“Bringing It All Back Home”: Capital Utilization of Irish Repatriates in the Irish SME Animation Industry

While there is a growing literature body on self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), this has tended to focus on the act and experience of expatriation, with little emphasis on either repatriation (Ellis et al., Career Dev Int 25:539–562, 2020) or the capital utilization of repatriated SIEs (Israel et al., PLoS One 14, 2019). Focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and situated within the Irish animation industry context, our qualitative study utilizes a Bourdieusian perspective on capital (Bourdieu, Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. Greenwood, New York, 1986) to holistically unpack the international transfer and mobilization of various forms of capital by repatriated Irish SIEs. In answering the question “how does capital, developed in both home and host countries, affect the repatriated SIEs career/business motivations, actions, and outcomes?” the chapter unpacks the career narratives of 12 repatriated Irish SIEs. We explore the impact of the repatriates’ capital (economic, cultural, and social) mobilization and unpack the effect their international capital has on their re-entry into the Irish animation industry. In doing this, our study offers a more holistic understanding of the varied pressures, actions, and outcomes associated with SIE repatriation into their home country labor and business fields while providing empirical findings that help address the lacuna in the repatriation literature and research (Ellis et al., Career Dev Int 25:539–562, 2020).