The Impact of Acculturation on Immigrants’ Business Ethics Attitudes

This study explores to what extent immigrants adopt the business ethical attitudes of their host country and/or maintain those of their country of origin. For countries that have significant immigration, acculturation is an important social issue. An immigrant’s acculturation is influenced through the ability to adapt his/her “ethical culture of origin” by integrating it with the host country’s ethical culture. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the role of acculturation on immigrant’s ethical attitudes. What happens to individuals, who have developed in one cultural context, when they attempt to live in a new cultural context? Three groups were the object of this study: (1) native students of business administration in Israel, (2) students of business administration in the Ukraine and (3) business students in Israel who had emigrated from the Ukraine. Samples of these student populations allowed the study of acculturation effects on the immigrants as they acclimated to Israeli society. Results showed that students living in the Ukraine had the lowest ethical attitudes, followed by Ukraine immigrants in Israel. Israeli-born students had significantly higher ethical attitudes than either of the two Ukrainian groups. Accordingly, the ethical perceptions of immigrant students showed that they were influenced by both their home and host cultures. According to Berry’s (Appl Psychol Int Rev 46(1): 5–68, 1997) model of acculturation strategies, integration was their preferred strategy. The implications of these results and guidelines for further research are suggested.     

The effects of refugee and non-refugee immigrants on US trade with their home countries

Employing data on US immigrants and trade with 59 home countries for the years 1996–2001, we compare the extent to which refugee and non-refugee immigrants affect US trade with their home countries and provide the first evidence of variation in the US immigrant–trade relationship across immigrant types. We also consider the abilities of refugee and non-refugee immigrants to offset the trade-inhibiting influence of cultural distance. Our results show that while immigrants, in general, exert positive influences on US imports from – and exports to – their home countries, the influence of refugee immigrants is quite minimal when compared with that of non-refugee immigrants. For both immigrant types, however, evidence supporting the notion that immigrants act to offset cultural distance is observed. To conceptualize the economic meaning of our results, we provide estimates of the extent to which each type of immigrants offset transport costs.     

Immigration and Trade Creation for the United States: Role of Immigrant Occupation

Using a sample of 63 U.S. trading partners that constitute the major immigrant sending countries over the years 1991–2000 and using instrumental variable estimation this paper finds that the immigrant trade elasticity varies with the share of the immigrants in various occupation groups. The share of professional immigrants significantly increases the immigrant trade elasticity for all types of trade due to their ability to effectively use their network for trade creation. This effect is strongest for the Rauch’s differentiated imports where the immigrant specific home country information and immigrant demand for goods play a key role in increasing trade.     

Fostering Corporate Social Responsibility Through Public Initiative: From the EU to the Spanish Case

Should CSR be approached only on a voluntary basis or should it be complemented with a compulsory regulatory framework? What type of government intervention is more effective in fostering CSR among companies? This paper is an attempt to answer these questions, reviewing the debate between proponents of the voluntary case and the obligatory case for CSR, and critically analysing current international government-led initiatives to foster CSR among companies, and national government-led initiatives in the EU area. Finally, the paper focuses on the Spanish case, as an example of the failure of an exclusively voluntary approach. Despite the rapid uprise of CSR, Spain is still far behind late in CSR promotion strategies. Most action has been undertaken by companies themselves with no common guidelines, governmental support, or independent verification. The lack of a regulatory framework for CSR or ethical investment issues and the virtual absence of other indirect incentives, explains the misbalance between private, public and Third Sector initiatives. Based on the Spanish context which is quite similar to other non-OECD countries, the authors call for a more proactive government position in CSR related issues. The conclusions of the paper detail the features of this regulatory framework and other policies to promote CSR in Spain as well as in other OECD countries.     

Homeownership as a Sign of Immigrants’ Consumer Acculturation: The Role of Region of Origin

ABSTRACT

One of the limitations highlighted by the consumer acculturation literature is the lack of empirical research to identify better constructs or indicators of consumer acculturation. In this article, the use of homeownership by immigrants in the host society is proposed as an indicator of advanced consumer acculturation. The decision to own a home by a minority group, such as immigrants, represents a key landmark in the process of adaptation to the new culture and a commitment with the host country's values and culture. The empirical case used is the immigrant population of Spain. The sharp rise in its foreign-born population during the last decade and the significantly higher homeownership rates of natives in comparison with other countries makes the Spanish scenario a relevant case study. The results obtained show homeownership is linked to features associated with highly acculturated consumers. Moreover, the analysis conducted reveals important differences in the way immigrants from different origins advance in their consumer acculturation processes and suggest distinct approaches when marketing to these groups.     

