Will they stay or will they go? Community features important in migration decisions of recent university graduates

Rural regions of the United States have experienced detrimental out-migration, or brain drain, of college-educated individuals. The present study used survey data, gathered with an interactive website tool containing a comprehensive collection of economic and lifestyle features, to determine those m...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Economic development quarterly 2015-02, Vol.29 (1), p.23-37
Main Authors: Fiore, Ann Marie, Niehm, Linda S, Hurst, Jessica L, Son, Jihyeong, Sadachar, Amrut, Russell, Daniel W, Swenson, David, Seeger, Christopher
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abwanderung
Access to health care
Berufschance
Brain Drain
Colleges and universities
Consumer goods
Cost and standard of living
Decision analysis
Economic development
Einzelhandel
Gender differences
Graduates
Hochschulabsolvent
Infrastruktur
Iowa
Lebenshaltungskosten
Lebensqualität
Lebensstandard
Level of education
Ländlicher Raum
Marketing
Medizinische Versorgung
Migration
Motivation
Region
Regionaler Faktor
Standortfaktor
Studies
U.S.A
United States
Universities
University graduates
USA
Ökonomie
Ökonomische Determinanten
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Rural regions of the United States have experienced detrimental out-migration, or brain drain, of college-educated individuals. The present study used survey data, gathered with an interactive website tool containing a comprehensive collection of economic and lifestyle features, to determine those most important in migration decisions for public university graduating seniors from the rural state of Iowa. Economic features (overall cost of living and a strong local economy) were ranked as the top features, followed by lifestyle features including two surprising features (access to basic consumer goods and access to health facilities). The impact of individual differences on the likelihood of moving and the selection of desired community features was also examined and proved to be statistically significant. For instance, in comparison with female graduates, male graduates selected educational level of residents and higher percentage of nonmarried residents features more frequently. Implications for policy development and marketing and economic development strategies are discussed.
ISSN:0891-2424
1552-3543
DOI:10.1177/0891242414559070