Di Zhang
Di joined IER in October 2009 and was awarded her PhD in Employment Research in 2013. She went on to take up employment with the China Construction Bank in their head quarters.
She completed her Bachelor’s degree in German Language and Literature at Renmin University of China, during which she also did several social science modules. She cultivated a particular interest in sociology. This led her to Warwick to study the MA in Sociology, where she further developed her research interest, focusing increasingly on employment, and its relationship with the education system. Her MA dissertation explored the cultural identity of foreign educated Chinese returnees.
Her doctoral thesis is a comparative study focusing on graduates employed in a state-owned bank and a multi-national bank in Beijing. The study explores the utilization and contribution of nationally and overseas educated employees in these organizations, in the context of Chinese labour market change. This allows for acculturation abroad and through internal migration.
Research Interests:
Higher education and the labour market; Industrial relations and organisational behaviour; Reform of Chinese labour market.
Working in Financial Services after Graduating
Di won the 2011 Festival of Social Sciences PhD poster competition at the University of Warwick. Her research questions were:
1. Compared to local graduates, what are the distinctive features of overseas educated employees?
2. How do managers utilise overseas educated graduates? And to what extent does their utilisation differ between SOE and MNC? Why does it?
3. Considering the features of ‘returnee’, as well as the needs of different forms of ownership, what are the perceived advantages and disadvantages for returnees working in SOE and MNC?