Career satisfaction antecedents of professional accounting returnees in international workplaces: an employee experience perspective

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the determinants of career satisfaction of professional accounting returnees who have studied and/or worked abroad and then returned to work in different types of international workplaces in their home country.

Design/methodology/approach
A survey of professional accounting returnees in Vietnam was undertaken and multiple regression analysis was applied to test the proposed relationships.

Findings
This study finds that career satisfaction is affected by career fit, career sacrifice, types of international workplaces (domestically headquartered firms versus globally headquartered firms) and cross-cultural work readjustment. Further, cross-cultural work readjustment partially mediates the effect of career fit and career sacrifice on career satisfaction.

Practical implications
The research provides the basis for designing career-related employee experiences to support career satisfaction of professional accounting returnees.

Originality/value
This study integrates dimensions of career embeddedness with cross-cultural work readjustment and employee experiences, which are normally studied separately, in different types of international workplaces. It contributes to the limited research on contributors to well-being in the form of career satisfaction among professional returnees in an emerging economy.