Beyond embedded or not embedded: immigrant entrepreneurs’ embeddedness levels

Purpose This paper aims to review the immigrant entrepreneurship literature to locate how researchers consider embeddedness to home and host countries beyond the “embedded” or “not” dichotomy. Design/methodology/approach The paper conducts a systematic literature review. The authors found 106 articles in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, using a structured search and selection protocol. Findings Few articles perceive embeddedness openly as a gradual phenomenon. However, articles in the review use different approaches for considering relative levels of embeddedness, such as depth of social ties. In addition, some articles take a dual perspective or make multi-contextual comparisons to acknowledge immigrant entrepreneurs’ embeddedness levels. These articles emphasise embeddedness as a gradual phenomenon to understand the complexity of immigrant entrepreneurs’ contextualisation better. Based on the review, the paper develops a model, considering embeddedness as an emergent result of the immigrants’ engagement with spaces, networks, markets and institutions of a given home or host context. It also accounts for the dynamic interaction between contextual factors as embeddedness levels change. Research limitations/implications The paper has located all relevant papers in the used databases. However, the systematic review protocol naturally limits its scope. Nevertheless, the developed model based on the review helps researchers develop a more comprehensive understanding of embeddedness and possibly ask novel questions. Social implications This paper can help policymakers improve their policies for the progressive social integration of immigrants, as it helps consider different embeddedness levels. Originality/value Researchers mainly consider individuals’ embeddedness as either “embedded” or “not.” However, we can also understand embeddedness at various levels, e.g. partial, increasing/decreasing and gradual. Significant changes occur in the embeddedness of individuals during immigration. Additionally, contextual relations intertwine immigrants’ entrepreneurial activity over time. The paper reviews embeddedness in the immigrant entrepreneurship literature, searching beyond the dichotomic use of embeddedness. Then, it develops a theoretical understanding of embeddedness levels.

Impact of Social and Security Factors on the Intensity of Integration of Immigrants to the EU

The subject of the paper seeks to investigate the influence of social factors on the intensity of immigration of immigrants to the EU. Among the social factors that significantly influence immigration policies in the European Union, the authors singled out the following: demography, identity-culture, economy, socio-political and security factors. The main goal is to see how these social factors affect the intensity of immigration. The authors opt for MIPEX as an instrument for measuring immigration policy, which expresses political tendencies towards the integration of migrants. Based on the findings from the regression analysis, which determined the regression factor of the participation of indicators in correlation with MIPEX, the authors concluded that all indicators have a positive correlation, which indicates that the indicators were chosen correctly. In addition, the degree of regression factor is higher than 5%, which indicates a significant correlation.

Maahanmuuttajataustaisten nuorten luontosuhde ja luonnon virkistyskäyttö

Successful integration of immigrants has been identified as the key for future social and economic well-being in EU. Nature can be used to support integration. Based on survey data collected from students in 7–9th grades in the city of Lahti (n=1,121), we explore immigrants’ and native Finns’ participation in outdoor recreation and their well-being experiences of and relationships with nature. The study applies the framework of integration to discuss how nature supports the integration of immigrant youth in Finland. The results show that nature is an important part of immigrant adolescents’ everyday lives and can support their structural, cultural, interactive and identificational integration. However, there are also some differences between the immigrant and native adolescents. The study results highlight the better inclusion of the youth and multi-cultural nature-relationships in the governance of natural areas and development of nature-based solutions for integration.

Skill structure and labor market integration of immigrants in Europe

Across European countries, immigrants are disadvantaged in labor market attainment relative to natives: foreign-born individuals are less likely to be employed and more likely to be unemployed. Previous research indicates that immigrants’ employment chances are better when the share of low-skill jobs in the labor market is large. Upgrading of the job structure, which has taken place in many countries over recent decades, might therefore have hurt immigrants’ employment prospects. However, an exclusive focus on skill demand neglects another important development in the skill structure of advanced economies: educational expansion. The rapid rise in skill supply has tended to outpace the decline in the low-skill job share with increasing over-education as a consequence, potentially leading to crowding-out of immigrant workers from employment. Based on data from the European Union Labour Force Surveys (EU-LFS) 2004-2016, we perform analyses that jointly consider the demand and supply sides of labor markets. Our results indicate that the size of the low-skill job sector is positively related to immigrants’ employment if and only if those employed in the low-skill sector have low qualifications. In economies with high rates of over-education, where many well-educated natives occupy low-skill jobs, the labor market prospects of immigrants deteriorate.