Cultural Distance and the US Immigrant–Trade Link

Using data from the World and the European Values Surveys, we calculate cultural distances between the US and 54 immigrant home countries and examine the influences of cultural distance and immigrant populations on US imports from and exports to immigrants’ home countries during the years 1997–2004. Our study indicates that, for both US imports and exports, the trade‐enhancing effect of immigrants partially offsets the trade‐inhibiting effect of cultural distance. Further, decomposing our measure of cultural distance into two component dimensions and revisiting the immigrant–trade relationship, we find significant variation in the extent to which immigrants counter the trade‐inhibiting influences of the underlying dimensions of culture for both US imports and exports. Our findings have the implication that by countering the trade‐inhibiting influences of cultural differences between their home and host countries, immigrants exert pro‐development effects.     

The drugs economy and anti-drug policy in developing countries

The drugs economy has now developed into a major factor in many developing countries. What effects on the economies of the countries concerned do drugs production and the drugs trade have? How should the prospects of success for substitution policies be judged? What strategy to curb the demand for drugs in the industrial countries might carry the promise of success?     

Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs’ involvement in internationalization and innovation: Three Canadian cases

In international entrepreneurship literature, entrepreneurs moving across borders have received less attention than other entrepreneurs. Also, only scant attention has been paid to immigrant entrepreneurs’ contributions to their organizations. This paper aims to contribute to the emerging international immigrant entrepreneurship literature by studying Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs’ roles in their firms’ international and innovative activities in Canada, China, and other countries. It is based on three cases of Chinese entrepreneurs who established businesses in Canada. We conclude that these immigrants’ experience of doing business in China and Canada, their network relationships and knowledge of these markets quickened their firms’ internationalization considerably. Moreover, these firms became active in product or service innovation as the case immigrants also involved other immigrants and locals. Consequently, immigrant entrepreneurs should actively use their connections both in their new country of residence and also in their previous home country, but to become even more successful, they should also reach beyond their ethnic ties.     

Technical analysis and computer trading

The efforts of the central banks of Western industrial countries to stabilize exchange rates following the Louvre Agreement demonstrated yet again how difficult it can be to influence events in the foreign exchange markets. What factors are currently affecting exchange rates? What significance attaches to technical analysis in this context?     

Encouraging capital flows to developing countries

What policies can encourage the movement of capital from saving-surplus countries to developing countries? Instead of pursuing grandiose schemes of international coordination, industrial countries can reduce government deficits and keep inflation low. Developing countries can adopt policies that attract rather than repel private foreign capital.     

Immigrant entrepreneurship: Scrutinizing a promising type of business venture

Immigrant entrepreneurship is an important socioeconomic phenomenon today. In major destination countries for immigrants such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, immigrant entrepreneurship plays a critical role in economic development. The economic impact of immigrant entrepreneurship in the host country is well known, but the influence of immigrant entrepreneurship in the host country is not limited to its economic aspects. It includes important noneconomic effects such as the development of vibrant ethnic communities, social integration and recognition of immigrants, a nurturing entrepreneurial spirit, and providing role models for immigrants. From the management perspective, there are many aspects of immigrant entrepreneurship that are still unknown and need to be addressed. The purpose of this special issue is to shed light on some of those aspects. The articles selected to be published in this issue offer an excellent analysis of various important aspects of the topic, including the success factors of immigrant entrepreneurship, the influence of family networks, and the noneconomic effects of immigrant entrepreneurship. We believe the issue breaks new ground and offers excellent information on the topic. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The impact of agricultural price policy in developing countries

Agricultural price policies are under closer review now in many developing countries. There is a growing tendency to rely more on market forces. What impact have agricultural price policies had on the performance of the agricultural sector in developing countries until now?     

Overcoming informal barriers to trade: Immigrant educational attainment vs. network competence

Focusing on developed countries as the destination of both migrants and traded goods, we adopt a contingent perspective to examine the efficacy of immigrant resources in the promotion of international trade. We find that only immigrants with a low level of education facilitate trade when they originate from a developing source country (south→north trade), whereas only highly educated immigrants facilitate trade when they originate from a developed source country (north→north trade). This difference emerges from the immigrant’s role in helping overcome two distinct informal barriers to trade based on their different resource endowments in terms of network competence vs. educational attainment.     

