Leveraging the Power of Peer Groups for Refugee Integration : A Randomized Field Experiment Comparing Online and Offline Peer Groups

ABSTRACT: Refugee integration, one long-term solution to the large number of people fleeing their home countries, constitutes a challenge for both refugees and host societies. ICT and especially online peer groups seem promising to support this process. Building on literature demonstrating the societal benefits of peer groups, this paper proposes a novel peer-group-based approach to address refugee integration and introduces both an online and offline realization. A randomized field experiment in cooperation with public (refugee) services and a non-governmental organization makes it possible to expand existing research by quantitatively demonstrating societal benefits of online peer groups and ICT for refugee integration. Further, this paper is the first to assess the effectiveness of online and off

SUBMITTER: Forster M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8591321 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature