Inpatriation management: A literature review and recommendations for future research

In today's global economy, expatriate assignments are indispensable for multinational enterprises (MNEs) to develop talent, transfer knowledge and control foreign subsidiaries. While previous research provided substantial knowledge of expatriate assignments from headquarters (HQ) to subsidiaries, much less is known about alternative international assignment types. This chapter deals with relocations of foreign subsidiary employees to the corporate HQ, a process known as inpatriation. Inpatriation can be used as a strategic talent development method to prepare subsidiary employees for senior managerial positions back in the foreign subsidiary or elsewhere in the MNE network. Notably, the implementation and utilization of inpatriation presents a multitude of challenges. This chapter deals with opportunities and challenges associated with inpatriation in MNEs by taking a closer look at the different stages of an inpatriation assignment, that is, before, during, and after the inpatriation assignment. Based on a comprehensive literature review, we summarize the key factors of successful inpatriation assignments for each stage and provide implications for future research.