Repatriation: furthering the research agenda through the lens of commitment, uncertainty reduction and social cognitive career theories

There is extensive evidence that repatriation of international assignees is not always successful. High turnover amongst repatriating staff within two years of an assignment is regularly reported to be double the expected turnover rate of non expatriated employees. Previous research has linked turnover to dissatisfaction of the repatriation process. The purpose of this paper is to extend existing knowledge through the examination of three theories; uncertainty reduction, commitment and social cognitive theories whilst considering the influence of HRM. The paper derives assumptions based on extending existing theoretical foundations to consider HRM upon the repatriation experience.