Highly Educated, New Foreign Workers' Acculturation and Coping Mechanisms in a Large Korean Company

ABSTRACT The need for skilled foreign workers in South Korea (Korea hereafter) has grown substantially due Korea's changing workforce demographics, skill mismatch, transformation of business portfolios, and the pursuit of globalized business. As a result, large Korean companies have begun to recruit highly educated foreign workers for global talent management and development. However, although skilled foreign workers have consistently reported that they face difficulty integrating into Korean society and the host organization, almost no research has been conducted on this population in Korea. Thus, the intent of this qualitative study was to explore highly educated new foreign workers' acculturation process and coping mechanisms in a large Korean conglomerate. The findings offer a multilevel framework that presents the dynamics of acculturation challenges and coping mechanisms at multiple levels for successful acculturation. The findings also provide valuable insights for HRD practitioners on the design of interventions and policy in various organizational contexts.