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    Highly skilled South African immigrants in New Zealand : a thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Management at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2006) Porter, Siobhan Alison
    This exploratory research represents a first step into investigating the acculturation strategies employed by highly skilled South African immigrants to New Zealand. It answers the call for information to be added to the body of knowledge, in this emergent research area for New Zealand, on this specific immigrant group. The report examines the match between the South African and New Zealand acculturation strategies in the workplace, and highlights the relationships expected as a result. It also identifies factors helping and hindering the acculturation of South African immigrants. Limiting factors such as time constrained the report; however, results add new information to the body of knowledge in the fields of immigration to New Zealand, emigration from South Africa, and acculturation in New Zealand. The research used convenience and snowball techniques to identify participants, and structured interviews with open ended questions were used to elicit their migration experiences. Data analysis was qualitative, and consisted of identification of themes that could be used to classify participant groups. The research concluded that highly skilled South African immigrants to New Zealand pursue either an integrative or assimilative acculturation strategy. Those pursuing an integrative strategy are likely to have consensual relationships with New Zealanders in the workplace, given the New Zealand expectation that immigrants should integrate into the host culture. However, those pursuing an assimilation strategy may experience more problematic relationships in the New Zealand workplace. The main factors helping the integration group to acculturate were developing shared understanding and acceptance between different cultural groups. The factors helping the assimilation group were their ability to be flexible and adapt to change. The main factor hindering the acculturation of the integration group was that their expectations of New Zealand workplaces were not met. For the assimilation group the main hindering factor was suffering from acculturative stress. A major implication of the research for New Zealand workplaces is developing a better understanding of highly skilled South African employees, which in particular will affect selection and retention practices for this group. By developing shared understanding, a better fit between the person and their environment can be achieved. This can help ensure the skills of this immigrant group are utilised in New Zealand's growing knowledge economy.
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    Skilled women ethnic immigrants : is there any point at which being a multiple minority becomes an advantage, as predicted by Dual Process Theory? : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Madambi, Farai
    Previous research on bias has focused on selection bias in recruitment. This research explores the issue of Treatment Bias (lack of advancement or promotion opportunities). The context for the research is potential treatment bias against skilled immigrant women from a range of different ethnic backgrounds, some of whom may experience bias yet others not. The purpose of this research is to test the theories of treatment bias in particular to find out whether Dual Process Theory can help close the gap in understanding of why some skilled immigrant women may not always be accepted in sustainable (respectful, recognition of skills) forms of livelihood in New Zealand workplaces. The research examines the interplay of psychological theories of similarity attraction, social identity, social dominance and realistic conflict with minority influence theory, which suggests that minority status might actually become an advantage for consistent minorities, e.g., minorities that are a minority across multiple criteria (such as “woman” AND “immigrant” AND “ethnic”). Sixty-five immigrant women with approximately 6.35 years’ experience working in a diverse range of New Zealand organisations completed a scenario-type questionnaire based on their direct experiences of working in New Zealand. Participants ranked employers’ perceived preference for promotion, perceived similarity/cultural fit to the majority culture/workplace, perceived status in the workplace and perceived threat or competitiveness for promotion opportunities. Employees were presented in the scenarios as equally skilled, qualified and all performed at the same level. In a 2x2x2 factorial design, majority and minority status for each employee to be ranked was systematically varied by gender (male/female), ethnicity (ethnic/non-ethnic) and immigration status (immigrant/non-immigrant). Despite equality of qualifications, experience and performance, there was no point at which being a minority presented an advantage as predicated by the minority influence theory. Instead, the mean ranking for perceived preference for promotion revealed that the majority was consistently preferred over single (e.g., female, or immigrant, or ethnic) then double (any combination of two of the above minority criteria) then treble minorities. There was also co-variation between minority status on the one hand and social dominance, social identity, realistic conflict and similarity attraction on the other, suggesting a combined explanatory role for each construct (similarity, identity, etc.) in treatment bias. With each step from single, double to treble minority status there was a consistent decrement in perceived preference; the results showed clear preference for the majority with no particular preference or advantage for the minority at any stage. Discussion focuses on opportunities for future research and improvements regarding the methodology for future research.