Host populations’ perceptions toward migrants: The effect of private/public settings and the moderating role of threat

Abstract

In the light of the French integration model, the present research was designed to examine the influence of host culture adoption and original culture conservation in the private sphere and the public sphere on the host population's judgments of migrants. Using the scenario method, in a pilot and a main studies (n=156) migrants’ targets were portrayed as adopting the host culture or conserving the original one, depending on the private (at home) or public (at work) setting. Our results suggest that the host population's perceptions are influenced by the behaviors adopted by migrants in both the private and public spheres, and by the type of judgment being made, as the effects we found differed according to the dependent variable being examined (affective, normative, and perception of integration into French society). Finally, the main study reveals that threat significantly moderates host populations’ perceptions. Three main contributions and one implication are discussed and perspectives for future researches are proposed.