How likely am I to return home? A study of New Zealand self-initiated expatriates

Abstract

Our study contributes to the research domain of self-initiated repatriation, focusing on the drivers of self-initiated expatriates’ intention to repatriate (ITR). We examine the impact of selected individual characteristics (gender, ethnicity, international experience), contextual factors (spouse job availability, nature of networks, host-country location) and the established home-country pull factors (economic opportunities, lifestyle and relational considerations) on self-initiated expatriates’ ITR. We also examine the moderating effects of gender and international experience. Based on a sample of 248 New Zealand self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), the findings support the role of the established home-country pull factors, but a number of the additional contextual factors and individual characteristics of SIEs, as well as the moderation effects of gender and international experience represent new findings and offer contributions to the SIE repatriation literature.