Oh, the places you’ll go! Pre-employment relocation decision making by college graduates in the US

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore pre-employment college graduates’ relocation tendencies based on a research framework built upon gender and cultural theories.

Design/methodology/approach

Relocation decisions were analyzed based on 208 college graduates enrolled in public universities in Texas, USA.

Findings

The relocation decision-making by college graduates differ from that for corporate employees described in previous research. First, the willingness to relocate increases as the college graduates mature. Second, gender difference in the willingness to relocate is non-significant because of the same expected norms for both genders. Instead, psychological gender affiliation, such as self-perceived masculinity, makes a difference in relocation decisions. Third, family-related variables, such as marital status and parenthood, do not influence college graduates’ relocation decisions. Last, cultural groups do not exhibit any overall significant differences.

Research limitations/implications

The findings provide new and complementary knowledge over previous relocation studies.

Practical implications

The findings enhance the understanding of career choices made by college graduates in their early career, offering valuable managerial implications in crafting staffing strategies and improving human resource management for organizations in today’s fast-changing, vibrant multi-cultural environment.

Originality/value

The study is focused on pre-employment relocation decision-making by college graduates from different demographic backgrounds. The study fills a major research void in relocation studies by clarifying the relocation patterns of new employees graduating from college.

Citation

Chapa, O. and Wang, Y.J. (2016), "Oh, the places you’ll go! Pre-employment relocation decision making by college graduates in the US", International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 591-614. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-03-2015-0853