International Journal of Operations & Production Management

Operational factors as determinants of expatriate and repatriate success

Leslie O. Morgan Winter Nie Scott T. Young
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Leslie O. Morgan Winter Nie Scott T. Young, (2004),"Operational factors as determinants of expatriate and
repatriate success", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 24 Iss 12 pp. 1247
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Operational
Operational factors as factors
determinants of expatriate and
repatriate success
1247
Leslie O. Morgan
David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Winter Nie
Thunderbird, American Graduate School of International Management,
Glendale, Arizona, USA
Scott T. Young
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College of Commerce, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Keywords Operations management, Technology led strategy, Strategic management,
Multinational companies, Expatriates, Employee attitudes
Abstract Global business frequently requires the expatriation and repatriation of managers and
skilled workers. Previous research has focused on cultural and demographic factors that lead to
success with this process. This study goes beyond the cultural and demographic issues to examine
implications of operational and technology-related factors, including use of standard practices,
degree of technical sophistication of operations, and technical orientation of the employee. Our
results indicate that the technical sophistication of operations abroad, use of standard practices at
home, technical orientation of the individual, and increased responsibility and promotion all
positively contribute to expatriate satisfaction. Repatriate satisfaction is primarily influenced by
difficulty in finding a suitable position upon relocation home. The technical orientation of the
individual, in turn, has important implications for repatriation success. This research identifies
important new operational and technology-related factors that should be considered by global firms
in management of their internationally located operations.

Introduction
In today’s global economy, companies establish foreign-owned subsidiaries and enter
into joint ventures and strategic alliances to create a presence in foreign markets and to
exploit advantageous production resources. Many opportunities and challenges of
the globalisation process – e.g. lack of qualified local candidates; development of
individual employees for international mobility (Peltonen, 1993; Anfuso, 1994);
maintaining home office control (Boyacigiller, 1990; Nohria and Ghoshal, 1994);
improving coordination, knowledge transfer, and consistency of corporate strategy
(Edstrom and Galbraith, 1977; Tallman and Fladmoe-Lindquist, 1994) – create the
need for expatriates (i.e. to locate managers and skilled workers in foreign plants).
Employee satisfaction with expatriation and repatriation is critical to the success of
global companies because these employees often play a pivotal role in managing and International Journal of Operations &
coordinating the operations of the extended enterprise. Production Management
Vol. 24 No. 12, 2004
While the practices of expatriation and repatriation have been around for a long pp. 1247-1268
time, there are still many problems associated with these practices. Many studies have q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0144-3577
focused on demographic, cultural, and psychological factors that influence employee DOI 10.1108/01443570410569038
 IJOPM satisfaction with expatriate assignments (Mendenhall and Oddou, 1985; Black and
24,12 Gregersen, 1990 and 1992; James and James, 1992). Repatriation also presents a
significant challenge for organisations, with employee turnover often resulting from
firms’ failure to proactively manage transitions (Black and Gregersen, 1992; Bolino and
Feldman, 2000, BusinessWeek, 2001). In this work, we extend examination of expatriate
and repatriate success factors to include characteristics of the operating environment
1248 and technology-related factors.
Employee perception of the work environment is heavily influenced by the operating
practices of the organisation. The degree of change from one system to another is an
important human resource consideration (Majchrzak, 1988), and the overall impression
of an assignment will be colored by the effectiveness of these systems. The
characteristics of the operating environment have been largely ignored in prior research,
but are important factors influencing employee satisfaction with any new assignment, at
home or abroad.
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Black et al. (1991) pull together previous literature on domestic and international
adjustment to develop a comprehensive model of international adjustment. They note
that while the domestic adjustment literature has focused primarily on factors related
to the job and the organisation, most of the research on international adjustment has
instead focused on factors outside the workplace and pertaining to the individual’s
relational and perceptual skills, with a primary focus on adjustment to the new culture.
Black et al.(1991) also differentiate between anticipatory adjustment and in-country
adjustment. Anticipatory adjustment occurs before the start of the expatriate
assignment, and in-country adjustment occurs once the individual has entered the new
work-life situation. We will briefly introduce these concepts here, and then expand on
their relevance to our work as we develop our research questions and hypotheses.
Better anticipatory adjustment allows the individual to develop appropriate
expectations about all facets of the international assignment, and is related to the
individual’s degree of preparation and experience. Anticipatory adjustment is
improved through previous international experience and cross-cultural training, which
allow for easier transition to the new assignment and less “culture shock” for the
individual (Black et al., 1991). In their description of in-country adjustment, Black et al.
(1991) focus on several job-related factors such as role novelty and role ambiguity.
Though not directly addressed in previous studies, several facets of the operating
environment at home and abroad influence role novelty and role ambiguity.
We limit individual differences in the degree of anticipatory adjustment through the
selection of our set of survey respondents. Our focus is instead on operational factors
that influence in-country adjustment of the expatriated employee. In particular, we
consider the technical sophistication (as reflected by, e.g. capabilities in advanced
information technology, flexible and automated processes) and standardisation of
processes (e.g. standard practices for design projects, supplier management,
accounting practices) in operations at home and abroad. We also consider the
technical orientation of the individual, based on the respondent’s job, functional area,
and educational background. These factors are not considered in previous studies of
expatriate/repatriate satisfaction, and are of particular value because they are elements
over which the firm typically has control. Through our exploratory study, we identify
specific operational issues that can be addressed by employers to improve the success
of their expatriation and repatriation programs.
 Why is this study relevant to operations managers? In this research we gather Operational
information about use of technology, standardisation of processes, and technical factors
orientation of the individual, and demonstrate the relationship between these factors
and the satisfaction of the expatriated and repatriated employee. The way that a firm
chooses and designs its operations at home and abroad is important to expatriate and
repatriate success, as is the employee’s technical orientation. As such, decisions about
technology and process are core elements of operations strategy that can profoundly 1249
impact the broader success of the multinational firm.

