A transitional approach to the study of the information behavior of domestic migrant workers. A narrative inquiry
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-07-2018-0112 |
| Pages | 314-333 |
| Published date | 06 March 2019 |
| Date | 06 March 2019 |
| Author | Jenny Bronstein |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
A transitional approach to the
study of the information behavior
of domestic migrant workers
A narrative inquiry
Jenny Bronstein
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the life stories of migrant workers in Israel by
analyzing different aspects of the information behavior that emerged from their narratives through a
transitional perspective.
Design/methodology/approach –Narratives are a human way of communication that focuses on the
stories people tell about themselves, their inner thoughts, their states of mind and how they perceive their own
reality. In total, 20 Spanish-speaking domestic migrant workers were interviewed. The data collected form the
narratives were study draws from the transitional theory.
Findings –The holistic phase of the content analysis revealed that participants experienced information
poverty based on socioeconomic factors and perceptions of social exclusion, vulnerability and hostile
surroundings. The content analysis yielded a theory of transitional information behavior that reflects the
three stages of the migration process: ending of a new reality, a period of confusion and a sense of belonging.
The theory encompasses four elements: process, disconnectedness, perceptions and patterns of response.
Originality/value –The study proposes an innovative look at information behavior of migrants by
integrating a transitional perspective into the life stories of participants.
Keywords Internet, Women, Research methods, Behaviour, User studies, Information research
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In today’s globalized world, the magnitude and scope of labor migration have increased
precipitously. Economic hardship, geopolitical crises and dramatic climate change leading to
the lack of decent workare resulting in growing and diversemigratory movements. The term
“migrant worker”refers to all international migrants currently employed or unemployed and
seeking employment in their presentcountry of residence (InternationalLabour Organization,
2015). At present thereare 150.3m migrant workers in the world. Of these,11.5m are migrant
domestic workers. The majority of domestic migrant workers (73.5 percent) are women.
Migrant workersare a subset of the 258m peoplecurrently living outside theircountry of birth
or citizenshipwho choose to emigrate mostly for economic reasons; refugees, on the contrary,
are forced to leave their country of origin because of armed conflict or war and are unable to
return for fear of persecution (The UN Refugee Agency, 2017).
This study focuses its attention on migrant workers doing domestic work who are
amongst the most vulnerable and marginalized populations in the Israeli society. Domestic
work takes place in private homes, which are typically excluded from labor market
regulations; a situation that in many cases results in the infringement of theworker’srights.
Domestic migrant workers in Israel are oftentimes undocumented women, who migrated to
Israel as touristsand stayed in the country after their touristvisa expired or migrated under a
work permit as caretakers and at some point decided to leave their place of employment, lost
their work permit and remained in the country undocumented. The annual report of the
Population and Immigration Authority (2018) does not provide any demographic data for
domesticmigrant workers living in the country.Currently, no governmental programsexist in
Israel to assistand counsel migrant workers,this issue is only partiallyaddressed by different
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 75 No. 2, 2019
pp. 314-333
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-07-2018-0112
Received 15 July 2018
Revised 5 October 2018
Accepted 6 October 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
314
JD
75,2
NGOs; the lack of comprehensive counseling and assistance largely contributes to the
migrants’vulnerability and social exclusion.
Migrating to a new country often has been described in the literature as a transition. The
noun transition is derived from the verb transire, meaning “to go across.”That is, transition
is defined as “passage from one life phase, condition, or status to another”(Chick and Meleis,
1986, p. 239). Transition is not an event but rather a process that occurs when a person’s
current reality is disrupted, and causes a forced or a chosen change (Selder, 1989). Kralik
et al. (2006, p. 321) describe it as “a process of convoluted passage during which people
redefine their sense of self and redevelop self-agency in response to disruptive life events.”
This process brings about an inner reorientation and/or a self-redefinition that people go
through in order to incorporate change into their life (Bridges, 2004). Immigrants’
experiences suggest that it is not the relocation or border crossing per se, but rather the
accompanying passages between different life conditions, statuses and phases and the
resulting self-redefinitions over time, that characterize migration as a life transition
(Messias, 2002). It is in these passages of change individuals need information and social
support to adapt to and cope with new situations (Hilton, 1998; Messias, 2002; Rubenstein,
2015; Selder, 1989; Willson, 2016).
In this paper, I will argue that studying narratives as transitional states can be a helpful
methodological tool for understanding the information behavior of people going through
transitional periods such as career change, long-term illnesses, divorce, death of a family
member or migration (Kralik et al., 2006; Mikal et al., 2013; Willson, 2016). Narratives that
focus on the storyteller’s worldview and on her interpretation of reality (Spector-Mersel,
2010) can advance the understanding of transitions or experiences in that person’s life.
Narrative inquiry is a naturalistic and intuitive methodology that elicits and examines
human behavior, and as such it has been implemented in past studies in the field of
information behavior (Bates, 2004; Eckerdal, 2013; Loudon et al., 2016; Willson, 2016). Thus,
by studying the stories people tell about their lives we can reach a better understanding of
the ways they interact with information and the role that information plays in their
redefinitions of self and their redeveloping of self-agency. Moreover, narrative inquiry was
chosen as the research method in this study because it is especially suited to study
disadvantaged populations that might lack educational experiences and/or language and
literacy competencies. Lieblich et al. (1998, p. 47) stated that narratives “represent the
character or lifestyle of specific subgroups in society, defined by their gender, race, religion,
and so on. From a social, cultural or ethnic point of view, these groups frequently are
discriminated against, minorities whose narratives express their unheard voices.”
The purpose of this paper is to better understand the information behavior of migrant
workers living in Israel from a transitional perspective utilizing narrative techniques. Hence,
the study main objectives were: to understand how domestic migrant workers perceive and
make sense of the world in which they live and how these perceptions shape their
information behavior, to identify the barriers encountered in the transition process and to
understand the role that information has played in these transitions as an impeding or an
advancing element in their pursuit of a sense of belonging and cultural mastery that foster
social inclusion into Israeli society.
Information behavior of migrants
There is a growing body of research that examines different aspects of the information
behavior of migrants. These studies could be organized around three overlapping topics: the
first one comprises studies mapping the information sources used by migrant workers.
These studies report that internet websites and social media are main sources of formal and
informal information (George and Chaze, 2009; Khoir et al., 2015; Machet and Govender,
2012; Shankar et al., 2016; Sibal and Foo, 2016). Traditional media, such as television and
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