PROFILE AND CAREER ASPIRATION OF MALAYSIAN RETURNEES

. This study examined profiles and predictors of career aspiration of Malaysian returnees from European and non-European countries. This study, involving 226 returnees, was carried out in the industrialized areas of the Klang Valley, Johore Bharu and Penang, and the state of Sabah. Based on the Social Cognitive Career Theory and the Chaos Theory of Careers the study derived personal and environmental factors within the major groups of push-pull factors that served as the predictors. Most returnees from Europe came back from the United Kingdom while Australia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Korea and the United States were the host countries outside Europe. A regression analysis showed the explanatory power of career aspiration for returnees from European countries was higher (33.9%) than that of returnees from non-European countries (29.1%). Push political and pull social factors were significant for the former, whereas push social, pull personal and pull family factors were stronger for the latter ones. The implications of these findings for human resource practices and suggestions for future research are discussed.


Introduction
Malaysia launched the country's New Economic Model (NEM) in 2010 with the main goal to a ain a status of high-income economy by 2020.
e policy model has detailed out eight Strategic Reform Initiatives (SRIs) one of which is to develop, a ract, retain, and increase the highly-skilled workforce in the various sectors of employment so as they are at par with the rst-world talent base. Achievement of this target, which would move the nation towards doubling of the per capita income from USD7,000 in 2011 to USD15,000 -20,000 per year in 2020 is dependent on the availability of highskilled human capital. With a population of 30.3 million in 2014, which is expected to rise to 32.5 million by 2020 (Malaysia, 2014), the country has undergone tremendous developments at the turn of the century. Concurrently, Malaysia aims to be a major hub in higher education, commerce, and knowledge innovation in the Asian region through the se ing-up of public and private universities, R&D centers, industrial zones, technology and science parks (Ismail & Osman-Gani, 2011). Nevertheless, there are formidable hurdles to overcome before this goal can be reached. At present, highlyskilled labour in Malaysia (25%) lags behind that in Taiwan (33%), Korea (35%) and Singapore (49%) (NEAC, 2010). To redress this problem, a potential source of highlyskilled labour has been identi ed in the Malaysian diaspora estimated at about 300,000 or 10% of the country's tertiary-educated workforce in the last decade (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013).
e country needs the diaspora to return to complement the existing pool of skilled workforce. From 1995 to 2013, a total of 2500 Malaysian professionals returned to Malaysia, and many more are expected to do so in the near future (h p://www.bbc.co.uk/ news/world-asia-22610210). e subject of this study is a group of professional returnees who came back to Malaysia a er working for at least one year abroad. is is essentially a 'reverse brain drain (RBD)' -another term of 'return migration' or 'repatriation' . e term 'professional' is based on Iredale's (2001) characteristics of professional migrants as individuals holding at least a college degree. Speci cally, this study aims to compare i) the professional pro les of the returnees, viz., those who came back from European countries and those returning from non-European countries, and ii) the predictors of career aspiration of the two groups. e next section of this paper continues with the research problem, followed by theories underlying career aspiration of returnees and a literature review. e methodological procedures undertaken are explained next, followed by ndings. e paper ends with a conclusion, practical implications for global human resource development and management, and suggestions for future research. e Research Problem ree sets of circumstances are considered in the research problem: First, many studies of migration of professionals focus on seeking reasons for the out-migration such as for higher education and career opportunities (Danaj, 2006;Lee & Kim, 2009). However, few studies have been undertaken on the return migration of talented or skilled professionals, speci cally studies that relate to career aspiration. Second, the available studies on career aspiration have been mainly conducted on groups of professionals who were employed in a single sector such as engineering (Bigliardi et al., 2005), medicine (She et al., 2008;Seetharaman & Logaraj, 2008), R&D (Petroni, 2000;Ismail & Ramly, 2010) and academia (Arokiasamy et al., 2011). Career aspiration from the perspective of transnational mobility of returnees from developed to less developed countries is still under-explored. As the world is becoming interconnected and globalized, a rise in return mobility involving professionals of various backgrounds seems inevitable. ird, career aspiration is about desired goals in one's career. Hence, research on career aspiration of returnees investigating geographical movement from a country abroad to the home country in pursuit of speci c career expectations is necessary. e need of such a study is to respond to a call such as by Doherty (2011) who is of the opinion that a be er understanding of factors associated with expatriation and repatriation and the associated outcomes is vital to enhance knowledge in careers.
