Vulnerable work and international migrants: a relational human resource management perspective

Abstract

Previous studies have addressed the vulnerability of migrants in the workplace by focusing on problems related to one of four key factors: national context, networks, employment relationships and individual acculturation. In this paper, these past findings are reviewed and it is proposed that in order to obtain a thorough understanding of the reasons why migrants are vulnerable in the workplace, it is recommended that a relational perspective be adopted in which these factors are regarded as fundamentally intertwined. Theoretical propositions are provided to explain how these four factors interact in determining the problems faced by migrant workers. Finally, recommendations are provided to human resource managers based on the proposed framework, with the ultimate goal of ameliorating the vulnerability of migrants in the workplace.

Keywords::

• acculturation
• discrimination
• international careers
• migrants
• migrant networks
• relational perspective