Role Of Newcomers Research Articles

Regeneration, predatory inclusion, and migrant experiences in declining rural areas in Spain and Germany

ABSTRACT Declining rural areas have become central sites for migrant settlement. In the hope that migration will counteract rural shrinkage, migrants are increasingly portrayed as catalysts to revitalize communities. This article critically examines migration to declining rural areas vis-à-vis rural reception and regeneration policies. Drawing on qualitative research including interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observations, we compare migrants’ settlement experiences and their positions in rural revitalization processes in northeast Spain and eastern Germany. Our research illustrates that local reception and regeneration policies do not only sideline the role of newcomers as rural place-makers, who contribute to the sustainment (or expansion) of local services and infrastructures. They also result in conditions of ‘predatory inclusion’, in which migrants’ settlement is shaped regarding their potential ‘use’ for revitalizing local economies and housing markets in exploitative terms and along racialized lines. Facing precarious labor and housing conditions, migrants tend to reside only temporarily in our investigated areas. This article contributes to a growing body of migration research in rural areas and explains that attempts at regeneration through migration can run the risk of ignoring migrants' structural conditions, needs, mobility aspirations and life plans, thereby reinforcing racial and class-based inequalities present in rural areas.

Newcomers and rural crisis: Beyond the demographic challenge. A case study in Andalusia (Spain)

Newcomers are key agents in the fight against rural depopulation, but the rural crisis is not only a demographic fact; it is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, so we set out to analyse it from the perspective of the socio-ecosystem. In this article, we study the relationship between newcomers and rural crisis, focusing on the way in which new residents are integrated into the socio-ecosystem at the socio-economic, socio-identity, and socio-environmental levels. To explore the issue empirically and in greater depth from this analytical perspective, we present an ethnographic case study in a village in the Sierra de Aracena mountains (Andalusia, Spain) that displays symptoms of rural crisis while presenting positive demographic evolution. This case study, as paradoxical as it is significant, allows us to reflect on the role of newcomers in the face of rural crisis: the limitations of their effects beyond demographics. From here, we can enhance, more generally, our understanding of the rural crisis and help to improve policies that aim to mitigate it.

Welcome to Our (Divided) Team

Abstract: Since team colleagues and leaders are the first points of contact for organizational newcomers, they could play an important role in newcomers’ socialization success. On the basis of the social identity approach and signaling theory, we expect perceived subgroups in the team and leader–member exchange (LMX), respectively, to predict socialization outcomes (i. e., social integration, organizational attractiveness, intentions to remain). Furthermore, we expect psychological safety to mediate these processes. We conducted a two-wave field study ( N = 56 interns) and an experimental vignette study ( N = 144 students). Results showed perceived subgroups (only in Study 2) and LMX to be related to socialization outcomes. Study 2 showed these relationships to be mediated by psychological safety. Thus, newcomers’ perceptions of their team and leader may be important in determining whether newcomers feel integrated and perceive their organization as attractive to remain in. Human resources practitioners should make organizational insiders aware of their role in newcomer socialization.

Language-learning difficulties and their influence on the Turkish-speaking migrant’s integration process in Belgium

Language learning is a challenge for those who have recently immigrated to a foreign country (henceforth newcomers), especially for adult newcomers. Here, we have adopted a holistic approach and asked Turkish migrants to share their perspectives regarding the integration process. For this, we interviewed 59 Turkish-speaking newcomers from a (mixed) social integration course, whom we had subdivided into six focus groups. We also conducted in-depth interviews with 14 experienced migrants who then shared their experiences, expectations, problems and ambitions. The focus group interviews show us that offering opportunities to learn a foreign language along with dialogues with local people, in an informal setting, gives newcomers a feeling of independence (empowerment) and helps reduce their cultural angst. In this regard, intercultural communication with locals plays a key role in newcomers’ cultural and social integration. With this, the individual perspectives and expectations analysed in this study have provided novel insights for shaping the formal and informal integration process.

Disrupting European politics? Rhetorical analysis of MEP Manon Aubry’s politicising strategies in Twitter

ABSTRACT This article takes a conceptual approach to EU politicisation and analyses the empirical case study of MEP Manon Aubry’s use of Twitter as political activity from a rhetorical perspective. A self-proclaimed ‘activist deputy’ representing La France Insoumise is illustrated of using politicising strategies in Twitter after the European elections in 2019 to assume the representative role of a ‘disruptive outsider’. Here rhetorical analysis is used to answer the question: to what extent Aubry’s use of Twitter was a case of disruption, and whether or not it contributes to EU politicisation? Aubry, who was threatened of a sanction by the President of the European Parliament for inciting the occupation of the plenary by Extinction Rebellion, argued that her political freedom and free speech were under threat. Although the analysis is limited to only one MEP, examining the case study is an effort into conceptualising and advancing future research on disruption in European politics with a contribution in the EU politicisation literature. The aim here is not to provide evidence of how widespread this kind of politicisation is, but it offers material for further research on political careers in the EP aiming at understanding the role of newcomers as potential ‘disruptive outsiders’.

