Abstract

As the global mobility of the workforce increases, little is known regarding how cross-regime migrants from a centralized planned economy to a free market economy adapt to working in capitalist organizations. This study investigates the migration, work, and adaptation experiences of North Korean escapees living and working in capitalist South Korean society. Using grounded theory methods, we uncover an underlying mechanism of cross-regime work adaptation, the internalization of capitalist work norms into the migrants’ personal values. This mechanism is linked with the migrants’ adoption of an opportunity-focused approach to the new environment and the emergence of postmigration goals in response to perceived opportunities. This adaptation process is particularly characteristic of those motivated to escape for economic reasons, whereas those motivated to escape by political reasons actually resist assimilation. As a function of pre- and postmigration experiences, individual migrants are found to differ in their internalization of capitalist work norms—from high (integration of norms) to moderate (compliance with norms) to low (resistance to norms). High internalization is linked to such work-related adaptation behaviors such as acquiring new skills and building supportive workplace relationships. We offer theoretical and practical implications for work adaptation in cross-cultural settings and for cross-regime migrants in particular.