Search results

1 – 10 of over 2000
Article
Publication date: 17 November 2011

Mihaela Robila and Jonathan Sandberg

The increased number of Eastern European immigrants provides many opportunities to work with these immigrants and issues related to immigration. The purpose of this article is to…

Abstract

Purpose

The increased number of Eastern European immigrants provides many opportunities to work with these immigrants and issues related to immigration. The purpose of this article is to examine Eastern European immigrants' adaptation patterns and provide recommendations for family therapy working with the group.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 120 Eastern European immigrants. Data analysis was conducted using constant comparisons.

Findings

Common immigration experiences illustrating the need for services have been identified, along with barriers that might prevent the use of social services. The results indicate similarities and differences among the different groups regarding their immigration experience and adaptation to the host society.

Originality/value

Recommendations for overcoming the service‐use barriers and conducting family therapy with these immigrants are provided.

Details

International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, vol. 7 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-9894

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 6 January 2023

Ismail Golgeci, Ahmad Arslan, Veronika Kentosova, Deborah Callaghan and Vijay Pereira

While extant research has increasingly examined minority entrepreneurs, less attention has been paid to Eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs and the role that marketing…

2044

Abstract

Purpose

While extant research has increasingly examined minority entrepreneurs, less attention has been paid to Eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs and the role that marketing agility and risk propensity play in their resilience and survival in Nordic countries. This paper aims to highlight the importance of these factors for Eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs in the developed Nordic economy of Denmark.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts the dynamic capabilities view as a theoretical framework and uses a qualitative research approach with interviews as the main data collection method. The empirical sample comprises 12 entrepreneurs originating from Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania, who operate in Denmark.

Findings

The findings show that contrary to prior studies that have highlighted a reliance among the migrant entrepreneurial community on ethnic networks as their dominant target market, Eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs located in Denmark, in contrast, focused on attracting Danish consumers as their target market audience. Leveraging multiple networks was therefore found to be critical to the survival of these immigrant ventures. Additionally, the entrepreneurs' marketing agility, underpinned by their optimistic approach, growth ambitions and passion for entrepreneurship, was found to play a pivotal role in their survival. Finally, despite the stable institutional environment in Denmark and the ease of doing business (both of which are influential factors in shaping the risk propensity and risk perception of entrepreneurs), the authors found immigrant entrepreneurs' risk propensity to be rather low, which was contrary to the expectations.

Originality/value

The current paper is one of the first studies that explicitly analyzes the roles of marketing agility and risk propensity in the resilience and survival of the ventures of relatively skilled immigrant entrepreneurs from Eastern Europe in a developed Nordic economy (Denmark). The paper's findings also challenge the notion associated with immigrant entrepreneurial ventures being primarily focused on ethnic customers or enclaves. The paper also specifies the peculiarities of marketing agility in immigrant entrepreneurial contexts and solidifies the importance of diverse networks in immigrant business survival and development.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 April 2021

Anna Rosso

The paper aims at examining wage developments among Eastern European immigrants vs UK natives before and after the 2004 enlargement by measuring the extent to which inter-group…

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims at examining wage developments among Eastern European immigrants vs UK natives before and after the 2004 enlargement by measuring the extent to which inter-group wage differentials are explainable by these groups' changing attributes or by differences in returns to these characteristics. The enlargement has been a defining moment in British recent history and may have contributed to the unfolding of the events that have culminated in Brexit.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a quantitative analysis of the immigrant–native wage gap across the entire distribution by applying the methodology known as the unconditional quantile regression. The analysis is performed before and after the 2004 European Union enlargement to Eastern countries. The data used is the British Labour Force Survey (UK LFS) from 1998 to 2008.

Findings

At all distribution points, a major role is played by occupational downgrading, which increases over time. The results further suggest that the decreased wage levels at the top of the distribution stem mainly from low transferability of skills acquired in the source country.

Research limitations/implications

The UK LFS does not allow to follow individuals for a long period of time. For this reason, the main limitation of the study is the impossibility to measure for individual-level trajectories in their labour market integration and to account for return migration.

Originality/value

The analysis provides a detailed picture of the wage differences between Eastern European immigrants and natives along the whole wage distribution. The paper also identifies possible causes of the wage gap decrease for EU8 immigrant workers after 2008.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 42 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2008

F Sessa, N Campagnola, M Marini, I Toniolo and C Cremonese

Italy has recently become a country of net immigration, posing new challenges for health care, particularly psychiatry. Previous studies on migration and mental health have…

Abstract

Italy has recently become a country of net immigration, posing new challenges for health care, particularly psychiatry. Previous studies on migration and mental health have focused predominantly on individual psychopathologies or individual immigrant populations. The aim of this work is to determine the demand by foreign citizens for intervention at Padova‐based psychiatric services and to assess any differences in presentation of psychopathological symptoms in the various immigrant groups, with a view to developing adequate organisational and clinical responses. We reviewed 3,385 psychiatric consultations with Italian and immigrant patients, conducted between 2003 and 2004. Eleven per cent of these consultations were for immigrants, who were younger than their Italian counterparts. The most common geographical area of origin was Eastern Europe. North African immigrants were mainly male, while Eastern Europeans and Americans were chiefly female. Eastern European immigrants had a similar psychopathological pattern to Italians; North and Sub‐Saharan African and Asian patients presented more psychotic symptoms. The results of this study may contribute to planning treatment and prevention of psychotic disorders and to improving management of somatoform disorders by strengthening access to psychiatric treatment in the community.

