How Chinese transnational higher education graduates navigate the domestic labour market by mobilising multiple forms of capital

Purpose This article investigates how Chinese graduates from transnational higher education (TNHE) programmes navigate the domestic labour market, highlighting how employability is shaped by the mobilisation of human, social, cultural, identity and psychological capital within hierarchical credentialing and employer recognition structures. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on qualitative interviews with twenty TNHE graduates, the study explores how these forms of capital are strategically deployed to negotiate employment opportunities in China. Findings TNHE participation enhances human, cultural, identity and psychological capital, and facilitates the development of programme-mediated weak-tie social capital, while strong-tie family-based social capital remains largely independent of TNHE. However, employability outcomes depend on how graduates strategically mobilise multiple forms of capital in interaction with employer recognition, credential hierarchies and access to social networks. A few graduates remained unemployed, indicating that the capital acquired through TNHE does not automatically translate into labour-market success. Originality/value This study contributes to employability research by showing that TNHE does not uniformly generate employability advantages, but instead shapes how graduates' existing forms of capital are recognised, activated and converted within China's stratified labour market. It highlights how the value of graduate capital is mediated through interactions between institutional credential hierarchies, state accreditation structures and relational employment practices.