The flexpatriate psychological contract: a literature review and future research agenda

Abstract

Since the 1980s, research on international assignments (IA) has principally focused on traditional long-term expatriates. However, due to pressures to reduce long-term expatriate assignments and the emergence of a portfolio of more flexible staffing options, there has recently been a growing focus on the deployment of alternative forms of IA. This paper focuses on one form of alternative IA, flexpatriation, where employees undertake frequent international business trips without relocating. More specifically, we critically examine the flexpatriate employment relationship by applying psychological contract theory to yield insight into both the employer and the employee perspectives, which has been neglected in previous research. The article also examines some of the key HR challenges in managing flexpatriates and contributes to both the IHRM and psychological contract literature by presenting an agenda for future research in this area.