The surge of interest in expatriation and repatriation within the broader discourse on labor mobility of professionals and high-skilled labor, human capital development, and the theory and practice of people management serves as the backdrop to this paper. We propose that expatriation and repatriation be framed in the context of global careers and embedded in the wider social-economic environment of globalization through the lens of a career ecosystem theory. We chart the evolution of scholarly publications on career mobility over the past four decades and highlight current trends, in particular the emergence of self-initiated expatriation as a pivotal change in the direction of expatriation studies and derived practice. We assess the rigor of empirical findings, weigh theoretical underpinnings, offer a research agenda for future research, and outline managerial implications.

在有关专业人员和高技能劳动力的劳动力流动，人力资本发展以及人员管理的理论和实践的广泛论述中，对离国和遣返的兴趣激增，是本文的背景。我们建议，离职回国应以全球职业为背景，并通过职业生态系统理论将其嵌入全球化的更广泛的社会经济环境中。我们绘制了过去四十年中有关职业流动性的学术出版物的发展趋势，并重点介绍了当前的趋势，特别是自发移民的出现作为移居国外研究和派生实践方向的重大变化。我们评估经验发现的严谨性，权衡理论基础，为将来的研究提供研究议程，并概述管理意义。