EMIGRATION AND COMMITMENT TO SINGAPORE: THE ROLE OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL NATIONAL IDENTITY

Abstract

Although emigration is a global phenomenon that is widely studied, psychological theory has yet to be applied to emigration. Group identification, particularly Roccas, Sagiv, Schwartz, Halevy, & Eidelson’s (2008) multidimensional model of group identification, can offer insight into understanding emigration. The present study examined Singaporeans’ view that Singapore is superior to other nations (superiority dimension), their commitment to Singapore (commitment dimension), and importance of Singapore to their identity (importance dimension) with relation to attitudes toward emigration. Results indicate that the superiority dimension did not predict attitudes toward emigration. The commitment dimension predicted negative attitudes in both cognitive and affective aspects toward others’ emigration and lower self-propensity to emigrate. The importance dimension, however, predicted approval toward others’ emigration in terms of the cognitive aspect. An in-depth examination of the intentions underlying attitudes to emigration revealed that commitment to Singapore predicted disapproval toward selfish intentions for migrating, while importance predicted approval toward pro-Singapore intentions for migrating. These results have implications for social policies, especially in countries where emigration of citizens is a growing concern. Directions for future research are discussed.