It is postulated that every migration ow produces a counter ow (Lee, 1966), and that every brain drain is a potential brain gain (Hunger, 2002). King's (2000) analysis stresses the push-pull model in its approach to explain RBD mechanisms in both individual and contextual or environmental situations. Push factors are repelling factors in the host country whereas pull factors are a raction factors associated with the destination (Schmidthals, 2010). is means that if an individual's needs are not satis ed in his present location, a move elsewhere would be considered (Dustmann & Weiss, 2007). erefore, this study focuses on the in uence of these push and pull factors on one of career outcomes, i.e. career aspiration. As such the research questions of this study are as follows: How do pull factors in uence professional returnees' career aspirations? How do push factors in uence professional returnees' career aspirations? How do individual factors in uence professional returnees' career aspirations?
In initiating this research, the following background perspectives on the return of Malaysians from European and non-European countries were considered as an important facet of the pro le which provides the basis for comparing the returnees from the two major groups: i) Among the European countries, the UK has been the traditional destination of Malaysians for higher education because of the historical ties between the two countries, Malaysia being a former British colony. Many Malaysian scholars chose to continue working in the UK a er completing their studies while the UK has frequently been a destination for employment even for those who obtain their education locally. Other career destinations in Europe for Malaysians are Germany, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Denmark; ii) e division between European and non-European host countries in this study was thought appropriate as the cultural and physical backgrounds of the European countries tend to be more homogenous while acknowledging the fact that countries outside Europe are culturally diverse and widely spread over vast regions such as Asia-Paci c including Australia and New Zealand, Africa and the continents of North and South America; iii) e transnational mobility for Malaysians to other countries outside Europe is relatively recent, a er the government widened its economic and socio-cultural ties with a large cross section of countries that included the United States, the East Asian countries of Japan, China and Korea through the 'Look East Policy' (NEAC, 2010) and other countries in the Gulf region. erefore, based on the above brief history of international relations between Malaysia and other countries it is appropriate to divide the returnees based on the two groups of host countries when they were abroad. is is an important pro le of returnees and understanding their pro le would help Malaysia in formulating policies in sending future professionals who aspire to work abroad and in accepting them to return. e choice of returnees from European and non-European countries was supported based on perspectives of comparative methodology in the social sciences. Comparative studies involving countries lie on a continuum (one country, few countries and many countries involved) (Lor,201,p. 8) and therefore the major di erences at the two ends of the continuum depend on the number of countries covered and the degree of details of analysis. Landman (2008cited in Lor, 2011 further indicates that the continuum can also be looked at from another angle: the level of abstraction. e more countries are included in the study, the higher the level of abstraction (or the less detailed it becomes). Generally, a study of a single country can be very intensive and conducted in considerable detail, but the more countries there are, the less intensively each one will be studied. e present study is precisely a comparison made among the returnees in a single country (Malaysia); however, the comparison was based on the background of the host country: European and non-European. e choice of this comparison is further supported using Sartori's (1991cited in Lor, 2011) assertion that entities to be compared should have both shared/similar and non-shared/non-similar a ributes. e history of Malaysia with many countries abroad creates the division between traditional versus non-traditional bilateral relations in economy, education, and politics, or European (shared a ributes) and non-European countries (non-shared a ributes). Furthermore, the choice of comparison made is compensated by the strength that the respondents of the research come from one country and the diverse nature of European and non-European countries, which are the host countries of the returnees, further adds strength to the study.

Career Aspiration De ned
Career aspiration is about an individual's interest and hope of what he or she sees as promising prospects for future career. Career aspiration is an aspect of the internal dimension of career that determines the success of a career (Ismail & Ramly, 2010), which dwells well with the concept of self-initiated action. Features of the internal careers are important as they will explain employees' satisfaction, devotion, orientation, and involvement within an organization (Bigliardi et al., 2005;Ituma, 2006). Career aspirations in this study were conceptualized based on Schein's (1996) career anchors, namely technical/functional competence; managerial competence; job security, geographical security; sense of service; pure challenge; lifestyle integration; and entrepreneurial creativity. is conceptualization of career aspiration was chosen because it forms a strong self-concept which holds features of internal career together even as in-dividuals experience unexpected changes in their external career. Hence, career aspirations are signi cant in one's career development because they in uence career choices, a ect decisions on career mobility, shape an individual's career path, determine views of the career future, in uence the selection of speci c occupations and work se ings, and in uence individuals' reactions to their work experiences (Schein, 1996).
