Antonella Rita Ferrara (p), Rosanna Nisticò

Philip Morrison

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Inge Hooijen (p), Frank Cörvers

Antonella Rita Ferrara

Despite the importance of STEM workers to the vitality of the regional economy, scientist and policy-makers have a limited understanding of why this target group prefers to reside in certain areas. This study explores the actual residential behaviour and the connection of different characteristics of municipalities on the overall life satisfaction of STEM workers. We analyse survey data collected at a high-tech business park in a shrinking region in the periphery of the Netherlands to give some clues how municipalities can make living conditions attractive for STEM workers. Relative to non-STEM workers, STEM workers seem to prefer to live in – what we call – places of less extraversion. This is illustrated by their actual residential behaviour and the demographic composition of the municipality they live. Furthermore, the results indicate a negative and significant relation if commuting distance increases and the number of amenities in the municipality increases. To attract STEM workers local policy makers and spatial planners should focus on the quality of life in suburban areas, which are often characterized by quiet, green and open areas and with low exposure to consumption and production hubs.

Philip Morrison (p)

Inge Hooijen

The rise of interest in the subjective perception of wellbeing is complementing, and at times even rivalling, policy interest in regional variations in objective measures of wellbeing. Regional scientists’ understanding has arguably progressed further in Europe than elsewhere and a major methodological contribution to this understanding has come from applying the multilevel model. The multilevel model addresses the relationships between variables that are measured at a number of different hierarchical levels: individual, region and country for example. Its primary contribution is in harnessing the influence of context in understanding human behaviour.
A major limitation of work to date has been the limited development of theoretical constructs for connecting different levels of the hierarchy: the mechanisms through which the characteristics of regions might influence the behaviour of individuals with given characteristics. This paper draws on a similar problem articulated in a different context – the development of the child – in order to harness the insights of ecological systems theory propounded by Bronfenbrenner in 'The ecology of human development'. Specific hypotheses are developed and tested by applying the multilevel model to the latest European Social Survey (ESS7, 2014). Particular attention is paid to issues of heterogeneity of response.