Are Foreigners at Disadvantage in a Global Labor Market?

Abstract

We find evidence that being a foreigner decreases the chances of surviving (i.e., keeping the license) on the first season on the PGA TOUR. This phenomenon does not affect all foreigners equally—it is present amongst the non-elite group (those playing the second-tier tour), but we found no evidence amongst the elite group (those playing the first-tier tour). We discover that the international experience acquired by foreigners in other circuits prior to their arrival on the PGA TOUR mitigates this disadvantage. Not keeping the card has hazardous financial consequences for both the golfer and the corporations whose products he endorses.

Migrants Networks and Survival in the Job: Evidence from Foreign Newcomers on the PGA Tour

“…Two plausible reasons may explain why we obtain significant results for the influence of valued cluster density on survival in the second-tier tour but not in the first-tier tour. The first explanation is that foreigners who qualified directly into the first-tier tour possess not only superior golfing skills, but also a superior ability to adapt to PGA TOUR courses, as argued in Pastoriza et al (2021). Additionally, they may be particularly resilient to social pressures in the workplace, as shown in Guryan et al (2009), including those derived from lack of support from local fans or the hardships of touring life.…”

“…Foreigners are often at a particular disadvantage when competing in a new country. Foreign athletes are less likely to survive in a professional circuit than domestic athletes (Pastoriza et al, 2021), immigrants are less effective than nationals at finding jobs in the host labor market (Fang et al, 2013), and foreign entrepreneurs are less successful than their domestic counterparts (Mata & Alves, 2018). Economic studies have examined the role that country-of-origin networks play in improving their chances of finding a job (Beaman, 2012; Damm, 2009; Munshi, 2003).…”

“…In the case of the PGA TOUR, this relates directly to accessing valuable information about golf course design. The PGA TOUR conditions its courses using specific guidelines (such as deep rough and fast greens), which entail adaptation costs for foreign newcomers (Pastoriza et al, 2021). A foreign newcomer may rely on the experience of his nationality cluster to access information on course design (e.g., strategizing how to play each course) and to identify which tournaments to enter, so that he enters the tournaments that fit his skills (e.g., some tournaments favor long hitters, while other tournaments favor accurate hitters).…”

“…The labor market of professional sports is characterized by high mobility of talent across countries. Although there is ample evidence indicating that talent migration has allowed sports organizations to enhance their team performance (Berlinschi et al, 2013; Lago-Penas et al, 2019; Royuela & Gásquez, 2019), studies performed at the individual level of analysis show that when foreign athletes compete along with local athletes, foreigners are at a competitive disadvantage because they face unfamiliarity and discrimination (Pastoriza et al, 2021), a phenomenon that has been referred to as liability of foreignness (Fang et al, 2013; Mata & Alves, 2018). Despite progress, there are important gaps in our understanding of the adverse consequences that migration entails for the performance of migrant athletes, and particularly in the mechanisms that migrant athletes may utilize to mitigate those adverse consequences.…”

Strategic employment of immigrant and native workers: Was the green card lottery a game changer?

“…Over 70% of Asian DIV immigrants that year were from Bangladesh or Pakistan. 5 Notable such studies have examined sports ranging from basketball (Alvarez et al, 2011;Groothuis & Hill, 2018), golf (Pastoriza et al, 2021), hockey (Kahane et al, 2013), and soccer (Addesa et al, 2022;Royuela & Gasquez, 2019). 6 Hendricks (2001) formally models how immigrant sorting behavior contributes to that heterogeneity.…”