Human cooperation in changing groups in a large-scale public goods game

How people cooperate to provide public goods is an important scientific question and relates to many societal problems. Previous research studied how people cooperate in stable groups in repeated or one-time-only encounters. However, most real-world public good problems occur in groups with a gradually changing composition due to old members leaving and new members arriving. How group changes are related to cooperation in public good provision is not well understood. To address this issue, we analyze a dataset from an online public goods game comprising approximately 1.5 million contribution decisions made by about 135 thousand players in about 11.3 thousand groups with about 234 thousand changes in group composition. We find that changes in group composition negatively relate to cooperation. Our results suggest that this is related to individuals contributing less in the role of newcomers than in the role of incumbents. During the process of moving from newcomer status to incumbent status, individuals cooperate more and more in line with incumbents.

You Being New Can Be Hard on Me Too: Considering the Veteran Employee during Newcomer Socialization

ABSTRACT The extant research on organizational socialization has primarily focused on newcomer perceptions of the socialization process, neglecting the perspective of insiders (veteran employees) who socialize newcomers. The veteran perspective is important to consider, as veterans take on additional work responsibilities to help newcomers assimilate to the organization. The current study examines how veterans’ perceptions of their personal resources (e.g., assimilation, job demands) may influence their own well-being during the socialization process, as well as newcomer outcomes (i.e., role clarity, job performance). Data from 108 matched veteran-newcomer pairs across a variety of occupations were analyzed using path analysis. Results suggest veteran assimilation and job demands during socialization are related to both veteran and newcomer outcomes, including veteran emotional exhaustion and newcomer role clarity. In addition, veteran assimilation was significantly related to newcomer performance. Implications of these findings for organizations are discussed.

“Everybody Thinks Public Libraries Have Only Books”: Public Library Usage and Settlement of Bangladeshi Immigrants in Canada

ABSTRACT Many public libraries in Canada offer services and programs for immigrants, including employment assistance to assist newcomers with their settlement in Canada. Using a mixed method research design, this study explores the use of public libraries by Bangladeshi immigrants in Canada including their use of public library settlement services, along with their pre-migration access to public library services. The study finds immigrants’ use of public libraries declines over time. However, it is also evident in this study that public libraries played a positive role in newcomers’ settlement into Canadian society. The findings related to the lack of familiarity with public libraries in a pre-arrival context highlight the importance of having a strong public library outreach program for immigrant populations. The author urges public libraries offering services to immigrants to make meaningful partnerships with pre-and post-arrival settlement agencies, local ethnic community and religious organizations, and ethnic media to spread the word about public library programs and services for immigrants.

The role of newcomers' proactive behaviours on well-being, engagement and turnover intention

The role of newcomers' proactive behaviours on well-being, engagement and turnover intention

Does positive feedback support the stronger and weaken the weaker? The effects of supervisors’ positive feedback on newcomers’ task performance in the first 90 days

Purpose: This study aims to provide empirical evidence of how supervisors’ positive feedback plays a crucial role in newcomers’ task performance in the first 90 days of their employment.Design/methodology/approach: Data for this study were collected from newcomers and their immediate supervisors in a large high-tech manufacturing company in northern China. The study used a structured questionnaire to gather data from 229 newcomer-supervisor dyads, which were analysed through the application of structural equation modelling.Findings/results: The findings revealed that supervisors’ positive feedback positively affects newcomers’ task performance. The supervisors’ positive feedback enhances the task performance of newcomers’ by promoting energy and information seeking at work. In addition, the study also revealed that intrinsic motivation as a moderator strengthens the relationship between supervisors’ positive feedback and newcomers’ energy at work.Practical implications: Organiszations should place emphasis on supervisors’ positive feedback and newcomers’ level of intrinsic motivation in order to attain better performance in the workplace.Originality/value: This study highlights the need for organisations to pay attention to the dual roles of supervisors’ positive feedback and the intrinsic motivation of newcomers’ in improving task performance. Supervisors’ positive feedback boosts newcomers’ energy at work and aids their task performance when intrinsic motivation is high rather than low.

Morocco's Hirak al-Rif Movement: "Youths of the Neighbourhood" as Innovative Protesters?

