Understanding the intentions of expatriates to return home: A study of organisation-assigned scholars from Ghana

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McPhail, Ruth E

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O'Donohue, Wayne A

Despotovic, Vuk

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2021-07-07
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Organisations in developing countries are concerned about the failure of their expatriate employees to return home, resulting in the continued loss of human capital to the organisation and their national economies. The rationale for expatriation of employees from developing countries to developed economies is for the acquisition of skills and knowledge that will be beneficial to the organization upon the return of the employee. One of the primary means by which organisations within developing countries enhance their human capital is via sponsoring their employees to relocate abroad to attend tertiary institutions where they perceive the skills lacking in their organisation can be acquired. The dilemma of the sponsoring organisation lies in not knowing if their employees will return and, if they do, whether they will stay in the organisation. Employing a qualitative methodology and phenomenological case study method, this study explored the intentions of expatriates to return home, by sampling 20 expatriates who travelled overseas to study as part of their ongoing work and employment. The findings revealed that the unconditional intentions of the OAS to return home were influenced by the PC relationship that existed between the expatriate and their organisation during their tenure in the host country. The findings suggest that, due to a lack of resources in the home country work environment, the OAS perceive that they may not be able to apply their newly acquired skills upon return, although that factor alone does not deter them from deciding to return home. Practically, the study suggests that to influence the intentions of OASs from Ghana to return home, the employing organisations, may establish a structure to support a relational PC contract. Further organisations in developing countries should develop an implementation and monitoring unit to ensure the delivery of support and develop economic sustainability programs for the OAS when they repatriate this will serve as a motivating tool to attract the OAS home.

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Thesis (PhD Doctorate)

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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Dept Empl Rel & Human Resource

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The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.

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Subject

expatriate employees

return home

failure

developing countries

intentions

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