Journal of World Business 49 (2014) 245–252

Talent management and expatriation: Bridging two streams ofresearch and practice

Jean-Luc Cerdin a,*, Chris Brewster b,c

a ESSEC Business School, Management Department, Avenue Bernard Hirsch, B.P. 105, 95021 Cergy-Pontoise Cedex, Franceb Henley Business School, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6UD, UKc Faculty of Business Studies, University of Vaasa, Finland

A R T I C L E I N F O

Article history:

Available online 19 December 2013

Keywords:

Talent management

Expatriation

Career capital

Development

A B S T R A C T

This paper argues that talent management and expatriation are two significantly overlapping but

separate areas of research and that bringing the two together has significant and useful implications for

both research and practice. We offer indications of how this bringing together might work, in particular

developing the different results that will come from narrower and broader concepts of talent

management. Our framework defines global talent management as a combination of high-potential

development and global careers development. The goal of the paper is to lay the foundations for future

research while encouraging organizations to manage expatriation strategically in a talent-management

perspective.

� 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Journal of World Business

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1. Talent management and expatriation: bridging two streamsof research and practice

In the international human resource management (HRM)literature, the management of expatriation is accorded significantstatus since it is seen as a key contributor to firm performance. Yet,despite this, it appears that expatriate management remains aweakness for many organizations (Lazarova & Cerdin, 2007;Shaffer, Kraimer, Chen, & Bolino, 2012) and is often somewhatseparated from the organization’s global policy of human resourcemanagement. Developing the key talent in the organization isusually managed by a different set of specialists than those whomanage expatriation. Expatriates are usually selected by linemanagers (Harris & Brewster, 1999) and expatriation is oftenmanaged by administrative HRM specialists who are focused onthe reward and taxation package, with little linkage to training,performance management, individual career development or long-term careers (Cascio, 2012; van der Heijden, van Engen, & Paauwe,2009). In short, expatriation management and talent management,while undeniably closely related, are rarely studied together.

We propose to explore the connection between talentmanagement and expatriation to explain how they interact andto elaborate the consequences of this relationship for both fields ofstudy. Global talent management seems to be the right label for

* Corresponding author.

E-mail addresses: cerdin@essec.fr (J.-L. Cerdin),

c.j.brewster@henley.reading.ac.uk (C. Brewster).

1090-9516/$ – see front matter � 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2013.11.008

capturing the connection between talent management andexpatriation (Scullion, Collings, & Caligiuri, 2010; Tarique &Schuler, 2013). However, we can identify two streams in thisrelationship, in line with two conceptions of talent management,namely (1) the elitist, or talent segmentation, approach focused ona few chosen individuals, often termed ‘high potentials’, in whomthe organization invests, and (2) a broad aspect of Human ResourceManagement where all employees are considered as talent. Wepropose to explore both so as to introduce a framework forunderstanding the relationship between talent management andexpatriation. This can serve as a basis for future research and helporganizations better manage their expatriates within the logic oftalent management.

Our analysis and our examples are from corporately assignedexpatriates and the messages in this article are clear for them. Webelieve that they may also apply to other forms of internationalexperience, such as migrants, self-initiated expatriates and short-term assignees (Al Ariss & Crowley-Henry, 2013; Ariss, Vassilo-poulou, Ozbilgin, & Game, 2013; Fang, Samnani, Novicevic, & Bing,2013; Guo, Porschitz, & Alves, 2013; Vaiman & Haslberger, 2013).However this article is focused on the ‘traditional’ expatriate andwe leave research into the other forms for the future.

2. The talent segmentation approach to expatriation and talentmanagement

The talent segmentation approach to expatriation stems fromthe rationale for its use. The classic explanation of organizations’reasons for using expatriation (Edstrom & Galbraith, 1977;

Talent Management

Fill Positions

Control

Develop Individuals

Low

Expatriate

assignment

purposes

Short-term

Strategic

Coordination

High

Fig. 1. Expatriation purposes and talent management.

