外国人の定着/離職意向に影響する日本企業内の諸要因

専門的外国人の内的キャリアに着目して

抄録

This paper describes how organizational practices and systems in Japanese companies affect the retention of highly skilled foreign workers. Recently, many foreigners work in large Japanese companies which sustain traditional employment systems. However, most of them leave the companies after several years, which is considered a problem from Japanese companies because they require long run commitment for their workers. Previous literatures emphasize that foreign workers are reluctant to work in Japanese companies due to career development concerns. This paper focuses on foreign workers' subjective perspectives on career to elucidate their actual decision-making of how organizational factors affect their attitudes about working in the organization. Qualitative analysis of interviews with twenty foreign workers in large Japanese companies, reveals three results. First, organizational practices and systems affecting foreign workers' attitudes toward work in Japanese companies can be roughly divided into four categories, and these factors do not necessarily encourage their intention to leave the organization. Second, organizational factors enhance foreign workers' intention to remain in the company through how the organizations treat them. Third, highly skilled foreign workers have difficulty in choosing their career in Japanese companies because they need to keep up both their personal life in Japan and work in the company.