Details

International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-9894

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 28 January 2022

Michael Cohen

Prejudice against Jews was part of the landscape in the Union of South Africa long before Nazism made inroads into the country during the 1930s, at which stage Jews constituted…

Abstract

Prejudice against Jews was part of the landscape in the Union of South Africa long before Nazism made inroads into the country during the 1930s, at which stage Jews constituted approximately 4.6% of the country’s white (or European) population. Aggressive Afrikaner nationalism was marked by fervent attempts to proscribe Jewish immigration. By 1939, Jewish immigration was included as an official plank in the political platform of the opposition Purified National Party led by Dr D.F. Malan, along with a ban on party membership for Jews residents in the Transvaal province. Racial discrimination, in a country with diversified ethnic elements and intense political complexities, was synonymous with life in the Union long before the Apartheid system, with its official policy of enforced legal, political and economic segregation, became law in May 1948 under Dr Malan’s prime ministership. Although the Jews, while maintaining their own subcultural identity, were classified within South Africa’s racial hierarchy as part of the privileged white minority, the emergence of recurrent anti-Jewish stereotypes and themes became manifest in a country permeated by the ideology of race and white superiority. This was exacerbated by the growth of a powerful Afrikaner nationalist movement, underpinned by conservative Calvinist theology. This chapter focusses on measures taken in South Africa by organisational structures within the political sphere to restrict Jewish immigration between 1930 and 1939 and to do so on ethnic grounds. These measures were underscored by radical Afrikaner nationalism, which flew in the face of the principles of ethics and moral judgement.

Details

Transcendent Development: The Ethics of Universal Dignity
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-260-7

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 10 August 2017

James Moir

This chapter considers the political controversy in Britain over the lifting of restrictions of freedom of movement on European Union (EU) citizens from Bulgaria and Romania in…

Abstract

This chapter considers the political controversy in Britain over the lifting of restrictions of freedom of movement on European Union (EU) citizens from Bulgaria and Romania in January 2014. The response of the then Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government centred on altering the rules on the payment of welfare benefits to potential new EU immigrants such that they would not be entitled to claim these benefits for 3 months after entry to the United Kingdom. This policy led to a split in the coalition, with the Liberal Democrat leadership claiming that it was a panicked move by the majority Conservative coalition partner, and moreover that it was a blatant attempt to appeal the electorate in an effort to be seen to be doing something to stop the welfare benefit system from being abused by ‘foreigners’. The backdrop to this political fracas centred on the economic contribution of East European immigrants to Britain and the claim and counterclaim over the issues jobs, welfare benefits and services such as English language support in schools. These contentious issues are examined in terms of an analysis of online comments to posted in reaction to a political interview with Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat business secretary, who claimed that the Conservatives were attempting to placate public disquiet over immigration as a response to the rising popularity of the United Kingdom Independence Party.

Details

National Identity and Europe in Times of Crisis
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-514-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 October 2016

Ryan Erhart

More than ever before, people from around the world are migrating away from their country of birth. Yet citizens of host countries do not always welcome these immigrants

Abstract

Purpose

More than ever before, people from around the world are migrating away from their country of birth. Yet citizens of host countries do not always welcome these immigrants – instead, citizens sometimes express prejudice toward them. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence attitudes toward immigrants cross-nationally.

Design/methodology/approach

Secondary data from the International Social Survey Programme, which includes data from 30 countries across two time points, were analyzed.

Findings

Findings indicate that people with higher level of education tend to have more favorable attitudes toward immigrants, while those with more politically conservative leanings and those with a greater sense of national identity tend to hold more prejudicial attitudes toward immigrants. At the country/regional level, education is consistent in its relationship with more favorable attitudes. However, political conservatism is less consistent in predicting prejudice – the relationship is strong in western democracies, but is largely negligible in other parts of the world.

Originality/value

The present analyses carry implications for improving anti-immigrant prejudice throughout the world.

Details

Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, vol. 8 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-6599

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 11 November 2016

Guglielmo Meardi, Antonio Martín Artiles and Axel van den Berg

This article addresses the claim, particularly popular in the 2000s and implicitly resting on a segmentation view of the labour market, that a flexible labour market-driven…

Abstract

This article addresses the claim, particularly popular in the 2000s and implicitly resting on a segmentation view of the labour market, that a flexible labour market-driven immigration policy (within the EU as well as from outside), often associated to a ‘Canadian model’, would respond to the economic needs of continental European countries.

A comparative historical approach is applied, including analysis of historical series of unemployment and migration data and a qualitative analysis of secondary sources on Germany, Spain and Canada, selected as best representatives of different labour market and immigration regimes. The research asks to what extent, and how, immigration has been used as a ‘buffer’ for labour market uncertainty.