We argued that career aspirations may be triggered externally and possibly intensied as a result of events occurring in the home country (pull factors) such as economic crisis. Examples of pull factors are the Malaysian government's economic stimulus packages and career opportunities provided under various schemes for returnees. It is thus crucial to know the returnees' career aspirations before opportunities are available for their career development. A study by Bigliardi et al. (2005) shows that RSETs, particularly engineers, have diverse career aspirations and have a strong need for growth and personal development.

eories
is study adopted two theories as its underlying theoretical foundation. ey are the advanced version of Social Cognitive Career eory (SCCT) (Lent & Brown, 2006) and the Chaos eory of Careers (CTC) (Bright & Pryor, 2011). Justi cations for choosing these theories are based on the functional meaning and the strengths of the theories in relation to the phenomenon of career aspiration and the subjects of the research, the professional returnees. e SCCT postulates that the development of positive career development depends on an individual's experiences resulting from interactions between environmental (e.g., push and pull factors and their in uence on outcome expectations) and personal factors (e.g., individual characteristics such as age, duration with the job, the location of the job based on countries) (Rogers et al., 2009). erefore, the SCCT is chosen because career aspiration becomes the core problem investigated in the study and the theory succinctly explains that career aspiration is one of the ultimate outcome expectations resulting from the in uences of environmental factors that include push and pull factors in the host and home countries. e second theory of CTC (Bright & Pryor, 2011) emphasizes four constructs, viz., complexity, change, chance, and construction as fundamental bases in career development. Complexity emerges when there is a multiplicity of in uences in career decision that range from parental in uence to traditions, politics, climate, and health. In addition, cultural changes due to economic progress may a ect the career decisions of an individual, which may come in terms of chance or luck, which is out of one's control. Hence, one would actively construct his career instead of relying on the linear nature of cause and e ect (Bright & Pryor, 2011). As such, the CTC advocates the acceptance of uncertainties and unplanned events, whether in the host country or in one's homeland, which are termed as push and pull factors, as among the ways a returnee's career aspiration might be a ected. As such push-pull factors were suitable based on CTC. e basic idea is that RBD is initiated in the host country because of push factors, speci cally the economic instability, political disturbances, and environmental disadvantages. e pull factors, on the other hand, include job opportunities, be er medical care, personal and family ties in the homeland (Kirkwood, 2009;Parkins, 2010). ose who are pushed into re-migration are simultaneously pulled by the aspiration of nding a be er career elsewhere, particularly the homeland.

Predictors of Career Aspirations
e experience with migrants in the UK indicates that a signi cant number of them eventually return to their home countries. As an example, more of Australians in the UK now are moving back to Australia on the realization that their home country is actually part of Asia where economic growth is vibrant and career opportunities are bright. Young Aussies are exploring Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan and China, rather than the UK or other European countries, for expanding business and trading partnership (h p:// www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine). Similarly, New Zealand migrants both in the UK and elsewhere found strong pull factors that led to a predisposition for them to return home (Lidgard & Gilson, 2002;Chabana et al., 2011).
Moreover, many migrants of East Asian origin, Chinese, Koreans and Japanese, return to their homelands a er residing abroad for several years because of a yearning for a working environment with a cultural familiarity (Chen, 2003;Saxenian, 2007). For Malaysians, family ties are the main reason for their return. e fast growing Asian economies such as the Philippines, Taiwan, and Malaysia are actively enticing their professionals abroad to contribute to the homeland (Hydrogen, 2013).
e Human Capital eory (HCT) (Schultz, 1971) contends that individuals and society derive economic bene ts from investments in people skill. Human capital is also known as the personal qualities that accumulate stocks of productive knowledge and technical skills (Dobbs, Yun & Roberts, 2008;Krzeslo, 2009) resulting from level of education and adaptive capability to a di erent country environment. Human capital of the returnees was accumulated through formal and informal learning, social interactions and hands-on experience in the host country (Bijwaard & Wang, 2013), which takes a certain duration of time to see its impact on the returnees. Hence it is logically deduced that human capital accumulation has some bearing on returnees' duration of staying abroad and, consequently, to their career aspiration.
