Natives' avoidance of the so-called 3D(Dirty, Dangerous, Difficult) jobs due to the high level of economic growth and the effects of aging and low birthrate are changing South Korea into multi-racial, multi-cultural society at the unprecedentedly high...
Natives' avoidance of the so-called 3D(Dirty, Dangerous, Difficult) jobs due to the high level of economic growth and the effects of aging and low birthrate are changing South Korea into multi-racial, multi-cultural society at the unprecedentedly high speed. In particular, foreign laborers are currently of absolute importance as the main source of manpower in the field of the Korean manufacturing industry. However, the World Value Survey indicates that South Korea is one of the most closed and unfriendly countries to foreigners in the world. In particular, the Chinese are the foreign group that present the worst image to Koreans, according to recent research.
Here is the problem: Chinese people, who form the foreign group that present the worst image to Koreans, hold a large majority of all the foreign laborers in South Korea. Given this background, it will be very meaningful to consider how influential new socio-cultural problems, including racial discrimination and discrimination against foreigners, which Korean society has never experienced, are in the industrial field; for this reason, research was conducted to see how the sense of discrimination experienced by Chinese laborers in South Korea affected their job satisfaction.
To test the hypothesis that discrimination perceived by Chinese laborers in South Korea would affect their job satisfaction (satisfaction with job itself, pay satisfaction, supervision satisfaction, promotion satisfaction, colleague satisfaction), 9 Williams Major and Everyday discrimination questions were used to estimate perceived discrimination, and job satisfaction was estimated with 27 items from the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) developed by Smith et al. (1969).
A survey was conducted in 153 persons and the data from the survey were analyzed by using the Statistic Package for Social Science (SPSS); as a result, perceived discrimination was found to be significantly correlated with such sub-areas of job satisfaction as satisfaction with job itself, pay satisfaction, supervision satisfaction, and colleague satisfaction, with the exception of promotion satisfaction. It is considered that Chinese people's poor working conditions and positions in South Korea make it impossible for them to find satisfaction in promotion.
In addition, in-depth research was conducted with Chinese laborers divided into the Han Chinese and the Korean-Chinese and with the control variables divided into demographic (gender, marital status, age, education) and socio-economic ones (position, length of stay, qualification of stay, employment type, company type). As a result, the Han Chinese were found to show significantly higher correlation between their perceived discrimination and job satisfaction than the Korean-Chinese. In other words, it is considered that Korean-Chinese laborers who can speak Korean and are familiar with Korean culture internalize and accept the discriminatory treatment already prevalent in Korean society, whereas Han Chinese laborers have yet to accept the discriminatory culture of Korean society. It can be said that the Korean-Chinese are more acculturated into Korean society than the Han Chinese. Both Han Chinese and Korean-Chinese laborers show the closest correlation between colleague satisfaction and perceived discrimination, which probably reflects the characteristic of the Chinese who regard relationships very highly.
According to regression analysis with demographic variables (gender, marital status, age, education), the Korean-Chinese showed significant correlation between two areas and age alone, whereas the Han Chinese showed significant correlation between age and education and all the areas, and between marital status and three areas.
Perceived discrimination in demographic variables was insignificantly correlated with supervision satisfaction and promotion satisfaction for the Korean-Chinese but significantly correlated with all the areas for the Han Chinese. Of socio-economic variables (position, length of stay, qualification of stay, employment type, company type), each of employment type and position alone was significantly correlated with two areas for the Korean-Chinese, whereas many variables were significantly correlated with five areas for the Han Chinese. Perceived discrimination was insignificantly correlated with pay satisfaction and promotion satisfaction for the Korean-Chinese but significantly correlated with all areas but promotion satisfaction for the Han Chinese.
Since the Han Chinese have a greater tendency to feel discriminated against than the Korean-Chinese in getting employed, this study suggests that particular efforts should be made to prevent Han Chinese laborers' perceived discrimination from lowering job satisfaction and decreasing productivity.
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