J.-L. Cerdin, C. Brewster / Journal of World Business 49 (2014) 245–252246

Hocking, Brown, & Harzing, 2004) still holds: they use it (1) toprovide skills in a market where they are hard to find, (2) todevelop the organization through control and coordination, and (3)to create learning amongst expatriates that will benefit the firm.For the first goal, the organization’s immediate priority is to fillpositions, which leaves little to no room for consideration ofindividuals’ careers; the second goal may be about imposingcentral control, with the same effects, or about developing co-ordination through global mindsets in the organization, which mayinvolve changing minds at headquarters as well as in thesubsidiaries, and would be include career considerations; andfor the third goal, the development of individual careers is thefocus (Cerdin, 2008). We draw a distinction that is not usual in theliterature, but we believe to be common in practice, betweencontrol and co-ordination. The two objectives may be equallystrategic in their impact upon the expatriate and the organization.Controlling roles are much less likely to have a talent-managementaspect than are co-ordination roles. Hence, for the latter, as forthose (rare) expatriation roles that are explicitly designated asdevelopmental, talent management is a key focus, as theorganization is mindful of the development of the individual’sskill set, and of the capabilities of those they interact with – a pointwe will return to.

The segmentation approach to strategic talent managementfocuses on those who ‘‘are included in the organization’spivotal talent pool and who occupy, or are being developed tooccupy, pivotal talent positions’’ (Collings & Mellahi, 2009: p.306). Expatriates may well belong to this group. The roleexpatriates, particularly managerial expatriates, play in knowl-edge transfer (Bonache & Brewster, 2001) or in diffusingmanagerial practices from headquarters to subsidiaries andvice versa underlines their importance as amongst the keyemployees who are the object of segmentation talent manage-ment (Bjorkman, Barner-Rasmussen, & Li, 2004; Cerdin, 2003;Kamoche, 1997).

This approach to talent management combines a strategic useof expatriates with a strong focus on talent management, the aimbeing to develop individuals for further responsibilities within theorganization. In that sense, talent management is synonymouswith the traditional ‘high-potential’ approach. Organizationsidentify individuals who they expect, in the long term, to be ableto occupy top-management positions (CIPD, 2009). It is well-known that major multinational corporations (MNCs) such asColgate Palmolive and Philips, for example, restrict their seniorpositions to employees who have worked in more than onecountry. International experience is a prerequisite to get promotedabove a certain level within those organizations. High-potentialsare assigned to international positions so that they may developnew skills, but it is also a way to test their abilities as tomorrow’stop managers. In this sense, the high potentials as expatriates arecritical for the organization’s current goals as well as for its long-term objectives. The segmentation perspective on talent seemsprevalent in the literature (Swailes, 2013). This talent segmenta-tion perspective is ‘‘consistent with Pareto’s ‘law of the vital few’,which, in this case, suggests that about 80% of an organization’svalue adding derives from about 20% of its employees’’ (Swailes,2013: p. 32).

The segmentation approach to talent management addressesnot only top positions, but also key positions. Collings and Mellahi(2009: p. 305) suggest that talent management aims to identify keypositions that ‘‘differentially contribute to the organization’ssustainable competitive advantage’’. The relationship betweenthe talent segmentation view involved in some expatriationassignments and the segmentation view of talent management isapparent in international developmental assignments, but goesbeyond that.

We can map the link between expatriation purposes and talentmanagement as shown in Fig. 1. The key axis is the diagonal onefrom bottom left to top right. Expatriate assignments in the bottomleft corner (short-term business objectives) will include purposessuch as position-filling, opening new markets and technologytransfer that may have little or no link to talent management norhave aspects of talent management as primary objectives. As thestrategic management purposes of the assignment become morelong-term so the talent management element increases untilorganizations are investing in solely individual development. Wesee that assignments focused on control will require closeraffiliation with HQ with less opportunity for talent developmentand those focused on co-ordination will create more individuallearning. This is, of course, a gradually sliding scale so that fewassignments will fit solely and exactly into the named categoriesand not include elements of other kinds of assignment in them butthe figure indicates the relationship between expatriationpurposes and talent management.

A valuable aspect of talent development will be, in many cases,the expatriation experience. The global-assignment-success cyclecan develop global leaders within the organization assuming that(1) they have been selected effectively, (2) they use their timeabroad to develop their competencies and (3) they returnsuccessfully to their organization (Stroh, Black, Mendenhall, &Gregersen, 2005).

The selection criteria have been the subject of a large body ofliterature, with emphasis placed especially on criteria such aspartner support and communication skills (Franke & Nicholson,2002). However, criteria that are centered on expatriate develop-ment within the logic of talent management, such as leadershipqualities, or alignment between personal and corporate values, aremostly overlooked in the literature. The focus on technical skillsfound in the early research has persisted (Anderson, 2005; Zeira &Banai, 1985) and, indeed, the process by which employees areselected for expatriation is often not as formalized as one mightexpect (Harris & Brewster, 1999).

