Fear or Competition? Antecedents to U.S. Business Student Immigration Attitudes

Abstract

Immigration is an important and contemporary topic in management education given its impact on labor, wages, innovation, and diversity. However, extant research offers few insights into the antecedents to student immigration attitudes. Survey data from undergraduate students taking business courses at two large public universities in the southeast U.S. reveal that while student attitudes toward immigration are more moderate than the general U.S. population, these attitudes differ by gender, political affiliation, and immigration background. Following realistic conflict theory and social identity theory, these student immigration attitudes are a function of both fear and competition. First, their attitudes are confounded by conflicting antecedents in perceived personal competition for resources with immigrants (e.g., jobs, wages) versus immigration benefits (e.g., costs, labor base, innovation). Second, xenophobia (fear of immigrants) is a remarkably powerful influencer of one’s immigration attitude and its antecedents. With these points, management educators must engage students in critical thinking about immigration to prepare them to effectively work with diverse colleagues and business partners while leading global organizations. We, therefore, present four cross-disciplinary areas of intersection between immigration and management education, including diversity and cultural intelligence, human resource management and ethics, entrepreneurship and innovation, and finally, economic and socioeconomic impacts.

Fear, Loathing, and Political Violence in the United States: Findings from a Nationally Representative Survey

“…Survey items that supplied data for the 7 phobias we included were obtained in all but 1 case from validated scales (Table 1). [16][17][18][19][20][21] These scales were selected based on recency of development, extent of validation, and applicability to estimating associations between the phobias they measured and political violence. Questionnaire length limitations precluded use of complete scales; we selected items for inclusion based on their direct relevance to violence.…”

“…14 In 2023's Wave 2 of the survey 15 we expanded this line of inquiry, collecting data for each of the phobias listed above using abbreviated versions of previously validated scales. [16][17][18][19][20][21] We report prevalences for those phobias here along with cross-sectional estimates of their associations, individually and in combination, with support for and willingness to engage in political violence. The study's rationale is that these findings will assist in the development and implementation of efforts to prevent political violence at a time when such violence poses an imminent threat to democracy in the United States.…”

Common Methodological Issues in Quantitative Management Education Research and Recommendations for Authors

“…Some of JME’s highly cited articles in this area include, exploring the antecedents of faculty satisfaction in online education (Stickney et al, 2019), empirical testing of teaching practices that increases learning impact of student teams (Bacon et al, 1999), and online and hybrid teaching in management education (Arbaugh & Hwang, 2013). Researchers also examine how management education intersects, co-creates, or adapts to broader contexts, such as technology (Allen et al, 2021; Ring et al, 2012), climate adaptation, and sustainability (Maloni et al, 2011; Sroufe, 2020), and social issues (Maloni et al, 2021).…”