Journal of African Business – Special Issue on the Diaspora

In this special issue of Journal of African Business, we look at the African diaspora and its relationship to business management theory and practice. Diaspora is defined as those having roots in the African continent, but who have left for other countries, be it by choice, necessity or force.

While the term “diaspora” does not have a widely accepted definition (Agunias & Newland, 2012), diaspora can be defined as the “the movement, migration, or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). Over the years there have been several African diaspora movements as briefly outlined below.

From 1650 to 1860, enslaved people (10–15 million) were brought to the Americas, mostly the West Indies (4.5 million), Central America, and South America – with the largest percentage to Brazil (5 million) (http://www.slaverysite.com/slave%20trade.htm).

More recently, there has been a large migration of highly educated people (Kaba, 2011), known as the “brain drain” (Tucho, 2009, p. 23). The African Union estimates that the African diaspora is about 112.6 million people in South America (primarily Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela); 39.2 million people in North America (United States, Mexico, and Canada); and 13.5 million people in the Caribbean (Obiageli, 2007). According to the World Bank (2010), the African diaspora is approximated to be 140 million people in the Western Hemisphere, with a large percentage of Africa’s brain drain going to the United States and Canada (Kaba, 2011).

In 2012, the African Diaspora was at 38 million people in the United States (12 % of the total American population) (World Factbook, 2012). Now, it’s over 46 million (World Factbook, 2018). Canada has a smaller African diaspora in 2010 it was around 800,000 people or 2.7 % of the population (Statistics Canada, 2010); by 2016, 13.4% of recent immigrants were born in Africa (Statistics Canada, 2016).

In contrast to the United States, the African diaspora in Canada is composed of new immigrants who moved to Canada for economic and social reasons along with descendants of slaves who escaped from the US through the underground railway to Canada (McGee, 2010). Canada is home to many visible minority groups; in 2001, “Blacks” were in the top three largest minority groups (Milan & Tran, 2004). Those who are referred to as “Blacks” vary extensively in their roots – they may have been born in the Caribbean or in Africa, or may have been in Canada for many generations. Recent history has seen a shift in the point of origin of the African diaspora in Canada; 48% of Black immigrants who came to Canada in the 1990s were born in Africa; before 1961, 72% came from the Caribbean and Central and South America (Milan & Tran, 2004).

Over 3.6 million enslaved Africans went to the Caribbean (Plaza & Ratha, 2011), with most going to Jamaica. Even the small countries of Barbados and Martinique received about the same number of slaves as the United States (Plaza & Ratha, 2011). People from the African diaspora or “Afro-Caribbean” people make up over 73% of the population (see http://www.slaverysite.com/slave%20trade.htm for map) with the largest numbers in Haiti (10 million) and Jamaica (about 3 million) (World Atlas, 2018).

The African diaspora

Cohen (1997) has classified the diaspora into four groups: (a) victims – the scattering of people from an ancestral or established homeland after a decisive event; (b) labor – migration from a homeland in search of work; (c) imperial – migration from a homeland to further expansionist ambition; and (d) trade – migration from a homeland in pursuit of trade and development. We use Cohen’s classification scheme and define the African diaspora as involving anyone from these four types with ancestral ties to Africa.

Researchers have suggested that the African diaspora can play an important role in influencing democratic leadership and social processes, such as religious networks and political institutions, back home in African countries (Gramby-Sobukwe, 2005; Mohan & Zack-Williams, 2002). Kaba (2011) has argued that African immigrants with relatively high incomes in developed countries have contributed to the increase in remittance to family members remaining in Africa. The Carnegie Africa Diaspora Faculty Program (2018), and the World Bank (2014) African Diaspora Program have facilitated human and financial capital contributions of the African diaspora to their home countries.

The program seeks to leverage diaspora skills for development in Africa by better utilizing the abilities and knowledge of millions of people of African descent. Some leaders from the African diaspora may use their practical wisdom and skills to help develop Africa. Some African diaspora leaders may blend their knowledge of Africa and specialized training in the diaspora to make a difference in Africa’s continued human and financial development.

In particular, the African diaspora in the United States and Canada can play a critical role in helping African countries regarding issues relating to business management such as leadership and motivation. Before discussing perceptions of leadership and motivation of the African diaspora in these countries, we first discuss their cultural contexts in greater detail.

