Decision-making as regards migration: Wage differential, job opportunity, and the network effect

The aim of the present work was to study the relationship between intent to migrate and three other factors: two economic factors, namely Wage differential and Employment opportunity, and a non-economic, social factor that we call the Network factor. The hypotheses tested in this study were that of a main effect of the Network factor and that of interactions between wage differential and job opportunities, between Network factor and wage differential, between Network factor and job opportunities, and between Network factor, wage differential and job opportunities. The study was an application of Information Integration Theory. The sample group was composed of 40 Portuguese adolescents. The following findings were observed: (a) the intent to migrate was higher in the network condition, (b) the effect of wage differential was higher when employment opportunities were good than when they were poor, and vice versa, (c) the effects of wage differential and employment opportunities were higher in the network condition, and (d) the way in which employment opportunities altered the effect of wage differential varied as a function of the network factor. These findings hold, independent of gender and social economic status of participants. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.