Bridging Borders, Broadening Access

Introduction In recent years, Germany has experienced a steady rise in international student enrollment at its higher education institutions. While universities publicly commit to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles, many fall short in translating these commitments into concrete practices. The lack of initiatives fostering meaningful cross-cultural engagement frequently contributes to integration challenges and experiences of othering. These experiences cause international students to face greater adjustment challenges than their local peers, often resulting in increased feelings of loneliness, depression, and isolation. Limited social interaction and othering can further create barriers in accessing health information and services. In this challenging time, however, it is particularly important to have access to health information and services that support and advise international students in coping with emotional and social difficulties. Drawing on social capital theory, this study examines the interrelationship between international students’ experiences of othering, their ties within their country of origin and Germany—reflected in their acculturation trajectories—and access to health information. Methods To examine these interrelations and the role of othering in these processes, we conducted interviews with 15 international students in Germany. Results The findings indicate that acculturation trajectories are reflected in participants’ health information repertoires, particularly regarding access to trusted individuals as health information sources. Participants undergoing integration typically reported utilizing a broader set of sources from multiple cultural contexts, whereas those experiencing separation or assimilation tended to rely on sources from only one context. Experiences of social othering—particularly within university settings—shaped the international students’ acculturation trajectories, especially among those experiencing separation. Linguistic exclusion and discriminatory behaviors by health professionals prompted many participants to avoid medical consultations and instead rely more on online sources. Discussion These findings underscore the need for cultural sensitivity training among health professionals and institutional efforts to counteract othering on campus through comprehensive integration strategies and cross-cultural engagement initiatives.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the migration of the Indian diaspora to Canada and the USA and its role in fostering trade and investment between them using its transnational social networks.Design/methodology/approachThis study was based on interviews with 25 Indian immigrants, 13 in Canada and 12 in the USA.FindingsThe social networks that immigrants had in both their country of residence (COR) and country of origin (COO) act as conduits of trade and investment between the two. The Indian diaspora further facilitates economic engagement between the COO and COR by running cross‐border businesses, introducing Indian products and brands in the COR, introducing the Indian culture and helping non‐Indians to invest in India. Within the COO, the diaspora's social networks often helped Indians in India connect with markets, suppliers and potential business partners in the COR.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size was 25 people and was restricted to managers, executives and entrepreneurs of Indian origin, since it was assumed that these people are the most likely to drive trade and investment between the COO and COR.Practical implicationsFor policy makers in COOs, the paper stresses the importance of maintaining social and economic ties to the diaspora, who can often bring important trade and investment related benefits to the COO. For CORs, the paper reveals the importance of utilizing the transnational networks that the diaspora possess, that can be beneficial for the COR companies in entering new markets. Leveraging both the human and social capital of the diaspora in a mutually beneficial way is one of the biggest challenges for policy makers in both the COO and the COR.Social implicationsThe paper shows that within the COR, the local Indian community provides social and moral, rather than financial support to newly arrived Indian immigrants.Originality/valueThe paper explains the linkage between diasporas, trade and migration by focusing on the reasons for diaspora immigration, the social networks that the diaspora has, and the diaspora activities in the COR. It contributes to the literature on social networks by pointing out the importance of the diaspora's transnational social networks in both the COR and COO in driving trade and investment between them. It also adds to the brain circulation literature through its finding that pull factors, rather than push factors, were responsible for the vast majority of Indian immigration to the USA and Canada, and that by making diaspora‐friendly policies, brain circulation will be made easier, and this can help both the COO and COR in the long run.

Patient's information environments: deserts, jungles and less hostile alternatives.

