RISK Project

Returnees’ Innovative Skills and Knowledge: Becoming Entrepreneur through Migration Experience (RISK)

Duration 2018 - 2020

Funded by UEFISCDI

Project's code: PN-III-P1-1.1-PD2016-0659

ABSTRACT

This research project builds on the idea that the experience of international migration changes people’s skills, abilities and stocks of knowledge. The Romanian context represents an excellent environment for verifying if the accumulation of human capital abroad influences former migrants’ work statuses after return. 

In order to explore this assumption, we developed a comprehensive framework for analysing the relationship between entrepreneurship and individuals’ experiences of international migration. We advance a multidimensional approach for looking at the main outcomes of the experience of migration in terms of individuals’ stocks of human, social, and economic, as well as changes in their values. At the same time, the research project will pay attention to subjective representations of structural determinants and will distinguish between opportunity and necessity entrepreneurial behaviours.

The main objective of the project goes beyond the usual comparison between migrants and non-migrants and concentrates the research on specific transitions from the un/employment work statuses towards entrepreneurship and self-employment through migration. We are interested in analysing how new skills and knowledge accumulated abroad are used by returnees for starting businesses, but these elements will be framed by insights into their work experiences before emigration, during migration, and after return. 

We propose a mixed-mode methodology which integrates quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. A special designed micro-regional screening survey will provide relevant data for testing hypotheses linked to our objectives and at the same time this will assure a sub-sample of subjects for following up in-depth interviews. 

TEAM

Project leader: Alin Croitoru

Mentor: Bogdan Voicu

Results:

Book:

• Croitoru Alin, 2019, Antreprenoriat și migrație de revenire în România (Entrepreneurship and Return Migration in Romania), București: Editura Pro Universitaria.

Articles:

• Croitoru Alin and Coșciug Anatolie, 2021, Two Facets of Returnees’ Entrepreneurship in Romania: Juxtaposing Business Owners and Self-Employed Return Migrants Within a Multi-Method Research Framework. Calitatea Vieții, 32(2), 1-21.

• Croitoru Alin, 2021, Stimulating return migration to Romania: a multi-method study of returnees’ endorsement of entrepreneurship policies, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 29 (2): 264-281.

• Croitoru Alin, 2020, Great Expectations: A Regional Study of Entrepreneurship among Romanian Return Migrants,  Sage Open, 10(2): 1-18.

• Vlase Ionela and Alin Croitoru, 2019, Nesting self-employment in education, work and family trajectories of Romanian migrant returnees, Current Sociology, 67 (5): 778-797.

• Croitoru Alin, 2019, Predictors of Self-Employment upon Return Migration: A Study among Young Returnees from Latvia, Romania, and Slovakia, Journal of Social Research & Policy, 10(1): 37-53. 

• Croitoru Alin, 2019, No Entrepreneurship without Opportunity: The Intersection of Return Migration Research and Entrepreneurship Literature, Social Change Review, 17(1-2): 33-60.

• Croitoru Alin and Flavius Mihalache, 2018, Fostering Rural Transformation in Romania: Entrepreneurship, Land Reform And Institutional Changes, Journal of Community Positive Practices, 18(1): 3-17.

• Șerban, Monica and Alin Croitoru, 2018, Do Return Migration Policies Matter? A typology of young Romanian returnees’ attitudes towards return policies, Social Change Review, Vol. 16(1-2): 9-34.

Conferences:

• Croitoru Alin and Anatolie Coșciug, 2021, Small-Scale Entrepreneurship Among Return Migrants in Romania, International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Congress Šibenik, March 9-14. Croatia.

• Croitoru Alin, 2019, The impact of the migratory experience on Romanian returned migrants’ propensity towards entrepreneurship, International Colloquium of Social Sciences and Communication ACUM, Brașov, Romania.

• Croitoru Alin, 2019, Returnees’ Innovative Skills and Knowledge. A case study on Romanian Academic Researchers, British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies – BASEES Annual Conference,  University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

• Croitoru Alin, 2018, Exploring Entrepreneurial Orientation of Young Romanian Researchers, Crossing Boundaries: Economic Sociology and its Intersections, ESA Economic Sociology Midterm Conference in cooperation with the Section “Economic Sociology” of the German Sociology Association, Konstanz, Germany.

• Croitoru Alin, 2018, Returnees’ Innovative Skills and Knowledge: Becoming Entrepreneur through Migration Experience, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu - Annual Conference of Research in Sociology and Social Work, Sibiu, Romania.

• Rusu Horațiu and Alin Croitoru, 2018, Bidding for research funding: ethicsand excellence. A hypothesis about the relationship betweensuccess, scientific fields, deviance and innovation, The 5th International Conference of the Romanian Sociologists Society, Living in a Liquid Society, Timișoara, Romania.