Research questions and hypotheses

This work was initially motivated by speculations of a senior executive expatriate
involved in management of an overseas engineering and technical center for a large,
global manufacturing firm (personal interview with automotive industry executive,
1999). Based on experience with expatriation and repatriation of his technical and
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non-technical managers, he noted that many high-quality, up-and-coming young

managers took on great responsibility with their assignments abroad, but were
subsequently frustrated by the suitability of repatriation assignments. He also
speculated that standardisation and technical sophistication of processes and business
practices found in some parts of the extended enterprise improved expatriate and
repatriate effectiveness, and that more technically oriented managers often adjusted to
expatriate assignments more easily due to the nature of their jobs. Intrigued by this
executive’s observations, we explored the literature to develop theoretical grounding
for our study.
Black et al. (1991) develop a comprehensive theoretical framework for guiding future
research on issues related to international adjustment that can be applied to our exploratory
study. Building on this model and based on the comments of the executive referenced
above, we explore operational factors that affect expatriate and repatriate adjustment, and
therefore play a role in determining employee satisfaction with these assignments. We
focus on factors that influence in-country adjustment. As such, we selected a set of
respondents for whom the degree of anticipatory adjustment is expected to be similar due
to their shared experiences in a graduate level international business program.
Within the in-country adjustment model of Black et al. (1991), one of the theoretical
links is that job characteristics impact the degree of adjustment. More specifically they
argue that several job related factors such as role novelty and role ambiguity have been
found to increase the uncertainty, unfamiliarity, unpredictability, or uncontrollability
of the new work role and consequently inhibit adjustment. Role novelty reflects the
difference between the past role and the new role. The greater the difference, the more
effort and time required to adapt to the new role. This relationship underlies the
relevance of the operational factors we examine. From an operational perspective,
highly standardised processes and superior technological capabilities across the globe
reduce role novelty and facilitate an expatriate manager’s job.
As one senior manager in the study suggested, there are also individual differences
related to technical skill and orientation that result in corresponding differences in the
challenges encountered as an employee transitions from one work environment to
another. The requirements for individuals in more technically oriented roles are
usually better defined and have clearer boundaries because technical components are
“hard” and well-specified, while non-technical roles are usually more ambiguous
 IJOPM because these jobs include more “soft,” culture-specific content and often have
24,12 difficult-to-articulate boundaries.
Using Porter’s (1985) value chain to look at the technical orientation of the job role,
tasks in the areas of inbound logistics, operations, and outbound logistics are
considered to be in the upstream of the value chain. These jobs include many technical
components, e.g. design of automated systems and assembly lines, testing procedures,
1250 machine design, and information system development. Marketing and service are
further downstream in the value chain, and generally include more limited technical
components, e.g. development of technical literature, service manuals and procedures
(Porter, 1985). This suggests that employees involved in operations, engineering, and
design are likely to be more technically oriented in their job content than those
involved in marketing, service, or human resources.
Furthermore, upstream technical components are often designed to be consistent
across operations in different parts of the world. Alternatively, the downstream portion
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of the value chain is by nature closer to the customer, resulting in a greater need for local
responsiveness (i.e. localisation of content and delivery). The implications are that more
technically oriented roles will have relatively less role ambiguity than non-technical
roles. As a result, we hypothesise that a more technically oriented employee has an easier
time adjusting to the new role in an expatriate assignment, and is therefore more likely to
feel satisfied with his or her expatriate experience. Technically oriented employees are
also more likely to be technologically savvy, allowing them to exploit emerging
information technologies and remain better connected with the home office.
Consistent with several related studies (Baughn, 1998; Black and Gregersen, 1992;
Bolino and Feldmann, 2000) and with the comments of the senior executive expatriate
quoted earlier, we anticipate that career implications also play a significant role in
determining satisfaction with expatriate and repatriate assignments. An interesting
and related question is whether there are differences in career implications for technical
versus non-technical employees. Finally, while we attempt to minimise individual
differences in cultural training and international experience through the selection of
our sample, the cultural distance between the home country and the location of the
expatriate assignment may still be expected to increase difficulty of adjustment.

Research Questions
Guided by the aforementioned senior executives’ insights and our understanding of the
literature, we pose the following research questions:
RQ1. Do the operations and business practices of the firm influence the satisfaction
of expatriated and repatriated employees?
RQ2. Does the degree of technical sophistication found in the operating
environments (at home and abroad) influence satisfaction with assignments?
RQ3. Do individual factors related to the degree of technical orientation of the
expatriated manager influence satisfaction with the overseas assignment?
RQ4. Is the technical orientation of the employee related to the success or difficulty
of placement upon relocation home?
RQ5. Do factors related to the individual’s career advancement significantly
influence satisfaction with an expatriate and/or repatriate assignment?
 RQ6. Relative to the above factors, how important is cultural distance between the Operational
location of the expatriate assignment and that of the repatriate assignment in factors
influencing satisfaction with either assignment for internationally oriented
managers?
Hypotheses
Figures 1, 2, and 3 outline the relationships studied. The following hypotheses (H-E for
Expatriation; H-R for Repatriation) are tested in the analyses. Use of “standard 1251
practices” corresponds to the existence of well-defined, standardised processes and
procedures for relevant business practices. For the expatriate, standard practices at
home can be expected to correspond to more systematic and comprehensive
management of expatriation details and better communication through
well-established channels. Standard practices in either environment facilitate learning
as the transition is made to a new operating environment.
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H1E and H1R. Standardised practices at the home office positively influence
satisfaction with expatriation and repatriation.
H2E and H2R. Standardised practices in the work environment abroad positively
influence satisfaction with expatriation and repatriation.

