Social Capital Accumulation of Isan International Returning Migrants
การสะสมทุนสังคมในถิ่นปลายทางของแรงงานอีสานย้ายถิ่นกลับจากต่างประเทศ
Keywords:
Social capital accumulation, International migration, Place of destination, Migrant labourAbstract
This article focuses on the accumulation of social capital in destination countries and the factors that influence the accumulation of social capital in the destination countries of returning migrants. Mixed methods with an individual unit of analysis is used. Qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews with 31 key informants. Quantitative data were collected using an interview schedule that was tested for content validity and reliability with a score of 0.902 among 420 returning migrant workers in Chaiyaphum Province in northeastern Thailand. The data were analyzed using content analysis, descriptive statistics, and multiple regression statistics. The results show that most returning migrant workers are male, the average age is 40.3 years, and more than 1 in 3 have completed elementary school. Most of them went abroad through recruitment agencies in the past 3to 5 years and worked in East Asian countries. Social capital is accumulated at destination by building and maintaining trust, acceptance, and mutual support in social networks with kin and community, employers and colleagues, and groups or organizations abroad. More than half of them accumulated social capital at a moderate level while working abroad, and about one-third accumulated a high level of social capital. Factors that influenced the accumulation of social capital at the destination of returning migrants were the number of years of study, legal immigration, attitude toward migration, and expectation of migration benefits. All independent variables were able to explain 34.6% of the differences in social capital accumulation in the destination countries of returning migrants (R-square = 0.346).
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