The purpose of this paper is to examine repatriate career exploration as a continuing growth‐oriented process and introduce repatriate hope as its crucial driver.
Through a review of relevant literature, the framework of hope theory is introduced to argue for a more “agentic” view of the repatriate that can act as an independent career agent in the increasingly boundaryless career environment.
The paper extends current knowledge of the repatriation process by describing ways in which repatriate hope drives career exploration toward valued outcomes of career growth and career success. It is also described how this repatriate career success will depend on the repatriate expectations and the social and organizational support received by the repatriate.
The main contribution of this paper is a new view of the repatriation process through the lens of the hope theory that emphasizes positive psychological perspective indicating career growth/success as a valued outcome of repatriate career exploration process. Thus, repatriate is viewed as a proactive individual managing his or her career success and using exploration as a means of coping with and adjusting to a shifting set of challenges presented by the dramatic role change.
