Template-type: ReDif-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Hooijen, Inge
Author-workplace-name: ROA / Human capital in the region, RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work
Author-Name: Cörvers, Frank
Author-workplace-name: RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work, RS: FdR Research Group ITEM, RS: SBE - MACIMIDE, ROA / Human capital in the region
Title: Living preferences of STEM workers in a high-tech business park of a peripheral region
Abstract: Despite the importance of STEM workers to regional economies, scientists and policymakers have a limited understanding of how to recruit this scarce target group, particularly in offering an attractive living environment. This case study uses self-reported overall life satisfaction to explore the living preferences of STEM workers employed at a high-tech business park (HTBP) in a demographically shrinking region in the southern periphery of the Netherlands. We argue that individuals’ self-evaluation of life satisfaction is a proxy for their individual utility and thereby indicates the preferred features of the geographical unit in which they reside. We relate the survey data of 420 employees at the business park to the specific characteristics of the municipalities they live in, complemented by qualitative data from 32 semi-structured interviews with these workers. We conclude that the average STEM worker at the HTBP prefers to reside in places of lower extraversion, which are often characterized by a suburban lifestyle, green areas, and open spaces, including a little touch of consumer amenities.
Classification-JEL: j11,o18,r11,r23,r58
Series: ROA Research Memoranda
Creation-Date: 20200518
Number: 007
File-URL: https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/ws/files/48021310/ROA_RM_2020_7.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 1657439
Handle: Repec:unm:umaror:2020007
DOI: 10.26481/umaror.2020007