Figure 1.
Hypothesized directional
relationships (expected
signs in parentheses)
H1E-H8E: satisfaction
with expatriation
 IJOPM
24,12

1252
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Figure 2.
Hypothesized directional
relationships (expected
signs in parentheses)
H1R-H8R: satisfaction
with repatriation

Figure 3.
Hypothesized correlations
with individual technical
sophistication (expected
signs in parentheses)

For the expatriate, greater technical sophistication of the organisation abroad allows
for less reliance on language and culturally-based norms that make international
assignments difficult and confusing. Furthermore, technical sophistication is often
reflected by more advanced information and network technologies that facilitate
 connectivity between locations, easing the transition back to a potentially unfamiliar Operational
home office location. factors
H3E and H3R. Technical sophistication in the work environment abroad (at the
home office) positively influences satisfaction with expatriation
(repatriation).
Consistent with the value chain theory discussed earlier, individuals in roles that are 1253
further upstream are typically involved in more technically oriented and universally
similar tasks. As such, individuals in more technically oriented positions are expected
to encounter less role novelty in transition from the home environment to the expatriate
assignment and back, improving ease of adjustment and satisfaction with
assignments. Furthermore, these managers are typically more technically
sophisticated and may have an easier time managing diverse technologies
encountered in operations scattered across the globe, facilitating connectivity with
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the home office.

H4E and H4R. Greater technical orientation of the individual will positively influence
satisfaction with both the expatriate and repatriate assignments.
Consistent with prior research on career implications of expatriation and repatriation
experiences (Gomez-Mejia and Balkin, 1987; Baughn, 1998), we hypothesise that a
promotion with either assignment will bear positively on the individual’s satisfaction
with that assignment. We ask a separate question regarding increase in responsibility
with either assignment, another factor potentially influencing satisfaction with an
assignment. The distinction between promotion and responsibility is important given
the comments of the senior executive expatriate quoted at the beginning of this section,
who speculated that increases in responsibility are important to expatriate and
repatriate satisfaction. Furthermore, research has demonstrated that, with or without
promotion, increases in perceived responsibility and autonomy in decision making
typically result in greater job satisfaction (McCampbell, 1996).
H5E and H5R. Promotion at the time of expatriate (repatriate) assignment
positively influences satisfaction with expatriation (repatriation).
H6E and H6R. Increase in responsibility for expatriate (repatriate) assignment
positively influences satisfaction with expatriation (repatriation).
A critical problem identified in management of the expatriated employees is lack of
early and proactive management of the repatriation process (Bolino and Feldman,
2000; Poe, 2000; Zhan, 1999). Difficulty in finding a suitable position within the
organisation upon return from an assignment abroad is expected to negatively
influence satisfaction with repatriation. Satisfaction with the expatriate experience
may be similarly negatively influenced by difficulty upon return due to the perceived
impact of the overall experience on the individual’s career. Alternatively, these
difficulties may lead an employee to think more positively of the expatriate experience,
which perhaps provided more suitable challenges in the individual’s work life.
H7E and H7R. Difficulty with finding a suitable position upon relocation
negatively influences satisfaction with repatriation and may
positively or negatively influence satisfaction with expatriation.
 IJOPM Greater cultural distance between the home environment and the location of the
24,12 expatriate assignment has long been considered a significant factor in determining
satisfaction with assignments abroad. Similarly, repatriate adjustment may be more
difficult when there is greater disparity in cultural norms between the locale of the
assignment abroad and the home environment.
H8E and H8R. Greater cultural distance between the home country and that of the
1254 assignment abroad negatively influences satisfaction with
expatriation and repatriation.
Similar to our earlier hypotheses (H4E and H4R) suggesting that individuals with a
greater technical orientation are expected to be more satisfied with expatriation and
repatriation experiences, we anticipate that these same individuals will have less
difficulty finding a suitable position upon their return home (H9R), and are more likely
to receive promotions with their repatriate assignments (H10R).
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H9R. Individual technical orientation will be negatively correlated with

difficulty finding a suitable position when relocating back home.
H10R. Individual technical orientation will be positively correlated with
promotion upon repatriation.

Data collection – sample and survey instrument

We first discuss our approach for selecting a set of survey respondents. The survey
questions and operationalisation of the variables captured in the survey instrument are
then discussed, followed by a descriptive characterisation of our sample which sets the
stage for the analyses and results of the study.

