Leadership of Repatriates to Support Knowledge Transfer

The development and transfer of knowledge are of great importance for the competitiveness of organizations in today’s economic environment. International assignments are a mechanism to enable global knowledge transfer within an organization. However, current studies show that the use of knowledge from repatriates, i.e., returnees from international assignments, is not sufficient. This chapter analyzes the phenomenon of knowledge transfer after return from international assignments (repatriate knowledge transfer) from a leadership perspective, provides a brief theoretical introduction to the topic, and develops concrete recommendations for action for organizations and leaders. Organizations should recognize the strategic value of knowledge and implement measures that promote the abilities and motivation for knowledge transfer from repatriates, knowledge recipients, and leaders. Leaders can positively influence the success of knowledge transfer by repatriates through their behavior before, during, and after the assignment.