Releasing the untapped potential of highly skilled migrants through global diversity management: evidence from firms in Turkey

In this chapter, we examined the factors that might contribute to the underemployment of highly skilled migrants within Turkish organisations. We conducted in-depth interviews with highly skilled migrants and human resources (HR) professionals to gain insights into the perspectives of all relevant actors in recruitment processes. The results of our study, which adopted a qualitative methodology, revealed that migrant workforces were often considered a potential source of disruption to organisational processes due to their perceived otherness. Therefore, the underemployment of highly skilled migrants in several organisations might be attributed to managers’ perceptions of risk and cost. While these findings provide empirical evidence for protective organisational logic resulting from ethnocentric and nationalist approaches, the lack of adequate support mechanisms for migrants in the labour market due to the ineffectiveness of national laws for global perspectives is also marked. Some global diversity management practices aimed at addressing the issue of the underemployment of highly skilled migrants are provided.