Based on the theories discussed above and the related literature review, a research framework ( Fig. 1) was developed for this study. Personal and environmental factors (of push and pull factor groups) as well as an individual characteristic (duration of staying abroad) served as the independent variables, with career aspiration of returnees as the dependent variable. e hypotheses developed for this study are: H1: Push factors signi cantly in uence professional returnees' career aspirations. H2: Pull factors signi cantly in uence professional returnees' career aspirations. H3: Duration of staying abroad has signi cant relationship with professional returnees' career aspirations.

Methodology
European countries in this study refer to countries that are members of the European Union (h p://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/index_en.htm), together with Russia, Switzerland and Turkey. Non-European countries refer to countries in North and South America, and those in the Asia-Paci c region, such as Japan, Taiwan, China, Australia and New Zealand, various countries in the African continent, the Arab Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. e study drew upon a population of 2,500 returning Malaysian professionals from 1995 to 2013 when the country launched brain gain programs such as the Return Expert Program (REP). Respondents were identi ed based on a randomized cluster sampling of institutions comprising ministries, R&D institutions, government-linked companies, hospitals, universities, business rms, science parks and MNCs located in the industrialized areas of the Klang Valley, Johore Bharu and Penang in Peninsular Malaysia, and in Sabah. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire through group administered and email questionnaire surveys. e study sample size was determined using Raoso and G*Power so wares. e Raoso so ware (h p://www.raoso .com/ samplesize.htm) yielded a sample size of 334 while G*Power (Faul & Erdfelder, 1992) method suggested 178 respondents. erefore, the sample size required was in the range of 178 to 334, and we decided to take the middle point of (178 + 334)/2=256. is was the total of questionnaires distributed; and the total completed and usable was 226 giving a response rate of 226/256 x 100=88.3%.
is is considered reasonably high in a survey research (Babbie, 2001). e study used descriptive analysis to portray the pro le of the respondents, level of their responses on the push-pull factors and career aspiration. e inferential statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to examine the correlation among the variables, and multiple linear regression (MLR) was also used to examine the in uence of the independent variables on the dependent variable of career aspiration. e MLR was chosen instead of other techniques of inferential statistics due to the following reasons: i) MLR is the basic tool to measure prediction of the in uence of predictor variables on a criterion variable; ii) the study used established measurements to measure push-pull factors and career aspiration, however, the instruments have been used mainly in the western countries but to a very limited extent in Malaysia; and iii) the study was not intended to examine the e ect of an intervening variable such as moderator or mediator in the prediction analysis; hence it did not require an advanced regression technique. e instruments consisted of ve sections: (i) background of returnees, (ii) history of leaving Malaysia, (iii) push and pull factors comprising 40-items scored on a 5-point Likert scale based on Gmelch's (1983) model of push and pull factors, and on factors associated with return migration by Baba and Sanchez (2012); Roman and Goschin (2012); and Minta (2007), (iv) career aspiration measured by the Career Anchor Inventory developed by Schein (1975), adapted from Igbaria et al. (1991), and (v) sociodemographic pro les. Push factors were measured using eight items, and examples of items are "Economic turbulence in host country", and "Limited nurturance of own culture". Pull factors were measured using 11 items, and examples of items are "Growth in development hubs (e.g., Iskandar Region in the southern Johore)", and "Opportunities in policy making". A total of 15 items were used to measure career aspiration. Examples of items to measure career aspiration are "I have always wanted to start and build up a business of my own" and "A career is worthwhile only if it enables me to lead my life in my own way".

