What makes for successful repatriate knowledge transfer? Implications for repatriation and global leadership

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Joyce S. Osland
  • Betina Szkudlarek
  • Gary Oddou
  • Norihito Furuya
  • Jürgen Deller
Knowledge transfer is an important global leader (GL) competency, given their role as knowledge brokers and capacity builders. However, knowledge transfer skills and the transfer process itself have received scant attention from both global mobility and leadership scholars. Similarly, multinationals have seldom systematically collected and utilized repatriate knowledge, despite the competitive advantage it represents in a global knowledge economy. To fill this gap, an exploratory qualitative study employing critical incidents and interviews with a multi-country sample of 47 German, Japanese, and US repatriates identified variables that facilitate knowledge transfer attempts to the work unit. Our findings corroborate the proposed variables in a conceptual model of the transfer process and articulate the transfer skills that help explain their ability to transfer. Most importantly, our findings introduce an interactive transfer model that explicates the microprocess of transfer in the repatriate–work unit relationship. We conclude with implications for global leadership research and HRM practice.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAdvances in Global Leadership
EditorsJoyce Osland, Betina Szkudlarek, Mark E. Mendenhall, B. Sebastian Reiche
Number of pages24
Volume13
Place of PublicationBingley
PublisherEmerald Publishing Limited
Publication date19.10.2020
Edition1
Pages105-128
ISBN (Print)978-1-83909-593-1
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-83909-592-4, 978-1-83909-594-8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19.10.2020

    Research areas

  • Business psychology - Global leadership, Knowledge transfer, repatriate knowledge transfer, Knowledge transfer skills, HRM practices, Global leadership development