The organizational value of international assignments – the relational underpinning

Abstract

The organizational value of international assignments (IAs), is unclear and rarely measured by organizations. We argue that taking a relational perspective may enable a greater understanding of the value of IAs to organizations. A relational perspective involves focusing upon the relationship between the home and host organizations participating in an IA. Our literature review combines separate strands of research from the fields of Human Resource Management, International Business and Global Mobility to investigate whether such a relational underpinning exists. Based on this we develop a relational framework enabling the clarification of extant knowledge and illuminating the contradictions, uncertainties and areas for further research. As a result, we offer exploratory propositions and a future research agenda to improve our knowledge and understanding of this fundamental topic. Through reframing extant knowledge of IA organizational value we enable HR departments to refine their global mobility strategies and guide their choices amongst assignment options.

Acting in the spirit of the whole : Expatriate careers between the poles of personal intentions and of company and country policies

“…It has outlined and analyzed an array of theoretical approaches, career implications and contextual considerations (Mayrhofer et al, 2020;Mello et al, 2022). Often, the more dangerous, difficult or costly aspects of working abroad have been stressed even though they are not always well-understood or assessed (Bader et al, 2021;McNulty & Tharenou, 2004;Renshaw et al, 2021). The GLOMO project explored a number of key challenges that are hitherto under-researched and worked towards an audit tool that allows some assessment of the status quo and outcomes of organizational global mobility strategies, policies and practices.…”

Wanderlust to wonderland? : Exploring key issues in expatriate careers: Individual, organizational, and societal insights

“…It has outlined and analyzed an array of theoretical approaches, career implications and contextual considerations (Mayrhofer et al, 2020;. Often, the more dangerous, difficult or costly aspects of working abroad have been stressed even though they are not always well-understood or assessed (Bader et al, 2021;McNulty & Tharenou, 2004;Renshaw et al, 2021). The GLOMO project explored a number of key challenges that are hitherto under-researched and worked towards an audit tool that allows some assessment of the status quo and outcomes of organizational global mobility strategies, policies and practices.…”

“…Of course, costs are not the whole picture. The benefits of an assignment and the overall GM approach should be assessed to adequately understand the organizational value of expatriation (Renshaw et al, 2020). Organizations are notoriously weak at really understanding such value because they are rarely assessing the benefits systematically or in a way that is capturing the various positive effects (McNulty, 2015).…”

The potential of virtual global mobility: implications for practice and future research

“…Finally, best practice systems transfer is a strategic practice for the firm to apply its own specific ways of information processing and other functions, enabling it to efficiently and consistently achieve global economies-of-scale (Belderbos and Heijltjes, 2005). This often occurs through the assignment of experts who facilitate organizational learning (Renshaw et al. , 2021).…”