Vietnamese Return Migrants' Prosocial Behavior in Their Rural Home Communities*

Rural immigrants, including return migrants, introduce new beliefs, ideas, cultures, and behavioral styles, which can serve as new blood to rural areas. The aim of the present paper is to attach an additional meaning to this metaphoric expression, demonstrating that return migrants are more prosocial than others in rural regions, thereby enhancing rural social capital in the short and long run. A questionnaire survey was conducted, and data from a total of 250 participants were collected from a rural village in Vietnam, including 107 return migrants. Their prosociality was measured using the “giving” part of the 2-Way social support scale and the social generativity scale. Consistent with the literature, the possession of migration experiences was significantly associated with both of these two scale scores. Taken together with a supplementary qualitative survey on the motivation for return migrants' decision to migrate, the results show that migration experience makes returnees more prosocial, rather than prosocial villagers selectively out-migrating. The present study contributes to the deepening debate about whether sending people to more developed regions is beneficial for less developed regions. It concluded that the sending side can benefit from return migrants' prosocial behavior and thus the strengthening of social capital in rural areas. The practical implications are also discussed.