Studies from the USA, New Zealand and Denmark suggest that many ethnic minority citizens obtain healthcare in their country of origin. Their reasons for doing so and the possible consequences remain unclear. We used data from the Healthy Life in an Urban Setting study to investigate the magnitude, types, self-reported reasons and determinants of past-year healthcare consumption in the country of origin by ethnic minority people living in the Netherlands. Individuals of African Surinamese (n = 2059), South-Asian Surinamese (n = 1915), Ghanaian (n = 1426), Moroccan (n = 1516) and Turkish (n = 2245) origin were included (recruited 2011-2013). We performed descriptive and stepwise logistic regression analyses. Respondents of Turkish origin reported the highest healthcare utilization in the country of origin (21.3%) compared with Moroccan (9.8%), Ghanaian (6.6%), African Surinamese (4.8%) and South-Asian Surinamese (3.0%) respondents. The main services used were outpatient clinics, pharmacies and health centres. The chief reported motivations were healthcare for illness, dissatisfaction with care in the residence country and seeking second opinions. Physical health status, cultural distance to the Dutch healthcare system and Turkish origin were all independently associated with healthcare use in countries of origin. Both health status and attitudes towards services in the countries of residence and origin are significantly associated with cross-border healthcare use. Further research is needed to clarify the reasons for the relatively high rates shown by Turkish respondents and to explore the consequences for health and for healthcare utilization in the country of residence.

Why do some diaspora groups, but not others, play a prominent role in the formalization of cooperative political ties between their country of origin and their country of residence? This article adopts a novel dyadic approach to the study of diaspora politics by arguing that diaspora politics are simultaneously structured by regime type in the country of origin and in the country of residence. Diaspora groups can play a prominent role in the formalization of cooperative foreign policy ties between their country of origin and their country of residence in democracy–democracy dyads (i.e., when the country of origin and the country of residence are both democratic). In all other dyads (including authoritarian–authoritarian), diaspora groups' political impact on the formalization of cooperative foreign policy ties tends to be limited. The democracy–democracy dyad approximates a necessary (but not a sufficient) condition; nationalism and international economic strategies adopted by the country of origin help shape diaspora politics. This article examines all four regime type dyads by focusing on diaspora politics in authoritarian Malaysia and democratic United States, which have notable populations of Chinese and of Indian origin.

Issues The literature and the interest of health professional on health information has grown rapidly during the last few years, but theory guiding this growth is lacking. The purpose of this article is to describe a developed model on Health Literacy, Information and Social Capital (HELISC) Model. Methods HELISc Model was based on the idea of a world of interrelated connections from virtual and traditional life without separation. Social capital represents the degree of social cohesion that exists in communities, furthermore social capital is recognised as the establishment between people of networks, norms, and social trust, and facilitate co-operation for mutual benefit. In evaluating the level of health-seeking information with social networks, it emerged that individuals, after obtaining the information requested, established ties with other individuals, similar to the development of social capital. Results The combination of interrelated connections from virtual and traditional life without separation leads to conscious action. This conscious action of health is given by the sum of antecedents (individual and environmental), by the formulation of the informative needs, by the reference information channels (offline/online), which leads to a conscious action. While the information-seeking activity can be labeled as a conscious action, the cohesion among individuals derived by the information exchange in the form of social support and social capital is unconscious. This model shows that there is not only the individual's interest in obtaining the information sought, but the development of a parallel mutual support leading to the development of social capital. Conclusions This model considers how virtual social network could be potentially considered as a new way to develop mutual support despite geographical distance and differences between individuals. More research is needed to support with evidence this model. Key messages Social capital and virtual health information, a new discover. Without Helisc model we don't understand influence of health information.

Diasporas can play a vital role in enhancing a country's international competitiveness. They can act as catalysts to enhance human capital development in their country of origin (COO), use their transnational social networks in both the COO and country of residence (COR) as conduits for trade and investment, introduce COO culture and products in the COR, enhance the COO's soft power and use their social networks to favourably affect the COO effect. In this paper, we examine the vital roles that modern diasporas play, as well as the issues that have led to their increasing importance. These issues are illustrated by looking at the experiences of two of the largest modern diasporas, the Chinese and Indian diasporas. The paper concludes by examining some of the emerging issues for diasporas in the fast changing current global environment, and discusses some of their implications for the diasporas themselves, their COOs and their CORs.

