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Skilled Gambian Migrants: How Embeddedness Theory can explain 

their Decision to Stay Abroad or Leave 

Amy Aidara 

University of the Gambia, Serekunda, The Gambia 

Abstract 

Background: The aim of this study was to explore why skilled 

Gambians go abroad and why under similar circumstances some return 

while others do not. Methods: 41 skilled Gambians both in The Gambia 

and abroad were interviewed about their decisions to stay abroad or not. 

Nvivo software was used to test for associations between home/host 

country embeddedness and the decision to stay abroad or not. Results: 

Most skilled Gambians go abroad to pursue education or look for greener 

pastures, but they all have the financial ability to travel. However, their 

eventual return is associated with their degree of home/host country 

embeddedness. Those with the highest level of host country 

embeddedness tend to stay abroad while those with highest level of 

home embeddedness are more likely to return home. Conclusion: 

When considering strategies to counter skilled Gambian migration, the 

Gambian government must consider their degree of home/host country 

embeddedness to facilitate the eventual return of its skilled people. 

 

Introduction 

Population mobility is an enduring feature of humankind, which has led to the 

movement of people across international boundaries. The resulting international 

migration affects both developed and developing countries. A recent OECD (2015) 

publication estimated that there were nearly 244 million migrants worldwide in 2015, 

around 66 percent of whom were living in developed countries and the remaining 34 

percent were living in developing countries. The report also acknowledged that there 

has been a rapid growth in the rate of international migration over the past decade. 

This rise has been higher for highly skilled migrants who move from developing to 

developed countries (Arslan, et al., 2014; Ngoma & Ismail, 2013; Shah, 2011). While 

skilled migration has been accelerated by labor shortages in developed countries 

(Watanabe, 1969; Ngoma & Ismail, 2013), the wage differences and better 

employment conditions have further encouraged highly skilled workers to migrate to 

developed countries for employment (Ngoma & Ismail, 2013; Shumba & Mawere, 

2012; Shah, 2011). 

The general problem is that highly skilled workers are migrating to more developed 

countries leaving their native countries with fewer skilled workers (Ngoma & Ismail, 

2013; Watanabe, 1969). This skilled migration is called “brain drain” and contributes 

to the human capital deficiency that often characterizes poor developing countries 

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(Cañibano & Woolley, 2015; Loubaki, 2012; Beine, Docquier, & Rapoport, 2008). This 

has been recognized as a phenomenon that impedes human capital development in 

developing countries (Artuc, Docquier, Özden, & Parsons, 2015; Cañibano & Woolley, 

2015; Ngoma & Ismail, 2013; Loubaki, 2012; Shah, 2011). The issue of highly skilled 

migration is a growing concern, even for more developed countries, as their educated 

young people leave for jobs in wealthier nations – a trend that is likely to persist 

(Iravani, 2011; Forstenlechner, 2010; Tung & Lazarova, 2006).  

The migration of highly skilled people affects almost all African countries and the case 

of The Gambia is of particular interest as it faces one of the highest levels of brain 

drain in West Africa (Gajigo & Verdier-Chouchane, 2015; UNCTAD, 2012; Arslan, et 

al., 2014). This is especially true among highly qualified Gambians as almost two thirds 

of Gambian graduates are living and studying abroad (Arslan, et al., 2014; Docquier, 

2014; Ndulu, 2004). That number will likely be increasing as the number of highly 

skilled Gambians abroad tripled in just 10 years (Arslan, et al., 2014). 