Adjustment and performance while on assignment has beenexamined frequently since the seminal conceptual work onadjustment by Black, Mendenhall and Oddou (1991). Theiridentification of adjustment as consisting of three (somewhatoverlapping) ‘facets’ of adjustment to work, to interacting withhost nationals and to the general environment has been muchreplicated (see Bhaskar-Shrinivas, Harrison, Shaffer, & Luk, 2005).It has also increasingly often been critiqued (Haslberger &

J.-L. Cerdin, C. Brewster / Journal of World Business 49 (2014) 245–252 247

Brewster, 2009; Hippler, 2006; Stahl & Caligiuri, 2005; Thomas &Lazarova, 2006). The weakness in this line of research is its failureto establish an evidential link between expatriate adjustment andfirm performance – see, for example, Gong (2003) versus Colakogluand Caligiuri (2008) and Gaur, Delios and Singh (2007). Much lessattention has been paid to the developmental results of theassignment (though see the use of the career capital concept notedbelow).

Repatriation management remains an organizational weak-ness in international mobility (Kraimer, Shaffer, & Bolino, 2009;Lazarova & Cerdin, 2007; Shaffer et al., 2012). Although theexpatriation is nearly always a success for those individuals whowent abroad, they often leave the company upon return (Suutari &Brewster, 2003). Given the investment that the organization hasmade in their development and the fact that they are likely to findwork with competitors, this is hardly an example of good talentmanagement. Short-term approaches to repatriation, devoid ofstrategic management, result in repatriation not being managedeffectively (Farndale, Scullion, & Sparrow, 2010). On the otherhand, repatriation is more likely to be a success for thoseindividuals who were sent abroad with the explicit goal ofdeveloping their skills as key employees within the assigningorganization (Cerdin, 2008; Suutari, Riusala, Brewster, & Syrja-kari, 2013). Because their expatriation was perceived from theoutset as yet another stage in their overall career development,within a broader logic of human resource management, thechance of expatriate management leading to satisfactory resultsfor both the organization and the employee is higher. Expatriationmanagement should not be seen as separate from the overall HRMpolicy.

3. A global HRM approach to expatriation and talentmanagement

A conception of talent management as broader than thesegmentation approach locates it within a global HRM strategy andmay well include expatriation within it. Here, expatriation is seenas an invaluable developmental experience offered to employeesbeing assigned abroad, rather than restricted to just the declared‘developmental’ assignments, and is seen as an additional ‘weapon’in the ‘armory’ of talent-management specialists. On occasionbusiness requirements may demand short-term or ad hocresponses to crises, with expatriate management being limitedto the administrative aspects, such as legal contracts andpreparation of the expatriation package. Under a talent-manage-ment philosophy, the developmental experience of expatriationand its long-term impact on the individual and the organizationcome to be seen as its crux. If strategic human resourcemanagement is defined as the art of taking effective decisionsabout the management of people (Cascio & Boudreau, 2012) thensuch decisions about talent management and expatriation fallneatly under the Global HRM approach to expatriation and talent.

This talent-management concept of expatriation involves itbeing thought about and implemented as an element of an overallglobal approach to HRM. Here, individuals’ careers are placed atthe heart of expatriation management as a crucial aspect of talentmanagement (Cerdin & Le Pargneux, 2009). This view assists inensuring that the different stages of an expatriation, before, duringand after, are closely integrated with one another and helps towardbetter integration of international work experiences with the restof the employee’s work experiences. Repatriation failures concernthe typical loss of between a quarter and a third of employees fromthe firm (Black & Gregeresen, 1999; Suutari & Brewster, 2000,2003). Survey reports such as the Brookfield Global RelocationTrends (2012) still indicate that retention of internationalemployees is a problem, both during the international assignment,

with 22% of international assignees leaving their company whileon assignment, with ‘‘24% leaving within one year of repatriation,’’and ‘‘26% between the first and second year of repatriation’’. Whilstthe survey may not stand up to academic scrutiny, clearly there area significant number of cases of losses stemming from this lack ofintegration and lack of dealing with expatriation as a career issue atthe core of talent management. Integrating expatriation manage-ment into broader HRM policies, with a particular accent on careermanagement, requires a change of organizational mindset, from abasically administrative (pay and conditions) approach to a morestrategic one. More than three decades of research and progress inthe field related to expatriation management have not succeededin making expatriation management an integrated element ofstrategic human resource management.

