Browsing by Author "Brylka, Asteria Anna"

Integration of immigrants into the receiving societies has already long ago been acknowledged as fundamental for both the well-being of the immigrants and the welfare of the receiving states. While much of researchers’ attention is dedicated to immigrants’ acculturation, labour market integration of immigrants is less focused on, especially when it concerns immigrant professionals. Although successful labour market integration depends partially on immigrants themselves, it is nevertheless, a bilateral process and members of the receiving societies may either facilitate it or interfere with it. This study, anchored in the context of the European Union and its eastward expansion in 2004, approaches the problem of immigrants’ labour market integration by investigating the attitudes of the Finnish national majority towards employment of dentists trained in other EU member states (the EU15 vs. the A8 group). The study is based on data from 99 dentistry students; the data was collected during a field experiment conducted throughout 2011. The theoretical framework of this study is based on the SIT paradigm, but it also accommodates findings on the labour market outcomes of the A8 immigrants in the EU15 member states, and the ethnic hierarchies in Finland. There are two foci of interest: (1) whether national in-group identification of participants has an effect on their willingness to employ an applicant (the national in-group or out-group member), and (2) whether a specific EU nationality of an applicant (the EU15 vs. the A8 nationality) affects participants’ recruitment choices. The assumptions of SIT are partly supported by the results. It was found that the participants in general did not favour their national in-group applicant over the foreign applicants. This effect, however, depended on the specific EU nationality of an applicant and whereas the national in-group applicant was not favoured over the EU15 applicant, he was favoured over the A8 group applicant. Contrary to the expectations, national in-group identification did not have an effect on the participants’ willingness to employ either a national in-group or out-group applicant. Specific EU nationality, as expected, was an important factor affecting the participants’ recruitment decision: When juxtaposed with each other, the EU15 applicant was favoured over the A8 group applicant. The findings of this study, identifying nationality of EU immigrant professionals to be an important factor in recruitment and, therefore, in the process of immigrants’ labour market integration in another EU member state, have revealed a vivid problem of the contemporary EU which nevertheless, has so far not been addressed. In this thesis it is argued that A8 citizens are not regarded by EU15 citizens as in-group members on any supra-national level, including the supra-national level of the EU and, therefore, they are discriminated against as out-group members.