Page 167 - 《社会》2024年第6期

社会·2024·6

Abstract：The im balance between supply and demand in higher education and job
market is reshaping the employment quality and life opportunities of the highly
educated individuals in China. Due to the labor market’s inability to absorb the
rapidly growing number of college graduates in a timely manner，the proportion of
educational mismatches among the highly educated is rising rapidly. Previous
research on educational mismatch has focused on the impact of supply鄄side
characteristics （e.g.，college ranking，field of study，academic achievement，and
credentials），but has rarely considered the potential role of demand鄄side recruiters
and their hiring decisions （e.g.，organizational structure，job requirements，and
institutional environment）. This article，based on the neo鄄institutionalism theory，
analyzes how the hiring decision processes on the demand side of the labor market
affect educational mismatch，and provides an empirical analysis based on the data
from the 2023 Conjoint Online Survey Research Experiment in China. The study
finds：First，hiring decision processes show a convergent tendency towards a“preference
for overqualification”， where employers tend to hire candidates with higher
education levels than the jobs actually require. This preference for overqualification is
prevalent across organizations of all sizes，leading to the rise of educational
mismatch. Second，there is a clear divergence of overqualification preference in
organizational hiring by occupation type， experience requirements，and tolerance for
error，and this divergency is strongly driven by the logic of efficiency. Third，the
overqualification preference in organizational hiring also varies based on type of
ownership，type of industry，and urban environment，and this differentiation is
governed by the logic of the system. The above findings reveal the mechanism of
educational mismatch from the perspective of employers’ decision鄄making：on the
one hand，facing with an oversupply of higher education degrees and high
transaction costs in the recruitment process，rationalized organizations try to improve
the hiring efficiency and reduce the recruitment risks through overqualification
preference. On the other hand，in the face of the social recognition of highly
educated people and the conceptual consensus of academic competitiveness in the
industrial development，institutionalized organizations use overqualification preference
to strengthen their own competitive advantage and to elevate their social status.
Keywords：education鄄occupation matching， employer decision， overeducation，
overqualification preference， audit study， neo鄄institutionalism

一、 引言

中国高等教育和就业市场的供需失衡正在重塑着青年群体的就业

· 160·