Overcoming Institutional Immobility? Evaluating Employment Outcomes of Repatriated Chinese Migrants From Overseas Civil Engineering Projects

ABSTRACT This study examines variations in the post‐repatriation employment outcomes of returnees from employer‐administered cross‐country assignments in a Chinese state‐owned enterprise. Analysis of interviews and documents led us to question whether and how the repatriates, including individuals on continuous and temporary employment, made use of overseas assignments to improve employment conditions in an industrial sector characterised by employment fragmentation. Our findings highlight how transnational mobility contributes to improved employment conditions when they return to China. Working overseas allows workers to accumulate a significant proportion of their income, establish new social connections, and develop skills while abroad. The employer‐administered cross‐country assignment is a resource for the returnees, enabling them to navigate obstacles to mobility embedded in China's regulatory and normative institutions. The study contributes to international human resource management research by emphasising the interconnectedness of repatriation and expatriation through the lens of labour mobility.