ResultsSuccessfully completed all the above Key Actions. Results were reflected in
significant success in repatriating and placing expatriates whom the organi-
zation wanted to retain. Metrics delivered in the function were used in the
company-wide HR Balanced Scorecard.
(Lance Richards, formerly Director, International Staffing for GTE)
Note:In 2001, GTE and BellAtlantic completed their merger. The ensuing entity is
now called Verizon.5 THE ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT
FOR SUCCESSFUL REPATRIATION
The long lists of repatriation recommendations can easily be associated with
the commonly accepted view that repatriate turnover is, above all, ‘a company
affair’ (Inkson et al., 1997). While turnover among returnees is usually volun-
tary, the literature explicitly or implicitly suggests that it comes primarily as a
result of poor management of the repatriation process on behalf of the MNC
(Gomez-Mejia and Balkin, 1987; Harvey, 1982, 1989). The departing point of
research is that a returnee’s decision to stay with or leave the MNC after repa-
triation is a consequence of certain actions or lack of actions by the MNC (such
as implementing or not implementing a number of repatriation assistance
practices). Repatriation is most often considered from the standpoint that
MNCs have full control over the repatriation process and that retention of
repatriates is ultimately a function of what the MNC does about it. It has been
suggested that if all repatriation problems are considered in advance and
attended to by the MNC, repatriate turnover will occur less often (Harvey,
1989). The rationale of that proposition is that if the company offers support
to returning repatriates, their concerns will be addressed and they will grow
more committed to the company – and, in turn, will be more likely to stay.
While intuitively logical, this relationship between company-provided sup-
port and repatriate turnover has received very little empirical investigation and
support. Indeed, a large part of the research on repatriation turnover and repatri-
ation in general comes from research on return cross-cultural adjustment. Many
studies focus on the problems associated with return adjustment, turnover among
repatriates being one of the important consequences of unsuccessful adjustment
rather than an outcome in its own right (Black, 1992; Black and Gregersen, 1991;
Black, et al., 1992a; Feldman and Thompson, 1993; Hammer et al., 1998).
Repatriation and Knowledge Management 343