In learning-related careers individuals are expected to pursuean ‘intelligent career’ articulated around three types of knowing,namely knowing-why, knowing-whom and knowing-how (DeFil-lippi & Arthur, 1994; Jokinen, Brewster, & Suutari, 2008). Thesethree forms of knowing are pivotal to the development of careercapital or the resources that an individual has to advance theircareer. Knowing-why refers to why individuals work, which isrelated to their values and interests. Knowing-whom refers tonetworking, defined broadly, including professional and personalrelationships. Knowing-how refers to the skills and competenciesemployees can offer to internal (their organization) or externallabor markets.

Career capital is particularly important for expatriates, what-ever the purposes of their assignment, either short-term orstrategic, as it constitutes the foundation of their employability.Career anchors, which are an aspect of the knowing-why, reflect aperson’s values and interests in terms of career orientation, andthus contribute to expatriate success both during the expatriationphase and during the repatriation phase (Cerdin & Le Pargneux,2009). Knowing whom is also an important element of career-capital building, both in an international and domestic context, asit helps individuals to achieve their career objectives and besuccessful in their careers (Seibert, Kraimer, & Liden, 2001; Yan,Zhu, & Hall, 2002). Network-building plays a key role sinceexpatriates can act as boundary spanners (Makela, 2007) to help anorganization in building social networks and exchanging knowl-edge (Farndale et al., 2010). Knowing-how refers to skills andcompetencies that individuals can offer to an organization. This iswhy the literature on expatriation selection has often concentratedon soft skills related to the ability to adjust to another culture. Forinstance, Mendenhall and Oddou (1985) suggested examiningdifferent kinds of abilities, such as those that can be classified as‘self-oriented’ and ‘others-oriented’. Technical expertise is neces-sary but not sufficient. Recent research puts emphasis onintercultural skills. These encompass characteristics that interna-tional assignees as well as managers in global firms should possessand develop. It includes concepts such as ‘global mindset’ (Levy,Beechler, Taylor, & Boyacigiller, 2007) or ‘cultural intelligence’(Earley & Ang, 2003; Thomas & Inkson, 2004). Thomas et al. (2008:p. 127) define cultural intelligence as ‘‘a system of interactingknowledge and skills, linked by cultural metacognition, that allowspeople to adapt to, select, and shape the cultural aspects of theirenvironment’’. Other definitions have been proposed, such as theone coined by Earley and Ang (2003), which includes a motivationdimension (Earley & Ang, 2003). Even though differences exist inthe way cultural intelligence is defined, researchers agree on thefact that it can be developed through various types of internationalexperiences. The logic of talent management meets individualswhere they are in order to develop their skills, rather than simplyselecting them based on the skill level they currently have. For thisreason, individuals’ current intercultural skills must first be knownin order for the organization to develop them further (Mendenhall,

J.-L. Cerdin, C. Brewster / Journal of World Business 49 (2014) 245–252248

2006). Triandis (2006) believes that in-depth training can helpindividuals develop cultural intelligence.

Cultural training is complementary to the recruitment andselection process in the sense that it enables the organization toevaluate and confirm further the candidates’ aptitude forexpatriation, and even to take into consideration their families(Haslberger & Brewster, 2008). Multinational companies do notimplement cultural training extensively in their expatriationmanagement (Shen, 2005), perhaps because the link betweensuch training and expatriate performance remains hard to confirm(Puck, Kittler, & Wright, 2008). The career-capital approach leadsus to go beyond the immediate requirements tied to internationalassignments and take into account the long-term contribution tothe organization and the cultural-training requirements of localemployees working with expatriates and, indeed, all employeeswho face intercultural interaction in their workplace. Therefore,offering the opportunity to participate in cultural training and todevelop cultural intelligence and competences could have impor-tant benefits for talent management within the organization.

With the diversification of expatriate assignment types,organizations have more options in terms of identifying andselecting expatriates (Collings, Scullion, & Morley, 2007). Forinstance, since the self-initiated group of expatriates was firstidentified by Suutari and Brewster (2000), they have received anincreasing flood of attention in the literature (see the recentcollections by Andresen, Al Ariss, & Walther, 2012 and Vaiman &Haslberger, 2013). This group of people with boundaryless careersconstitutes a significant proportion of the workforce withinternational experience. They are not, however, the only groupbeyond the traditional expatriates with international experience:There are those on short-term assignments, project work,commuter assignments, frequent flyers, and others (Collingset al., 2007; Suutari & Brewster, 2009). MNCs are beginning totake a wider view of the potential sources of talent in internationalmobility.

