Individual, Organizational/Work and Environmental Influences on Expatriate Turnover Tendencies: An Empirical Study

Foreign postings for executives are costly undertakings for multinational corporations, especially when they fail. Yet little research has been done on the causes of expatriate turnover. This 155-expatriate survey assesses individual, organizational/work and environmental influences on both internal and external turnover tendencies. It was found that job autonomy and material life satisfaction were key predictors for both internal and external turnover tendencies. Only for organizational turnover did job autonomy supersede material life satisfaction as the lead predictor of turnover tendencies. American expatriates attach much importance to maintaining living standards in postings to foreign locations.© 1995 JIBS. Journal of International Business Studies (1995) 26, 787–813