Expatriate assignments and intra-organizational career success: implications for individuals and organizations

Anecdotal accounts and reports in the popular press often suggest that international assignments are critical for employees who seek to move up the career ladder more quickly. Nevertheless, previous research on repatriation indicates that many former expatriates feel that their overseas assignments have harmed, rather than helped, their careers. Relatively little research, though, has sought to understand how expatriate assignments might be related to career success. This paper, then, presents a conceptual model describing the relationship between expatriate assignments and intra-organizational career success. Specifically, theories of career mobility are used to develop a framework for outlining the factors likely to determine whether expatriate assignments help or hinder the advancement of employees who have worked as international assignees. The model also indicates that repatriate career success influences an organization's ability to retain its current repatriates and recruit future expatriates. Some implications of this research and directions for future research are discussed as well. Journal of International Business Studies (2007) 38, 819–835. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400290