Sense of Belonging: Predictors for Host Country Attachment Among Emigrants
Décieux, Jean; Murdock, Elke
2021 • In Erlinghagen, Marcel; Ette, Andreas; Schneider, Norbertet al. (Eds.) The Global Lives of German Migrants: Consequences of International Migration Across the Life Course
Sense of belonging; Migration; GERPS; Host Country Attachment; Expatriates
Abstract :
[en] German citizens usually leave their home country voluntarily and face fewer barriers,
e.g. in terms of freedom of travel or labour market integration. However, when
arriving in their host country, they are confronted with the need to adapt to life in a
new society. Analysing data from the German Emigration and Remigration Panel
Study, we found that half of the emigrants developed a sense of belonging to their
new host society. Moreover, we set out to examine this development of host country
attachment. Guided by findings from acculturation and expatriate attachment research,
we identified factors potentially contributing to host country attachment and
tested these in a series of regression models. Permanence of the intended stay is the
strongest predictor, and social integration also plays an important role. Host country
language competence is also important for the identification processes. Regarding
cultural distance, our findings suggest an inverted U-shaped relationship with certain
cultural novelty facilitating the development of host country belonging. Moreover,
the data point to a complex relationship between cultural characteristics of the
target country and factors related to an emotional settlement.
Disciplines :
Social, industrial & organizational psychology
Author, co-author :
Décieux, Jean
Murdock, Elke ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE) > Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (DBCS)
External co-authors :
yes
Language :
English
Title :
Sense of Belonging: Predictors for Host Country Attachment Among Emigrants
Publication date :
01 May 2021
Main work title :
The Global Lives of German Migrants: Consequences of International Migration Across the Life Course
Author, co-author :
Erlinghagen, Marcel
Ette, Andreas
Schneider, Norbert
Witte, Nils
Publisher :
Springer
Collection name :
IMISCOE Research Series
Peer reviewed :
Peer reviewed
Focus Area :
Migration and Inclusive Societies
Name of the research project :
German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS)
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