개인의 학력 및 스킬 불일치 지각이 직업훈련 교육을 통한 일치지각으로의 전환과 직무 만족도에 미치는 영향

Abstract

The difficult job market, which has worsened since the global financial crisis, continues to put a strain on the young looking for jobs. Though the employment rate has slightly improved since the second half of 2011, reducing the official unemployment rate, the seriousness of the employment situation perceived by the public has remained the same. The current research investigated the effects of individual, job, and employment environment characteristics on perceptions of educational and skill mismatches and the effects of work period and job retraining on changes in the perceptions of the mismatches. At the same time, the study examined the effect of the changes in the perceived mismatches on wage and job satisfaction, and turnover intention. Questionnaires were administered for a period of over 8 weeks with industrial workers and company employees who had had job training. Of the 480 questionnaires that had been collected, 464 questionnaires were used in the final analysis, excluding 16 incomplete ones. The findings of the study were as follows. First, of the individual characteristics the effect of the level of education on perceptions of job mismatches was greatest with middle school graduates, showing the least match rate(42.9%), whereas the other groups showed higher match rates, with graduate school students and graduates showing the highest match rates: high school graduates(53.1%), junior college graduates(53.8%), 4-year college graduates(62.4%), graduate school students and graduates(68.4%). These results indicate that with higher level of education people can get a job which better matches their majors. In addition, junior college and 4-year college graduates perceived that they were over- qualified, meaning that compared to their job duties they were over-qualified in terms of educational level. The results further showed that the lower the level of education, the stronger the perception of under qualification, indicating different perceptions according to educational background. The finding implies the need for various support system to reduce the gap between different perceptions on job mismatches according to the level of education of employees. Employees' majors significantly affected their perceptions of job mismatch: liberal arts(29.2%), social science(24.4%), engineering(28.3%), medical (57%), education(66.7%), agricultural(50%), and art and sports-related majors(38.5%). Compared to other majors, education and medical majors showed higher mismatch perceptions, indicating the need for developing a variety of programs so that these majors can be equipped to apply for jobs in various fields. Of job characteristics, the size of company significantly affected perceptions of job mismatch. Employees at smaller companies showed stronger perception of over-qualification, reflecting the reality that large firms have an advantage in hiring qualified human resources while smaller companies experience more difficulty with the shortage of man power. In order to resolve job mismatch by the size of company systematic government support is called for such as setting up various certification and work experience recognition for working at small and medium size companies, which can work as advantages in getting a job at a large company in the future. Of employment environment characteristics, higher unemployment rate led to stronger perception of over-qualification rather than under-qualification. In other words, as the employment environment becomes more challenging, people apply for jobs that require lower qualification than they are, causing the phenomenon of over-qualified workers. Summarizing the first finding, the level of education, as individual characteristics, and the size of company, as job characteristics, significantly affected perceptions of job mismatches, implying the need for various support programs and systems to resolve the mismatches and to implement plans for creating jobs for young men and women. Second, the level of education as individual characteristics did not significantly affect skill mismatch, which means perceptions of the match between personal skills and those required by the job were not significantly different by the employees' levels of education. Majors of the employees did not significantly affected skill mismatch, either. In addition, the size of company did not have a significant effect on skill mismatch. At small companies, employees' perceptions showed over-skilled(47.4%) and match (39.5%), whereas match(46.6%) and under-skilled(45.2%) were found at medium-sized companies. Perceptions at middle-standing firms were over-skilled(48.2%) and match(36.4%), compared to over-skilled(48.2%) and match(36.4%) at large companies. Unlike individual and job characteristics, employment environment characteristic significantly affected perceptions of skill mismatch, revealing the highest match of 42.7% with the annual unemployment rate of under 7%, followed by over-skilled(35.4%) and under-skilled(21.9%). With the annual unemployment rate of 7 to under 8%, over-skilled was the highest(46%), followed by match(44.2%), with under-skilled being the lowest(9.8%). With the annual unemployment rate of 8 to under 9%, over-skilled was the highest (50.8%), followed by match(34.9%), with under-skilled being the lowest (14.3%). With the annual unemployment rate of 9 to under 10%, match was the highest(50%), followed by over-skilled(40%) and under-skilled(10%). With the annual unemployment rate of over 10%, under-skilled was the highest(67.9%), followed by match(33.7%) and under-skilled(3.7%). In summary of the second finding, except for employment environment characteristics, individual or job characteristics did not significantly affect skill mismatches. The finding implies the significant effect of unemployment rate of young men and women as an index of overall society. Systematic endeavor to lower