Eliciting salient beliefs of engineers in Malaysia on migrating abroad

Despite various government efforts incorporating economic, social and political considerations in curbing emigration problem, brain drain remains an issue in Malaysia. This paper examines the determinants of migration from behavioural perspectives. Using Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model, the engineers’ salient beliefs on migrating abroad were elicited using qualitative analysis. A number of new behavioural, normative and control beliefs were identified. The elicitation of the engineers’ salient beliefs is essential in developing appropriate behavioural intervention programmes to reduce their intention to migrate abroad. The methodology developed in this study can also assist future researchers to identify the salient beliefs of people who have high intention to migrate abroad.