Reactive Adjustment or Proactive Embedding? Multistudy, Multiwave Evidence for Dual Pathways to Expatriate Retention

Abstract

The dominant perspective on expatriation characterizes the process as a continuing adaptation to existing job demands on an international assignment. Another, less studied perspective, emphasizes that expatriates can initiate tactics to acquire task, interpersonal, and affective resources for shaping their assignment experiences. Adopting a positive organizational scholarship lens and drawing on the job demands–resources model, we simultaneously examine both of these reactive demand‐based and proactive resource‐based pathways to expatriate retention. We propose that cross‐cultural uncertainty demands and expatriate‐initiated resource acquisition tactics both influence adjustment and embeddedness. Thus embeddedness works alongside adjustment to drive expatriates’ plans to remain in the international position, which in turn leads to actual retention. Using evidence from 2 separate panel studies (one with 2 waves and the other with 4 waves of data), we demonstrate the importance of the resource‐based pathway for expatriate assignments.

The Story of Why We Stay: A Review of Job Embeddedness

“…In a very innovative approach to the theory and research on expatriation and repatriation, Ren et al (2013) switched the focus from the prevailing view of reactive efforts to proactive efforts in dealing with international assignments. Akin to for job embeddedness, the authors induced hypotheses from job demands and resources theory.…”

“…When considered together, Tharenou & Caulfield (2010), Kraimer et al (2012), and Ren et al (2013) offer theoretically rich evidence that job embeddedness is a distal predictor of turnover. In addition, these studies identify theoretically meaningful and perhaps managerially useful variables that allow better understanding and perhaps serve as levers to manipulate the contextual effects of turnover.…”

The job demands-resources model and the international work context – a systematic review

“…A possible basis for advancing an internationally robust JD-R model might be found in works such as the three factor taxonomy of global work experiences proposed by Shaffer et al (2012), demonstrating the importance of the individual's degree of physical mobility, cognitive flexibility and potentially non-work factors (the latter albeit to a lesser degree). In order to follow shift towards positive psychology the interest in predictors of positive work-related outcomes in an international work context could be a particularly interesting avenue of future research (e.g., Ren et al, 2014). This focus might also allow a more differentiated view on different dimensions of engagement and their varying effects on work outcomes.…”

Embeddedness and the Repatriation Intention of Assigned and Self-Initiated Expatriates

“…For example, Tharenou and Caulfield (2010), drawing on a sample of 546 Australian SIEs, find that on-the-job and off-thejob embeddedness reduces repatriation intention and subsequently actual repatriation of expatriates. Similarly, Ren, Shaffer, Harrison, Fu, and Fodchuk (2014) Notwithstanding the recent advancements in the expatriation literature, the lack of more comparative studies on early repatriation intention of AEs and SIEs leads to at least two problems. First, we know relatively little about how on-the-job and off-the-job embeddedness of AEs affects their early repatriation intention.…”