International graduates and the change of initial career mobility intentions
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-01-2017-0007 |
| Date | 04 June 2019 |
| Published date | 04 June 2019 |
| Pages | 1061-1078 |
| Author | Farveh Farivar,Jane Coffey,Roslyn Cameron |
| Subject Matter | Hr & organizational behaviour,Global hrm |
International graduates
and the change of initial career
mobility intentions
Farveh Farivar
School of Management and Marketing,
University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
Jane Coffey
School of Management, Curtin University, Perth, Australia, and
Roslyn Cameron
Australian Institute of Business, Adelaide, Australia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate which sociocultural and work conditions have the
potential to change international graduates’career mobility intentions and encourage international graduates
to stay in the host country when the initial intention was to leave the host country after graduating.
Design/methodology/approach –Data were collected via a web-based survey from international
graduates and analyses suggest 129 (20 percent) of respondents changed their initial career mobility
intentions. Data were analyzed using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis.
Findings –Although previous studies report some pull–push factors such as attractive payment rates and
work experience as being important in attracting potential workforce participants, these factors have no
influence on changing the career mobility intentions of international graduates. In contrast, the work
environment (WE) seems to be a strong condition for changing career mobility decisions. Results also reveal
that the influence of sociocultural conditions on initial career mobility intention is more complicated than
work conditions and varies from case to case.
Practical implications –The present study adopts the t heoretical assumptio n that migration and
mobility is a transitio n that forms over time and the findings sug gest that international graduates’gl obal
career mobility inten tions depend on the WE. There fore, government, high er education and industry
development policy ma kers need to take this facto r into account if they are in terested in attracting a nd
retaining global talen t.
Originality/value –The majority of previous studies have focused on which push–pull factors encourage
the recently graduated international student workforce to move or stay in a country while the current study
argues which conditions have the potential to change initial career mobility intentions.
Keywords Quantitative, International graduates, Career mobility intention, Push–pull factors,
Work environment, Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The shortage of domestic human resources in some developed countries that are facing
ageing workforces has reinforced the need for international career mobility (Khoo et al.,
2007). International graduates are a prime and reliable source of human capital for
addressing human resource shortages being experienced by developing nations because
international graduates obtain knowledge, skills and abilities from the host country
during their studies (Chellaraj et al., 2008). The intention of international students to stay
on in the host country after graduating is important as this means the pool of available
host country qualified graduate talent will be greater. For the purpose of this study,
international graduates refer to foreign nationals who graduated from any university,
college, graduate school or professional training college in a host country. The present
study advances the previous studies by drawing a clear line between international
students and international graduates. Furthermore, the main focus of the present study is
Personnel Review
Vol. 48 No. 4, 2019
pp. 1061-1078
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-01-2017-0007
Received 6 January 2017
Revised 11 August 2017
7 February 2018
1 May 2018
2 November 2018
Accepted 1 February 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
1061
Change of
initial career
mobility
intentions
on the change of mobility intentions among international graduates. Host countries are
aware that there are considerable economic, social and cultural benefits and opportunities
for deep global engagement associated with international post-study employment
(Blackmore et al., 2014).
The number of studies that address the barriers and drivers of international students’
mobility has recently increased as international students’mobility shows a significant flow
of money, trade, knowledge and skills to host countries (Beech, 2017; Lesjak et al., 2015;
Tran, 2016). Nonetheless, little is known about intentional graduates’mobility intentions.
The focus of the present study is on international graduates rather than international
students because of three main reasons. First, life events and life experience are frequently
considered as a reason for the discrepancy between mobility intentions and actual mobility
behavior (Groot et al., 2011). Second, the ageing workforce imperative supports recruiting
international graduates compared to other international sources of labor, such as temporary
skilled migrant workers which has several benefits for local companies in host countries
(Beine et al., 2014). Finally, international graduates are considered as new labor force, while
international students are mainly the customers of the education industry. Thus, the present
study focuses on the drivers of intentional graduates’mobility as potential entrants to the
host country domestic labor market as a solution to the ageing labor market.
Toren’s (1976) push–pull theory may explain why international graduates decide to
either stay in the host country, repatriate to the home country or seek their career in a third
country. Toren (1976) argues that individuals decide to move to a country because there
may be some positive aspects of the host country that are attractive, and/or some negative
aspects of their home country that are repellent. More recently, Tharenou and Caulfield
(2010) posit that country departure decision making is driven by both pull and push factors.
Pull factors refer to the variables which encourage individuals to stay, whereas push factors
encourage them to leave (Tharenou and Caulfield, 2010). Most studies have adopted push–
pull theory to explain the international students’mobility choice (Kondakci, 2011; Wang and
Tseng, 2011). However, the present study evolves the idea, through employing the push–
pull theory, to examine which factors have the potential to change the initial intention of
mobility among international graduates. The core notion is that the experience driven by
living in a host country may have an important influence on changing international
students’initial mobility intentions when they graduate from host countries’universities.
Therefore, the present study seeks to investigate “which push–pull conditions do change the
international graduates’initial mobility intention to stay in a host country after living and
graduating in the host country?”
To address the question, a wide range of pull and push factors were extracted
from previous studies. Then, a web-based survey was designed and disseminated to
collect quantitative data from international graduates of an Australian university. The
focus was on international graduates who have changed their initial career mobility
intentions. Finally, the data were analyzed through fuzzy-set qualitative comparative
analysis (fs/QCA).
Literature review
Globalization has changed the flow of experience, information, knowledge and labor forces
across countries’borders which in turn has increased international career mobility and
introduced new concepts such as boundaryless careers to the field of international human
resource management (Baruch and Bozionelos, 2010; Thomas et al., 2005). Global career
mobility refers to permanent or temporary movements of people across countries’borders
for work-related purposes (Kirk, 2016). The rising number of internationally mobile tertiary
students around the world demonstrates an increasing interest in international assignments
and international career mobility (Vorhauser-Smith, 2013). In 2016, International
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