Sample selection
We identified an alumni database from an international management program of a
BusinessWeek top 25 graduate school of management as a source of potential
expatriates from a variety of industries. The diversity of backgrounds of these
individuals, including both technical and non-technical undergraduate degrees and
work experience in a variety of industries, along with the inherent international focus
and cultural awareness characteristic of the students in the graduate international
management program made this set of individuals ideal for the purposes of our study.
The vast majority of these graduates sought employment in corporations with foreign
assignment opportunities due to their interest and specialisation in international
management. The survey was posted on the program’s alumni web page with a cover
letter indicating the purpose of the study and a precondition that “participants must be
managers who have repatriated after an assignment abroad during the past 15 years.”
That criterion narrowed the potential sample field.
In total, 82 alumni participated in the survey. While some self-selection bias may be
introduced in our solicitation approach, it is precisely this cross-section of expatriate
managers that interests us – individuals with a background in international issues and
interest in seeking international assignments/expatriate careers, representing a range
of technical orientations and working in a broad set of industries.
 Survey instrument, operationalisation of variables, and validity Operational
Based on the literature review and guided by our research questions, we developed a factors
survey instrument. The instrument was sent to former expatriates and academic
researchers for review. Their comments were subsequently incorporated into the
revised survey. The final survey includes seven sections. A sample survey is provided
in Appendix 1.
The first section includes general information about country of primary citisenship, 1255
gender, job title, functional area, number of years with employer, country in which the
employer is based, and industry in which the employer competes. The second section
asks questions regarding participants’ most recent assignment abroad, such as length
of assignment abroad, location of assignment, language spoken in the work
environment, and language ability at various stages of the expatriate assignment.
Using information about the respondent’s country of primary citizenship and the
location of the expatriate assignment, a variable measuring cultural distance is
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developed. Country clusters identified in Ronen and Shenkar’s (1985) review and
synthesis of cultural distance provide the basis for determining cultural distance in our
study. As an example, cultural distance between countries in the Anglo cluster and the
Germanic/Nordic or Latin European/Latin American clusters is low (CultDist ¼ 1),
while cultural distance between the Anglo cluster and the Arab cluster is high
(CultDist ¼ 3)[1].
The third section asks about promotion and level of responsibility increase with
assignment abroad, difficulty in finding a suitable position upon completion of
assignment abroad, promotion and level of responsibility increase upon reassignment
to home country, overall satisfaction with assignment abroad, and overall satisfaction
with relocation home. Increased responsibility, promotion, and relocation difficulty are
operationalised as 1 (yes) and 0 (no). Finally, ratings of satisfaction with expatriation
and satisfaction with repatriation are collected as interval data (1 ¼ Unacceptable,
4 ¼ Satisfactory, 7 ¼ Excellent). In this study, satisfaction with the expatriate and
repatriate assignments is measured as a single comprehensive rating of satisfaction
when the respondent reflects upon his/her experiences after repatriation[2].
The fourth section is concerned with technical sophistication of the work
environment. A description of what constitutes a high level of technical sophistication
is provided. Four 7-point Likert-scale items are used to collect information about the
technical sophistication of the workplace. The first two questions ask the respondent to
rate the degree of technical sophistication in the work environment at home and
abroad, respectively. The next two questions ask the respondents to rate satisfaction
with technical sophistication of the home office and of that abroad.
We also evaluate the technical orientation of each respondent. An individual’s
technical orientation is determined by examining the job title, functional area, and
educational background of the respondent, an approach similar to that used in prior
studies (Hawes and Kealey, 1981). A combined score results in an individual technical
orientation rating that ranges from 3 to 9, with a respondent’s technical orientation
rated as a 3 if all three factors (job, functional area, undergraduate studies) are in
non-technical areas, while a rating of 9 is assigned if all three factors are identified as
highly technical.
The fifth section examines the degree to which standard practices are used in the
workplace. Again, descriptive examples are provided. Three 7-point Likert-scale items
 IJOPM are used. The first is “To what degree are standard practices used in your home work
24,12 environment” and the second is “To what degree are standard practices used in your
work environment abroad” (1 ¼ low, 4 ¼ moderate, 7 ¼ high). A third question, “To
what degree are equivalent standard practices used at home and abroad,” uses an
identical scale. The Likert-scale items are followed by an open-ended question that
asks participants to list standard processes or practices used by their employers.
1256 The sixth section lists 18 operational practices/systems/technologies and asks
participants to indicate whether these are used in their organisations. The set of
business practices and processes included in the list was adapted from prior studies
(Whybark and Rho, 1992; Boyer et al., 1997). The entries reflect use of standard
practices and technical sophistication of the operating environment. The seventh
section asks participants to list the five most positive and five most negative attributes
of their assignment abroad, followed by an open-ended question soliciting detailed
comments about assignment and reassignment experiences.
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Two approaches are taken in our study to ensure content validity. First, we
extensively review previous literature that relates to our study. Based on our
understanding of the literature and discussions with practitioners, we formed our
research questions and research hypotheses. Building on the research questions and
hypotheses, and with the help of academicians who are experts in survey instrument
development, we developed our survey instrument. Second, once the survey
instrument was developed, it was sent to practitioners and academicians for
feedback. An iterative process followed to incorporate feedback and suggestions.

