The incidence of overeducation among international students upon graduation in Ireland: the effects of social capital and job searching methods

Abstract

This study investigates how different forms of social capital and job searching methods influence the incidence of overeducation among international students upon graduation in Ireland. While most studies have concentrated primarily on human capital factors in explaining overeducation among immigrant workers, this study emphasises the effect of bonding and bridging social capital, as well as different job searching channels, on the likelihood of overeducation among university international graduates. An online survey was carried out among Irish university international alumni between October 2017 and February 2018. The main findings suggest that: (1) International graduates who possess more bridging social capital with Irish people are less likely to be overeducated than those who lack this form of social capital. (2) Getting a job via formal channels (job advertisement and career agency) significantly reduces the likelihood of overeducation while using informal channel (personal contacts) does not have a significant impact on the likelihood of overeducation.

Keywords:

• Overeducation
• bonding and bridging social capital
• job searching method
• international graduates
• Ireland

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by China Scholarship Council [grant number 201508300012].

Notes on contributors

Zizhen Wang

Zizhen Wang is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Sutherland School of Law at University College Dublin, Ireland. Dr. Wang obtains a PhD in sociology from Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin, Ireland. His main research interests include: ethnic and migration, social network and labour market, and environmental and law.