An Empirical Study on the Organizational Commitment of Repatriated Female Employees

IntroductionExpatriation is the process of sending managers to another country to run a subsidiary of a multinational organization. Companies spend huge amounts of money on their expatriates. In a study done by Stelmer (2001) it is estimated that most companies spend between $300,000 and $1,000,000 annually on an individual on foreign assignment. On completion of the international assignment, the expatriates return home and then the process of repatriation begins. However companies often underestimate the repatriation process because the employees are just 'coming back home' so there are supposed to be no difficulties in adjusting to their own environment (Adler, 1981; Tung, 1998; and Stroh et al. 1998) Because companies underestimate the repatriation process, there is a tendency that employees who have been sent to work abroad are more likely to seek new job opportunities than the ones who have not (Stroh, 1995) Black and Gregersen (1999) show in their study that 25% of the repatriates left their companies within one year of repatriation, which is twice as much as the ones who have not experienced expatriation; and in addition, if the employee leaves the organization the cost of replacing the employee is almost 29% (non management) to 46% (management) of the person's annual salary.There are different reasons for the resignation of the employees. Some suggest that the repatriates do not see any career opportunities in the companies they are working for (Paik et al. 2002) Others argue that the main reason is the lack of a repatriation program (Hurn, 1999) Repatriates report low turnover intentions if upon return, the repatriates gain access to a suitable job and experience minimal cross cultural readjustment difficulties (Leiba O'Sullivan, 2002) In addition, employees who are uncommitted to the organization are more likely to resign. Repatriates who feel committed to the company are more willing to share their knowledge gained abroad (Oddou et al. 2009) Thus the major factors leading to consideration of turnover are listed as adjustment difficulties, career prospects, external job offers, salary level, organizational status level, lack of clarity of the job in parent company, unsatisfactory repatriation treatment, and decreased organizational commitment.Recent studies have investigated repatriation primarily from the perspective of the repatriates to determine which factors influence repatriation commitment. In particular, there is a dearth of empirical research which details the repatriation phase of female international managers, presumably because of their relative scarcity. Recent research on factors influencing the commitment of women on global assignments virtually ignores the repatriation issue (Caliguiri and Cascio, 1998; Caliguiri and Tung, 1998; and Caligiuri et al. 1998) Most research on women in international management has been conducted in the US, with little attention given to this topic in other countries. Analysis of the extensive research conducted in North America by Adler (1984; 1986; 1987; and 1994) with female expatriate managers shows that none of the participants in her studies occupied her company's most senior position in North America or in any other country. A majority were employed in 'junior' managerial positions, supervising from zero to 25 subordinates, with the average falling just below five. This paper takes as its unique focus, therefore, the perceptions of female 'senior' international managers in relation to the commitment level of returning employee, and is one of the first empirical Indian studies of female repatriation. Hence the present research will focus on Indian IT repatriated female executives, a relatively unexplored group, yet one of great importance as organizations attempt to retain these high demand/high impact employees.Literature ReviewThe concept of organizational commitment has attracted considerable interest in an attempt to understand and clarify the intensity and stability of an employee's dedication to the organization (Lumley, 2010)