Characterisation of sample
The sample was diverse in many ways – including undergraduate educational
background, industry focus, job and functional area of work, experience, gender, age,
marital status, and citisenship of the respondent. The respondents were 81 percent
male and 33 years old on average. Approximately 50 percent of the respondents were
married, and 37 percent had children. The respondents hailed from eight different
countries, including Canada, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore,
Spain, and the USA; 80 percent of the respondents were native English speakers, with
Spanish (10 percent) and German (4 percent) having the greatest representation among
the remaining respondents. Given the international focus of the respondents, and as a
result of requirements of their graduate international management program, the
respondents had solid foreign language capabilities. Less than one-third of the
respondents rated their pre-assignment language ability for the country/language of
their expatriate assignment as less than satisfactory (i.e. # 3 out of 7). Only about
one-sixth rated their relevant language ability as less than satisfactory after language
training pursued before leaving for their assignment.
The educational backgrounds and experiences of the respondents varied widely.
Undergraduate majors in anthropology, business, computer science, economics,
engineering, languages, and law were among those indicated. Over 30 different
industries were represented, including agro-business, automotive, E-commerce,
financial services, forest products, food machinery, healthcare, logistics,
pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors. Similarly, the functional areas in which the
respondents worked varied widely, as did the jobs/job titles of the survey respondents.
As a group, the respondents had a significant amount of experience with their
 employers and in their respective industries. On average, respondents had been with Operational
their employers for four years and three months, with almost eight years of experience factors
in their current industries.
The mean duration of the respondents’ expatriate assignments was three years and
seven months, with a median duration of two years and five months. The expatriate
assignment locations included an extensive and diverse set of countries, with
representation of all regions identified in Ronen and Shenkar’s (1985) synthesis of 1257
country clusters. In all, the respondents had expatriate assignments in 34 different
countries.

Results
The results section is organised in three subsections: determinants of satisfaction with
expatriation, determinants with repatriation, and correlation between technical
orientation and repatriation difficulty.
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Several analyses were performed to determine whether our hypotheses were

confirmed or rejected based on the survey responses. The two primary dependent
variables in our study are Satisfaction with Expatriation and Satisfaction with
Repatriation. Overall, we found that satisfaction ratings for the expatriate experience
(mean: 5:75=7:00) were significantly higher than satisfaction ratings for the repatriate
experience (mean: 3:57=7:00). We used regression analysis to gain insight into the
factors determining satisfaction with expatriation and repatriation experiences.
Figures 4 and 5 provide an overview of the significant relationships identified in the
regression analyses. (See Appendix 2 for a discussion of qualitative responses.)

Determinants of satisfaction with expatriation

Ordinary least squares regression analysis is used to examine determinants of
satisfaction with expatriation. Regression analysis is a general statistical technique
used to analyse the relationship between a single dependent variable and several
independent variables (Hair et al., 1991). The dependent variable is satisfaction with
assignment abroad. The independent variables include: degree to which standard
practices are used at home and abroad (StdHome; StdAbroad); technical sophistication
of operations at home and abroad (TechHome; TechAbroad); individual technical
orientation (IndTech); promotion (ProDummy); responsibility (ResDummy); difficulty
with reassignment (DifDummy); cultural distance (CultDist). The adjusted R-square is
37 percent, with overall model significance at P ¼ 0:000 (F ¼ 5:93). The regression
results are presented in Table I ((a) EXPAT).
Do operational aspects of the organisation contribute to satisfaction with
expatriation? First, we hypothesised that use of standardised practices, both at home
and abroad, would improve satisfaction with expatriation. Interestingly, we find that
use of standard practices at the home office is the most significant factor influencing
expatriate satisfaction (std coefficient 0:351, P ¼ 0:001). Use of standard practices
abroad is not found to significantly influence expatriate satisfaction. Another survey
question related to standard operating practices inquired about the degree to which
equivalent standard practices were used at home and abroad. Equivalence at home and
abroad is highly correlated with use of standard practices abroad (correlation coefficient
0.754, P ¼ 0:000). Thus, greater use of standard practices abroad signifies a high degree
of consistency across operating environments at home and abroad.
 IJOPM
24,12

1258
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Figure 4.
Significant standardized
coefficients from
regression analyses –
EXPAT model: adjusted
R-square ¼ 0:369

Figure 5.
Significant standardized
coefficients from
regression analyses –
REPAT model: adjusted
R-square ¼ 0:338

We confirm that greater technical sophistication in the work environment abroad

positively influences satisfaction with expatriation (standardised coefficient 0:233,
P ¼ 0:028). In section 6 of the survey, respondents indicated whether their employers
utilised specific practices or systems. Two factors reflecting a high degree of technical
sophistication, and providing technical capabilities that would impact a great number
of employees in a variety of roles, are internet-based interaction with customers and
internet-based interaction with suppliers. In fact, we find that employer use of these
practices is positively correlated with respondents’ ratings of the technical
sophistication of the workplace (P , 0:05 for the following correlations:
Internet-based interaction with customers with TechHome and with TechAbroad;
 Variable name Variable description Hypotheses Standardized coefficients
Operational
factors
(a) EXPAT
StdHome (Home standard practices) H1E þ 0.351*
StdAbroad (abroad standard practices) H2Eþ 0.005
TechAbroad (abroad office technical) H3E þ 0.233***
IndTech (individual technical) H4Eþ 0.207*** 1259
ProDummy (promotion – expat) H5Eþ 0.179***
ResDummy (responsibility – expat) H6Eþ 0.334*
DifDummy (difficulty – repat) H7Eþ /2 0.089
CultDist (cultural distance) H8E 2 0.005
N 76
Adjusted R2 0.369
(b) REPAT
StdHome (Home standard practices) H1Rþ 0.095
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StdAbroad (abroad standard practices) H2R þ 0.140

