Mismatches in skills and attributes of immigrants and problems with workplace integration: a study of IT and engineering professionals in Australia

• Published date: 01 July 2014
• Author: Charmine Härtel,Sharmin Mahmud,Quamrul Alam
• Date: 01 July 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12026

Mismatches in skills and attributes of immigrants

and problems with workplace integration: a study

of IT and engineering professionals in Australia

Sharmin Mahmud, Department of Management, Monash University

Quamrul Alam, Department of Management, Monash University

Charmine Härtel, UQ Business School, The University of Queensland

Human Resource Management Journal, Vol 24, no 3, 2014, pages 339–354

This article examines the mismatches between supply of skills and attributes of immigrants and the

demands of employers that influence workplace integration of skilled immigrants in Australia. It argues

that, despite being skilled, immigrants still cannot meet the requirements of employers in doing their jobs

effectively. There are mismatches, which happen mainly in the aspects of English proficiency, qualification

and culture. The study followed a qualitative research design taking skilled immigrants from IT and

engineering professional backgrounds and their employers in Australia as the interviewees. The results

confirm that the workplace integration of immigrants is not only affected by the inherent capacities of

immigrants, but the mindset of employers and their perception towards immigrants’ overall qualities also

manipulate the process. The results are, however, indicative only, as the study is confined to IT and

engineering professional groups, and does not report the experiences of other immigrants.

Contact: Dr Sharmin Mahmud, Department of Management, Monash University, Room 35,

Level 5, Building N, 27 Sir John Monash Drive, Caulfield East, Vic 3805, Australia. Email:

sharmin.mahmud@monash.edu

INTRODUCTION

From the labour market’s point of view, a ‘skills mismatch’ is a multidimensional issue

which can be explained from various angles. Generally, ‘the term, skills mismatch, can

describe situations in which workers’ skills exceed or lag behind those employers seek’

(Handel, 2003: 136). A skills mismatch occurs for a variety of reasons including changes in the

types of skills valued in the marketplace. Such changes may translate into a gap emerging

between the needed skills and the available skills. In recent years, the main skills areas that

have increased in importance are information technology (IT) skills, problem-solving skills,

communication skills and social skills (Green et al., 2000), and managers in the workplace may

get more concerned if they receive employees with skills mismatches in such important areas.

A focus of much recent research on skills mismatches is on immigrant employees with

special attention to over- and under-education perspective (Pastor and Marcelli, 2000; Battu and

Sloane, 2002; Green et al., 2007; Chiswick and Miller, 2009, 2010; Quintini, 2011). This is because

immigrants face a greater level of challenges in host country labour markets due to their

differences in qualifications with regard to formal education, technical proficiencies,

communication skills and disparities in cultural practices. The higher and more persistent the

incidence of such mismatches are among immigrants, the larger the potential problem for

countries where foreigners form a substantial part of the labour force, and where employment

growth is mainly driven by immigration, such as is the case in Australia (Tani, 2012).

With regard to the over-education of immigrants, Green etal. (2007) noted that,

‘overeducation occurs when an individual has qualifications greater than those required for the

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doi: 10.1111/1748-8583.12026

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL 24 NO 3, 2014 339

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Please cite this article in press as: Mahmud, S., Alam, Q. and Härtel, C. (2014) ‘Mismatches in skills and attributes of immigrants and problems with

workplace integration: a study of IT and engineering professionals in Australia’. Human Resource Management Journal 24: 3, 339–354.

job’ (p. 421). However, most studies do not address the detail of the measures of over-education

except some assessments of the difference between educational qualifications held by a worker

and the qualifications required for the job they are hired to perform (e.g. Kler, 2005; Linsley,

2005; Voon and Miller, 2005). Rather than focus on the formal educational qualifications of

immigrants, the present study’s emphasis is on skills for employment. In line with the concept

of Mavromaras et al. (2007), this study considers that skills are much more likely to reflect the

abilities of an individual that are relevant in the employment context, and will contain elements

that are not represented by formal educational achievements alone.

The aim of this study is to empirically examine the linkage between skills mismatches and

the integration of immigrants in the Australian workplace. The term ‘integration’ is explained

from different perspectives in the extant literature. Berry (2006) suggests that integration occurs

where individuals have an interest both in maintaining their original culture and in taking part

in daily interactions with other groups. Phillimore and Goodson (2008) view integration as a

process of two-way interchange between culture and understanding.

Prior studies have typically analysed the integration of immigrants from the immigrants’

point of views (Hawthorne, 1997; Richardson et al., 2001; Ho, 2004; Ho and Alcorso, 2004; Green

et al., 2007; Parasnis et al., 2008; Chiswick and Miller, 2010). Among the issues researched, the

earning phenomenon of immigrants has emerged repeatedly. The unemployment rate,

occupational mobility and utilisation of human capital have also been investigated among

immigrant groups and mainly in a wider labour market context. The perception of employers

about the skills mismatches of immigrants and the influence of such on their integration is,

however, missing from most studies. Moreover, unlike other studies which focus on the skills

or educational mismatches of immigrants in the broader labour market context, this study

analyses the issue of skills mismatches in the context of ‘workplace integration’ taking into

consideration the perspective of skilled immigrants and their employers/managers. The

workplace or societal cultural differences that immigrants encounter in the process of their

integration in Australian workplaces are also investigated in this study.

From the existing literature on integration, this study defines workplace integration as a

process of immigrant’s incorporation in the workplace engaging the key participants where

individuals have an interest both in maintaining their original culture and in taking part in daily

interactions with other groups. Study participants are immigrants either from an IT or from an

engineering background and their managers. In contrast to previous studies which largely use

objective and quantifiable measures (e.g. Richardson et al., 2001; Ho and Alcorso, 2004; Parasnis

et al., 2008; Chiswick and Miller, 2009, 2010, 2011), this study employs qualitative methodology

to put forward strong and compelling arguments on subjective factors in the integration process.

The article is structured as follows: the next section offers the theoretical background of the

study. The section after this provides an overview of skilled immigrants in the Australian

context. The method of the study follows. The findings section reports the results of this study,

and is followed by a general discussion. The final section presents the conclusion and

implications of the study.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Previous research shows that among the individual competencies, English language proficiency

is more crucial for the integration of immigrants in the host country (Miller and Neo, 2003;

Kogan, 2010). Differences in job outcomes in relation to English language fluency across

immigrant groups indicate the importance of English for labour market success (Syed and

Murray, 2009). The low level of English language skills of immigrants contributes towards their

Integration of immigrants

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© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.