon the contributions of aforementioned authors, namely the ability to work effectively and live contentedly abroad.”	Individual and organisational	Ability to work effectively and live contentedly	Expatriate success	Not Specified	Human Capital Theory (Becker,1964, 2002)

Table A3

List of acronyms

Journals
Academy of Management Executive	AME
African Journal of Business and Economic Research	AJBER
African Journal of Business Management	AJBM
Asia Pacific Business Review	APBR
Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources	APJHR
Australian Journal of Construction Economics and Building	AJCEB
Brazilian Administration Review	BAR
British Journal of Management	BJM
Career Development International	CDI
Clothing and Textiles Research Journal	CTRJ
Commercial Education Research	CER
Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal	CRIBJ
Cross Cultural and Strategic Management	CCSM
Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal	CCMIJ
Current Psychology	CP
Employee Relations	ER
Environmental Behavior Proceeding Journal	EBPJ
European Journal of International Management	EJIM
European Journal of Personality	EJP
European Journal of Training and Development	EJTD
European Management Journal	EMJ
Global Business and Organizational Excellence	GBOE
Human Relations	HR
Human Resource Development Review	HRDR
Human Resource for Health	HMH
Human Resource Management	HRM
Human Resource Management Journal	HRMJ
Human Resource Management Review	HRMR
Industrial Management	IM
Industrial Management & Data Systems	IMDS
International Business Review	IBR
International Education Journal	IEJ
International Journal of Business Science and Applied Management	IJBSAM
International Journal of Commerce and Management	IJCM
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management	IJCHM
International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management	IJCCM
International Journal of Emerging Markets	IJEM
International Journal of Foresight and Innovation Policy	IJFIP
International Journal of Hospitality Management	IJHM
International Journal of Human Resource Development and Management	IJHRDM
International Journal of Human Resource Management	IJHRM
International Journal of Intercultural Relations	IJIR
International Journal of Lifelong Education	IJLE
International Journal of Management Reviews	IJMR
International Journal of Manpower	IJM
International Journal of Organizational Analysis	IJOA
International Journal of Production Economics	IJPE
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management	IJRDM
International Journal of Selection and Assessment	IJSA
International Journal of Training and Development	IJTD
International Journal of Value-Based Management	IJVBM
International Trade Journal	ITJ
Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences	JCPS
Journal of Chinese Human Resource Management	JCHRM
Journal of Counseling Psychology	JCP
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology	JCCP
Journal of European Industrial Training	JEIT
Journal of Global Mobility	JGM
Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Management Research	JGM THEMR
Journal of International Business and Economics	JIBE
Journal of International Business Studies	JIBS
Journal of International Education in Business	JIEB
Journal of International Management	JIM
Journal of International Trade & Commerce	JITC
Journal of Management	JM
Journal of Management Development	JMD
Journal of Managerial Psychology	JMP
Journal of Organizational Behavior	JOB
Journal of Psychology in Africa	JPA
Journal of Spatial and Organizational Dynamics	JSOD
Journal of the Textile Institute	JTI
Journal of Transnational Management Development	JTMD
Journal of World Business	JWB
Korean Social Science Journal	KSSJ
Leadership & Organization Development Journal	LODJ
Leadership Quarterly	LQ
Management and Organization Review	MOR
Management Decision	MD
Management Research Review	MRR
Middle East Journal of Management	MEJM
New Approaches to Employee Management	NAEM
Organization Development Journal	ODJ
Personnel Psychology	PP
Personnel Review	PR
Polish Journal of Management Studies	PJMS
Purushartha: A Journal of Management Ethics and Spirituality	PJMES
Revista de Cercetare si Interventie Sociala	RCIS
RURAL. ENVIRONMENT. EDUCATION. PERSONALITY	REEP
Scandinavian Journal of Management	SJM
Singapore Management Review	SMR
Sloan Management Review	SLMR
Social and Behavioral Sciences	SBS
Social Behavior and Personality	SBP
South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences	SAJEMS
South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management	SAJHRM
Southern African Business Review	SABR
The International Journal of Human Resource Management	IJHRM
The Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance	JCAF
The Qualitative Report	TQR
Thunderbird International Business Review	TIBR
Training & Development Journal	DJ
Women in Management Review	WMR
World Applied Sciences Journal	WASJ
Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie (Journal of Social psychology)	JSP
Proceedings
Academy of Management 2011 Annual Meeting - West Meets East: Enlightening. Balancing. Transcending	AOM 2011
European Conference on Knowledge Management (pp. 931-XIX). Academic Conferences International Limited	ECKM
Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on System of Systems Engineering Australia, 2014	SOSE
Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference Association of Researchers in Construction Management	ARCOM 2010
Proceedings of RICS Construction and Property Conference	COBRA 2011
The First International Symposium on Business Cooperation and Development in South-East and South Asia under B&R Initiative	ISBCD-16
3rd International Seminar and Conference on Learning Organization (ISCLO, 2015)	ISCLO 2015
Books
International Human Resources Management Challenges and Changes	Book 1
The Routledge Companion to International Business Coaching	Book 2
Challenges of Human Resource Management in Japan	Book 3
Work and Family Interface in the International Career Context	Book 4
New Approaches to Employee Management, Vol. 4. Expatriate Management: Theory and Research	Book 5
The Blackwell Handbook of Personnel Selection	Book 6
Expatriate Management: Transatlantic Dialogues	Book 7
Self-Initiated Expatriates in Context: Recognising Space, Time and Institutions	Book 8
Expert Systems with Applications	Book 9
Handbook of Research on Global Hospitality and Tourism Management	Book 10
The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Socialization	Book 11
Managing Performance Abroad: A New Model for Understanding Expatriate Adjustment. Routledge Studies in Human Resource Development	Book 12
Terms
Structural Equation Modelling	SEM
Bivariate Correlation	BC
Confirmatory Factor Analysis	CFA
Correlation Matrix	CM
Correlational Analysis	CA
Cross-Cultural Adjustment	CAA
Cultural Intelligence	CQ
Data Envelopment Analysis	DEA
Decision Tree	DT
Emotional Intelligence	EQ
Factor Analysis	FA
Family Supportive Work Perception	FSOP
Focus Groups	FG
Harman Single Factor	HSF
Hierarchical Multiple Regressions	HMR
Hierarchical Regression Analysis	HRA
International Assignment	IA
Linear Structural Relation Model	LISREL Model
Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire	MPQ
Multiple Linear Regression	MLR
Multiple Regression Analysis	MRA
Multivariate Analyses Of Covariance	MANCOVA
Organisational expatriate	OE
Once-Way Analyses Of Variance	ANOVA
Ordinary Least Squares	OLS
Parallel Analysis	PA
Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling	PLS-SEM
Perceived Organisational Support	POS
Regression Analysis	RA
Self-initiated expatriate	SIE
Structural Equation Analysis	SEA
The Revised Neo Personality Inventory	NEO-PI-R
The Hogan Personality Inventory	HPI
Women As Managers Scale	WAMS

Source(s): Authors ‘own (2023)

Conflict of interest declaration: The authors declare that no direct or indirect conflict of interest influences our work and its objectivity.