Table 1Leading definitions of global talent management (GTM).

Source Definition

Collings and Scullion (2008): p. 102 ‘‘. . .the strategic

involves the proa

performing and h

Mellahi and Collings (2010): pp. 143–144 ‘‘Broadly defined

which differentia

scale, the develo

these roles which

human resource

and to ensure th

Scullion et al. (2010): p. 105 ‘‘Global talent m

attract, select, de

Scullion et al. (2010): p. 106 ‘‘Global talent m

selecting, develo

necessary to achi

takes into accoun

differences acros

operate.’’

Tarique and Schuler (2010): p. 124 ‘‘Defined most br

(complementary

levels of human

directions of the

environment.’’

This article ‘‘Global Talent M

High-Potentials D

High-Potentials D

management tha

expatriation man

Global-Careers D

open to all empl

careers of individ

A talent-management approach to expatriation and interna-tional experience goes beyond the few employees who have beenidentified as potential top managers, and beyond those selected astraditional expatriates, to integrate all those who might haveinternational experience, with the aim of developing their careers,their value to the organization, and their retention. It may alsoinclude those who might not leave their home country, but willcome into contact with members of foreign cultures in the courseof their work.

4. Toward global talent management

On the basis of the discussion so far, the concept of global talentmanagement captures the combination of the talent segmenta-tion approach of talent management and the broader humanresource management policies that contribute to the manage-ment of all talented employees, especially when they go abroad(Tarique & Schuler, 2013). Despite the popularity of the term,there is no consensus on what global talent managementencompasses. Table 1 presents the leading definitions of globaltalent management found in the recent literature on talentmanagement.

We derived our definition of global talent management from amatrix crossing talent management and expatriation manage-ment (see Fig. 2) and we use that to develop future researchpropositions.

In Fig. 2, talent management is examined through its two mainapproaches, talent segmentation and broader HRM. Expatriationmanagement also consists of two approaches, one that is short-term and one that is more strategic. Global talent management canoccur through either of the two upper quadrants, high-potentialsdevelopment and global-careers development. The lower half ismade up of two quadrants, named for the purpose of this researchas specific-package design and global compensation & benefitsmanagement. These two quadrants do not belong to global talent

integration of resourcing and development at the international level which

ctive identification and development and strategic deployment of high-

igh-potential strategic employees on a global scale.’’

, global talent management involves the systematic identification of key positions

lly contribute to the organization’s sustainable competitive advantage on a global

pment of a talent pool of high potential and high performing incumbents to fill

reflects the global scope of the MNE, and the development of a differentiated

architecture to facilitate filling these positions with the best available incumbent

eir continued commitment to the organization.’’

anagement (GTM) has been defined in broad terms as an organization’s efforts to

velop and retain key talented employees on a global scale’’

anagement includes all organizational activities for the purpose of attracting,

ping, and retaining the best employees in the most strategic roles (those roles

eve organizational strategic priorities) on a global scale. Global talent management

t the differences in both organizations’ global strategic priorities as well as the

s national contexts for how talent should be managed in the countries where they

oadly, global talent management is about systematically utilizing IHRM activities

HRM policies and policies) to attract, develop, and retain individuals with high

capital (e.g., competency, personality, motivation) consistent with the strategic

multinational enterprise in a dynamic, highly competitive, and global

anagement is centered on the development of employees, and it includes both

evelopment and Global-Careers Development.’’

evelopment is defined ‘‘as the combination of a segmentation approach to talent

t relies on the development of high potentials and a strategic approach to

agement.’’

evelopment ‘‘implies the development of a career system within the organization,

oyees, and integrating international work experiences as a step in the overall

uals.’’

Fig. 2. A global talent-management framework.

J.-L. Cerdin, C. Brewster / Journal of World Business 49 (2014) 245–252 249

management, as it is understood in this study. An assumption thatcould be tested through future research is that most expatriateassignments fall into the bottom two categories (see Propositionsbelow).

Global talent management is centered on the development ofemployees, and it includes both high-potentials development andglobal-careers development. Our definition of global talentmanagement goes beyond simply developing a framework for‘‘high-performing and high-potential strategic employees on aglobal scale’’ (Collings & Scullion, 2008: p. 12); it implies thedevelopment of a career system within the organization, open toall employees, and integrating international work experiences as astep in the overall careers of individuals. Global-careers develop-ment reflects the idea of return on investment, both for theindividuals and for the organization.