Earlier research has examined the reasons why people leave their country of origin to 

move to a new host country (Chand, 2008; Ngoma & Ismail, 2013; Cañibano & 

Woolley, 2015). Despite there being a lack of economic opportunity and/or political 

instability, it is worth noting that under similar circumstances some people do not 

migrate (King, 2012; De Haas, 2010; Arango, 2004). For instance, the number of 

Gambians graduating in the country has been rising, reaching as high as 3520 in 2016 

(UTG, 2016) and The Gambia’s unemployment rate for graduates remaining in The 

Gambia reached an all-time high of 29.80 percent in 2013, indicating a high 

unemployability in the country (Kasseh, 2018). In light of these shared circumstances, 

it is intriguing to know why some skilled Gambians stay home while others go abroad, 

and furthermore, why many stay abroad while others return (King, 2012; De Haas, 

2010; Arango, 2004). The purpose of this research is to examine the reasons highly 

skilled Gambian migrants stay abroad or return. Therefore, this study addresses the 

research question: Why would some skilled Gambians return while others would not?

  

Methodology 

Background information on migrants interviewed abroad and back home 

Field interviews provided us with a wealth of empirical data regarding the migration 

experiences of skilled Gambian migrants, both for those staying abroad and those who 

have returned home. Here we provide some background information regarding the 

participants of this study and the research sites. A short profile is drawn from the 

migrants who participated in the interviews conducted abroad or online, and the 

returned migrants who participated in the interviews while in The Gambia. The main 

findings are presented in the next section of the chapter.  

Respondent profile 

In total, 41 interviews were conducted with 23 migrants and 18 returned migrants. 

Among the migrants interviewed 18 were females and 23 were male (Table 1). A high 

proportion of male migrants were interviewed both abroad and online in the abroad 

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round of the interviews. The age of the interviewees varied between 25 and 65 years; 

half were in their 40s and the majority were married. 

The education of the respondents ranged from bachelor’s degrees to PhDs, but most 

had attained a master’s degree or higher. Almost all the participants went abroad to 

pursue higher education. At the time of the interviews the great majority were 

employed, some were self-employed and some, however minimal, were unemployed. 

 

Table 1: Characteristics of migrants who participated in the interviews by destination 

country. Sample description (n=41) 

Interview Migrant 

types 

Age Gender Host 

country 

Marital 

status 

Level of 

education 

Interview 

location 

Length of 

stay 

abroad 

1 Returnee 35-44 F UK DV Bachelor Gambia 2 yrs. 

2 Returnee 25-34 F USA MA Bachelor Gambia 4 yrs. 

3 Migrant 25-34 F UK MA Bachelor Online 3 yrs. 

4 Migrant 35-44 F Norway MA Master Norway 16 yrs. 

5 Migrant 35-44 M USA MA Master Online 19 yrs. 

6 Returnee 45-54 M UK MA Master Gambia 7 yrs. 

7 Returnee 25-34 F USA MA Master Gambia 8 yrs. 

8 Migrant 25-34 F USA MA Master Online 11 yrs. 

9 Migrant 25-34 M UK MA Master Online 2.5 yrs. 

10 Migrant 35-44 F USA MA PhD Online 11 yrs. 

11 Returnee 35-44 F UK MA Master Gambia 4.5 yrs. 

12 Migrant 35-44 M USA MA Master Online 16 yrs. 

13 Returnee 55-65 M Sweden MA Bachelor Gambia 41 yrs. 

14 Migrant 45-54 F UK DV Master Online 17 yrs. 

15 Returnee 45-54 M UK MA Master Gambia 17 yrs. 

16 Returnee 35-44 M Sweden MA PhD Gambia 12 yrs. 

17 Migrant 45-54 F Sweden MA Master Online 32 yrs. 

18 Migrant 45-54 F Norway MA Master Norway 26 yrs. 

19 Migrant 35-44 M Sweden MA Bachelor Online 3 yrs. 

20 Migrant 35-44 M UK MA Bachelor Online 19 yrs. 

21 Migrant 25-34 F Sweden S Bachelor Online 5 yrs. 

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22 Returnee 45-54 M UK MA Master Gambia 13 yrs. 

