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“Us versus them”: sensemaking and identity processes in skilled migrants’ experiences of occupational downgrading
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Fernando, Dulini and Patriotta, Gerardo (2020) “Us versus them”: sensemaking and identity processes in skilled migrants’ experiences of occupational downgrading. Journal of World Business, 55 (4). 101109. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2020.101109 ISSN 1090-9516.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2020.101109
Abstract
We examine how a group of highly-skilled migrants from Sri Lanka made sense of occupational downgrading associated with their career transition to the UK. Our findings highlight three distinct sensemaking narratives that enabled the migrant employees to develop a more positive identity in the face of occupational downgrading. While all the narratives followed a similar cognitive pattern, one that represented the occupational world in terms of a cultural opposition between ‘us’ and ‘them’, the choice of a particular sensemaking narrative was shaped by the organisational context in which the migrant employees were embedded. In particular, the migrant workers’ emotional experiences within their new organisation influenced the way in which they discursively framed the ‘us versus them’ relationship. We contribute to the international migration literature by theorising how sensemaking links identity to migrants’ occupational experiences in new organisational contexts.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Emigration and immigration -- Economic aspects, Foreign workers, Labor market, Occupational mobility, Skilled labor, Communication in organizations, Identity (Psychology) | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Journal of World Business | ||||||||
Publisher: | Elsevier | ||||||||
ISSN: | 1090-9516 | ||||||||
Official Date: | June 2020 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 55 | ||||||||
Number: | 4 | ||||||||
Article Number: | 101109 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1016/j.jwb.2020.101109 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 22 April 2020 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 25 November 2021 | ||||||||
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