Twenty-fourth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

This mixed methods study uses the theoretical background of Tajfel and Turner’s Social identity theory (1986) about in-group and outgroup dynamics and the Dietz (2015) skill paradox, to investigate and analyze what kind of obstacles do highly skilled migrants and expatriates (outgroup) experience, face in everyday life in public spaces, entering the job market or encounter for integration and acculturation in the workplace in Vienna, and what are their responding and coping mechanisms, how do they respond to the obstacles that they are encountering? This study investigates this contradiction from the perspective of highly skilled foreigners who are choosing Vienna as their center of work and life. Qualitative exploration will be done by analyzing 40 interviews with highly skilled foreign professionals with diverse backgrounds in terms of ethnicity, citizenship, nationality, and gender; and should be followed by a quantitative survey aimed at 500 foreign employees. The study includes all foreigners, ex-pats, and skilled migrants. This study is currently important in a situation where there is a growing and ongoing need for foreign labor in Vienna and can contribute to a theoretical understanding of mechanisms that lie behind highly skilled immigrants and expats’ experience of acculturation and accommodation to the workplace and living environment. We identify the obstacles at the interpersonal, organizational, or/and structural levels, as well as responding and coping mechanisms, so we can understand, prevent, and counteract the loss or demotivation of highly skilled immigrants and ex-pats in Vienna.