Graduate student Leila Rodriguez, supervised by Dr. Patricia L. Johnson, will undertake research on the employment choices of Nigerian immigrants in New York City. She aims to answer two specific research questions. First, how does family affect the choice between wage work and self-employment? And second, for those immigrants who become self-employed, what determines their differential access to and use of social networks?
Self-employed immigrants are of interest because they generate their own employment and that of other immigrants. Families and social networks have been shown in other studies to be important to self-employed immigrants.This study will expand on that research by determining how and how much family and social networks matter. Nigerian families differ in size and composition, as do their social relationships. This researcher will examine how different immigrants maneuver their families and social relationships in their occupational choices, and to what effect.
Research will be carried out during a 12-month period in New York City. The researcher will conduct in-depth, semistructured interviews with Nigerian business owners. She will collect migration and employment histories and generate information on immigrants'' motivations, strategies, and obstacles in occupational choices. She also will conduct a quantitative survey of a larger and broader sample of Nigerian immigrants to determine differences between wage workers and the self-employed. Finally, she also will do participant observation and conduct interviews with community and religious leaders throughout the year. Participant observation involves spending time in Nigerian activities and becoming immersed in the community. This proximity to the community allows for a better understanding of their lives as well as increasing trust between the community and the researcher, crucial to obtaining detailed information.
This research is important because it will improve understanding of how and why some immigrants are successful in establishing themselves financially and contributing to the local economy. The research will contribute to social science theory about socialization and economic incorporation. The research also will contribute significantly to the education of a graduate student.
