Sustainable Human Resource Management in Tourism by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030417352
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

9.3 In Pursuit of a Better Way of Life Abroad

Different frameworks such as the push–pull and the Harris–Todaro (Harris & Todaro, 1970) models assume that people migrate because of the potential to earn a higher income in a different country. Dzvimbo (2003) considers the push factors as the unfavourable conditions in the country of origin such as poor wages, unemployment, crime and currency devaluation among others in the home country, all or any of which drive people to leave their country. On the other hand, pull factors relate to the favourable conditions including likely higher salaries, opportunity for employment, safety and a higher standard of living among others that attract individuals to the receiving countries. Van Hear, Bakewell, & Long (2018) also identify mediating factors that enable, facilitate, constrain or accelerate migration. The facilitators are classified as infrastructure, for example, transport, communication and other resources needed for the journey, whereas the constrainers are categorized as those that hinder migration, for instance, the lack of infrastructure and information and other resources required in order to move. The authors note that policies and practices are likely to enable or constrain migration while other mediators are viewed as migrant networks (Bakewell, Oliver, Engbersen, Fonseca, & Horst, 2016).

Through migration, individuals have the opportunities to improve their lives in a myriad of ways, for example, develop careers, access better labour market opportunities, and improve their language skills among many others. According to Bourdieu (1986), an individual may boast of economic, cultural or social capital that he/she would transfer from their origin country to the host country. A vast majority of migrant workers would expect to ‘trade’ their capital in return for a different resource. Economic migrants presume that they could transfer their cultural capital abroad in exchange for an enhanced lifestyle for themselves and their families, either those who migrate with them or those left behind in the origin country. However, Erel (2010) refutes that cultural capital cannot be assumed to be transferred in a ‘rucksack’ from one country to another by an actor. Metaphorically, she argues that migrants should not be perceived as individuals who pack their cultural capital from their home country and upon arrival in the host country unpack it for their use. Instead, she metaphorizes their cultural capital using Bourdieusian notions as a treasure box that consists of valuables such as language skills, education qualifications, and work experience among others. Once in the host country, the migrant engages in bargaining activities with employers, or other institutions about the value of their treasures. Frequently though, the value of the migrant’s treasure box are undervalued (Anderson, Ruhs, Rogaly, & Spencer, 2006; Datta et al., 2007) hence leading to the systematic exclusion of migrant workers from the upper segment of the labour market (Bauder, 2003).This is not because they are actually worth less but because it takes a period of several years or even generations for migrants to be integrated in the host country (Bauder, 2003). Nevertheless, such individuals could add on new valuables

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