Chinese returnees' motivation, post-return status and impact of return: A systematic review

The study analyzed 143 empirical studies on Chinese returnees published during 2005-2015. Three major categories of research topics emerged from the analysis: motivations for return, post-return status and the impact of returnees in China. The review detected two major debates in the literature concerning the impact of remittances and the contributions of returnees. Though variables such as gender, age, marital status and duration of the stay abroad might be correlated with return decisions as well as post-return adjustment, empirical studies based on large-scale data were scarce. The gaps identified by the review can be explored by future studies.