In this sense our definition of global talent management ignoresselection from the external labor market and focuses on‘development’. Development encompasses HRM activities thatenhance employees’ skills and competences. The HRM literature(Lepak & Snell, 1999, 2002) defines a ‘knowledge-based employ-ment’ mode, which places the skills and competences of employeesat its crux. While global talent management encompasses all thetraditional HRM activities contributing to development, a criticalissue for us here concerns the provision of relevant workexperience, particularly including international exposure, todevelop individuals’ skills. This should go alongside retentionstrategies so that the organization has a return on its investment.Thus, development in our perspective includes steps suggested bythe literature on talent management, including the growth, thedeployment and the retention of employees (Collings & Scullion,2008; Farndale et al., 2010).

When the emphasis is placed on the management of specificindividuals, we use the term ‘high-potentials development’. Whenthe emphasis includes employees more broadly and integrates theexpatriation management strategically with the HRM policies, weuse the term ‘global-careers development’.

High-potentials development. We define high-potentials devel-opment as the combination of a segmentation approach to talentmanagement that relies on the development of high potentialsand a strategic approach to expatriation management. In this case,talent is developed through international work experiences

(Shaffer et al., 2012). There is plenty of evidence that expatriatesand former expatriates believe strongly in the concept that livingand working in another country is invariably an extremelypowerful learning experience that people do not forget. Not onlyare there the experiences of learning new knowledge andunderstanding (know-how), but there are also new contactsand networks (know whom), and, for the expatriate and his or herfamily, the chance to think about what is important to them and tofind out about their resilience in coping with unfamiliar situations(Haslberger & Brewster, 2008, 2009).

Global-careers development. Global-careers development alsoadopts strategic expatriation management. It goes further thanthe high-potential approach by including a broader range ofemployees, beyond those in the A category. In this respect, MNCsfrom the giants such as Procter & Gamble and Nestle to the newlyinternationalizing ones need to manage expatriates strategically,and also manage carefully all other kinds of international andcross-cultural experience, including those of people who neverleave their home country but interact with people from othercultures and those host-country nationals in close contact withexpatriates (Toh & DeNisi, 2005). Not only will this haveimmediate performance benefits, but also it will create a widerlong-term understanding of internationalization across theorganization.

Specific-package design. Talent management focused on thesegmentation approach often involves the self-fulfilling notionof ‘high potentials’. Organizations in this quadrant fail toadopt a strategic approach to the management of expatriation.As a result, the talent management department and theinternational mobility-transfer department work largely inde-pendently. Ideally, the talent-management section identifies thepeople to be treated as expatriates, although in practice this tendsto remain a line management and short-term, position-fillingtask. Then, at least in larger organizations, the expatriation-management section performs the necessary administrativetasks, through the design of specific packages, to cater for thosefew so selected. In the segmentation talent-management per-spective, a specific package is designed taking into account thecharacteristics of the international assignments, particularlydifferentials in terms of cost of living, housing, and taxes.Incentives are mainly in monetary terms. Career developmentis seen as a desirable outcome, but is not central to or planned intothe process.

Global compensation & benefits management. Global compensa-tion & benefits management captures the idea that the compensa-tion system is globally established within the organization. Thepackages related to expatriation in MNCs such as Shell and BMWare in line with this global compensation system. This implies,perhaps, lower financial benefits for certain expatriates, betterlong-term career opportunities and an easier transition from thespecific compensation package applied during expatriation, to theemployee’s reintegration into the firm’s standard compensationsystem.

5. Further research combining expatriation and talentmanagement

To date, research on expatriation has developed and is stilldeveloping without a clear link to talent management. Oneexplanation is that talent management remains a relatively newfield of research, lacking a clear definition (Tarique & Schuler,2010: p. 128). On the other hand, expatriation research has tendedto be rather eclectic with no firm base in any specific discipline. As‘blue sky’ research and a contribution to our understanding thiscan be valuable yet, if the expatriation-management research isnot anchored in talent management, it fails to address adequately

J.-L. Cerdin, C. Brewster / Journal of World Business 49 (2014) 245–252250

the challenges organizations face and, hence, to be relevant toorganizations.

