Dear Colleagues,

We are launching this call for papers with the aim of providing a focused Special Issue which could offer theoretical developments and empirical knowledge about the migration of highly skilled women in the knowledge-based economy from different disciplinary perspectives, so as to offer relevant recommendations for policy and practice.

The share of highly skilled migrants reached 30% in 2011 (Eurostat, 2011) and several Western countries have resorted to migration policies as an instrument to fill the gaps in the supply of skilled workers in knowledge-based economies (European Migration Network, 2007; OECD-EU, 2016). While these workers represent key talent pools for companies, they often are the first to lose their job in the event of an economic downturn and face poor career outcomes, such as underemployment, brain waste, lower wages, worse working conditions, and deskilling (Lo and Yu, 2017; United Nations, 2016), as a result of individual, organizational, and environmental factors (Syed, 2008; Al Ariss et al., 2012). The anti-immigration sentiment and rampant populism in several countries (e.g., Brexit, US travel ban, and European-level discussions about migration issues) (OECD, 2016) does not help in solving discrimination, cross-cultural adjustment, and other difficulties (e.g., Dietz et al., 2016).

In addition to these trends, highly skilled migration trends have become increasingly feminized over time, both in OECD and non-OECD countries (Özden et al., 2011). Highly skilled female migration presents several peculiar characteristics worthy of note, such as unconventional migration biographies (e.g., Gonzales Enriques and Triandafyllidou, 2016), differences in terms of national backgrounds in different host countries (European Migration Network, 2007; Kofman, 2014), high levels of over-qualification and deskilling in the job market with respect to men (Eurostat, 2011), and under-representation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) sectors (e.g., European Migration Network, 2007; Kofman, 2014; Raghuram, 2008). As highlighted by previous studies, characteristics like gender, age, or country of origin affect career prospects, such as occupation level and salary (e.g., Jenkins, 2004; Williams and Balaz, 2008), through the social construction of the power relations underpinning the evaluation of skills (Phillips and Taylor, 1980).

This is why highly skilled migrant women, especially those working or aspiring to work in male-dominated sectors (like STEM), offer an important context to study how the many forms of social differentiation (e.g., gender, migrant status, occupational sector) operate in conjunction to shape labor market participation and outcomes (Grigoleit-Richter, 2017; Raghuram, 2008; Shirmohammadi et al., 2018).

Most of the previous literature has studied the antecedents to qualification-matched employment (Shirmohammadi et al., 2018), looking, for instance, at the individual-level characteristics of skilled migrant women (e.g., migratory legal status, education, language proficiency) (e.g., Aure, 2013; Syed and Murray, 2009), or the problems and barriers that they face (e.g., work–life balance, social integration and networking) (e.g., Pio, 2005; Grigoleit-Richter, 2017). Relatively less attention has been paid to the initiatives in place to help them to overcome these obstacles (e.g., Iredale, 2005), or to the strategies and agentic role employed by women themselves (e.g., Colakoglu et al., 2018; Riaño, 2011; Shih, 2006), and the final outcome in terms of their engagement in the labor market and society at large, such as innovation, knowledge spillover, and socio-economic wellbeing. Nevertheless, while the adoption of a process-based approach has been highlighted by several recent contributions analyzing highly skilled migration patterns, to date, few studies have adopted such a comprehensive approach.

While we are interested in understanding the final outcome in terms of the contributions of skilled women to the knowledge-based economy, we call for a better understanding of the factors, processes and dynamics that drive such outcomes. Our aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of the linkages, processes, activities, and dynamics that explain why and how certain antecedent characteristics and conditions regarding highly skilled migrant women, their families, networks, or home/host societies drive certain final outcomes, such as individual career trajectories, organizational arrangements, or the impact on home/host knowledge economies and societies. Shedding light on these processes is extremely important to favor the emergence of evidence for the development of policy and managerial implications, which can help in encouraging the stronger participation of migrant women in innovation, knowledge creation and socio-economic wellbeing.

We welcome academic contributions taking different disciplinary views on the topic, so as to increase the variety of disciplines and perspectives represented in the final Special Issue. We invite contributions to take, where possible, a multi-level stance on the analyzed processes, activities, linkages or dynamics, thus considering the individual, group, organizational, and environmental level.

Dr. Rosa Grimaldi
Dr. Francesca Crivellaro
Prof. Daniela Bolzani
Guest Editors

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• highly skilled migrants
• women
• gender