Assignment Failure
entry by Julie M. Marx, Global Family Expert at Expat Valley
The premature termination of an international assignment before its agreed completion date, or the completion of an assignment at a level of performance significantly below organizational expectations. Family adjustment difficulties, cultural adjustment failure, and the accompanying partner’s inability to adapt are among the most frequently cited causes.
Comparable terms
Early return (HR/mobility — operational term for premature repatriation) · Assignment attrition (HR/mobility — emphasizes organizational impact) · Expatriate failure (research — standard academic term; contested because it locates failure in the individual rather than the assignment design) · Assignment recall (HR/mobility — formal organizational term)
Why this matters
Assignment failure is costly in money, morale, and family wellbeing. Family and partner adjustment are among the top reasons it happens. Seeing this clearly pushes organizations to design people‑centered, not just role‑centered, assignments.
Cross-references
Accompanying Partner (Transitions & Mobility); Spousal Adjustment (Family Dynamics); Family Resilience (Family Dynamics); CCT (Cultural Adaptation); Global Mobility Policy (Professional Support Roles); EAP (Wellbeing & Mental Health); ROI (Transitions & Mobility). Family resilience is among the most robust protective factors against assignment failure, making it a primary target for pre-departure investment. CCT is the intervention most consistently associated with reduced assignment failure in the research literature; global mobility policy is where the structural conditions enabling or preventing assignment success are defined. EAP is the organizational support mechanism most commonly invoked when assignment failure is already in progress; ROI provides the organizational cost framework within which assignment failure is ultimately assessed.
Sources
Research indicates that between 16 and 40 percent of all expatriate managers return prematurely from overseas assignments due to poor performance or failure in cross-cultural adjustment, with family-related factors consistently identified among the primary causes. Black, J.S. & Mendenhall, M. (1990). Cross-cultural training effectiveness: A review and a theoretical framework for future research. Academy of Management Review, 15(1), 113–136. University of Toronto Press
Family-related concerns account for 34 percent of assignment refusals and the career needs of the spouse or partner for a further 17 percent, making family adjustment one of the most significant risk factors in international assignment success.
« Back