A comparative study of domestic, European and international job-related relocation

Abstract

This paper explores a number of relocation outcomes for geographically mobile employees in the following three regions: Germany as the home country and destination for domestic assignments (n = 115), Western Europe (n = 116) and other countries (n = 236). The satisfaction with various aspects of the post-relocation environment, the perception of change between the pre- and post-relocation environment and the attachment to the post-relocation environment at various levels were compared between the three groups. For the European and international sub-samples differences in the ideal country and future plans were also investigated. The group that stood out most clearly was the domestic sub-sample. It emerged as the group least satisfied with their job or task characteristics, perceived significantly fewer changes in the environment and was comparatively eager to leave the site they were currently working at and the job they were currently employed in. The sometimes proposed redefinition of intra-European assignments as ‘quasi-domestic’ relocation appears to be inappropriate.

Keywords:

• expatriates
• international assignments
• job relocation

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 9th International Human Resource Management Conference in Tallinn in 2007. The author is grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful and developmental comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

Notes

1. In the context of this investigation, Western Europe is defined as EU-15 countries, i.e. countries that joined the EU in 1995 or earlier, plus Switzerland. Distinguishing between EU-15 countries and Central and Eastern European countries joining the EU in 2004 or later was seen as important due to a number of cultural and historical differences, such as Slavic languages, the influence of orthodox Christianity or the recent socialist/communist past. It seems reasonable to assume that for a sample drawn almost exclusively from the former West Germany, familiarity with other EU-15 countries or Switzerland still far exceeds familiarity with Central and Eastern European countries, although this might be changing.

2. Calculated on the basis of figures published in Eurostat (2008). Ireland was excluded from the calculation as the share of nights by EU-25 residents as a proportion of total international nights in the country was not available.

3. Guidelines for interpreting the MSA-value suggested by Kaiser and Rice (1974, pp. 112–113):

MSA ≥ 0.90 ‘marvellous’

MSA ≥ 0.80 ‘meritorious’

MSA ≥ 0.70 ‘middling’

MSA ≥ 0.60 ‘mediocre’

MSA ≥ 0.50 ‘miserable’

MSA < 0.50 ‘unacceptable’.