23 Migrant 35-44 M Norway MA Master Online 9 yrs. 

24 Migrant 25-34 F UK S PhD Online 28 yrs. 

25 Migrant 25-34 F USA MA Bachelor Online 2.6 yrs. 

26 Returnee 45-54 F USA MA Master Gambia 16 yrs. 

27 Migrant 45-54 M UK DV Master Online 15 yrs. 

28 Returnee 55-65 M Norway MA PhD Gambia 12 yrs. 

29 Returnee 55-65 M USA MA Master Gambia 9 yrs. 

30 Migrant 35-44 F Norway S Bachelor Norway 17 yrs. 

31 Returnee 45-54 F UK MA Bachelor Gambia 30 yrs. 

32 Migrant 45-54 M Norway MA Master Online 26 yrs. 

33 Returnee 55-65 M Sweden WD Master Gambia 20 yrs. 

34 Returnee 55-65 M Norway MA Master Gambia 11 yrs. 

35 Returnee 25-34 M Norway MA Master Gambia 2 yrs. 

36 Migrant 35-44 M USA MA Master Online 14 yrs. 

37 Migrant 55-65 M Norway MA Bachelor Norway 34 yrs. 

38 Returnee 45-54 M USA MA PhD Gambia 18 yrs. 

39 Returnee 45-54 M USA MA Master Gambia 11 yrs. 

40 Migrant 45-54 M Sweden MA PhD Online 28 yrs. 

41 Migrant 25-34 F Sweden MA Master Online 20 yrs. 

 

Note. DV: divorced; F: female; M: male; MA: married; S: single; WD: widow.  

 

Data collection 

Data was collected from March 2017 to September 2017. During the data gathering, 

the researcher travelled to Norway to conduct interviews with migrants staying abroad 

and then to The Gambia for returnees. As for migrants residing in other countries, 

interviews were done online due to geographical location and associated budgetary 

constraints. Snowball sampling was used to recruit the interview participants from their 

acquaintances (Creswell, 2003). Thus, contact with migrants in a particular host 

country enabled the author to establish connections with other participants who met 

the highly skilled Gambian migrant profile. Potential interviewees, referred by the initial 

participants in each host country, were approached via email or phone. Approximately 

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45 skilled migrants were contacted, resulting in 41 interviews, a number that lies within 

the range of previous qualitative studies (Saunders, et al., 2018; Vasileiou, Barnett, 

Thorpe, & Young, 2018). Twenty-two interviews were conducted face-to-face (Norway 

4; The Gambia 18) and 19 were conducted using online means. The face-to-face 

interviews took place at various locations according to the preferences of the 

participants. With the exception of one (acquaintance), the researcher did not know 

the interviewees beforehand, dates and locations for the face-to-face interviews were 

fixed via telephone conversations and the participants first met the interviewer during 

the face-to-face the interviews. As for the online interviewees, the interviewer and 

interviewee did not meet physically. The interviewees received a detailed explanation 

of the purpose of the study and its context before the interviews were conducted. 

Twenty-three of the interviewees were staying abroad while 18 had returned to The 

Gambia. Table 1 provides further details about the interviewees’ profiles. 

An interview guide was prepared, and all the interviews were conducted in English. 

The choice to use English was due to language barriers existing between different 

dialects in The Gambia, which made English the only common language for all parties 

involved and eliminated the need for translation. The interview was semi-structured, 

designed to encourage the participants to elucidate their decisions to stay abroad or 

not using their own words. Pilot interviews were performed with the first couple of 

interviewees who were particularly interested in the topic when contacted. The 

interviews were recorded with the consent of the participants to enable accurate 

review and reflection of their experiences regarding the topics covered in the interview 

guide. According to Miles & Huberman (1994), the aim of interview guides and probing 

questions is to allow the respondents to shape their stories. The duration of each 

interview was between 30-60 minutes. In each case, the interview questions were 

adjusted to take into account the participants’ personal experiences and their 

interpretation.  

Findings 

The findings of this study reveal interesting decision patterns among skilled Gambian 

migrants’ decisions to stay abroad or not. When asked why they would eventually 

return, the participants were probed about their decision to eventually return home. 

