Sky News recently revealed that most people believe immigration has a more negative impact on society than a positive one.

But, what about all of the good that comes with immigration and integration?

On World Refugee Day, we’re sharing some of the vital research being done by business schools and universities all around the globe that both highlight the hardships and discrimination that refugees face, and recognise the multiple benefits to communities and economies that refugees can bring if given the chance.

Economic benefits

Research from ESMT Berlin has found that accepting refugees into a community has long-term economic benefits, raising income per capita and wages.

Jan Nimczik, Assistant Professor of Economics at ESMT, alongside Antonio Ciccone, Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Mannheim investigated the effects of historical refugee intake on today’s productivity, wages, income, rents, education levels, and population density. The researchers analysed historical census data, modern outcome data and geographic data along with income tax statistics, and data on the productivity of firms, and on education.

They compared four zones in Germany that were occupied by the UK, the US, The Soviet Union and France. Although each zone took in refugees after WWII, the French zone restricted the number of refugees that were accepted.

Professors Nimczik and Ciccone found that, to this day, the population density is still higher outside of the French zone. However, towns in the US zone today experience higher income per capita, productivity, and wages alongside higher rents.

In contrast, they found no differences between either side prior to the arrival of the refugees.

The researchers estimate that the arrival of refugees on the US side of the border raised income per capita by around 13% and hourly wages by around 10%, which displays a positive economic aspect to encouraging migration.

Professor Nimczik says, “Humanitarian considerations must be the main motivation of the measures taken in support of refugees. However, economic costs and benefits always have played a role also. The public debate generally focuses on the short- and medium-term; the longer-term, economic benefits are often neglected.”

A human touch

Uprooting your life to move to a new country and finding your feet within an unfamiliar culture and society is an incredibly difficult feat to accomplish under pre-planned circumstances, let alone in unforeseen ones. To shed greater light on the realities of this transition, research from Associate Professor’s Shiva Taghavi, Hédia Zannad and Emmanouela Mandalaki at NEOMA Business School has explored how refugees in France build their lives and careers.

Through 19 life-story interviews with refugees in France, and seven interviews with other key contributors in the field, researchers found that refugees take different paths depending on how they adjust and adapt to the new culture.

The study identifies three main paths: ‘adjusting’, ‘enhancing’, and ‘detaching’, and explores how each of these enable refugees to rebuild their sense of self and professional identity after moving to a new country.

The benefit, the researchers suggest, is a human one. In taking the time to hear the lives experiences of those forced to abandon their homes and faced with putting down new roots somewhere new, the research will help others to better understand not only how refugees adapt to their new environments and careers, but how to best support them in doing so.

Attitude adjustments

Understanding public attitudes towards migrants and refugees is a topic that is being widely studied. It could be assumed that developed countries, with a greater capacity to absorb migrants, are less resistant. But what about developing countries?

To understand this better Ala Alrababah, Assistant Professor at the Department of Social and Political Sciences in Bocconi University surveyed public attitudes toward Syrians in Jordan, a developing country with a large share of refugees.

Surprisingly, the findings showed that the economic repercussion of accepting refugee into the country did not lead to an increased negative perception of migrants among Jordanians. In fact, humanitarian and cultural concerns were found to matter more than economic ones.

These findings challenge the idea that economic worries are the main reason for negative attitudes toward migrants. And, in finding a route forward in integrating refugees into new countries, the study suggests that support for refugees can be maintained by humanitarian reasons, especially when the cultures of the host country and the migrants are similar.

A glass ceiling to leadership

Do refugees face barriers to their career development? That’s what King’s Business School researchers Dr Mladen Adamovic and Professor Ko de Ruyter sought to find out.

To do this, they conducted field research to analyse the glass ceiling for ethnic minorities in leadership roles, submitting over 12,000 job applications to over 4,000 job advertisements and investigating whether hiring discrimination existed against six ethnic groups.

They subsequently found that in leadership positions, applicants with English names received 26.8% positive responses, whilst applicants with non-English names received 11.3% positive responses.

Overall, ethnic minorities received 57.4% fewer positive responses than applicants with English names.

