Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SMACT (Skilled Migrant Adjustment to Career Transitions)
Période du rapport: 2021-09-01 au 2023-08-31
The Skilled Migrant Adjustment to Career Transitions (SMACT) Project was a two year mixed-methods research study that aimed to provide an interdisciplinary examination of adjustment processes in multi-national skilled migrant workers to a single host country (i.e. Switzerland) in terms of their work-related and non-work outcomes. The SMACT project has begun to improve our understanding of the adjustment processes of expatriates, by combining perspectives from the two disciplines of migration studies and organisational psychology. Due to labour shortage demands, every year international companies invest millions on expatriate workers to fill skill gaps, whilst largely ignoring how levels of adjustment can affect work performance and well-being. The research undertaking in the SMACT project presented an interdisciplinary examination of adjustment processes by linking work and non-work variables with modulating demographic factors (i.e. age, gender, country of origin, previous migration experience, or forms of expatriation, etc.), to connect these separate elements into a temporal perspective. In this mixed-method research design, variables were investigated using qualitative (i.e. semi-structured interviews with female skilled migrants N = 24), and quantitative data collections (i.e. online survey over three time-points, T1 = 500, T2 = 200 & T3 = 80). The qualitative data aimed to explore female expatriate adjustment processes, as female expatriates have been largely under-represented in the expatriate literature base and the unique challenges faced have not been well-documented. The quantitative strand aimed to examine pre-migration, migration and post-migration phases to assess different trajectories over time based on work outcomes and non-work outcomes. The SMACT project had three main objectives to explore female expatriate processes, examine differences in adjustment, work and non-work outcomes between Assigned Expatriates (AEs) and Self-initiated Expatriates (SIEs), and examine personality predictors on adjustment processes for work and non-work outcomes. Therefore, this project supports the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals by focusing on Goal 8 of promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all and Goal 10 of reducing inequality within and between countries.
There are eight main scientific achievements linked to the SMACT project, that are linked to articles in different stages of the publication process. Firstly, we have captured the discrimination that highly skilled migrants face in Switzerland, this is mitigated not by the level of skill, but depends rather on the desirability of the country of origin (with non-EU countries facing the most discrimination), possession of additional citizenships, and the language proficiency in Swiss official languages. Furthermore, female expatriates face far more direct and indirect discrimination in the work place, which manifests by limiting access to opportunities, recognition and promotions. The severity of the discrimination depended on whether line managers were also expatriates or locals, where multi-national work environments exerted less pressure to conform on highly skilled migrants.
Secondly, our results indicated that significant adjustment issues were found in social interactions and work-life balance in highly skilled migrants up to 15 years of living in Switzerland.
Thirdly, when we assessed the broader socio-environmental system, we found that there were structural barriers to integration, that resulted in continuous tasks that were required by migration control or other administrative processes that reduced leisure time. The psychological effects of these processes were seen in the narratives of highly skilled migrants who claimed that they were struggling with notions of ‘being good enough’, ‘having to constantly prove themselves’ and ‘to be deserving’ to stay in Switzerland.
Fourthly, we used the Conservation of Resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989; Hobfoll et al., 2015) to assess what participants believed to be stressors or threats, as well as the resources that they used to prevent resource loss.
Fifthly, we found that expatriates often move into positions of vulnerability, due to their lack of knowledge of the law, negative attitudes towards migrants which limited accessible information. Negative situations often resulted, such as being in legal disputes, having to pay fines for not knowing context-specific information, and being exploited in work and living conditions.
Sixthly, we reconsidered the classification of highly skilled migrants (i.e. AEs and SIEs), and instead used descriptions of voluntary or involuntary migration experiences. Expatriates, with voluntary experiences reported a ‘betwixt or between’ state (Ibarra, & Obodaru, 2016), and were less adjusted in comparison to involuntary migrants.
Seventhly, as part of the longitudinal findings we examined if personality indicators would affect adjustment processes. Using a latent profile analysis, we found that the most significant predictors for work adjustment outcomes were proactive personality and learning goal orientations moderated by acculturation motivation, whereas for non-work outcomes the most significant predictors were resilience and learning goal orientations moderated by cultural distance.
And lastly, we assessed a model using intentions to stay as a predictor assess expatriate adjustment in social and work domains based on the time spent in Switzerland according with cultural distance as a moderator and controlling for language proficiency. Our results show that expatriate adjustment issues change according to time spent in a host country, but that expatriate adjustment issues remained in social interaction and work-life domains up to 15 years after initial migration to Switzerland.
Secondly, our results indicated that significant adjustment issues were found in social interactions and work-life balance in highly skilled migrants up to 15 years of living in Switzerland.
Thirdly, when we assessed the broader socio-environmental system, we found that there were structural barriers to integration, that resulted in continuous tasks that were required by migration control or other administrative processes that reduced leisure time. The psychological effects of these processes were seen in the narratives of highly skilled migrants who claimed that they were struggling with notions of ‘being good enough’, ‘having to constantly prove themselves’ and ‘to be deserving’ to stay in Switzerland.
Fourthly, we used the Conservation of Resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989; Hobfoll et al., 2015) to assess what participants believed to be stressors or threats, as well as the resources that they used to prevent resource loss.
Fifthly, we found that expatriates often move into positions of vulnerability, due to their lack of knowledge of the law, negative attitudes towards migrants which limited accessible information. Negative situations often resulted, such as being in legal disputes, having to pay fines for not knowing context-specific information, and being exploited in work and living conditions.
Sixthly, we reconsidered the classification of highly skilled migrants (i.e. AEs and SIEs), and instead used descriptions of voluntary or involuntary migration experiences. Expatriates, with voluntary experiences reported a ‘betwixt or between’ state (Ibarra, & Obodaru, 2016), and were less adjusted in comparison to involuntary migrants.
Seventhly, as part of the longitudinal findings we examined if personality indicators would affect adjustment processes. Using a latent profile analysis, we found that the most significant predictors for work adjustment outcomes were proactive personality and learning goal orientations moderated by acculturation motivation, whereas for non-work outcomes the most significant predictors were resilience and learning goal orientations moderated by cultural distance.
And lastly, we assessed a model using intentions to stay as a predictor assess expatriate adjustment in social and work domains based on the time spent in Switzerland according with cultural distance as a moderator and controlling for language proficiency. Our results show that expatriate adjustment issues change according to time spent in a host country, but that expatriate adjustment issues remained in social interaction and work-life domains up to 15 years after initial migration to Switzerland.
During the SMACT Project an interdisciplinary approach was developed in this mixed-methods research design to better capture the complexities of the distinctions between highly skilled migrant groups (such as AEs and SIEs), to explore gender dimensions which have been previously overlooked and to examine resources, resilience and vulnerability mechanisms qualitatively. Furthermore, the multicultural sample of migrants is an innovative approach, because it allowed the adjustment processes to a single host country (i.e. Switzerland) to be examined in comparison to mono-cultural samples previously used. Lastly, the longitudinal research design, allowed an exploration of different adjustment trajectories based on work and non-work adjustment outcomes, when previous research has predominantly been cross-sectional. The application of the SMACT research results in the development of workshops and this means that the SMACT project has bridged the gap between research and praxis. There is a huge need for practical application of the results of the SMACT project, and the innovation associated with the project resulted in the creation of a career counselling tool that practitioners value. In the future, we will continue to mine the data and complete publications, and create a podcast series to reach a wider audience.