Each of the 23 current migrants gave unique answers to the question which could be 

divided into two categories: home embeddedness and host country embeddedness.  

Home embeddedness 

Factors such as links (formal or informal connections between a person and people 

from their home country), fit (the perceived compatibility or comfort with their home 

country) and sacrifice (the perceived cost in material or psychological benefits that 

may be forfeited by leaving their home country) embed people to their home country. 

Additionally, career embeddedness and family embeddedness are two sub-categories 

that also embed migrants to their home country.  

Fit home 

Home is a construct considered by most to be important in a person’s life, and as 

expected, our study revealed that most interviewees considered fit home as a major 

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dimension in their decision to return. They stated that the perceived compatibility or 

comfort with their home country could make them return. This kind of feeling is 

described in the following quote: ‘I am a home boy, I don’t like travelling too much and 

I am not also, I like to believe I do not believe in material life’ (Returnee UK, male, 7 

years abroad).  

Furthermore, most returnees thought that this sense of compatibility with their home 

country was what drove them to return. Some even stated that despite their being war 

in the country they would come back, for example: 

Even if there was war in The Gambia I would have stayed in The Gambia because my 

mind was fixed. That is how fixated I was to The Gambia (Returnee UK, male, 17 years 

abroad). 

Almost all returnees who participated in this study shared views that suggest a high fit 

home. They asserted that their sense of comfort or compatibility with their home 

country played a major role in their decision to return. Furthermore, it served as a 

motivator for their continued stay at home and a constraint against any attempt to re-

migrate.  

Sacrifice home 

On top of the recognized importance of fit home, skilled Gambian migrants’ decisions 

to return home are also influenced by sacrifice home. These participants argued that 

their decisions to return home were based on the perceived cost of forfeiting material 

or psychological benefits when leaving their home country. These costs include 

leaving a family behind, sending children born abroad back home, living a stressful life 

abroad and so forth. These sentiments are echoed by one interviewee and the 

example below is a perfect illustration:  

I think I would have stayed, I would not have migrated because it is very difficult to live 

in somebody else’s country and you know migrating I have to leave my kids behind 

(Returnee UK, female, 16 years abroad). 

Contrasting with the reasons that motivate migration, the participants described in 

detail the perceived benefits they forfeit due their decision to leave their home country. 

These home sacrifices, which exist in both groups, influenced the decision of most of 

the returnees in their decision to go back home. 

Family embeddedness 

Skilled Gambian migrants pointed out ‘family embeddedness’ as another reason for 

their decision to return. According to most of the returnees interviewed, the decision 

to go back home was influenced by their attachment to family remaining in their home 

country or the need to look after older parents. Additionally, some returnees alluded 

to the importance of raising their offspring in their home country. The next quotation 

portrays the importance of family embeddedness by a returnee from Norway: 

The return was easy, I was tired of being there {Norway} so I just come back home. 

My return was so simple because I was already married, my wife was here {The 

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Gambia} and I had one daughter and they were both here {The Gambia} (Returnee 

Norway, male, 12 years abroad). 

This sentiment was reverberated by others who went further to state that they prefer 

to raise their child in The Gambia to inculcate in them with their religion as illustrated 

by a female returnee in the quotation below: 

You know the different culture and stuff, and the fact that it is very difficult for them to 

learn the religion when they are in the US it is not as easy as it is over here. I think 

when migrating, um, you don’t have that control over your kids that you have over here 

in The Gambia than in the US because they have different cultures and peer pressure 

and things like that (Returnee USA, male, 11 years abroad). 

Even though it is widely considered very important, family embeddedness does not 

necessarily constitute an immediate reason for skilled migrants to return, but it can 

have strong influence on the decision. In some cases looking after older parents was 

the motivating trigger to go back home, while in other cases child rearing in the home 

country was the primary influence prompting return. Skilled Gambian migrants do not 

go abroad with the intention to stay forever, they already have a general plan to go 

back home, but the plan can be expedited when the need to be close to one’s family 

arises. 