This article examines how protesters produce new tactics by focusing specifically on Hirak Al-Rif, a protest movement which took place in Morocco in 2016–2017. Drawing on several sources (e.g. semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations, live-streamed Facebook videos, and digital traces), the article shows how new tactics can derive routine activities and, by focusing on the role of newcomers, suggests to go beyond a strictly top-down model of mobilisations. Newcomers relied on everyday routines at the neighbourhood level and amplified the dynamic of protests in a way that went beyond the initial expectations of core activists. Tactical innovations can thus be fostered through pressures and reappropriations enacted from below, which bind core activists to the wider base of the movement through moral obligations. Biographical experiences, prior bonds, and the individuals' positions in the mobilisation networks also prove to be relevant matters in the plural and contingent making of tactical innovations.

The need for a portfolio of solutions rooted in common messaging to facilitate negative emissions science

The need for a portfolio of solutions rooted in common messaging to facilitate negative emissions science

Newcomers’ reactions to unfulfilled leadership expectations: An attribution theory approach

This paper examines newcomers’ reactions when facing unfulfilled leadership expectations. Although leaders are ascribed a key role in newcomers’ socialization, very little is known about newcomers’ expectations of leadership and their subsequent behaviors when these expectations are not fulfilled. Against the background of a follower-centered perspective, we develop a differentiated model of newcomers’ leadership attributions. As general attribution theory has recently shown, causal links are not always made in clear-cut ways. Thus, there may be several steps between the attribution and non-attribution of leadership. As our qualitative empirical study in Germany reveals, different unfulfilled leadership expectation types lead to equally different leadership attribution levels, with various behavioral consequences for newcomers. We suggest a dynamic model, starting with investing in a relationship before newcomers choose refusing reactions such as confrontation or withdrawal.

Synergy or substitution? The interactive effects of insiders' fairness and support and organizational socialization tactics on newcomer role clarity and social integration

SummaryDrawing on fairness heuristics theory (Lind, 2001) and cue consistency theory (Maheswaran & Chaiken, 1991; Slovic, 1966), we test a moderated mediation model that examines whether the institutionalization of organizational socialization tactics enhances or constrains the beneficial effects of supervisory and coworker‐referenced justice and support on newcomer role clarity and social integration. The findings of a three‐wave study of 219 French newcomers show that although institutionalized tactics strengthen the positive indirect effects of supervisory interpersonal and informational justice on role clarity, via perceived supervisor support, it also acts as a substitute that weakens the positive indirect effect of coworker‐referenced interpersonal justice on social integration, via perceived coworker support. Implications of the findings for socialization research and practice are discussed.

Bad Fits: The Causes, Extent and Costs of Job Skills Mismatch in Canada

About 13 percent of Canadian workers have skills mismatched to their jobs. Although this is somewhat in line with an average of around 10 percent among OECD countries in an international survey, Canadian policymakers have two reasons for concern. Firstly, there is significant variation across socioeconomic groups. While workers with higher educational attainment are more likely to be over-skilled, women, immigrants, and older workers are more likely to be under-skilled for their jobs. In the case of immigrants, the under-skilled problem entirely disappears with time spent in Canada, highlighting the importance of settlement policies that provide rigorous and accessible skills training, language programs, and job-search workshops for newcomers. Secondly, these results could worsen in the years ahead in the face of technological development and demographic aging that are occurring in the labour market at the same time as the role of newcomers in Canada’s labour force is growing. As it is, the majority of workers across occupations need to use cognitive skills such as literacy, numeracy, and problem solving at least once a week at work. More importantly, there is no occupation where these skills are not required at all. This study’s results highlight the importance of providing more opportunities for skills development and lifelong learning for all workers and better addressing individual training needs, particularly, among underskilled people such as older workers and new immigrants. Businesses – in addition to providing training opportunities for under-skilled workers – can reduce mismatches within their organizations by appropriately reassigning tasks, providing relocation assistance and finding innovative ways to use workers’ skills in order to optimize productivity. Governments can help reduce skills mismatch with policies that enhance labour market flexibility, ease labour mobility, and more importantly, increase participation in lifelong learning.

Assured Newcomers on a Squally Sea? The Czech Pirate Party before and after the 2017 Elections

The elections to the Chamber of Deputies in October 2017 were a turning point for the Czech Pirate Party (called “Piráti”). It was the first time since establishing the party in 2009 that the Pirates entered the lower house of the Czech Parliament. They took the third place with 10.79 % votes and won 22 seats out of 200. Their main programme points came out of typical “pirate policies” like control of power and the powerful ones, simplification of the running of the state through technology, protection of citizens from bullying and defence of freedom as well as basic Pirate principles including liberalism and direct democracy. Their programme was called “New Ideas for the New Age”. From a different view, this party presented itself as a watchdog of democracy and as an alternative mostly for liberal voters. This qualitative case study will provide a complex overview of the Pirate phenomenon in the Czech Republic from their establishment to their current role of an opposition party. This article aims to show and describe how the position of the Czech Pirates has varied over time. For this purpose, open data from the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO) and the findings from the Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES) dataset will be used. It is possible to say that the Pirates are playing the role of newcomers in the Chamber of Deputies after the 2017 elections, but they are not newcomers in the Czech party system.

