Proceedings of Business and Social Sciences Research Conference
10 - 11 December 2015, Ambassador Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand, ISBN: 978-1-922069-90-0
Urban and Social Amenity Preferences among Creative
Immigrant Workers: A Case Study of Bengali-Indian
Professional Workers in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area,
USA
Anirban Mukherjee
This qualitative research examines the relationship between urban amenities and the
employment preferences of creative Indian workers using personal interviews conducted
with Indian professional workers and their families working and residing in the Kansas
City (KC) Metropolitan Area, USA.In addressing the debate of whether creative workers
follow jobs or jobs follow creative workers, the findings reveal that the decision of Indian
creative workers to locate in the Kansas City metropolitan areawas primarily influenced
bythe availability of job opportunities and had little to do with available amenities. In other
words, Indian creative workers prioritized job security, satisfaction, and better income
over the availability of urban amenities. Additionally, Indian creative workers did not
always migrate to KC voluntarily; some moved when they faced job lay-offs. However,
once located in the KC metropolitan area, local amenities became very important in
influencing the decision of these workers to remain there (i.e., creative worker retention).
Thus, the presence of local amenitiescentral to the lifestyles of American professional
workers was more important to Indian professional workers than the availability of ethnic
Indian amenitiessuchas Indian grocery stores, restaurants, temples, and the screening of
Bollywood movies in local theaters. It was also found that “social”amenities (e.g.
participation in ethnic Indian associations and formation of networks with other Indian
workers residing in the city) are crucial to the retention of Indian professional workers
rather than amenities offered through the market.Interestingly, elderly professionals
(those aged above 55 years) attributed their reluctance to move from KC to their
familiarity with the city’s physical environment and layout and the potential loss of social
relationships that they have developed over time.
Keywords: Migration, Indian Creative Workers, Urban amenities, Ethnic amenities,
Social networks.
Name of Track: Sociology
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Dr. Anirban Mukherjee, Dept. of Sciences and Humanities, National Institute of Technology, Uttarakhand,
Govt. Polytechnic-Temporary Campus, Srinagar, Garhwal-246174, India,
Email: anirban.jnu2004@gmail.com