The framework of global talent management presented in thisarticle is one of the first to combine these two fields and could helpto organize research on expatriation management within a talent-management perspective, producing two main streams of study,(1) a narrow or talent segmentation high-potential developmentstream of research, and (2) a broader and more open global-careersdevelopment research. In terms of the three sets of activitiesinvolved in global talent management, (1) attracting (whichincludes reputation management, recruitment, and selection), (2)retaining, both during the expatriation and after, particularly in thefirst years of repatriation, and (3) developing, which includescareer development and training activities (Tarique & Schuler,2010), high-potentials development will concentrate on all three,while global careers development will concentrate on the lattertwo. Furthermore, high-potentials development will generally befocused on corporately assigned expatriates, whereas globalcareers development may include many of the other varieties ofinternational experience including migrants, self-initiated expatri-ates and short-term assignees (Al Ariss & Crowley-Henry, 2013; AlAriss et al., 2013; Fang et al., 2013; Guo et al., 2013; Vaiman &Haslberger, 2013).

Given the relative dearth of research in this area, ourexamination of the options below is less a summary of what isknown to date than an indication of the limitations and academicimplications of our analysis and the identification of a researchagenda.

6. High-potentials development research

High-potentials development research would focus mainly onthose employees whom the organization invests in as part of itssuccession-planning program. Surprisingly, research on highpotentials in the expatriation management field is rather scarceand is still needed in some key areas.

Proposition 1a. Position-filling and control remain much more com-

mon motives for expatriate assignments than talent development.

And, partly as a result,

Proposition 1b. Technical skills relevant in the short term are key

selection criteria for more cases than the potential for the development

of softer skills.

Research is also needed on the distinction between individualswho have been formally identified by their organizations as highpotentials and expatriates. Organizations do not always commu-nicate to their employees whether or not they belong to the high-potential category (Bjorkman, Ehrnrooth, Makela, Smale, &Sumelius, 2013; Campbell & Smith, 2010). It is typical ofexpatriates that they believe that they have been speciallyselected for their positions. In one sense this is of course true, butthey may not have been selected as high potentials. Thisuncertainty can give rise to the kinds of unmet expectations thatcan lead to turnover after repatriation. When individuals embarkon an expatriation, the psychological contract between them andtheir organization as to the goals of the assignment can contributesignificantly to the success or failure of the assignment, anddeserves to be taken into account. Therefore, data from organiza-tions based on their formal evaluation and identificationprocesses are needed to progress on this aspect of global talentmanagement.

Proposition 2a. The less an organization is clear about whether

expatriates are also high potentials (short term approach to expatriate

management, which is not a talent management perspective), the

lower the probability of expatriates’ career capital development as a

result of their expatriation..

Proposition 2b. Expatriates’ uncertainty as to their identification as

high potentials is likely to lead to turnover after repatriation as a result

of unmet expectations.

Further research is needed to help us understand what happensin countries where the national culture is different from that of theorganization’s home country. Makela, Bjorkman and Ehrnroot(2010: p. 134) have questioned ‘‘what determines whether anemployee is identified as ‘talented’––that is, exhibiting futureleadership potential’’. This is a critical issue for MNCs that want toexpand their talent pools beyond their employees working atHeadquarters. If managers from headquarters evaluate foreignsubsidiary employees to identify who counts as high potential,there can be a lack of immediate knowledge and culturaldifficulties may arise. Some managers may be more efficient thanothers, depending for instance on their cultural intelligence level. Iflocal managers perform the evaluation, there can be issues ofpreferential treatment, cultural differences and inter-subsidiarycomparison difficulties. As a result good candidates may fail to beincluded in the corporate talent pool. In addition, the issue ofidentification depends on the political interests and powerresources of managers involved in the process (Creevy, Good-erham, Cerdin, & Rønning, 2011).

Proposition 3a. Employees in the home country are more likely to be

identified as high potentials than those in foreign subsidiaries.

Proposition 3b. The higher the cultural distance between the em-

ployee and his or her manager, the lower the likelihood for the

employee to be identified in the high potential category.

Proposition 3c. The higher a manager’s cultural intelligence, the

more he or she will be able to identify high potentials from different

cultures.

High-potential development research should study how atalent pool can be composed of talents from all over the world.More research is necessary focusing on high potentials during theirexpatriation as compared to other types of expatriates.

Proposition 4. Expatriates who are also in the high potential category

will increase their career capital more than those who are not.