Organizational socialization of newcomers: the role of professional socialization

Organizational socialization is the process through which newcomers learn the requisite social and task knowledge in order to resolve role uncertainty and become organizational insiders. Successful socialization of newcomers implies better retention of employees, higher productivity, and reduced recruitment and training costs. Many organizational newcomers undergo professional socialization through education and related work experience during their schooling. These newcomers may respond differently to an organization's efforts to socialize them when compared with newcomers without any related professional education or work experience. The importance of prior work experience and professional education for organizational socialization of newcomers, however, has received attention only recently. The aim of the research reported in this paper is to investigate the moderating effects of prior related work experience and professional education on the relationship between organizational socialization tactics and newcomer's adjustment. The study was conducted with a sample of new graduates from an Asian university. Findings show that prior related work experience and professional education moderate the effects of socialization tactics on newcomer's role clarity, role conflict and organizational commitment. The moderators have effects on different outcomes and in opposite directions. The paper discusses theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

The Impact of Migratory Flows on the Swiss Labour Market. A Comparison Between In- and Outflow

International labour migration in post-industrial countries raises numerous questions. A wide range of studies have been published on the impact of immigration on the labour market but only few studies take into account both arrivals (immigrations) and departures (emigrations), rather than only the role of newcomers on the labour market. This paper is based on a Swiss Longitudinal Demographic Database which links data from Population and Household Registers, administrative registers, and surveys. In particular, the Swiss Population Register provides the date of arrival or departure of immigrants/emigrants while the Structural Survey provides information on their characteristics and position on the labour market. Based on these data, this paper compares the socioeconomic characteristics of both immigrants and emigrants arrived in Switzerland during the period 2011-2013 or having left the country during the same period, a time span characterized by a yearly net migration of + 80,000 and a rapid economic growth. In terms of level of education, every category is characterized by a positive migration balance, which is not surprising: the economic growth observed in Switzerland during the period led to a demand on the labour market for both skilled and unskilled migrants. More precisely, migratory flows counterbalanced the erosion of the low and averagely skilled working-age non-migrating population and contributed to approximately one third of the increase in the number of highly skilled workers in the labour market. Concerning the occupations, the impact of the migration balance is highest among managers and sales workers. The paper also demonstrates that the migratory flows contribute to balance the decrease in the low and averagely skilled positions and to partially fulfil the economy’s demand for highly skilled workers.

A new look at the psychological contract during organizational socialization: The role of newcomers' obligations at entry

SummaryPrevious studies have demonstrated that the psychological contract is largely shaped during socialization. This study adopts a complementary perspective and analyzes how the psychological contract at the start of employment shapes the subsequent socialization process. Drawing upon social exchange theory, we propose that newcomers with a higher sense of their personal obligations at entry will perceive orientation training as more useful and develop better relationships with their supervisors and peers, which in turn will facilitate their work adjustment. Results of a longitudinal survey on a sample of 144 recruits from a European Army show that newcomers with a higher initial sense of their employee obligations toward their employer report higher perceived training utility, higher leader–member exchange (LMX) with their instructors, and higher team–member exchange (TMX) with their platoon peers. Moreover, perceived training utility and LMX predict the fulfillment of employers' obligations; and training utility predicts the level of newcomers' employee obligations. Finally, training utility, LMX, and TMX predict some of three indicators of newcomers' adjustment, namely, role clarity (training utility and LMX), group integration (TMX), and organizational values understanding (training utility). These results highlight how newcomers' obligations at the start of employment contribute to the social exchange dynamic underlying organizational socialization. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Between gentrification and reurbanisation: The participatory dimension of bottom-up regeneration in Gdańsk, Poland

Urban regeneration has become a key issue in the development of contemporary cities. The paper discusses bottom-up regeneration practices performed by inhabitants of a decaying inner-city neighbourhood under post-socialist conditions, which differ notably from the widely researched Western European context. Results of a qualitative study in Wrzeszcz Dolny, Gdańsk, have indicated the leading role of newcomers to the area in animating bottom-up regeneration efforts, which in turn translate into an activation and integration of the local community. Thus, it is argued that an in-migration into the inner city, usually interpreted as gentrification, does not necessarily generate losses for the indigenous inhabitants but can also bring a desired social change and significantly contribute to the building of inclusive civil society. The presented case study therefore signals the need for a careful investigation and precise labelling of the post-socialist inner-city transformation processes, as well as demonstrates how increasing participation might be employed as the potential antidote to ills associated with gentrification.