In summary, our study found that the level of home embeddedness plays an important 

role in the decision to return by skilled Gambian migrants. Fit home, sacrifice home, 

and family embeddedness respectively constitute the main dimensions that push 

migrants to return home or plan an eventual return.  

Host country embeddedness 

Host country embeddedness refers to all the factors that entrench an individual to his 

or her host country. Concerning the dimensions of host country embeddedness that 

most influence the decisions of skilled migrants to stay abroad, the participants 

referred to factors such as links host, sacrifice host, fit host, and family abroad. 

Links host 

The majority of the interviewees stated that they had formal and non-formal relations 

connecting them to their host countries. Although the returnees also had links in their 

respective host countries, the migrants who were still living abroad had the tendency 

to develop more connections encouraging them to continue their sojourn abroad. 

Twenty of the 23 migrants mentioned having links in the host country. These links 

consisted of family and relatives living abroad as well as connections made during the 

migration process, at work or during their school days. 

In fact, these social networks, consisting mostly of family or friends living abroad can 

be considered factors that consolidate the stay abroad by providing social connections 

as portrayed in the following quotation: ‘I have family members here and social 

connections, my high school friends some of them were already here before I came’ 

(Migrant USA, female, 11 years abroad). 

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Some of the interviewees highlighted the importance of the social networks they have 

built during their stay abroad, which fostered their stay abroad. These quotations refer 

to the value of the networks built abroad: 

The real outcomes are being able to go to school, getting the two degrees that I wanted 

for myself since I was young, making friends and building a community here for myself 

that I really value (Migrant USA, female, 11 years abroad). 

The Participants also refer to social connections developed abroad as a gateway to 

their careers abroad. This is illustrated by a female migrant residing in Norway:  

I am a Norwegian citizen and everything and I have settled and have my life here so I 

probably think like even if I decide to move back home, I am still going to be connected 

to Norway (Migrant Norway, female, 16 years abroad). 

In summary, the presence of a family and social network in the host country plays an 

important role in both the decision to migrate as well as the decision to stay abroad or 

not. Such links were also reported by the returnees, who report maintaining 

relationships made in their former host countries, however the migrants tended to rely 

more on those networks in fostering their stay abroad. The participants generally 

recognize the benefits of belonging to such networks in terms of creating links, opening 

gates for career growth or other personal or development-related issues. The 

presence of these social networks is not only a pull factor for aspiring migrants but it 

is also a survival tool that migrants develop and use to integrate into the society of 

their host country and subsequently stay abroad.  

Sacrifice host 

The skilled Gambian migrants underline sacrifice host as the most important factor 

influencing their decision to stay abroad. These sacrifices are all the benefits migrants 

would forfeit if they choose to leave their host country. These sacrifices include social 

welfare systems, a comfortable life, opportunities abroad (e.g. career options),and so 

forth. The majority of migrants (17 out of 23) mentioned these sacrifices as the primary 

factors keeping them abroad. Despite their willingness to eventually return home, 

some migrants refer to the host sacrifices as a constraint on their decision to return; 

as the next quotation demonstrates: ‘I never wanted to stay in America, I think America 

they have a way of keeping people here’ (Migrant USA, female, 11 years abroad). 

Another host sacrifice identified by the participants is the difficulty of leaving a host 

country. These difficulties can include factors such as leaving before retirement, giving 

up the welfare provided to one’s family and a free education. A female migrant puts it 

as follows: ‘In addition, some go after retirement. But also, because after working here 

for all these years you will want to secure yourself for the future in terms of insurance’ 

(Migrant Norway, male, 34 years abroad). 

