Evidences

Studies, dissertations, master's theses, articles, investigation


Why does secondments fail?

"...90-94% der gescheiterten Expatriates gaben an, dass die Unzufriedenheit des Partners der Hauptgrund für das Scheitern waren ."

vgl. Schreiner, K. (2007), S. 62

"Expatriate adjustment is greatly dependent on the family's adjustment and vice-versa."

Takeuchi et al., 2002

"...but the managers family can also be an important factor in determining his (or her) possible failure."

Briscoe & Schuler, 2004; Czinkota et al., 2005; Collings et. al, 2007; Tungli & Peiperl, 2009; Cullen & Parboteeah, 2010; Hill, 2013

"Integrationsschwierigkeiten aufgrund kultureller Unterschiede sind häufigste Ursache für das Scheitern von Entsendungen."

Deloitte 2008 Entsendungsmanagement im Wandel

"The inability of the family, especially of the expatriates spouse to adjust to the new environment in the host country may put a lot of pressure on the transferred manager so raising his (or her) chances to fail."

Black & Gregersen, 1991

"Difficulties with Cross-Cultural adjustments are some of the major reasons for premature return of expatriates or their families."

Black and Gregersen, 1997

"Besides selection techniques, cross – cultural adaptation is the biggest challenge that derails expatriate success."

Jassawala, Truglia, & Garvey, 2004

"..., dass familiäre Gründe (meist die Unfähigkeit der Angehörigen, sich im Gastland anzupassen) die häufigste genannte Ursache für den Abbruch eines Auslandseinsatzes sind."

Abbot, G/ Stemming, B/Atkins, P/Fraut, A (2006) Coaching expatriate managers for success: Adding value beyond training and mentoring, in: Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, Bd. 44, 3/2006, S. 297

"Difficulties of the family or the manager"s partner to adjust can also affect negatively on his (her) job performance..."

Crowne & Goeke, 2012

"...or be the cause of a premature return home."

Tungli et al., 2009

"The main reason for failure are related to problems arising due to the inability of the family of the employee to adjust, disrupting the expatriate adaption to the host environment."

Aisha Naeem, Ali Bin Nadeem, Irfan Ullah Khan (2005/6) Culture Shock and Its effects on Expatriates

"PCNs may have difficulties to adjust to the host country culture and environment."

Briscoe & Schuler, 2004; Tungli & Peiperl, 2009, Cullen & Parboteeah, 2010

"Lack or inappropriate cross-cultural training and orientation programs ... lack or little support provided to expatriates and their families during the assignment overseas etc., are through the major factors bringing to a potential failure of expatriates."

Briscoe & Schuler (2004)

"...the persistence of family concerns as a reason for early return over several decades ... despite company programs to alleviate the problem indicate how difficult an international assignment can be for some..."

Peter J. Rowling, La Trobe University

What does failure of a secondment mean?
Definition, areas, extent

"they should start seeing as 'failed or unsuccessful expatriates or repatriates' those who do not fulfill MNCs expectations as far as performance and commitment to the company is concerned."

Christensen, C. & Harzing, A.W.K. (2004), “Expatriate Failure: Time to Abandon the Concept?” Career Development International, Vol. 9, No. 7, 616-626

"Survey of global trends in international assignments, by GMAC Global Relocation Services, National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) and SHRM Global Forum (GMAC, NFTC & SHRM) in 2004 shows that 7% of expatriates prematurely returned."

"Many studies have reported high rates of expatriate failures. For example, around 10 to 20% of the US expatriates returned prematurely while 33% of the ones who stayed had poor performance standards."

Black and Gregersen, 1997

"...argued for a more appropriate definition of expatriate failure: 'the inability of the expatriate or repatriate to perform according to the expectations of the organization'..."

Harzing and Christensen, 2004

"It finds that up to 40% of international assignees (often an organization’s top performers) resign within 12 months of completing their posting."

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Cranfield School of Management, 2006

"Studies have found that between 16 and 40 percent of all expatriate managers end their foreign assignments early because of their poor performance or their inability to adjust to the foreign environment."

Black, 1988

"Furthermore, as many as 50 percent who do not return early function at a low level of effectiveness."

Kaye & Taylor, 1997

What are the costs of failure?

"Indirect costs can be even more dramatic. MNCs may be faced with loss of opportunities and/or market share along with damaged relationships with clients, suppliers and/or local government officials."

Andreason, 2003; Cullen & Parboteeah, 2010 Cullen, J.B & Parboteeah, K.P. (2010), “International Business, strategy and the multinational company”, Routledge, NY, USA

"On the other hand, “failed” expatriates may suffer loss of self-esteem and confidence as well as they may find themselves unmotivated to undertake future challenging tasks."

Andreason, 2003; Puck et al, 2008

"Family relationships may be negatively affected too."