TechHome (home office technical) H3R þ 0.080
IndTech (individual technical) H4R þ 0.2051
ReProDum (promotion – repat) H5R þ 0.190***
ReResDum (responsibility – repat) H6Rþ 0.270** Table I.
DifDummy (difficulty – repat) H7R2 2 0.422* Regression results for
CultDist (cultural distance) H8R2 0.091 satisfaction with
N 72 (a) expatriation (EXPAT)
Adjusted R2 0.338 and (b) repatriation
Notes: *P , 0:001; **
P , 0:01; ***
P , 0:05 (REPAT)

Internet-based interaction with suppliers with TechHome). One might further infer that
these capabilities reflect a fundamental firm capability in internet connectivity, a factor
that would be expected to facilitate expatriate adjustment and prevent isolation.
Another important question is whether the technical orientation of the individual
influences satisfaction with the expatriate assignment. The results strongly support our
hypothesis that the individual’s technical orientation (H4E) positively and significantly
impacts satisfaction with an assignment abroad (P ¼ 0:023). The findings related to our
first four hypotheses support an emerging theme regarding the importance of factors
that contribute to the expatriate’s ability to successfully adjust to the new role and
maintain connectivity with the home office (facilitated by technical sophistication
abroad, standardised practices at home, and greater individual technical orientation).
Promotion with expatriate assignment (H5E) is found to positively influence
satisfaction with expatriation (P ¼ 0:040). Hypothesis H6E (increase in responsibility
for expatriate assignment positively influences expatriate satisfaction) is also
confirmed (standard coefficient 0:334, P ¼ 0:001). Together, these findings indicate
that career advancement is important to expatriate satisfaction, and that increases in
responsibility contribute more to satisfaction than promotions. Table II outlines mean
expatriate satisfaction ratings under alternative promotion and responsibility
situations. Difficulty with finding a suitable position upon relocation home (H7E) is
not found to influence satisfaction with expatriation.
Finally, cultural distance does not significantly influence expatriate satisfaction for
this set of respondents. As discussed earlier, we intentionally selected respondents
 IJOPM with shared experiences in graduate international business studies, allowing us to
24,12 focus on operational and individual factors that influence in-country adjustment[3].

Determinants of satisfaction with repatriation

A similar regression is run to study determinants of satisfaction with repatriation.
The dependent variable is satisfaction with relocation home. The same independent
1260 variables are evaluated, except that we are now interested in promotion and increase in
responsibility with the repatriate assignment (ReProDum; ReResDum). The adjusted
R-square is 34 percent, with overall model significance at P ¼ 0:000 (F ¼ 5:08).
The regression results appear in Table I ((b) REPAT).
Only three of the factors studied were significant at P , 0:05. Difficulty with
finding a suitable position upon relocation home (DifDummy) is the most significant
factor determining satisfaction with repatriation (Standard Coefficient 20:422,
P ¼ 0:000). As hypothesised (H7R), the greater the difficulty encountered in finding
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a suitable position, the more dissatisfied the repatriated employee. Increase In

Responsibility (H6R) and Promotion (H5R) are the other factors found to significantly
influence repatriate satisfaction, with standardised coefficients of 0:270 (P ¼ 0:006)
and 0:190 (P ¼ 0:043), respectively. These three factors alone account for 34 percent of
the variation in repatriate satisfaction scores, highlighting the importance of career
implications of the overall expatriate/repatriate experience to the employee, and
supporting previous studies advocating that firms proactively manage the entire
process through repatriation (Black and Gregersen, 1992; Bolino and Feldman, 2000).
As with the expatriate experience, increases in responsibility contribute more to
satisfaction with repatriation than do promotions. Table III outlines mean satisfaction
ratings for respondents who received different combinations of promotion and
responsibility increase with reassignment home.
Use of standardised practices and technical sophistication of the work
environment are not found to be significant factors in determining satisfaction
with repatriation. However, it is interesting to note differences in results when the

Promotion Responsibility increase % of cases Mean satisfaction with expatriation

Table II. No No 10 4.25

Mean satisfaction ratings Yes No 5 4.63
for expatriation with No Yes 30 5.58
promotion/responsibility Yes Yes 55 6.21
increasea Note: The sample size in one cell is too small to allow for ANOVA analysis

Promotion Responsibility increase % of cases Mean satisfaction with repatriation

Table III. No No 47 2.79

Mean satisfaction ratings Yes No 4 3.33
for repatriation with No Yes 37 3.75
promotion/responsibility Yes Yes 12 5.17
increasea Note: The sample size in one cell is too small to allow for ANOVA analysis
 regression is run with factors related to satisfaction with technical sophistication, Operational
rather than degree of technical sophistication in the workplace[4]. If TechHome and factors
TechAbroad are replaced by corresponding variables measuring satisfaction ratings
for technical sophistication of each location, the overall explanatory power of the
model increases (Adjusted R2 ¼ 0:383). Furthermore, satisfaction with technical
sophistication in the home office is found to significantly influence repatriate
satisfaction (P ¼ 0:004). 1261
Correlation between technical orientation and repatriation difficulty or success
Correlations between individual technical orientation and factors related to difficulty
or promotion with repatriation were performed to further study the implications of
technical orientation for repatriation success (see Table IV) and Figure 6. Our
hypotheses about the relationship between individual technical orientation and
repatriation difficulty (H8R: Difficulty finding a suitable position upon return –
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DifDummy) and success (H9R: Promotion – ReProDum) are supported. We find a

significant negative correlation between IndTech and DiffDummy (P ¼ 0:006) and a
significant positive correlation between IndTech and ReProDum (P ¼ 0:017). These
results sugget that more technically oriented employees may have an easier time
re-entering the organisation in the home country after an expatriate experience, and
that they may be more likely to receive a promotion with repatriation.