While sacrifice host does not often constitute the sole reason for keeping migrants 

abroad, it is an important determinant. Forfeiting the benefits gained in a host country, 

like health care and free education in Scandinavian countries, is important to consider 

as the difficulty of securing those benefits at home may be formidable. In migration 

literature these sacrifices are called pull factors (Lee, 1966), but in the expatriation 

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literature the embeddedness theory explains these as sacrifices (Mitchell, Holtom, 

Lee, Sablynski, & Erez, 2001; Tharenou & Caulfield, 2010).  

Fit host 

Most skilled Gambian migrants mentioned ‘fit host’ as a determiner for their decision 

to stay abroad. They refer to feeling so compatible with their host country that they 

prefer it over their home country. Most of the migrants (15 out of 23) refer to it as their 

reason for staying abroad. Interestingly, the fit host is higher in women than men. It 

may be explained by the fact that we have more female migrants than male, or that 

female migrants feel more comfortable in the host country. The factors advanced by 

migrants who refer to fit host include professional and personal development, settling 

down, and liking a host country to name a few. The illustration below describes in detail 

how fit a female migrant is to her host country:  

I think I have developed myself professionally and personally I have learned a lot of 

things that I would not have learned if I had stayed at home. I have met different kinds 

of people; I have travel to different countries and I have been able to take care of 

myself (Migrant Norway, female, 17 years abroad). 

Another male migrant residing in Ireland reported that he actually feels like a stranger 

in The Gambia because he has been away for too long. So, he feels he fits better in 

his host country than The Gambia: ‘Because if you stay in a country for 15 years, 

actually I know more about Ireland now than in The Gambia’ (Migrant UK, male, 15 

years abroad). 

To summarize, host fit is the third reason why migrants choose to stay abroad. Feeling 

more comfortable in a host country coupled with having the opportunity to develop 

oneself are the factors that migrants think made them choose to not return to The 

Gambia and stay abroad which is sometimes referred to as a second home.  

Family Abroad  

Family abroad is the final reason influencing migrants’ decisions to stay abroad. While 

only 2 returnees mentioned having a family abroad, 8 migrants listed family abroad as 

a reason for staying. Additionally, we noted that it is mainly the female migrants who 

stated family abroad as a reason. Five of the 8 female migrants mentioned having a 

family abroad and this can be explained by the fact that reuniting with family is the 

main concern when choosing a host country for women. If females migrate to join their 

family abroad, it is obvious that this would be a reason for their staying abroad as well. 

This finding goes in tandem with the migration literature, which purports that females 

migrate generally for family reunion (Güngör & Tansel, 2014). To this point, this female 

migrant residing in the UK reported that she has no choice but to stay with her husband 

which was her reason for migrating in the first place: ‘Because I have started having 

family here, I am married to somebody who is staying so I don´t have a choice but to 

stay with him’ (Migrant UK, female, 3 years abroad). 

Despite the gender disparity, both male and female migrants mentioned having a 

family abroad as a reason for their choice to stay abroad. They prefer staying with 

them to leaving them behind, thus their decision to stay abroad.  

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In summary, the home embeddedness and the host country embeddedness are two 

variables used in this study to help us differentiate between the stayers and the 

leavers. Host country embeddedness shows us why some migrants choose to stay 

abroad whereas home country embeddedness shows why some choose to return 

home. For the returnees, feeling compatible with the home country, sacrifice home 

and family embeddedness are the most important considerations when choosing to 

return home. Whereas the migrants living abroad cite having connections in the host 

country, sacrifice host, and family abroad as their reasons for staying abroad.  

Discussion 

This study revealed that economic reasons are not the sole factors pulling skilled 

Gambians out of The Gambia, other factors significantly influence their decisions to 

migrate and stay abroad or not. Apart from education, the most prevalent reasons for 

skilled Gambians to migrate are financial means to travel, looking for greener pastures, 

and the presence of a network abroad. The increasing rate of skilled migration is not 

only stimulated by The Gambia's previous lack of universities, but also by the quality 

of higher education abroad. Furthermore, there are other favourable conditions 

pushing skilled Gambians and their families out of The Gambia such as ‘Tekki’ or the 

optimism to become successful abroad, the host country attractiveness, and family 

reunion. 