Against ideas of a ‘Canadian’ model advertised in Europe (e.g. Germany), the historical and quantitative analysis shows that Canada itself has moved from short-term labour market-driven immigration policies to more long-term approaches. In fact, there has been a stronger labour market-migration link in Spain, but not without problems,

The article is a small-N comparison of critical cases, that is most different labour market models. Major demographic and geographic differences exist between the three countries, which raises even more scepticism about the suitability of a Canadian model in Europe.

The policy implications are centred on the detected paradox of labour market-driven immigration policies: in order to be sustainable, they need to have a long-term orientation and involve some degree of social integration policies.

The article adds to comparative studies of migration policies through a stronger link to labour market analysis and in particular issues of uncertainty and segmentation.

Details

Labour Mobility in the Enlarged Single European Market
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-442-6

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 25 November 2019

Candace Jones, Ju Young Lee and Taehyun Lee

Microfoundations of institutions are central to constructing place – the interplay of location, meaning, and material form. Since only a few institutional studies bring…

Abstract

Microfoundations of institutions are central to constructing place – the interplay of location, meaning, and material form. Since only a few institutional studies bring materiality to the fore to examine the processes of place-making, how material forms interact with people to institutionalize or de-institutionalize the meaning of place remains a black box. Through an inductive and historical study of Boston’s North End neighborhood, the authors show how material practices shaped place-making and institutionalized, or de-institutionalized, the meaning of the North End. When material practices symbolically encoded meanings of diverse audiences into the church, it created resonance and enabled the building’s meanings to withstand environmental change and become institutionalized as part of the North End’s meaning as a place. In contrast, when the material practices restricted meaning to a specific audience, it limited resonance when the environment changed, was more likely to be demolished and, thus, erased rather than institutionalized into the meaning of the North End as a place.

Details

Microfoundations of Institutions
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-127-8

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 August 2017

Omar Moufakkir and Mohamad N. Alnajem

Despite their popularity among tourists, information about low-cost accommodation is limited. The study aims to focus on hostels as tourist accommodation. The purpose of this…

1124

Abstract

Purpose

Despite their popularity among tourists, information about low-cost accommodation is limited. The study aims to focus on hostels as tourist accommodation. The purpose of this paper is to document the perceptions of hostel front-desk employees about customers and examine employees’ perceptions from a cultural perspective. As culture moderates behavior in general, in light of the cultural difference postulate which proposes that guests and hosts who are from similar or proximate cultures are more likely to experience positive service encounter and that encounter between guests and hosts from distant cultures may be more challenging to service providers, the study compares the perceptions of hostel Western front-desk employees with those of Eastern front-desk employees of their customers. Customers are categorized into four groups – Western customers, Eastern, Middle Eastern/Arab and African. Exploratory interviews paved the development of perception items, which were later on used in a questionnaire to serve the study’s purpose. The paper has managerial and theoretical implications and offers suggestions for further research to advance understanding about this neglected tourism environment.

Design/methodology/approach

Preliminary/exploratory short interviews with hostel employees in London paved the development of perception items, which were later on used in a questionnaire. There are about 190 hostels in the London area. The questionnaire was self-administered and successfully completed by 113 front-desk employees working in London hostels. t-test statistics was used to examine whether the two groups of employees hold different perceptions about their culturally different group of customers.

Findings

Results indicate that, generally, differences in perception exist among hostel employees about their customer groups. For example, Western customers are perceived as nicer and more tip-givers than Eastern customers, but they also complain more and are more demanding than their counterparts. Asian customers are perceived to be friendlier, least troublesome and least demanding than the other customer groups. African customers are the least positively perceived. As for Middle Eastern (Arab) customers, they are perceived rather somewhat positively and yet the least favorite. Furthermore, no statistical differences were observed between Western employees and Eastern employees’ perceptions about their customer groups, except that the latter perceives Asian customers to be more troublesome and more complaining.

Research limitations/implications

Although researchers have compared Western people’s behaviors and attitudes with those of Eastern people, differences may also exist within cultural groups, especially between East Europeans and West Europeans, between Middle Eastern and North Africans or between Americans and Canadians, despite cultural proximity. Therefore, it is always reasonable to interpret cultural differences studies cautiously.

Practical implications

Hostel management is advised not to take cultural proximity/distance between employees and customers for granted and, thus, should not assume that Eastern employees are more likely to provide better service to Eastern customers than Western employees or that Western employees are more likely to do so to Western customers because they are culturally similar or proximate. In an increasingly globalized world and mobile and culturally diverse workforce in the hospitality sector, it becomes necessary to raise employees’ awareness about cultural differences and their probable effects on perceptions. This is especially true for hostels because of their social characteristic.

Originality/value

Despite the importance of hostels to the tourism and hospitality industry, not much is known about their customers or their employees. In addition to contributing to employee perception in general, which is also a neglected area of study, this paper used cultural distance/proximity to assess differences in perception between Eastern employees and Western employees about four culturally different groups of hostel customers. In light of the impacts of globalization on consumer behavior, this paper joins other research to challenge the cultural distance postulate in the service encounter context.

Details

International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, vol. 11 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6182

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 2000