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Discussion 143 5 provides estimates for the impact of HRM practices, and the social relationships related to these practices, on multiple indicators of expatriate success. Overall, the meta-analysis provided quite a comprehensive overview of the actors in the expatriation process and their differential effects on indicators of success. Most surprisingly, mentoring and logistical support (e.g., preview trips) related to expatriates’ performance but not to their retention. In line with my expectations, expatriates’ perceptions of organizational and supervisory support were most important for assignment success closely followed by support from the family – in particular the spouse. The results disproved the common assumption that cross-cultural training and social relations with other expatriates relate to expatriates’ performance or retention (Chapter 5). Such general evidence-based insights help organizations in the first steps towards improving expatriate management initiatives in their own context. These results complement human intuition and expert knowledge by demonstrating to what extent practices have been effective in other contexts (i.e., effect size), and have been similarly effective across different contexts (e.g., confidence interval). 7.2.3 Local Impact through People Analytics However, for decision-making, we prefer evidence-based insights that are relevant specifically within the local, organizational context. While conventional HRM research provides general knowledge, the problems HRM professionals face are always unique and specific (Van Aken, 2004, p. 226). Hence, in Chapter 6, I explore how scholars and practitioners could apply people analytics to quantify the impact of expatriation locally. For this, I could make convenient use of the longitudinal employee data that is already stored in contemporary HRIS. Extensive data transformations and complex survival analysis quantified the change in employee turnover following short-term expatriation and repatriation, controlling for other factors. The results demonstrate that employees at both multinationals were highly unlikely to leave during their STIA. Compared to their peers in local positions, assignees demonstrated a turnover rate that was 2.5 to 4 times lower. In this sense, short-term expatriation had thus helped the organizations to retain their talent, an outcome that had not previously been researched in either science or practice (Kang et al., 2017; Tahvanainen et al., 2005). Additionally, the results of Chapter 6 underline the importance of the contextual validation that people analytics implies. At one of the two multinationals, the turnover rate became over two times as high after employees returned from STIA, as compared to their unassigned peers. Via people analytics, I could thus evidence that short-term expatriation, in its current form at this second organization, delayed turnover for the duration of the international assignment, but may not be the best talent management practice in the long term. Although I could not establish the exact reason for these patterns without follow-up (qualitative) research within the organization, the mere knowledge of this increased turnover already provides reason for internal discussion regarding the benefits of expatriation, the use and monitoring of international assignment, and the necessary next steps to uncover more detailed insights to base future decisions on.