Put My Skills to Use? Understanding the Joint Effect of Job Security and Skill Utilization on Job Satisfaction Between Skilled Migrants and Australian Born Workers in Australia

The topic of skilled migrants has gained importance in the past decade as they are increasingly becoming one of the main drivers for labor supply in developed countries like Australia. Although there is research on skilled migrants, most have been studied from the perspectives of (un)employment, wag...

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Main Authors: Tian, Amy, Wang, Y., Chia, T.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Springer Netherlands 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43049
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author Tian, Amy
Wang, Y.
Chia, T.
author_facet Tian, Amy
Wang, Y.
Chia, T.
author_sort Tian, Amy
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The topic of skilled migrants has gained importance in the past decade as they are increasingly becoming one of the main drivers for labor supply in developed countries like Australia. Although there is research on skilled migrants, most have been studied from the perspectives of (un)employment, wage and over-education. Some evidence suggests that skilled migrants are often less satisfied with their job compared to their local counterparts, yet little is known about why these differences exist. Using a nationally representative sample of Australian workers, we examine how two important job characteristics, job security and skill utilization, exert their differential interaction effect on job satisfaction for skilled migrants and Australian born workers. We found a differential moderation effect between job security and skill utilization for skilled migrants and Australian born workers. For skilled migrants, high job security did not lead to positive reaction (i.e., job satisfaction), as this effect was dependent on their skill utilization; while such moderation effect was not present for Australian born workers. This study highlights the need to take a more fine-tuned approach by understanding target sample groups (e.g., skilled migrants) when study the relationship between key job characteristics and job satisfaction. Furthermore, it highlights the importance for organizations to revisit their human resource management strategies and policies to recognize the needs for enhancing skill utilization for skilled migrants.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-430492019-02-19T05:35:18Z Put My Skills to Use? Understanding the Joint Effect of Job Security and Skill Utilization on Job Satisfaction Between Skilled Migrants and Australian Born Workers in Australia Tian, Amy Wang, Y. Chia, T. The topic of skilled migrants has gained importance in the past decade as they are increasingly becoming one of the main drivers for labor supply in developed countries like Australia. Although there is research on skilled migrants, most have been studied from the perspectives of (un)employment, wage and over-education. Some evidence suggests that skilled migrants are often less satisfied with their job compared to their local counterparts, yet little is known about why these differences exist. Using a nationally representative sample of Australian workers, we examine how two important job characteristics, job security and skill utilization, exert their differential interaction effect on job satisfaction for skilled migrants and Australian born workers. We found a differential moderation effect between job security and skill utilization for skilled migrants and Australian born workers. For skilled migrants, high job security did not lead to positive reaction (i.e., job satisfaction), as this effect was dependent on their skill utilization; while such moderation effect was not present for Australian born workers. This study highlights the need to take a more fine-tuned approach by understanding target sample groups (e.g., skilled migrants) when study the relationship between key job characteristics and job satisfaction. Furthermore, it highlights the importance for organizations to revisit their human resource management strategies and policies to recognize the needs for enhancing skill utilization for skilled migrants. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43049 10.1007/s11205-016-1404-4 Springer Netherlands fulltext
spellingShingle Tian, Amy
Wang, Y.
Chia, T.
Put My Skills to Use? Understanding the Joint Effect of Job Security and Skill Utilization on Job Satisfaction Between Skilled Migrants and Australian Born Workers in Australia
title Put My Skills to Use? Understanding the Joint Effect of Job Security and Skill Utilization on Job Satisfaction Between Skilled Migrants and Australian Born Workers in Australia
title_full Put My Skills to Use? Understanding the Joint Effect of Job Security and Skill Utilization on Job Satisfaction Between Skilled Migrants and Australian Born Workers in Australia
title_fullStr Put My Skills to Use? Understanding the Joint Effect of Job Security and Skill Utilization on Job Satisfaction Between Skilled Migrants and Australian Born Workers in Australia
title_full_unstemmed Put My Skills to Use? Understanding the Joint Effect of Job Security and Skill Utilization on Job Satisfaction Between Skilled Migrants and Australian Born Workers in Australia
title_short Put My Skills to Use? Understanding the Joint Effect of Job Security and Skill Utilization on Job Satisfaction Between Skilled Migrants and Australian Born Workers in Australia
title_sort put my skills to use? understanding the joint effect of job security and skill utilization on job satisfaction between skilled migrants and australian born workers in australia
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43049