Validity and Reliability
Content validity of career aspiration instrument was determined through feedback of 13 respondents in a pilot test. e validity of the push and pull factors constructs was tested by factor analysis. Twenty items of the push factors scale and 20 items of pull factors scale were analyzed using principal component analysis factoring and varimax rotation to examine the factor structures of the scales and items with factor loading (Kainth, 2009) as it maximizes the sum of the variances of the squared loadings within each loading matrix. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to examine the factor structures of the push and pull factors scales, and to select the items with high factor loadings. e KMO measure of sampling adequacy was .822 for the push factors scale, and Bartle 's test of sphericity was signi cant χ (df 190, n = 226) = 2330.598, p<.001). e KMO was .787 for the pull factors scale and Bartle 's test of sphericity was signi cant χ (df 190, n = 226) = 1933.564, p<.001). KMO values between 0.5 and 1.0 indicate that the factor analysis technique is appropriately used. ese results indicated that both the push and pull factors correlation matrices were suitable for factor analysis (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001). Five factors' eigenvalues were found greater than one for the push factors scale. e items loaded on ve separate factors (social, personal, economic, family, political) explained 66.03 % of total variance. e results also indicated that ve factors' eigenvalues were greater than one in the pull factor scale. e items loaded on ve separate factors (social, personal, economic, family, political) explained 63.10% of total variance, showing that the scales were valid. e Cronbach's Alpha values of the questionnaire are shown in Table 5.

Results and Discussion
Pro le of the Respondents e 226 respondents were divided into two groups depending on whether they had returned from European or Non-European countries with the sample sizes of 115 and 111, respectively. Table 1 indicates most returnees were aged between 24 and 39 years, with the average age of returnees from European and non-European countries being 38.5 and 35.8, respectively. is implies that respondents for both regions were mainly young and middle-aged professionals. Based on the generation theory (Srinivasan, 2012) these average ages are the beginning of Generation X, a generation cohort characterized by values such as realistic, self-reliant, entrepreneurial, independent, market-savvy, and techno-literate, who seek a balance between work and leisure. Male respondents constituted more than half of the samples from Europe (63.85%) and non-European (55.9%) countries, a common pro le of repatriation based on gender (Doherty, 2013). Among returnees from Europe, 53.9% were graduates with Bachelor's degrees, 17.4% had Master's degrees, and 8.7% held PhD degrees. Similarly for returnees from non-European countries, 49.5% had Bachelor degrees, 20.7% Master's degrees and 9.9% PhDs. ere were others who held professional quali cations in areas such as accounting, medicine and engineering. Table 2 shows accounting and nance topped the list (20.9%) in terms of employment sector, followed by medicine (13%) among professional returnees from Europe. Other returnees were lawyers, retailers, hoteliers, computer programmers, and graphic and fashion designers. e large number of returnees in nance was due to their having been enrolled as students in prestigious business schools, especially in the UK, such as the London School of Economics, or their having worked at international nancial rms like PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst and Young in the UK or KPMG in the Netherlands (Talent Corp Malaysia, 2011). eir related experiences in banking and nancial services of the returnees are being capitalized on by the Malaysian nancial sector. e majority of professionals returning from the non-European countries were in the medical (18.9%) and services sectors (12.6%). e professionals were nurses, doctors, consultants, pharmacists, and therapists. e largest group was those returning from Australia and Saudi Arabia (Fig. 3B). Saudi Arabia ranked 26 th and Australia 32 th of the world ranking for medical sector (Rafei, 2007) based on technological advancement. Malaysians returning from Japan included those who had worked in the automobile industry and others were in the oil and gas industry. e increasing demands for IT specialists from the Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries such as Canada, Australia and US had also a racted professionals to migrate in the rst instance (Nawab & Sha , 2011). e US and Australia are countries that are popular with migrants who have expertise in oil and gas, nance, life science, law and technology (Hydrogen, 2013). At the same time, the Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates are important destinations for Malaysian professionals in the burgeoning gas sector.  Table 3 shows more than 40% returnees leaving for European countries between 2006 and 2012. e reasons cited were to gain international experience (75.7%), higher salaries abroad (64.3%) and higher quality of life (52.2%). For emigrants to the non-European countries, a majority of respondents le between 2006 and 2012. Malaysian professionals migrated earlier to European countries compared with those who le for non-European countries. e increasing number of returnees in recent years (52.2% and 65.8%, respectively) could be due to provisions in the Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011-2015) that provided for incentives to return. e Talent Corporation acted to a ract diaspora talent by o ering tax incentives, job opportunities and permanent residence to the spouses of the returnees. In addition, the establishment of Technology Parks in several Malaysian states persuaded many technology-savvy professionals to contribute their accumulated knowledge, experience and skills. Strong family ties were another reason returnees decided to return a er staying abroad. Emigrants to non-European countries tended to stay in the host country for a shorter period as compared with those from the European countries owing to visa and security issues (Saxenian, 2007).  1985-1991 1992-1998 1999-2005 2006-2012  Year of return 1995-1998 1999-2003 2004-2008 2009-2013  is was due to the fact that the country emerged as a leading European technology hub following the launching of the Silicon Roundabout. Australia followed by Saudi Arabia, the United States, Japan and Korea were countries outside Europe with high numbers of returnees. Professionals chose to work outside Europe owing to their specialization in oil and gas in the Gulf countries, and in the life sciences in some of the other countries (Hydrogen, 2013). Table 4 indicates that more than half of the respondents reported a moderate level of push factors for their return from European and non-European countries (53.6% and 50.5%, respectively). In addition, returnees from European and non-European countries responded to a moderate level of pull factors (69.6% and 65.8%, respectively). is implies that government programs like the Returning Expert Program and the Brain Gain Program have the potential to entice expatriate Malaysians to return regardless where they are.

