Explaining migration intention from selected psycho-social variables in South Wollo, Ethiopia

Abstract

Migration has become one of the challenging global issues of the twenty-first century. Therefore, analyzing the intention to migrate is essential to develop clear strategies to manage actual migration. This research aimed to investigate emigration intention predictors (namely place attachment, attitude, national pride, subjective social norm, and perceived behavioral control) and the interaction effect of social networks between those predictors and migration intention. A sample of 701 high school students participated in the research. Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were employed to explore the dimension and loading of items respectively. To test the moderation effect of social networks on migration intention and the predictor variables, structural equation modeling was employed using Amos version 27. The findings indicated that Attitude, National pride, subjective social norm, and perceived behavioral control predict youths' emigration intention. The result also revealed that social network strengthens the negative correlation between place attachment and intention to migrate only if the individuals have a high social network. The social network also moderates the relationship between attitude and emigration intention.

Explaining emigration intentions through the lens of the theory of planned behavior: Scales' validation in a developing Arab country context

“…Factorial analysis supported the one factor solution for all of the four scales, as seen with the original versions [19][20][21] and the Ethiopian translations [21]. This factorial invariance ensures that the underlying factors measured by the scales remain consistent, allowing for meaningful comparisons across diverse populations.…”

“…Our objectives are assessing the internal consistency, convergent validity, and concurrent validity of our Arabic translations of the IES, ATE, PBC, and SNN. We hypothesize that the Arabic versions of the IES, ATE, PBC, and SSN will show a one-factor solution each in line with the original versions [19][20][21]. We expect the translations of the scales to be invariant across sexes.…”

“…Subjective social norms scale [21] is a 6-item scale measuring the construct of social norms regarding migration (e.g., "If I move that must be for the bene t of my family"). Each item is measured on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Disagree).…”

“…The 12-items represented push and pull factors of human geography and the theory of planned migration behaviors, and included components of social status and socioeconomic security. The "Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC)" [20] and "Subjective Social Norms (SSN)" [19][20][21] scales were developed in order to measure the variables of perceived behavioral control and subjective social norms in the scope of TPB. The PBC scale translated in our study was originally developed by Speelman et al [20] in their paper on migration in the Maldives.…”

“…The SSN scale pertinent to our study is the scale is a merge of two scales: the SSN scale developed by Leong et al [19] after surveying the Singaporean public and the one developed by Speelman et al [20] after surveys on the Maldivian public both using variables from the Theory of Planned Behavior adjusted to t the scope of emigration. The resulting 6 item scale as used in the paper by Assfaw et al [21]reliably measured the construct of Subjective Social Norms in Ethiopia. The four scales were translated and validated on a group of Ethiopian highschoolers by Assfaw et al [21], and were shown to be psychometrically sound and showed similar factorial structure to the original scales.…”