“Misfits,” “stars,” and immigrant entrepreneurship

Prior research has shown that immigrants are more likely than natives to become entrepreneurs, and that entrepreneurs are disproportionately drawn from the extremes of the ability distribution. Using a large panel of US residents with bachelors’ degrees in scientific fields, we ask whether higher rates of entrepreneurship among immigrants can be explained by their position on the ability spectrum and establish four new facts about science-based and immigrant entrepreneurship. First, in this sample, an immigrant entrepreneurship premium exists only in science-based entrepreneurship. Second, this premium persists after controlling for ability (measured by paid employment wage residuals.) Third, a U-shaped relationship between ability and entrepreneurship exists only in non-science entrepreneurship; for science entrepreneurship, the relationship is increasing. Finally, the immigrant premium in science entrepreneurship is largest among immigrants with non-US degrees and those from non-English-speaking or culturally dissimilar countries. Stated preferences for self-employment do not explain the immigrant premium. The results suggest that immigrants may on average have higher levels of unobservable skills related to entrepreneurship.     

Entrepreneurs from low-skilled immigrant groups in knowledge-intensive industries: company characteristics,survival and innovative performance

This paper analyzes how companies of immigrant entrepreneurs in knowledge-intensive industries differ from companies of native entrepreneurs with respect to start-up characteristics, company survival and innovative performance. I focus on immigrants from the “recruitment countries” of south and southeast Europe, who arrived in Germany mainly in the 1970s to fill labor shortages. They are the largest immigrant group in Germany and can be reliably identified via ethnic name coding. Companies owned exclusively by immigrants tend to be smaller and have higher exit rates. After controlling for size and other company characteristics, I find no differences in patenting activity compared to companies owned exclusively by natives.     

Labour market policies in the western industrialised countries

The longer the high levels of unemployment continue in western countries the greater is the discussion about a policy aimed at reducing unemployment which is independent of general counter-cyclical and growth policies. What type of labour market policy measures have been adopted up to now in these countries?

     

Immigrant Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy: The Case of Turkey

This paper examines motivations for, and paths to, entrepreneurship among immigrants in Turkey based on interviews with 22 immigrant entrepreneurs in Istanbul. Findings suggest that immigrant entrepreneurs in a developing economy may be different from their counterparts in well‐established economies. First, immigrant entrepreneurs rely on their unique human and social capital in the process of starting businesses thanks to their ability to identify opportunities based on insider knowledge of the market in their home and host countries. Second, their ability to foster trusting relationships thanks to language, cultural, and religious knowledge permits immigrant entrepreneurs in an emerging economy to engage in less economically marginal activities.     

Heterogeneous immigrants,exports and foreign direct investment: The role of language skills

We investigate the interplay of language skills and immigrant stocks in determining bilateral FDI outstocks of OECD reporting countries. Applying a Poisson panel estimator to 2004–11 data, we find robust evidence for a positive effect of bilateral immigrants on bilateral FDI‐provided that residents of the two countries have few language skills in common. We find a similar effect for immigrants from third countries that speak the language(s) of the FDI host country, making them potential substitutes for bilateral migrants. Our findings suggest that immigrants facilitate outgoing FDI through their language skills, rather than through other characteristics like cultural familiarity.     

Foreign influence and welfare

How do foreign interests influence policy? How are trade policies and the viability of trade agreements affected? What are the welfare implications of such foreign influence? In this paper we develop a model of foreign influence and apply it to the study of optimal tariffs. In a two-country voting model of electoral competition, we allow the incumbent party in each country to take costly actions that probabilistically affect the electoral outcome in the other country. We show that policies end up maximizing a weighted sum of domestic and foreign welfare. Using this formulation we show that foreign influence increases aggregate world welfare when there are no other means of alleviating the externalities that arise from cross-border effects of policies. In contrast, when countries can engage in international agreements, foreign influence can prove harmful as powerful countries may refuse to offer concessions. We also show that power imbalances are particularly detrimental to cooperation when they are positively correlated with economic size.     

Immigration and international prices

This paper considers the relation between immigration and prices in a number of countries across the world over the period from 1990 to 2006. Immigration is shown to have a negative impact on international relative prices. A 10% increase in the share of immigrant workers in total employment decreases the prices of final products by as much as 3%. Our results suggest that the tendency of this factor of production to relocate to relatively expensive high-wage countries exerts downward pressure on prices of tradeables and non-tradeables there relative to other locations. The effect of immigration on prices is more evident for goods consumed by immigrants as compared to goods produced by immigrants.