unemployment rate of young men and women is seriously called for. Third, an interaction effect was found between job mismatch and the work period in resolving job mismatch. The results showed that for those showing under-skilled perception the mean number of work years of short-term workers was 4.25 years, compared to 4.05 years for long-term workers, revealing the longer the employees worked, the better skilled they get, which led to resolving job mismatch. However, no interaction effect was found between job mismatch and job retraining. Fourth, no significant interaction effect was found between skill mismatch and the work period in resolving job mismatch. The results indicate that skill mismatch does not necessarily change much through long-term employment probably due to the continuation of the same job duties or some kind of mannerism about job performance involved. The mean skill match of long-term workers 3.0, which was only 0.10 higher than that of short-term workers. For the industrial aspect, it is necessary to set up an internal system for running job retraining programs to enhance technological competence and for monitoring the program on a regular basis. Fifth, resolving job mismatch was found to heighten wage and job satisfaction as well as decrease turnover intention. When workers resolved job mismatch, changing their job perception from mismatch to match, the change had a positive effect on their wage and job satisfaction, decreasing turnover intention. Sixth, resolving skill mismatch was found to significantly affect wage satisfaction and turnover intention, but not job satisfaction. Changes from skill mismatch to match, accompanied by enhancement of competence and skills, led to wage satisfaction, which in turn lower turnover intention. However, job satisfaction was not significantly related to improvement of field skills. In summary of the fifth and sixth findings, changes from under-qualified to job match increased wage and job satisfaction but decreased turnover intention and that changes from under-skilled to skill match increased wage and job satisfaction but decreased turnover intention. Based on the findings of the study, the following theoretical and practical implications are suggested. First, the current study attempted to explore job mismatch focusing on individual, job, and employment environment characteristics as its factors. Unlike previous studies, job mismatch was divided into educational mismatch and skill mismatch. The results showed the level of education and the size of company affected educational mismatch as individual and job characteristics, respectively. In particular, junior college graduates showed highest over-qualified perception, followed by 4-year college graduates. In addition, employees at large companies revealed the highest perceptions of educational match while their counterparts at middle standing companies and middle-sized companies showed perceptions of educational over-qualified and under-qualified, respectively. The results seem to be because people seeking jobs at large companies are well equipped by investing rather a long time for preparation whereas those who get a job at middle standing companies tend to apply for jobs that require lower level of education, compared to their actual level of education. Various government support is necessary to reduce the mismatch. In addition, mismatch was also found between the job and the worker’s major. The degree of mismatch was higher for education, agricultural, art and sports-related majors than for engineering majors, indicating the need for convergence approach is necessary for these majors. Educational programs should provide students with various convergence courses where they can acquire knowledge and skills required by the job market and industry along with their major-related study. Skill mismatch was significantly affected only by the unemployment rate of the year, which is classified as employment environment characteristics in this study. The results show that changes in the labor market environment of the year affect an over-skill phenomenon. In other words, as the employment environment becomes more challenging, people tend to get a job below their educational level. Strategies and plans are necessary to resolve the mismatch. In particular, the recent high unemployment rate of young people calls for specific plans, such as developing start-up business programs and expanding convergence programs at universities. Second, job retraining was found to be the most effective in resolving mismatch perceptions. The finding suggests that companies set up their own educational programs and universities help students acquire practical skills through convergence education, which can reduce job mismatch. Various public training organizations should conduct retraining for workers. Strategic programs should be developed for liberal arts, education, art and sports-related, and social science majors, in particular, to help them acquire new competency needed in the work place. Third, as for the number of work years, the moderating variable of the study, previous studies have shown that the longer employees work for a company, the more positive effect they have on the company with more know-how and better performance. Long-term employees are considered to have reached certain level of job performance and skills, and continuous retraining of them was shown to be effective in improving technological competence and/or job performing competence. It is recommended that job retraining be conducted for long-term employees separately from short-term workers. Lastly, the study found that resolving mismatch resulted in wage and job satisfaction as well as reduced turnover intention. Since resolving mismatch through continuous job retraining can reduce dissatisfaction and turnover intention of the members, appropriate management plans for job resolving mismatch through retraining are required.