The African diaspora has been essentially ignored in most studies on Africa and business or management. The purpose of this special issue is to address this lack of research. There are five papers that focus on various aspects business management and the African diaspora.

Current papers

Chand’s paper, “Brain Drain, Brain Circulation, and the African Diaspora in the United States”, reviews the literature on the migration of the African diaspora to the United States. He analyzes their backgrounds, the reasons for their move, and their activities in engaging with their countries of origin. People from African countries have the fastest growth rate among all immigrants since 2000. Chand states that the reason for the diaspora includes pull factors (salary, living conditions, career opportunities), and push factors (poor quality institutions, lack of infrastructure, corruption, and nepotism at home). The “brain drain” has been a large problem for Africa, with the health care sector significantly affected. One positive aspect of migration of the diaspora is immigrants sending remittance back to their home countries. For example, Nigerians send over $21 billion USD back to Nigeria every year.

“Leadership Effectiveness in Africa and the African Diaspora (LEAD): A Closer Examination of the North American African Diaspora” by Galperin et al. examines leadership effectiveness factors developed in Africa, in the African diaspora in Canada and the United States. The researchers found that the perceptions of the African diaspora regarding effective leadership do not fit fully with either the Western or African conceptualizations of leadership. Factors that did achieve a good fit in both the Canadian and American samples related to being a knowledgeable leader and having effective communication skills. This paper contributes to managing a more diverse and inclusive workplace in locations with diaspora populations, and informs leadership theory and practice in Africa. Their results are in line with the literature on the African diaspora culture, which values communalism, as well as the big man characteristics of leadership. The LEAD research project focuses on leadership because it is central to effective management, has been studied intensively in the West for the past century, and because cross-cultural research is limited.

Punnett’s paper, entitled “The Commonwealth Caribbean’s African Diaspora: Culture and Management”, focuses on the diaspora in the English-speaking/Commonwealth Caribbean. After a review of the existing literature, Punnett summarizes the results of LEAD research conducted in the Caribbean. Participants mentioned the importance of spirituality and religion in their lives and in effective leadership. This is consistent with other research in the Caribbean and Africa. Effective leaders were seen as inspiring, charismatic, wise, moral, compassionate, interested in serving others and leading by example. The paper provides implications regarding culture for managers in Caribbean countries.

“Diasporic Synergies: Conceptualizing African Entrepreneurship Based Upon Trans- Local Networks” by Griffin-El and Olabisi provides a theory of African diaspora venture creation. They propose that the motivation for forming trans-local networks is to offer security when socially vulnerable or to pursue business opportunities. This mediates the relationship between the diaspora entrepreneurs and the market-orientation of their venture creation. These network attributes influence whether the venture is purposed to focus inwardly on the host country market, or outwardly towards contributing to the sustainability of the home country market. Of importance is the practical implication of the role of diaspora entrepreneurship in the economic development of the African continent. People from the diaspora contribute resources to their home country. Remittances sent back to Africa by those residing abroad compete with the volume of financial aid sent from other nation states.

The paper by Michaud et al., “Effective Leadership in Mexico: An Extension of the LEAD Project” examines effective leadership constructs on the African diaspora in Mexico. The LEAD survey, containing both Western and African developed effective leadership measures, was administered; and similarities and differences between Mexicans and Haitian immigrants in Mexico are presented. Leadership factors such as being an effective communicator and being knowledgeable were common to both samples, while Ubuntu leadership was significant for only the Haitian sample. Recommendations for leading in Mexico, as well as suggestions for future research, are presented.

Conclusion

This special issue on the Diaspora offers a wide variety of interesting papers looking at the experiences of individuals in the African diaspora in a number of different countries. The topics are not only important for understanding and managing businesses and individuals in countries with diaspora populations in North America and the Caribbean, but with the African diaspora’s strong connection to their homelands they are important to Africa as well. These papers are just a small sample of the types of research needed on business and management in the Diaspora. They offer a glimpse into the important and interesting work that needs to be done to better understand the African diaspora around the world. I hope these researchers will continue and expand this line of research and that others will be inspired by this special issue to take up the mantle as well and take a look at these unique populations having big impacts on Africa and around the world.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.