This paper examines empirically the effect of some commonly used indicators of social capital, such as the prevalence of trust on community members and the participation in voluntary secular and religious organizations, on the incidence of violent crimes. This is a cross-country study whose basic sample consists of 39 developed and developing countries and whose dependent variable is the national intentional homicide rate. The paper identifies and deals with three challenges in the empirical estimation of the effect of social capital on the incidence of violent crimes. The omittedvariable problem is dealt with by including income inequality and economic growth as additional determinants of a country’s violent crime rate. The joint endogeneity (or reverse-causation) problem is accounted for by using instrumental variables for social capital in the crime regression. The specificity problem, that is the potentially opposite effects of group-specific and society-wide social capital, is noted and addressed only indirectly by emphasizing the results applied to the social capital indicators that have application for society as a whole. The main result of the paper is that only the component of social capital measured by trust on community members has the effect of reducing the incidence of violent crimes. The results regarding measures of other indicators of social capital are rather unclear. This may be due to a combination of limited samples, inability to fully control for reverse causation, and most likely, the opposite effects that society-wide and group-specific social capital may have on violent crime. ∗ Lederman and Menendez are economists with the Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean of the World Bank. Loayza is a senior economist with the research department of the Central Bank of Chile, and he is currently on leave from the Development Economics Research Group of the World Bank. The opinions expressed herein should not be attributed to the World Bank. The authors are grateful to Ed Glaeser, Jeff Grogger, Gale Johnson, Sanjay Marwah, Steve Messner, Nicholas Sambanis, and an anonymous referee for invaluable comments and suggestions. The authors are responsible for any remaining errors.

Immigrants and sustained international migration are transforming developed Western countries at an unprecedented pace and scale. Sustained international migration is also further accentuating the already-dominant presence of immigrant entrepreneurs in the international business landscape. These immigrant entrepreneurs often operate small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that primarily export to their country of origin. However, conflicting findings suggest theoretical ambiguity in how the level of country-of-origin export intensity influences the SMEs’ financial performance. Adopting a contingent perspective, we theorize how and when socially embedded immigrant owners derive superior performance from high country-of-origin export intensity. Based on a sample of 2584 immigrant-owned SMEs and 6391 firm-year observations, we find that SMEs led by immigrant owners with longer stays in their country of residence and whose country of origin is geographically proximate to their country of residence generate superior financial performance from high country-of-origin export intensity. These findings are consistent with the view that immigrant entrepreneurs’ international financial success is a function of network- and cognition-based advantages linked to their level of concurrent embeddedness in their countries of residence and origin. We also provide actionable insights for immigrant entrepreneurs and for policy-makers tasked to design suitable export promotion programs.

Migrant organizations are of vital importance for countries of residence and countries of origin, but the empirical and theoretical knowledge of the cross-border character of migrant organizations remains incomplete. It is clear that migrant transnationalism challenges the governance of nation-states on the local and national levels. This book, the outcome of an ECPR joint session, systematically and empirically analyzes the differing roles that transnational migrant organizations play in their countries of residence and origin. Drawing on research conducted in Belgium, England, Germany, Holland, Poland and Portugal, it focuses on the relations between migrant organizations and the state. Offering an opportunity for comparative analysis, it also examines why migrants and their organizations engage in different forms of border crossing activities, and how various political systems influence, and are influenced by these forms of engagement.

Purpose – This paper aims to empirically analyze the extent to which advertising reception among consumers with a migration background (German-Turks) is influenced by a person’s strength of national identifications with his/her country-of-origin (COO) and with his/her country-of-residence (COR). The focus is on Turkey-sensitive advertisements (ads) of telecommunication service suppliers in Germany because such communication measures are quite common and about three million German-Turks constitute an economically important group. Design/methodology/approach – Measures of COO and COR identification as well as of three ad reception criteria were obtained in a survey of 291 German-Turks and analyzed via moderated regression models. Findings – Strength of COO identification was a significantly positive predictor of the frequency with which participants remembered Turkey-sensitive ads for telecommunication services. Additionally, COO identification related significantly to two criteria that capture facets of attitudes toward such ads. By contrast, COR identification acted partly as a moderator which attenuated links between respondents’ COO identification and two ad reception measures. Nevertheless, German-Turks with a strong COR identification (i.e. “accultured” consumers) were still receptive to Turkey-sensitive telecommunication services ads even if their self-image was simultaneously strongly dependent on their COO. “Alienated” German-Turks who identify neither with their COO nor with their COR were least responsive to ethnic ads. Practical implications – The research indicates that marketing practitioners should not use uniform communication measures to address migrant consumers with a specific COO but segment this target group further by simultaneously considering their members’ COO and COR identifications. Originality/value – The contribution of this paper results from the simultaneous inclusion of both COO and COR identifications as factors explaining differences in reactions to communication measures among migrant consumers which share the same COO. Furthermore, the scarcity of empirical work on reactions of German-Turks to ethnomarketing is reduced.

