The immigrant effect from employer and employee perspectives in a Swedish context

• This explorative study addresses the immigrant effect. Not only is the employer perspective considered, but employed immigrants also share their experiences. We report a multi-case comparative study of two immigrant-employing SMEs in Vasternorrland, a peripheral and sparsely populated region located in Mid Sweden, in northern Europe. The employment of immigrants reportedly had several advantages as well as disadvantages. Both employers and immigrant employees agreed that the immigrants' language and cultural competences reduced psychic distances between the company and the export market represented by the immigrant's country of origin. Employers reported a generally increased awareness of psychic distance among markets resulting from the employment of immigrants, though employing immigrants resulted in increased psychic distance within the companies. 

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Cultural awareness

Cultural competence

Employer perspective

Export

Immigrant effect

Internationalisation

Internationalisation knowledge

Language

Liability of outsidership

Psychic distance

SME

Sweden

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)