Welcome to work in Taiwan! Investigation of international students' employment opportunities

Introduction. Employment plays an important role in vocational development.
However, not many studies of job search among international students have been reported.
Aim. The current study aims to examine the relationship between self-efficacy, behavioural
intentions, and perceived discrimination in the field of job search (JS).
Methodology and research methods. The authors used Social Cognitive Model of Career
Self-management (CSM) as the theoretical background to explain the relationships among
the constructs of self-efficacy, behavioural intentions and perceived discrimination in JS. The
study was conducted in a Chinese cultural context (Taiwan) with a sample of 301 international
students from Southeast Asian countries. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to
test the model about the relationships between the three variables in the study.
Results and scientific novelty. The research findings show that self-efficacy strongly predicts
behavioural intentions. Besides, self-efficacy partly mediates the influence of perceived
discrimination on behavioural intentions. A quantitative research method was applied to investigate
the population of international students, which has not been much reported in previous
studies. This indicates that the influence of a contextual factor (e.g. perceived discrimination)
on behavioural intentions is direct and indirect through self-efficacy.
Practical significance. The research findings can be used by practitioners for enhancing
self-efficacy and behavioural intentions as well as helping international students to cope with
discrimination in the JS process.