Here We Go Again: How a Family's Cross-Cultural and Repatriation Adjustment: Relates to the Employee's Receptivity to Future International Assignments‪.‬

Expatriates play an important role in the global strategies of many organizations by filling a skill gap in a foreign business operation, transferring management expertise or corporate culture, starting up new operations, and coordinating global activities (Black, and Gregersen, 1999; Harzing, 2001; Hocking, Brown, and Harzing, 2004). The need for expatriates to perform these activities remains high. In a 2004 study of global relocations trends conducted by GMAC Global Relocation Services, the National Foreign Trade Council, and SHRM, 85% of companies expected their expatriate workforce size to increase or remain the same for the coming year (GMAC Global Relocation Services [GMAC], 2004). Yet, evidence in both the research and practitioner literature suggests a reluctance among many managers to accept expatriate assignments, believing that such assignments may, among other things, derail their careers by placing them "out of sight" and "out of mind" of the home office (Andreason and Kinneer, 2004; Feldman and Thompson, 1992; Mendenhall, Dunbar, and Odou, 1987; Napier and Peterson, 1991; Selmer, 2001; Stroh, Gregersen, and Black, 1998). Research shows that family issues affect the willingness of an employee to accept a foreign assignment (Tharenou, 2003). In the GMAC study, the most common reason for refusing an international assignment was family concerns (47%), far outweighing the next most common reason, career aspirations (14%). Similarly, Tung and Arthur Andersen (1997) found that few expatriates would accept an international assignment if their families objected to the assignment or could not accompany them. Several studies suggest that a spouse's willingness to relocate internationally (WTRI) is a strong predictor of the employee's willingness to relocate (Brett and Stroh, 1995; Brett, Stroh, and Reilly, 1990, 1992, 1993; Konopaske, Robie, and Ivancevich, 2005; Tung and Arthur Andersen, 1997). Consequently, greater understanding is needed about factors that might affect a spouse's WTRI.