Repatriation of expatriate employees, knowledge transfer, and organizational learning What do we know?

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the topic of repatriation and the potential benefits of the use of repatriated employees to enhance global knowledge and organizational learning in multinational corporations. Design/methodology/approach - The paper provides an integrative literature review of articles published on repatriation, knowledge transfer, and organization learning 1999-2009. Findings - The literature review revealed that repatriation is a growing field of study in international human resources, and must be addressed as a multidimensional phenomenon in order to capture a clear picture of the challenges and potential benefits resulting from repatriation. Originality/value - This paper suggests practical measures to address repatriation and identify gaps for future research.