Does a Cultural Mismatch Contribute to Alienation or Animation? The Role of Culture in the Relationship between Push and Pull Factors and Migratory Grief

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate if there is relationship between push and pull factors and migratory grief (MG), and if this is moderated by an incongruence between the individual’s and the host culture’s individualistic and collectivistic orientation. The sample consisted of 1926 Danish, Swedish and Greek immigrants from countries all around the world. An online questionnaire was used to examine this, where MG was assessed with the Migratory Grief and Loss Questionnaire (MGLQ), cultural value orientations with the individualism and collectivism scale (INDCOL), and push and pull factors with one item each, constructed by the researcher. The results revealed a significant, but weak, relationship between push factors and MG, and pull factors and MG. This implies that the more an immigrant’s migration decision was based on push and pull factors, the less MG was reported. A significant, positive correlation, with a modest effect size, was found between a cultural incongruence and MG, but only for immigrants who are more collectivistic than their host country. These immigrants reported the highest levels of MG. One interaction effect was significant, but weak, namely: a cultural incongruence on the relationship between pull factors and MG, but only for those who were more individualistic than their host country. This means that immigrants with this type of cultural incongruence report the lowest levels of MG, when the migration decision is strongly based on pull factors.