costs – both for individuals and organizations. Repatriation is associated with
several concerns – personal and professional – for the individual global
assignee. From a personal perspective, the majority of repatriates experience
‘reverse culture shock’ (Gullahorn and Gullahorn, 1963). Some suggest that
coming home is more emotionally stressful than going abroad (Adler, 1981,
1997; Baughn, 1995). For instance, global assignees may be expecting every-
thing they encounter in their host country to be different from their home
country. When going home, however, most repatriates expect that nothing
will have changed. The latter expectation is generally wrong: the political,
economic, social, and cultural climate has changed. Moreover, the expatriates
themselves have changed, and this in turn produces an even wider gap
betweenrepatriates’ expectations and their reality upon return (Adler, 1981,
1997; Black et al., 1992a; Shilling, 1993). In addition to the personaladjust-
ment problems the expatriate is experiencing, he or she may also have family
members going through the same difficult readjustment period. Research has
suggested that expatriates’ and spouses’ repatriation adjustment are signifi-
cantly correlated (Black and Gregersen, 1991). These family adjustment diffi-
culties usually magnify the problems repatriates face upon return (Harvey,
1982, 1989).
Several other factors, related to the repatriates’ sudden change in lifestyle,
create personal concerns upon repatriation. For example, repatriates may expe-
rience cash flow or disposable income problems, housing problems, and other
problems associated with loss of social status and lifestyle changes (Harvey,
1982; Kendall, 1981). While on assignment, many expatriates usually receive
generous financial allowances to accommodate the ‘hardships’ of living away
from home – allowing them to live in excellent housing conditions and to
enjoy a relatively more affluent way of life (Black et al., 1992b; Harvey, 1982,
1989; Kendall, 1981; Stroh et al., 1998). While on the global assignment, expa-
triates are usually occupying high-level positions in the host national sub-
sidiary and have a unique social status that gives them prominence both in the
local community and at work (Black and Gregersen, 1991; Engen, 1995;
Gomez-Mejia and Balkin, 1987; Kendall, 1981). It is difficult for global
assignees when these advantages are taken away upon repatriation. In addition
to the loss of financial and social status, repatriates soon learn that others’
interest in their international experience fades fairly quickly – and that they no
longer hold any special social position (Black et al., 1992a; Gregersen and
Black, 1995; Kendall, 1981; Shilling, 1993).
Repatriation is often related to professional disappointments as well.
While repatriates describe their global assignments as career enhancing (Tung,
1998), the career enhancement may often be realized only by finding a posi-
tion with another company. Repatriates’ primary concern is related to the
under-utilization of their newly developed global skills. Many repatriates
perceive their new jobs at home as lacking in autonomy, authority, and
significance, compared to their global assignments (Black et al., 1992a;
Repatriation and Knowledge Management 337