After a thorough analysis of the various motives for skilled Gambians to go abroad, 

financial means to travel was the deciding factor for the majority of skilled Gambians 

in our study, whether they had savings that allowed them to go abroad or they got 

assistance from their immediate family to pay for their trip. This finding is surprising as 

it contradicts the migration literature which generally considers African migration to be 

driven by poverty (Flahaux & De Haas, 2016).  

Although the majority of research on migration cites the importance of a network 

abroad and the search for greener pastures as the main motives for migration (Asiedu 

& Nyarkoh, 2017; Mbah, 2017), our empirical findings do not support Flahaux & De 

Haas (2016) and the transition theory (Zelinsky, 1971) which, assert that African 

migration is poverty driven. Thus, finding that financial means to travel is a significant 

determinant in skilled migration is relevant because the financial ability to pay for travel 

and education abroad is a key factor pulling skilled Gambians abroad and may even 

influence their decision to remain and migrate to another country. 

As for the embeddedness factors, the findings of this research support what Tharenou 

and Caufield (2010) stated, that when expatriates are strongly embedded in a host 

country, they are pulled to remain and consequently have little intent to leave. 

Consequently, the decision to remain in a host country or not, is often dependent on 

their degree of embeddedness. 

This perception has implications for The Gambia and its skilled migrants because the 

Gambian government has undertaken numerous initiatives to facilitate brain-gain, 

skills circulation, and to counter the negative effects of brain-drain with the goal of 

accessing the expertise of skilled Gambians in the diaspora. This effort is necessary 

because, despite the increasing number of skilled migrants, the majority do not return 

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home and prefer to live and work abroad. This situation is likely to continue as the 

country is witnessing the departure of its skilled citizens (Kebbeh, 2013). 

Moreover, as discussed in the theoretical framework, the degree of home/host country 

embeddedness leads skilled Gambian migrants to develop a strong enclave, to 

establish a solid network that influences the ultimate decision to either stay in the host 

country or return home. Thus, recent efforts by the Gambian government aim to attract 

Gambians from the diaspora, creating a migration strategy aimed at attracting the 

return of expertise and facilitating brain gain and skills circulation (Gambia Diaspora 

Directorate, 2018). This finding has important public policy implications and supports 

what Zanker and Altrogge (2017) have suggested that Gambian skilled emigrants 

have an important role to play due to the human capital and financial resources they 

have gained abroad. 

It is then clear that skilled Gambian migrants’ choices whether to return to The Gambia 

depend on their degree of home/host country embeddedness. Furthermore, job 

opportunities for Gambian migrants returning home is one of the recurrent 

explanations of their decision to return or not. This is portrayed as a combination of 

elements such as difficulty of finding work in the destination, failure to secure a well-

paying job, hoping to find work at home, attachment to the family left behind, and 

perceived sacrifices in leaving their host country.  

This study used a small number of structured interviews with skilled Gambian migrants 

in the United States, the UK, Norway, Sweden and returnees in The Gambia. Further 

research is needed to explore what factors would most influence skilled Gambian 

migrants’ decisions to stay in these four developed countries or return home. For 

example, the Scandinavian countries had the lowest number of returnees, which may 

be due to the social welfare provided by Scandinavian countries. Thus, further work is 

needed to unravel why skilled Gambians often decide to remain in Scandinavian 

countries.  

 

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Amy Aidara, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Porto  

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Amy Aidara, FEP - 

Faculdade de Economia da Universidade do Porto, R. Dr. Roberto Frias 464, Porto, 

Portugal 

Or University of The Gambia, P.O. Box 3530, Serekunda, The Gambia 

Contact: up201401010@fep.up.pt / aajah@utg.edu.gm  

 

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