TDK Conference Proceedings · Budapest Business School · 2024
Younger generations are increasingly reshaping labour markets through changing expectations regarding employment, career development, workplace conditions, and long-term commitment to employers. One manifestation of this development is job-hopping: the tendency to move between employers rather than remain with the same organization throughout one's career.
This research compares the attitudes of Hungarian and Japanese university students toward job-hopping and examines whether young people in the two countries expect to remain with one employer throughout their careers or instead anticipate working for multiple organizations.
The comparison is particularly relevant because Hungary and Japan have substantially different cultural and institutional employment environments. Japan has historically been associated with lifetime employment and strong internal labour markets, while Hungary has developed within a different European labour-market and institutional context.
Primary research conducted among university students in Hungary and Japan indicates that students in both countries demonstrate a considerable willingness to change employers during their careers. Their motivations include professional development, variety, improved opportunities, job satisfaction, career advancement, employee benefits, and the desire to find employment that better matches their personal and professional expectations.
Despite substantial cultural differences between Hungary and Japan, the research suggests that generational characteristics and changing labour-market expectations may play a stronger role in explaining job-hopping among young people than national culture alone. The findings highlight the importance for employers of adapting recruitment, employee engagement, career-development, and talent-retention strategies to the changing expectations of younger workers.
Keywords: Job-Hopping · Labour Market · Youth Employment · Hungary · Japan · Employee Retention · Career Mobility · Generational Differences
Csiszár, C. (2024). “Shifting or Staying: The Job-Hopping Phenomenon on the Hungarian and Japanese Labour Market.” In Sokszínű tudomány – sokszínű tehetség: Válogatás a BGE TDK konferencián helyezett hallgatók munkáiból . Budapest Business School (Budapesti Gazdasági Egyetem), Budapest, pp. 191–200.
ISBN (PDF): 978-615-6886-10-1
To what extent is the job-hopping phenomenon present among young people in Hungary and Japan, and what motivates university students in the two countries to consider changing employers during their careers?
The research also examines whether important differences can be identified between Hungarian and Japanese students despite the substantial cultural and institutional differences between the two countries.
The research provides a cross-country comparison of job-hopping attitudes among young people in two substantially different labour-market environments: Hungary and Japan.
By combining cultural and institutional perspectives with primary survey evidence from university students, the study examines whether national cultural differences or broader generational changes provide a stronger explanation for changing employment preferences.
Students from both countries generally preferred the possibility of working for several companies rather than remaining with one employer throughout their careers.
Hungarian students showed greater certainty about future job changes, while Japanese students tended to regard changing employers as a strong possibility.
Overall, generational expectations, professional development, job satisfaction, skill mismatch, and other labour-market factors appeared to outweigh cultural differences in explaining job-hopping behaviour.
The study combines secondary research with primary survey research in order to examine both the broader labour-market context and the individual employment preferences of young people in Hungary and Japan.
The secondary analysis reviews research on job-hopping, employee turnover, generational differences in work attitudes, talent retention, Japanese lifetime employment, and changing patterns of employment tenure. OECD labour-market information is also considered in order to place the development of job mobility within a broader international context.
Because Hungary and Japan represent different cultural environments, the secondary analysis also applies Hofstede's cultural dimensions framework. The comparison considers power distance, individualism and collectivism, masculinity and femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence versus restraint.
The primary research consists of surveys conducted among undergraduate students at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) in Japan and Budapest Business University (BBU) in Hungary.
A combined total of 293 responses were collected from students at the two universities. Respondents were examined according to characteristics including gender, age, and field of study, allowing differences in employment preferences between demographic groups to be explored.
Both quantitative and qualitative survey information was analysed. Quantitative analysis focused on attitudes toward lifetime employment, job mobility, salary, employee benefits, and employment preferences. Qualitative responses were used to identify the motivations underlying students' willingness to change employers, including professional development, variety, improved opportunities, career goals, entrepreneurship, and workplace conditions.
Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS and Jamovi. Hypothesis testing was used to investigate relationships between respondent characteristics and employment preferences, including differences associated with gender and age.
BGE TDK 2023 – 1st Place
The original research was presented at the Budapest Business School Scientific Students' Associations Conference (TDK) in 2023 and received first place.
The version published in the 2024 conference proceedings is a shortened version of the original TDK research paper.
The published conference proceedings paper is available below.