Returning Home?

Abstract

The current study examines the impact of cultural identity on repatriation of seven native English trailing partners of Shell corporate employees, who return home from postings abroad in 13 different countries. The study is unique in its sort as it concerns repatriation experiences of female trailing spouses. The results indicated that the impact of cultural identity on repatriation is highly unpredictable. Visits of the home country during postings abroad and multiple sojourns were not positively related to repatriation, as they do not contribute to redefining and forming realistic views of the home country. Cultural identity patterns were tested by using Sussman’s (2000) and Cox’s (2004) intercultural identity shifts, and results on them demonstrated that the less repatriates identified themselves with the home country, the more repatriation distress they experienced. However, Cox’s claim that successful adaptation in the host country results in successful adaptation in the home country during repatriation was rejected.