TY - JOUR
T1 - All or nothing
T2 - ambivalent acculturation strategies and job satisfaction of bicultural migrants in South Korea
AU - Li, Jinxi Michelle
AU - Froese, Fabian Jintae
AU - Schmid, Julia Sophie
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Migrant workers play an important role in South Korea’s economic growth, yet their adjustment difficulties have often been problematic, leading to low job satisfaction. This study investigates the acculturation strategies and job satisfaction of migrant workers from the same country but of different cultural origins. Based on social identity theory, we argue that cultural origin affects acculturation strategies in that bicultural Korean-Chinese tend to enact more integration and assimilation strategies, while mono-cultural Han-Chinese workers enact more separation and marginalization strategies. Moreover, we argue that social support has a moderating effect on this relationship and moderates the indirect effect on job satisfaction. We tested our hypotheses on data from a survey of 351 Chinese workers (203 Korean-Chinese and 148 Han-Chinese). Findings show that Korean-Chinese enact assimilation strategies, and surprisingly, marginalization strategies more often than Han-Chinese workers. These findings suggest that Korean- Chinese are either fully assimilated into Korean society or completely left out. As expected, social support moderates the relationship between cultural origin and acculturation strategy, and the indirect relationships on job satisfaction, underlining the important role of social support.
AB - Migrant workers play an important role in South Korea’s economic growth, yet their adjustment difficulties have often been problematic, leading to low job satisfaction. This study investigates the acculturation strategies and job satisfaction of migrant workers from the same country but of different cultural origins. Based on social identity theory, we argue that cultural origin affects acculturation strategies in that bicultural Korean-Chinese tend to enact more integration and assimilation strategies, while mono-cultural Han-Chinese workers enact more separation and marginalization strategies. Moreover, we argue that social support has a moderating effect on this relationship and moderates the indirect effect on job satisfaction. We tested our hypotheses on data from a survey of 351 Chinese workers (203 Korean-Chinese and 148 Han-Chinese). Findings show that Korean-Chinese enact assimilation strategies, and surprisingly, marginalization strategies more often than Han-Chinese workers. These findings suggest that Korean- Chinese are either fully assimilated into Korean society or completely left out. As expected, social support moderates the relationship between cultural origin and acculturation strategy, and the indirect relationships on job satisfaction, underlining the important role of social support.
KW - Acculturation
KW - South Korea
KW - biculturalism
KW - job-satisfaction
KW - migrant workers
KW - racioethnicity
KW - social support
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116444228&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85116444228&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13602381.2021.1983982
DO - 10.1080/13602381.2021.1983982
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85116444228
SN - 1360-2381
VL - 29
SP - 719
EP - 739
JO - Asia Pacific Business Review
JF - Asia Pacific Business Review
IS - 3
ER -