Data collection methods

Data collection in this project consequently involved the use of multiple methods, including: a) documentary analysis, encompassing annual reports and the human resource records of two organisations, as well as existing surveys on overseas education; b) a survey of overseas educated employees; c) a survey of locally educated employees; d) interviews with overseas educated employees; e)

managers. Table 5-1 illustrates how these methods address each of the research questions, with justifications for use.

Table 5-1: Research methods associated with research questions and justification

Research Questions Methods Justification

1. What are the career experiences of Chinese returnees in terms of motivation, adaptation and integration, and job

satisfaction, in the light of the situations of locally educated employees?

Sample survey of relevant employees;

The survey on employees provides information on individual career experiences in different two workplaces.

(a) Why employees

choose/accept their current job/workplace?

Interviews with survey respondents;

The follow up interviews with returnees generated more in-depth and detailed individual accounts of returnees’ experiences in their workplaces.

(b) How were they required to, and how did graduate recruits adapt and integrate in their workplaces?

Documentary, survey and interview data:

Documentary analysis

provided an understanding of the different workplace according to their ownership, which will further assist the analysis of returnees’ experience in different contexts, and helped

formulate the questions used at both empirical stages of the research. The survey responses and interviews helped to clarify the relationship between company policy, (i) existing studies on

HRM, organisational culture in SOEs and MNCs in China and

(c) To what extent are employees satisfied with their career experience in different working settings?

(ii) annual reports, HR records and records of meetings, etc. from research sites;

(iii) questions at both the questionnaire and interview stages.

management perspectives and employee accounts of their experience.

2. How do managers utilise overseas educated

graduates? To what extent did the utilisation of overseas educated

employees differ between SOE and MNC and why?

Interviews with managers/ employers

The interview with employers reported their experiences of employing returnees and their views about the returnees’

performance, their value and weaknesses associated with their own perceived

requirements.

Documentary analysis on annual reports from research venues

This allowed for a comparison between two different organisations in terms of organisational structure, culture and HRM.

Existing studies on SOE and MNC in China and on China’s labour market and economic reform.

These provided the wider context within which the two case study organisations operated and provided previous research evidence from China with which to engage or build on in this study.

3. What are perceived as advantages and

disadvantages for returnees working in SOEs and MNCs, considering the features of ‘returnee’ as well as the attributes and needs of different ownership types?

Existing studies on SOE and MNC in China and on China’s labour market and economic reform.

This provided a foundation for the research design to facilitate further analysis of different features in SOEs and MNCs in terms of organisational structure, culture and HRM, and evaluations of their wider context.

Documentary analysis on annual reports from research venues

Survey and interviews with returnees

Evaluation of the perspectives on these questions of both the returnees themselves and those in similar posts who had been wholly educated in China, to investigate these and assess the extent to which returnees, compared to local graduates may have distinctive features.

Survey and interviews with locally educated employees Interviews with employers (HR managers and managers of returnees)

Provided insight into the skills and characteristics sought and appreciated in the organisations.

a. Secondary data analysis

Secondary resources, (e.g. annual reports, human resource data, and surveys on overseas education) provide the most accessible and up-to-date general picture of the labour market profile of Chinese returnees and the recent development of the Chinese labour market, clarifying the context of the employees being studied.

b. Online survey

It was decided to conduct a small-scale survey based on an online-questionnaire in each company in order to generate primary data and create samples for interviewing. The Chinese online-questionnaire software, ‘Wenjuanxing’, was used to carry out the survey during field research. At the end of the questionnaire, each participant was asked whether or not they were willing to follow-up their responses with an

c. Semi-structured interviews

Although multiple methods are used in this study, interviews were the main method of achieving the two-fold aims of this research. This was deemed appropriate since this is an exploratory study that included two case studies in two particular settings, with the task of producing an empathetic and deep understanding of the utilisation and contribution of Chinese returnees in two workplaces. Unlike quantitative research approaching the world ‘out there’ in specialised research settings, qualitative research is, according to Flick (2007: x), designed to ‘understand, describe and sometimes explain social phenomena “from the inside”’ by analysing the experiences of individuals or groups as well as interactions and

communications in the making. Furthermore, ‘the qualitative interview constructs a key venue for exploring the ways in which subjects experience and understand their world. It provides unique access to the lived world of the subjects, who in their own words describe their activities, experiences and opinions.’ (Kvale, 2007: 9). By interviewing, the more concrete and specific thoughts and career experiences of returnees, in comparison with locally educated employees in these two

organisations, can be investigated for analysis and synthesis. In addition, interviews with the human resource department and managers of employees reflect the needs and requirements of the labour market.

Structured but open-ended questions were used in the interviews. While structured questions make it easier for researchers to control the whole process of interviewing,

they are more likely to narrow answers. Open-ended questions, however, can open up the horizons of the interviewee and allow participants increased space to think deeply, amplifying the depth of questioning. Prepared questions were divided into two categories according to 1) the career experiences of research participants, and 2) their opinions and experience of overseas education. Those respondents without overseas education were also asked about their opinions about its value, in general and in relation to their experience of working alongside overseas educated

colleagues. These questions were structured in terms of work performance and career development.

With regard to 1) the career experiences of research participants, specific questions were asked about each participant’s personal career experiences, such as their experiences of recruitment, their reasons for choosing a certain type of organisation, their process of integration, the organisational culture they were embedded in, and their career path and plans for the future. This part of the interview was designed to gain more in-depth understanding of graduates’ career experiences based on general information already acquired from the questionnaire.

With regard to 2) their opinions and their experience of overseas education, more open-ended questions were asked. These questions encompassed returnee

participants’ personal experiences with overseas education, their thoughts about its impact on their career trajectory, and their personal life. As for local graduates, these questions also related to their opinions of overseas educated graduates in

China’s labour market and the work performance of their returnee peers. Interviews with managers were designed to gain information about the Human Resource Strategies of each company, as well as returnees’ job performance and career development from the perspective of a managerial level. To enable follow up questions and allow for diversity among answers given, questions were left open to changes to their order and form.