Turning to repatriation, Stahl, Chua, Caligiuri, Cerdin, andTaniguchi (2009: p. 93) show that developmental assignees, thoseinternational assignees with ‘‘learning-driven assignment goals’’differ from functional assignees, those international assignees with‘‘task-related assignment goals’’ in terms of repatriation concerns.Stahl et al. (2009) call for further research into the repatriation ofthese ‘‘developmental assignees’’, particularly aimed at under-standing how high potentials consider the evolution of theircareers after an international assignment, both within and outsidetheir organizations.

Proposition 5a. Repatriates from the high potential category are

more likely to be retained after the international assignment than

those who were not in that category.

Proposition 5b. Repatriates from the high potential category will

have more successful careers within the organization than those who

were not in that category.

Proposition 5c. High potentials who have had an international

experience will have more successful careers within the organization

than those who did not.

f World Business 49 (2014) 245–252 251

7. Global-careers development research

Global-careers development research would benefit fromexamining the development outcomes of various forms of globalwork experiences. Here again, we present these as ResearchPropositions. In this respect the three dimensions of the taxonomyof global work experience (physical mobility, cognitive flexibility and

non-work disruption) proposed by Shaffer et al. (2012), whoextended the framework of Peiperl and Jonsen (2007), turns out tobe a good starting point for research questions. The expandingrange of global work experience noted above has so far been thesubject of only limited examination in the literature on expatria-tion management. We do not know whether certain types of globalwork experiences are more efficient than others in developingtalent. Nor do we understand the extent to which each of thevarious global work experiences develop specific skills andcompetencies of individuals. In other words, we need moreresearch into the specific contribution of each type of internationalwork experience in the development of talent and whether andhow they complement each other. It seems logical that people willbecome good at learning from international experiences but thatsuch learning may decrease in extent with each new experience.

Proposition 6a. Increases in physical mobility, cognitive flexibility

and non-work disruption, associated with expatriation will lead to

expatriate high potentials having increased career capital develop-

ment.

Proposition 6b. Successive international assignments undertaken by

any one individual will have a diminishing effect on their development

of career capital.

Global-careers development research, by adopting a broaderHRM approach to talent management, with the strategic manage-ment of expatriation as an element within that, helps overcome theethical issues related to the focus on a very small percentage ofemployees (Swailes, 2013) considered as adding significant valueto the organization, while being difficult to replace (Lewis &Heckman, 2006). Global career-development research would alsoexamine how to attract talented people from different countries.Career success has different meanings across countries andnational cultures (Briscoe, Hall, & Mayrhofer, 2011). Globalemployer branding could examine those different meanings.Research on global careers development could also examinehow to offer the kind of career paths to individuals from variousparts of the world, which would encourage them to embark on aninternational mobility, especially an inpatriation or expatriationfor those considered high-potential talents (e.g. Harvey & Moeller,2009).

Proposition 7a. Since all kinds of international experience can be

valuable, but with immersion on another culture as the most powerful,

there will be increases in the development of career capital from

international contacts, international teamwork, international com-

muting, short-term assignments and inpatriation and expatriation

such that the later forms provide more learning than the earlier forms

and have a greater impact on careers.

Proposition 7b. Inpatriation is a more powerful form of career

capital development than expatriation.

8. Managerial relevance

The global talent management framework has value forexpatriates, their families, and for IHRM practitioners. In anyorganization a comprehensive approach to expatriation within thetalent management framework may imply different objectives forexpatriate assignment, different short-term financial arrange-

J.-L. Cerdin, C. Brewster / Journal o

ments and support packages, and may well imply a different mix ofshort-term financial arrangements and long-term career commit-ments. It will need to be tested in each organization as whetherthat would increase or reduce costs, and what the effects onorganizational performance (short- and long-term) would be. Atpresent talent management and global talent management seemto be buzz words for organizations, but they are more often talkedabout than acted upon.

This article proposes a definition of global talent managementthat involves a combination of expatriation management andtalent management within a strategic approach to human resourcemanagement.

Global talent management concerns not only MNCs, butalso other types or organizations such as Inter-GovernmentalOrganizations and Non-Governmental Organizations. Beyondorganizations, countries and capital cities also endeavor toattract talent (e.g. Dickmann & Mills, 2010; Haslberger & Zehetner,2008). Whatever the level of investigation, organizations and/orcities, global talent management, as defined in this article, with itstwo complementary dimensions, high-potentials developmentand global-careers development, reconcile two important researchfields, expatriation management and talent management.

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