Do migration-related gaps find their roots in the period before formal schooling? A path-model of educational achievement in primary school

Education is key to the structural integration of immigrants and their children. While research indicates that migrant educational underachievement is a serious issue, relatively little is known about when, how and why migrant gaps develop. Hitherto, longitudinal research on skill gaps is scarce. The current paper adds to the literature by investigating how much of the migration-related disparities found during primary school can be attributed to inequalities that already existed before school life. To do so, it uses structural equation modelling and draws on a national longitudinal study of children in Ireland. Results indicate that migration-related disparities largely find their roots in the period before formal schooling, after which they remain relatively stable or even decrease. This implies that researchers and policymakers may want to focus their efforts on the period proceeding primary school.

Uptake of Covid-19 preventive measures among 10 immigrant ethnic groups in Norway

Background: A pessimistic view of the impact of Covid-19 on immigrants has generated an interest in exploring the role of socio-economic and cultural factors on excess infection, hospitalization and death among immigrants. Nowhere in the world is such interest more palpable than in Western countries, including Norway. An expanding amount of literature has demonstrated that preexisting socio-economic inequalities have affected Covid-19 control programs through a disruption of immigrants uptake to preventive measures. Nonetheless, until very recently, no qualitative research has been conducted to address the impact of socio-economic and socio-cultural factors on immigrants uptake on preventive measures of Covid-19 in Norway. Methods: An interview-based qualitative study consisting of 88 participants (49 women and 39 men) from 10 immigrant ethnic groups were carried out. Participants were recruited through purposive sampling and snowballing. In-depth interviews were held through telephone or online for those who have experience in the use of zoom or teams. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis Results: We found that participants attitudes toward the pandemic in general, and more specifically their adherence to preventive measures, have increased over time. However, the number of barriers that hinder immigrants from adhering to preventive measures were identified and classified more broadly into three main subthemes: 1) socio-economic barriers; 2) socio-cultural barriers, and 3) other barriers. Socio-economic barriers include overcrowded households, working in first-line jobs, education and language. Socio-cultural barriers include collectivist culture, religious fatalism and risk perception toward the pandemic. Conclusion: To reduce the health inequality that arises from overcrowded housing, there is a need for a long-term strategy to help improve the housing situation of low-income immigrant families that live in overcrowded households. In addition, increasing health literacy and more generally, the integration of immigrants, may also reduce the effect of socio-cultural factors on an immigrant's uptake of preventive measures.

The Evolution of the Approach to the Integration of Immigrants in Poland

The aim of the paper is to present issues related to the approach to the integration of immigrants in Poland in the last three decades. The article is seeking an answer to the question of how the approach to immigrant integration has evolved? Does the evolving approach reflect the rising tide of change taking place in Europe? First, the article discusses the issues of migration to Poland. It is essential to consider cultural conditions related to the national identity and migration history of a given country in an attempt to explain the evolution of the integration policy. The subsequent parts analyze the Polish integration policy until 2015 and the integration policy after 2015. The results of the research show that in Poland, the approach to the integration of immigrants has evolved in a short time: from the “strategy of abandonment” to “integration” understood as a two-way process of adaptation to the concept of assimilation.

Social Integration of Migrants from Central Asia and other post-Soviet States (Comparative Study)

The article examines the relationship between migrants to Russia and the host society, using surveys taken in the spring of 2017 and in the autumn of 2020. According to German-speaking authors, social integration is one of the stages of forming comprehensive integration of foreigners. Public opinion surveys show that migrants from Central Asia are the most undesirable for Russians. That is why the article gives comparative study of social integration of immigrants from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan compared to other post-Soviet states (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Ukraine). The central focus is given to migrants’ self-perception of their place in the Russian society and to evaluation of quality of interpersonal interaction with the citizens. The results obtained from the study show that migrants from Central Asia are the least integrated into the host society and more oriented towards the sending state compared to migrants from other countries. Also, despite reasonable Russian language proficiency, migrants from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan communicate with the representatives of their own ethnos in every aspect of their lives more often than migrants from other Soviet republics. At the same time, they identify themselves with the citizens of Russia less frequently. The reason for such low social integration of Central Asian migrants compared to other migrant groups could be their desire to return to their homeland and that they may view migration to Russia just as a way of survival in the unfavourable conditions in their country of origin.