For non-leadership positions, applicants with English names received 21.2% positive responses, whereas applicants with non-English names received 11.6% positive responses.

And, once again, ethnic minorities were at a disadvantage – receiving 45.3% fewer positive responses than applicants with English names overall.

Interestingly, ethnic discrimination in leadership roles was found to be more pronounced when the job required customer contact. The researchers suggest their findings provide novel evidence of a glass ceiling for ethnic minorities attempting to enter leadership positions, but it seems a barrier to career progression exists across the board.

Tapping into individual talents and experiences

In order for everyone to feel included, employers need to ensure they are meeting the specific needs of their migrant employees. This article from Professor Jean-Luc Cerdin at ESSEC Business School explored the ways in which this can be done effectively.

Migrants, he notes, face a number of challenges in the workplace, such as gaining recognition for their qualifications, integration with colleagues and many more forms of discrimination. In order to curb these issues, organisations need to better consider migrant employees’ situations and motivations.

Some tactics suggested by Professor Cerdin that could improve the experience of migrants in the workplace are taking the time to discover and keeping records of their individual experiences, language abilities, as well as better understanding wider employees’ cultural knowledge.

It is crucial, he says, for organisations to also identify specific barriers and provide necessary support to foster diversity. Organisations should encourage integration and provide cultural intelligence workshops.

Of course, ensuring proper recognition, pay, and promotion of migrant workers is also paramount.

Integrating migration research into talent management is challenging, but beneficial for organisations in order to create a supportive and welcoming environment for all.

Sheltering work, and the peace it can provide

Sheltering work is likely a new term to most. The initiative comes from an NGO that has been set up in refugee camps in Lebanon, which aims to provide Syrian refugees with the opportunity to start small businesses. They call this “sheltering work” because it aims to give refugees more stable and meaningful lives. This helps refugees structure their daily routines and feel more secure, which can make their horrific situation somewhat easier.

Research from Farah Kodeih at IESEG School of Management conducted with Professor Henri Schildt at Aalto University and Thomas B. Lawrence at Oxford Saïd Business School explored the work that goes into providing refugees with the opportunity to do “sheltering work”, and its benefits.

Whilst refugees still feel the stress of not knowing what will happen in the future, the study says sheltering work provides a type of local support that interacts with bigger systems. It shows how refugees can still have some control over their lives, even in such difficult situations. It shows how refugees’ personal experiences with time affect how they make choices and deal with challenges.

Necessity Entrepreneurship – the good and the bad

Focusing on a similar theme, S.M Musa, from Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University, recently conducted an ethnographic study in Kutupalong – the world’s largest refugee camp, inhabited by mostly Rohingya refugees who fled persecution in Myanmar.

The study spanned over four years, and explored Necessity Entrepreneurship (NE) examined as a strategy for marginalised populations to gain more autonomy.

Through his research, Prof. Musa learned that NE leads to “endemic institutions” fostering social cooperation and mutual recognition. These institutions satisfy the human need for social inclusion but also perpetuate inequalities. The lives of those who live in the camp are controlled by the government and some NGO’s, reducing the chances of the refugees to have civil rights, education or “dignified living.”

Boosting entrepreneurship

Bur boosting entrepreneurship, in the right settings, can prove to be a benefit for all. Research from Assistant Professor Isilay Talay and Dr. André van Stel from Trinity Business School has explored how refugee entrepreneurs in Turkey (Türkiye) can significantly contribute to both the economy and society.

Through one-on-one interviews with refugee entrepreneurs in Central Anatolia, the researchers were able to identify four common success factors; preparedness for innovation, proactiveness, self-reliance and an optimistic attitude.

Interviewees also displayed a strong awareness of value propositions, market demands, and gaps to be filled. As a result, their efforts increased trade volume from Turkey to regions like the Arabian Peninsula, adding value to the local economy.

The study, aside from setting out the clear benefits countries stand to gain by supporting refugees in launching new ventures in their regions, provides insights into the factors which contribute to the success of refugee entrepreneurs – helping to further support their development and reduce negative perceptions of refugees.

Interested in this topic? You might also like this…