This study examines the role that the bicultural identity of members of an ethnic diaspora (the Indian diaspora in Canada and the United States) can play in affecting the level of economic engagement between their country of residence (COR) and country of origin (COO). Specifically, it examines how differences in bicultural identity can explain the varying levels of engagement by diasporic members in different trade and investment facilitation behaviors, and how the different components of bicultural identity, cultural distance, and cultural conflict, could affect the level of economic engagement between the diasporic members’ COR and COO. Results indicate that cultural distance and cultural conflict and their interaction do have a significant impact on economic engagement behaviors; these effects are complex and multifaceted and are mediated by the diaspora’s social networks in both the COR and COO.

This paper considers immigrant engagement with the politics of their country of residence (COR) as a function of their relationships with their countries of origin (COO). I present two arguments. Firstly, I consider that engagement with the COO can enhance engagement with the COR to the extent that such engagement is a product of political socialization that is transferable across country contexts. Alternatively, engagement with the COO may disincentivize engagement with the COR by reducing the cognitive and material resources necessary for such engagement. To explore these possibilities, I use a unique set of survey questions from the 2020 Collaborate Multiethnic Postelection Study to ask whether engagement with the politics of the country of origin makes foreign-born American residents more or less likely to participate in American civic and political activities. Using logit and ordered logit models with multiple specifications, I find that COO engagement is negatively associated with formal participation in COR politics but positively associated with COR civic engagement. This suggests that political socialization does not translate effectively across countries and that migrants may have different political goals than nonimmigrant cohorts. I consider these results as pathways for further research.

Objective: The objective of this paper is to investigate how diaspora and returnee entrepreneurs use networks in the country of origin (COO) and country of residence (COR) and which benefits they gain from such networks. Research Design & Methods: In the face of the early state of research and the complexity of the subject, exploratory case study research was chosen. One case was conducted with a Ghanaian diaspora entrepreneur in Germany and the other with a Ghanaian returnee entrepreneur back from Germany. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews with both of the entrepreneurs were conducted to identify their network dynamics. Findings: Ghanaian diaspora entrepreneurs benefit mainly from networks in the COR and Ghanaian returnee entrepreneurs from networks in the COO. These findings are not fully consistent with the assumption of previous scholars that diaspora and returnee entrepreneurs intensively use both COO and COR networks. Implications & Recommendations: The network usage of diaspora and returnee entrepreneurs varies to a large extent depending on industry, personal background and human capital. It is necessary to research more intensively the heterogeneity within diaspora entrepreneurship. Contribution & Value Added: This paper contributes to the development of understanding of heterogeneity in diaspora and returnee entrepreneurship. The cases present that the degree and balance of mixed embeddedness of returnee and diaspora entrepreneurs in COO and COR may differ to a large extent and they influence how they benefit from different type of networks in both countries. This difference may arise from the physical absence/presence of entrepreneurs in the country or the structure of their business. We identified several dimensions to be considered in future research.

The availability of inexpensive means of communication and affordable transportation are significant drivers for immigrants to engage in transnational entrepreneurship. Transnational Entrepreneurs (TEs) are individuals that migrate from one country to another, concurrently maintaining business-related linkages with their former country of origin (COO), and currently adopted country of residence (COR) and using such dual embeddedness in their COO and COR to advance their entrepreneurial firms. Based on the dynamic capability perspective and the relational theory of social networks, this chapter offers a theoretical framework explaining how TEs develop their competitive advantage to succeed in a global market. This theoretical framework suggests an explanation of the process TEs may use to recognise opportunities and benefit from the social networks of their COO and COR. It also explains how TEs’ ethnic and nonethnic ties improve firm performance through the mediating effects of TEs’ dynamic capabilities and the moderating effect of institutional distance between the COO and the COR.