Levels of Push and Pull Factors, and Career Aspirations
About 61.7% of the respondents who had returned from European countries indicated career aspiration as a moderate in uencing factor in their decision to return, while 50.5% returnees from non-European countries were highly motivated by career aspiration. For instance, returnees from European countries looked forward to merely moderate job security and a moderate lifestyle. A t-test and an analysis of variance (ANOVA), however, found no signi cant di erence in career aspiration between re-    Table 5 shows the correlation matrix of variables in which seven factors of returnees from European countries (push personal, push political as well as all the ve pull factors) correlated signi cantly with career aspiration. For returnees from non-European countries, only push social and all the ve pull factors correlated signi cantly with career aspiration. e signi cant relationships of the variables imply that they have predictive potential for career aspiration.

Returnees om European Countries
e regression results (Table 6) were statistically signi cant (F 10,115 =7.834, p<.000), which explains as much as 33.9% in the variance of the career aspiration of the returnees from European countries. e push political and pull social factors show signicant in uence on career aspiration (push political β=-.601, p=0.000; β=.444, p=.001). erefore, data from returnees of the European countries partially supported H1 and H2 and did not support H3. e negative in uence of push political factor, according to Nawab and Sha (2011) and Heitor et al. (2013), is that migration is o en associated with the political environment and this is followed in importance by economic dispari-ties in the world. Conditions such as feeling unsafe because of riots, political instability a ecting job opportunities as well as questionable policies on migrants, especially on visa issues, would tend to lower their career aspirations. e strong in uence of social factors from the pull factor group shows that a ordable and easily available social support, i.e., childcare facilities and availability of domestic helpers heightened returnees' aspirations with other important concerns. Most returnees' aspirations were also in uenced by their feeling of allegiance to Malaysia as their homeland and willingness to contribute to the nation's development.

Returnees om non-European Countries
e regression results (Table 6) were statistically signi cant (F 10,111 =5.100, p<.000) and the model explained as much as 29.1% of the variance in career aspiration of returnees from the non-European countries. ere were three positive factors that signicantly in uenced career aspiration, namely push social (β= .311, p=.013), pull personal (β= .375, p=.005) and pull family (β= .304, p=.003). erefore, data from returnees of the non-European countries partially supported H1 and H2, and did not support H3. e two pull factors contributed to the returnees' decision by invoking patriotic feelings to the country and promising the returnees comfortable living with people of their own background and culture. A ordable healthcare and the available social support were other a ractions. Highly quali ed professionals brought home their knowledge and experience, and contributed positively to the robust growth of the Malaysian Technology Park (Mat Lazim & Yusof, 2012). e survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers reported that 80% of expatriate employees did not wish to stay longer abroad because of family reasons (www.ma .org; arenou, 2002). e data of this study also showed that there were signi cant negative results of push personal factors (β= -.255, p=.039) and push political factors (β= -.319, p=.010) that in uenced career aspiration of the returnees from non-European countries. is indicated that some personal feeling and political conditions a ected negatively on their career aspiration.

