The professional characteristics and networks of third-generation migrant returnees

ABSTRACT This study examines the professional characteristics and migrant networks of Korean–Chinese returnees. A notable feature of the current Korean–Chinese migrant group in Korea is the emergence of third generation tour guides. The in-depth interviews with 12 third generation Korean–Chinese tour guides were conducted and analyzed within the grounded theory framework. A total of 110 concepts in 27 subcategories making up 11 main categories are derived. The results of axial coding indicated that the causal condition was ‘to become a tour guide in Korea’. The central phenomena that have been emerging in the characteristics and migrant networks of third generation Korean–Chinese tour guides are ‘nostalgia’ and ‘our stressful life in Korea’. Contextual conditions are ‘socio-cultural distance’ and the ‘vulnerabilities of the job environment’, while the intervening conditions are ‘transnational networks’, ‘use of SNS (Social network system)’, ‘colleagues like family’, and ‘comfortable life’. Actions/interactions are moderated by ‘migrant networks’ and consequences are shown to be ‘identity formation’. The core category of this study is thus ‘embracing socio-cultural realities and forming diverse identities through migrant networks’. This study provides theoretical and managerial implications for the sustainable and professional characteristics and migrant networks of third generation Korean–Chinese tour guides.