Summary and conclusions

This study focuses on factors that influence in-country adjustment (Black et al., 1991), with
specific interest in characteristics of the operating environment that impact employee
satisfaction with expatriate and repatriate assignments. Our findings demonstrate that
the operating environment does have a significant impact on expatriate satisfaction.

Table IV.
IndTech and: Pearson correlation
Correlations between
individual technical
DifDummy 2 0.282** orientation and difficulty
ReProDum 0.242* or promotion with
Note: *P , 0:05; **
P , 0:01 repatriation

Figure 6.
Correlations with
individual technical
sophistication
 IJOPM Use of standard practices in the home work environment and greater technical
24,12 sophistication of the work environment abroad both contribute significantly to expatriate
satisfaction, i.e. satisfaction is positively influenced by utilisation of technology and
well-defined, systematic processes. These findings are important because they represent a
tangible approach for improving the operations of the firm so as to increase firm success
with expatriation. Given the international presence of most organisations today, the
1262 ability to improve employee adjustment to and success with expatriate assignments can
provide a critical competitive advantage for a firm.
We also find that more technically-oriented expatriates tend to be more satisfied with
their expatriate assignments. Several factors can contribute to higher levels of satisfaction
for more technically oriented expatriates. Upstream roles and tasks are typically more
similar across locations than downstream roles (e.g. learning and knowledge transfer
across geographically dispersed segments of the organisation to address problems faced
in design and manufacturing are often quite feasible, while downstream activities such as
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marketing and HR typically require greater responsiveness to local environments). The

interpretation is that given similar international/cultural footing (characteristic of our
sample), individuals with greater technical orientation are more satisfied with their
expatriate assignments. Additionally, one may infer that more technically oriented
employees are likely to be more technically savvy and better able to exploit information
technologies to ease adjustment to the new environment and maintain connectivity with
the home environment. A more direct study of this particular link to expatriate satisfaction
presents an interesting area for future research.
Related to the issue of connectivity between the expatriate and the home office are
factors pertaining to management of the expatriated employee’s career. Both
expatriates and repatriates are more satisfied if their assignments involve career
advancement, with promotions contributing much more to satisfaction if accompanied
by increases in responsibility and autonomy. Satisfaction ratings among repatriated
employees who received neither an increase in responsibility nor a promotion with
their assignment were quite low (mean 2.79/7.00). Those who received both an increase
in responsibility and a promotion were generally quite satisfied (mean 5.17/7.00).
The most significant factor influencing satisfaction with repatriation was difficulty
with finding a suitable position upon relocation home.
An employee’s ability to proactively manage career implications of the expatriate
experience can be improved by facilitating ongoing connectivity with the home office
during the assignment abroad. Technological capabilities (e.g. IT) should be developed
allowing the expatriate to “stay in the loop,” reducing the likelihood of losing out to
more visible colleagues at home when advancement opportunities arise. A related
finding in our study pertains to implications of the technical orientation of the
respondent for success with the repatriate assignment: Greater technical orientation is
significantly negatively correlated with difficulty in finding a suitable position upon
return, and positively correlated with promotion upon reassignment home.
The findings presented in this paper are very important to the expatriation and
repatriation of operations and technical managers. These individuals form the technical
core of the organisation and successful international assignments are critical in their
retention. In conclusion, this research identifies important new factors for consideration by
organisations that utilise expatriate employees in their overseas operations, including:
 .
how the firm manages its operations (i.e. use of standard practices and technical Operational
sophistication of the work environment); factors
.
individual employee orientation and training (i.e. technical orientation and
ability to exploit technology and systems to manage transitions and maintain
connectivity); and
.
how the firm manages expatriates and their careers (i.e. holistic management
of the expatriation and repatriation processes). 1263
Greater success of global operations can result if these factors are explicitly considered
in development and implementation of the firm’s operating strategy.
Limitations of the current work, including the specific nature of the respondents, the
size of the sample, and the broad timeframe of the respondents’ expatriate experiences can
be addressed in future studies. Larger sample sizes may allow for use of more robust tests
of statistical significance (e.g. ANOVA) for findings that involved division of the sample.
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Future research can also extend the current findings in a number of ways. Cultural and
country differences in use of technology and standard practices may help to explain
differences in expatriation success across companies located in different countries. Also,
given the broad adoption of information-related technologies, a more specific study of the
impact of different types of technologies and practices on satisfaction of expatriated and
repatriated employees may provide valuable guidance for multinational corporations.

Notes
1. Please refer to Ronen and Shenkar (1985) for details on countries included in each cluster.
Alternative measures of cultural distance between clusters for which previous studies provide
inconclusive results were evaluated. No significant differences in results were obtained,
demonstrating the robustness of our findings with respect to cultural distance in this study.
2. Satisfaction is a very well understood concept. The construct “satisfaction” has been used in
various studies. Though it may be possible to use multiple items to measure satisfaction in
every study that involves satisfaction, it is impractical and often unnecessary. Unless the
study focuses on developing a construct on a particular aspect of satisfaction, a gestalt single
item focused on overall satisfaction is adequate. Since we are specifically interested the
respondent’s overall “gestalt” satisfaction with each experience in our exploratory study, we
made a conscious decision to use a single item to measure global satisfaction with
expatriation and repatriation.
3. We also examined factors such as language ability, language training, and demographic
characteristics like number of children. None were significantly correlated with satisfaction
ratings for expatriation or repatriation in our study.
4. Note that these differences occur despite a significant correlation between degree of technical
sophistication and satisfaction with technical sophistication for either environment.
Correlation coefficients: Home (0:843, P ¼ 0:000) and Abroad (0:734, P ¼ 0:000).

