Refugees' career capital welcome? Its use and transformation by Afghanis and Syrians in Austria

Description

Since January 2014, Austria has granted asylum status and thus the permission to work to over 30,000 asylum applicants (Bundesministerium für Inneres, 2016). In addition to having to find a place to live and learn about and adapt to the host country’s culture, seeking and obtaining employment is particularly challenging for refugees. To date, very little is known about refugees’ job search and career management behavior. This paper explores refugees’ experiences with, but also strategies for, job search and labor market entry. In the present study we focus on the Austrian labor market with its specific rules and power dynamics. Using Bourdieu’s (1977) theory of practice, we explore what forms of career capital refugees manage to transfer to their host country and what strategies and behaviors refugees use to invest, enhance, renegotiate and convert the value of their existing career capital and to accumulate further capital.

Period	4 Aug 2017 → 8 Aug 2017
Event title	77th Academy of Management Meeting
Event type	Unknown
Degree of Recognition	International