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Field experiment investigates job interview invitations for Economics graduates with study abroad experience across three countries, suggesting differing employer perceptions.
It is a popular assumption that study abroad experience is valued by employers when recruiting. However, very few studies have investigated this expectation through experimental methods. In this paper, we present the results of a field experiment, whereby we submitted fictitious applications to 2100 job vacancies in Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, systematically varying between study abroad and no study abroad experience. Our results indicate that for the three case countries, the assumed positive effect of study abroad on receiving an invitation for a job interview does not hold for Economics graduates. This raises significant avenues for future research.
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Mol et al. (2026) studied this question.
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