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Operational
factors

instrument
Sample of survey
Figure A1.
1265
 IJOPM
24,12

1266
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Figure A1.

Appendix 2. Discussion of qualitative responses

Using open-ended questions, we asked respondents to list the five most positive and five most
negative attributes of their expatriate and repatriate experiences. Both the positive and negative
attribute lists are quite extensive, and include work-related/managerial issues, financial
considerations, and experiences relating to personal/cultural growth. Upon careful examination
of both lists, five categories of responses relevant for both positive and negative attributes of the
expatriate/repatriate experience were identified. Four of the categories correspond to
work-related attributes of the respondents’ experiences, and the fifth includes all
personal/cultural aspects of the experience listed by the respondents. Three researchers
independently coded the open-ended responses into the five categories. The consistency was
 approximately 90 percent. In cases of inconsistency in categorisation, a Delphi-method was used Operational
to reach consensus. The categories of attributes were defined as follows:
factors
(1) Work-related attributes influencing the employee’s job and career, relating to
responsibility, autonomy, and advancement opportunities.
Examples: More responsibility abroad than at home; More autonomy; Passed by for
promotion opportunity in home office; Isolated from colleagues and home office
(2) Attributes relating to compensation, tax relief, and benefits offered. 1267
Examples: Better compensation; Per diem and tax-free year; Company’s inability to
adequately compensate employees; Payroll delay with tax info
(3) Attributes associated with exposure to different parts of the organisation and associated
management practices, and resulting difficulties or learning opportunities encountered.
Examples: Learning foreign accounting practices; Building relationships with clients;
Change in work environment; Caught between and asked to bridge two very different
systems
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(4) Attributes related to the level of support and flexibility offered by the organisation.
Examples: Supportive management in US and abroad for work issues; More flexible
work environment; HR lack of support in local recruiting; Host organisation’s lack of
support for cultural differences
(5) Personal and cultural attributes affecting the employee and his/her family.
Examples: Opportunity to travel; Increasing respect for different cultures; Fear of
violence; Difficulty for spouse to find a job
After assigning each response to one of the five categories, the frequency with which
respondents listed attributes in each category was determined. Table AI outlines
positive and negative response frequencies for each category. Approximately
two-thirds of the attributes listed fell into the work-related categories. The remaining
one-third of the attributes were personal in nature, reflecting the importance of
non-work-related aspects of the expatriation and repatriation experiences that affect
the employee and his/her family.
In the work-related categories, the compensation category is the least represented in the
responses. While compensation issues are important to expatriates, the compensation/benefits
package is likely to be fairly well understood before the assignment is accepted by the employee.
As such, it is not surprising that compensation issues arise somewhat infrequently
when expatriates are asked about positive and negative attributes of their experience.

Positive % of Negative % of Total

response positive response negative each % of total
Categories frequency responses frequency responses category responses

Responsibility/career
advancement 84 23 61 20 145 21
Compensation/Benefits 31 9 21 7 52 8
Exposure to
practices/organisation 96 26 54 17 150 22
Support/flexibility of Table AI.
organisation 34 9 74 24 108 16 Categorisation of
Personal/cultural 121 33 100 32 221 33 responses – frequency
Total 366 100 310 100 676 100 and percent of total
 IJOPM Negative responses in this category focus on a failure of the company to deliver on promises or
effectively manage financial and tax issues for the employee.
24,12 The most frequent positive work-related attributes fall into categories 1 and 3, accounting for
73 percent of the positive work-related attributes listed by respondents (49 percent of all positive
responses). These responses are typically associated with the individual employee’s
responsibility and autonomy, the learning that resulted from exposure to new management
practices in different parts of the organisation/world, and the improved understanding of the
1268 opportunities and challenges encountered in operations of the extended enterprise. The frequent
identification of these kinds of elements as being among the most positive attributes of the
expatriate/repatriate experience is consistent with the earlier regression analysis results
reflecting the importance of individual career advancement factors (responsibility, promotion,
relocation difficulty) for satisfaction with either assignment. Only 9 percent of the positive
attributes listed related to compensation and benefits. Another 9 percent of the positive
responses fell into the category of support and flexibility.
Meanwhile, the greatest number of negative work-related attributes fell into the
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support/flexibility category (24 percent of all negative responses in category 4). Another
17 percent of the negative responses relate to difficulties encountered due to management
practices and different work environments. Together, lack of sufficient support and poorly
managed transitions to new business practices are notable and problematic for the employee,
and can contribute significantly to negative expatriate/ repatriate experiences. This observation
supports earlier analysis results on the importance of operational factors, including technical
sophistication and use of standard practices in the organisation, both of which can facilitate
management and support of the employee’s expatriation and repatriation experiences. Negative
attributes associated with the responsibility, autonomy, and career advancement of the employee
during and after the expatriate experience also appear to be important (20 percent of all
responses), again consistent with our earlier findings, e.g. that relocation difficulty is the single
most negative factor influencing satisfaction with repatriation, and increased responsibility and
promotion significantly improve satisfaction with both expatriation and repatriation.
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