Repatriates’ career adjustment experiences: U.S. doctoral recipients in engineering disciplines returning to public sector universities of Pakistan

Abstract

Repatriates and their employers largely underestimate the many facets of the repatriation career adjustment process. Findings from previous empirical studies show the variety of repatriation career adjustment experiences and their consequences for individuals returning to their home countries after foreign study and work experiences. There is a dearth of research that has documented the in-depth re-entry experiences of Pakistani repatriates. So, there is a genuine need to explore how these repatriating engineering PhDs experience their re-adjustment to their work roles in Pakistan. Basic qualitative research methodology is used to capture the post-return career adjustment experiences of 12 Pakistani Ph.D. recipients in engineering disciplines who expatriated to U.S. for higher education and then repatriated to Pakistan. A set of in-depth interviews and document reviews captured the details of their re-entry experiences to the work environment in public sector universities. Their individual stories laid out the challenges, surprises and good experiences at work and in overall life. ATLAS ti8 was used for the qualitative data analysis and to compile the detailed findings into themes and sub-themes. The analysis resulted in four themes, which presented participants’ collective understanding of their repatriation and workplace readjustment experiences. Ph.D. scholars were surprised by the U.S. education, and reintegrating back to the Pakistani academic environment was quite a challenge. Circumventing administrative challenges was often the only choice, and participants needed to adjust their ways of thinking in order to cope up and thrive. The repatriation adjustment became a significant issue for them while dealing with many transitions in life and career. There is a need to plan and implement human resource development initiatives and provisions for effective repatriation and smooth career adjustment.