What drives early-career academics to pursue careers in Hong Kong? A multi-level analysis of influential factors

The international mobility of academics has become an important mechanism for knowledge exchange within global higher education. However, intensifying geopolitical tensions, increasingly competitive academic labour markets, and changing immigration regimes have created new uncertainties for early-career academics (ECAs) seeking secure academic appointments. This qualitative study examines the factors shaping ECAs’ decisions to move or return to Hong Kong for their first tenure-track academic appointments. Drawing on a revised push–pull framework, this qualitative study conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 ECAs who obtained their doctoral degrees outside Hong Kong before taking up assistant professor positions at public universities in Hong Kong. The findings show that participants’ decisions were shaped by relational configurations of contextual, institutional, and individual forces. These forces involved constraints in other academic systems and Hong Kong’s perceived advantages in salary, research funding, visa accessibility, institutional reputation, English-mediated communication, regional connectivity, and personal or family considerations. This study contributes to academic mobility literature by foregrounding first tenure-track career entry as a distinctive moment of mobility and by showing Hong Kong as a comparatively viable but demanding career platform for ECAs.