Andreason, 2003

"The report finds each international assignment costs companies an average of $311,000 per year."

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Cranfield School of Management, 2006

"direct costs comprise the expatriate’s salary, cost of training especially during the pre-departure preparation, travel and relocation expenses. This cost could be between US$250,000 and US$1,250,000."

Briscoe 1995; Black & Gregersen 1999; Abbottet al. 2006; all cited in Cole 2011, p.1505

"Expatriate failure, presently estimated to cost organizations in the range of US$ 250,000-US$ 1,000,000."

Varner & Palmer, 2002

Good to know

"50 % der Expats sind im Alter zwischen 30 und 50 Jahren. Durchschnittsalter:  46,1 Jahre"

Internation Studie Expat Insider, 2021

"...wichtiger Aspekt des Entsendungsmanagements ... dass zwischen 75 und 90% der männlichen und rund 50% der weiblichen Expatriates verheiratet sind."

Vgl. Horsch, J. (1995), S.129

"However, Puck et al. (2008), who studied around 340 expatriates from 20 German MNCs, came to the conclusion that pre-departure cross cultural training impact in each of the expatriates" adjustment components (i.e. general, work related, interactional) is little, if there is any."

"Paying more in assignment related allowances does not result in better than average performance."

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Cranfield School of Management, 2006

CCT has been defined in a myriad different ways, but the definition to understand it in its entirety is that ‘it is the educative processes used to improve intercultural learning via the development of the cognitive, affective, and behavioral competencies needed for successful
interactions in diverse cultures'.

Landis & Brislin, 1996; Morris & Robie, 2001, Littrell et al, 2006

"...research conducted over two decades has consistently shown that international organizations either neglect or handle expatriate cross-cultural preparation poorly."

Osman-Gani, 2000

"No general guidelines exist for working with trainers and designing programs."

Bean, 2006

"For example, it is well established that many MNEs struggle with high levels of voluntary turnover of repatriates on completion of their assignments."

Lazarova and Cerdin, 2007

"Higher Level of perceived organizational support lead to a great level of affective commitment to make an international assignment successful."

Aisha Naeem, Ali Bin Nadeem, Irfan Ullah Khan (2005/6) Culture Shock and Its effects on Expatriates

"Two studies report a positive relationship of employees' perception of being valued and cared about by the organization with (a) conscientiousness in carrying out conventional job responsibilities, (b) expressed affective and calculative involvements in the organization, and (e) innovation on behalf of the organization in the absence of anticipated direct reward or personal recognition. In Study 1, involving six occupations, positive relationships of perceived support with job attendance and performance were found. In Study 2, using manufacturing hourly employees and managers, perceived support was positively related to affective attachment, performance outcome expectancies, and the constructiveness of anonymous suggestions for helping the organization …"

Robert Eisenberger, Peter Fasolo, and Valerie Davis-LaMastro University of Delaware. Journal of Applied Psychology 1990 by the American Psychological Association, Inc., 1990, Vol. 75, No. 1, 51-59

"...dass 86% der verheirateten Expatriates von ihren Partnern, 51% auch von ihren Kindern ins Ausland begleitet wurden."

Vgl. Adler, N. (2008), S. 275

"Field experiences is judged as the most effective, but at the same time, as the most expensive program in accomplishing the expatriate adjustment objective."

Czinkota et al., 2005

"Besides cross-cultural training and compensation, keeping continuously in touch with expatriated managers during their service overseas can absolutely be a strong sustention to them and their families."

Cullen & Parboteeah, 2010

"Studies have found that social contexts, such as positive social contact with local nationals and social networks, have positive influence on the expatriates' adjustments, stress-coping, problem-focused and emotion-focused coping."

McGinley 2008; Osman-Gani & Rockstuhl, 2008

"...cross-cultural training can play a major role in contributing to expatriates' intercultural effectiveness."

Black, Mendenhall & Oddou, 1991; Desphande & Viswesvaran, 1992; Selmer, 2001; Tung, 1988; Zakaria, 2000

"The more different the culture of the host country is from that of the home country, the more difficult it is to adjust which would also have a bearing on the
effectiveness of the CCT."

Waxin & Panaccio, 2005

"Some studies revealed that the basic level and brevity of the training also limited its effectiveness in increasing participants' confidence in dealing with cultural diversity and in applying knowledge to the workplace or transferring it to coworkers."

Bean, 2007

"...argue that, those sent on developmental assignments are more inclined to leave their organizations, arguing this is related to better career opportunities available to them in the external labor market, and pointing to the particular influence of commitment-oriented and/or retention-oriented HR policies."

Further, Dickmann & Doherty, 2010

"...that the amount of organizational support the expatriate receives, during the course of the assignment is crucial in that it influences culture shock."

Eisenberger, Fasolo, David-LaMastro (1990) Perceived Organizational Support and Employee Diligence, Commitment, and Innovation


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