Job satisfaction of returnees to Japan

Abstract

We investigate how Japanese returnees’ job satisfaction is influenced by their organizational identification, their cultural openness and the degree of the ‘Japaneseness’ of the business system in their firms. On the tenets of social identity and cultural fit theory, we find that stronger identified Japanese returnees are more job satisfied. Furthermore, the degree of “Japaneseness” of the business system is negatively related to the job satisfaction of returnees, indicating that firms with a rather Western business system have more job satisfied returnees in their workforce. Also, even though we do not find any direct relationship between cultural openness and job satisfaction, we receive weak support, that cultural openness moderates the influence of the Japanese business system on a returnee’s job satisfaction. That is, the group of culturally more open returnees has a higher job satisfaction when working in a rather Japanese business system.