Conclusion, Implications for Human Resource Practices, and Future Research
Among the European host countries, the UK, which has strong historical ties with Malaysia, was the dominant host country from which Malaysian professionals returned. On the other hand, the spread of the returnees from non-UK region was wider, with Saudi Arabia, the US, Japan and Korea occupying the top four positions. Emigration to Japan and Korea were partly the result of the Malaysian government's Look East Policy that started in the early eighties (NEAC, 2010). e reasons for leaving Malaysia were similar for both regions, viz., to gain international experience and to obtain higher salary abroad. ese cited reasons were di erent from those of blue-collar worker returnees (Saxenian, 2007). e duration abroad was longer among returnees from Europe than those from non-Europe. e explanatory power of the selected variables on career aspiration for returnees from European countries was higher than that of non-European countries. is study has been able to explore returnees coming from a wider geographical diversity in comparison with other studies that were limited in the host countries covered (Chen, 2003;Saxenian, 2007;Dustmann & Weiss, 2007). Hence, this study is able to complement the knowledge on the full cycle of out-migration and return, the second stage of migration involving a subset of career development dimension of the highly educated returnees. e strong in uence of 'pull factors' in the analysis re ects largely the positive pre-disposition for them to return. Hence, the Malaysian government should put in place positive policies to welcome returnees and to ensure that they do not make a U-turn a second time.
eoretically, this study contributes to the enhancement of the SCCT and CTC. Speci cally to SCCT, this study provides empirical evidence that it advocates on the reciprocal person-environment interactions in the sense that a person is the "Malaysian returnee", and "environment" covers the social-cognitive push-pull factors that the returnee experienced abroad and in the home country. It is within this environment that the returnees a ached meaning and values to their work, and ultimately career aspiration.
e contribution to CTC is that the study supports the evidence that the reciprocal person-environment interactions are complex. is complex system is represented by the multiple push-pull social, economic, family, personal and political which are experienced by the returnees used in this study. CTC asserts that these factors characterize change, chance, and construction as fundamental bases in one's career aspiration and development.
Several practical recommendations arising from the results of this study are as follows: Comprehensive periodic databases on Malaysian diaspora abroad that provide information on professionals according to their career aspiration, elds of expertise, job positions, a liated institutions, age, work experience and other demographic characteristics should be readily accessible. ese databases could be used for future policy development for the returnees. China has been successful in reaping the substantial bene ts from their returnees by having such sophisticated databases (Chen, 2003).
Malaysia should blend human resource development initiatives in their 10th Development Plan (2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015) and future plans by concurrently emphasizing education, training, and R&D right from the primary school up to the tertiary level. More agencies in Malaysia, besides the Talent Corporation (TC) should be given the task to a ract, retain and develop global talent. is human resource policy should be understood by all policy makers including economists, educationists, politicians, and public administrators. Such a practice has been successfully implemented in Korea (PISA, 2011).
Malaysia should continuously develop many more RBD projects that enhance human talent in ow to the country. e various programs that are already in place such as e Returning Expert Program, Scholarship Talent and Retention (STAR), and Talent Acceleration in Public Service (TAPS) (NEAC, 2010), should be further infused with innovative ideas to make the programs more a ractive and sustainable. e best practices in China, such as the Spring Light Project, the Incubator Projects, and Green Channel (Zweig et al., 2008) should be emulated by Malaysia. Returnees should be allowed to exercise brain mobility between Malaysia and the former host country as has been successfully exercised in Taiwan (Saxenian, 2007).
Several future research lines are suggested based on the limitations of the study. First, as the focus of the study was limited on career aspiration of the professionals upon their return to Malaysia, it is necessary to investigate the roles of Malaysian re-turnees in brain circulation or the new loop of 'brain exchange' (Straubhaar, 2000), a stage that goes beyond their remigration to the country involving knowledge development and sharing through global businesses. is also relates to another type of career aspiration involving resource mobility that allows for a win-win global HRD among established technology centers and MNCs in various countries. Second, the role of Malaysian returnees in the development of local entrepreneurs with international vision and mission is worthy of exploration, a suggestion that arises to expand the scope of the research beyond the limited focus on career aspiration. ird, this study was silent about the role of returnees in knowledge transfer. As the returnees might have much accumulated experience, there is a need to study their role in knowledge sharing and development through initiatives such as coaching and mentoring, leadership, and training and development. Finally, this research did not consider gender as an important issue. erefore, future research on career development based on gender perspective is suggested, considering the increased visibility of highly educated Malaysian women in senior assignments (Ismail, 2009), thus making them potential candidates for global migration, return migration, and brain circulation.