Conditions under Which Rural-to-Urban Migration Enhances Social and Economic Sustainability of Home Communities: A Case Study in Vietnam

Thi Huyen Le, Yoshinori Nakagawa and Yutaka Kobayashi
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Thi Huyen Le: School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi 780-8515, Japan
Yoshinori Nakagawa: School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi 780-8515, Japan
Yutaka Kobayashi: School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi 780-8515, Japan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 15, 1-18

Abstract: Rural-to-urban migration contributes to the economic and social sustainability of sending communities. The aim of this study was to obtain quantitative evidence supporting the theoretical argument that (i) rural-to-urban migrants contribute to the sustainability of their sending communities, and (ii) once they return, they are likely to behave prosocially as return migrants because they feel a responsibility to apply the knowledge and skills they acquired during migration for the sake of others in their sending communities. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Hanoi, Vietnam, a typical destination city of domestic rural-to-urban migrants. Three hundred rural-to-urban migrants participated in this survey. The ultivariate regression analysis results indicate that rural-to-urban migrants contribute more to the social and economic sustainability of their rural home communities when they have spent longer in their migration destinations and have accumulated skills and knowledge because their experiences foster a sense of responsibility toward their home communities. This is the first quantitative investigation of the relationship between rural-to-urban migrants’ characteristics representing their accumulation of skills and knowledge in their destination cities and their supportive attitudes toward their home communities. This investigation seemed important because it was expected to clarify the conditions under which rural-to-urban migration stimulates migrants’ sense of responsibility and thus their contributions to the social and economic sustainability of their sending communities.

Keywords: rural-to-urban migration; sustainability of rural areas; sense of responsibility; supportive attitudes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:15:p:8326-:d:601537

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