Community Recruitment and Retention of New Residents: A Study Using a Market Assessment Process

Abstract

In declining population regions, such as much of the rural Great Plains, many rural communities are competing for both employment opportunities and people to fill the work-force needs. While the former (jobs) has been traditionally emphasized in community development efforts, it is increasingly evident that new resident recruitment and retention is just as critical, if not more, to community sustainability. As part of a larger study of new resident migration into Nebraska’s Panhandle region, the purpose of this study was to explore new resident recruitment and retention patterns perceptions and development strategies from both sides of the market—the demand side (new residents) and the supply/provider side (communities marketing themselves as a desirable places to live). Using an iterative Delphi survey process of community practitioners, with input fed into the analysis from new-resident focus group findings, we were able to assess current market performance in terms of the relative effectiveness of new resident recruitment and retention programs and draw implications for future improvement

Renting in Rural America

“…In contrast to communities facing population declines, some rural areas are seeing population growth as retirees move to high‐amenity rural locations and young adults relocate from urban areas to take advantage of new jobs and to raise families in rural communities (McGranahan et al., ; Nene et al., ). Characteristics of communities such as high‐quality schools and access to affordable broadband Internet service along with employment opportunities are key to attracting these newcomers (McGranahan et al., ).…”

Let's stay together – The mediating role of self-congruity and place attachment on residents' likelihood to stay

“…Traditionally, community practitioners have focused their efforts on resident recruitment, while resident retention strategies have received limited attention, potentially nullifying successful recruitment (Nene et al, 2009). The present study offers several strategies to enhance the place image and strengthen resident retention.…”

“…Actively collecting data on residents' place image perceptions, for example digitally though crowdsourcing (Hereźniak, 2017), can better capture their place image perceptions (Strandberg & Ek Styvén, 2021). Thereby, place managers can achieve better targeting, content, and wording of communication campaigns (Rozhkov & Skriabina, 2015) and enhance the positive place image when designing communication campaigns aimed towards resident retention (Hankinson, 2004;Nene et al, 2009).…”

“…Third, capturing residents' perceptions of shared commonalities between the self and social identity characteristics, is equally important to design communication campaigns successfully reflecting residents' self-concept in communication messages (Palmer et al, 2013), thereby strengthening both psychological and emotional person-place bonds and ultimately residents' likelihood to stay. By incorporating community narratives of what it entails to be a resident, highlighting traits and values underlying social identification in place communication, a mutual resident identity may be reinforced, strengthening not only self-congruity, but also social cohesion, sense of community (Hereźniak & Anders-Morawska, 2021;Jenkins, 2014;Nene et al, 2009;Ragusa, 2022), place attachment (Hammitt et al, 2009), and likelihood to stay.…”

“…Previous research on the effects of residents' place image has however primarily focused on resident recruitment and in-migration (Mellander, Florida, & Stolarick, 2011), pro-tourism and pro-environmental outcomes, such as host attitude, behavior toward visitors, and intentions to recommend a place (Ramkissoon & Nunkoo, 2011;Schroeder, 1996). Residents profess high expectations on strategic retention efforts in terms of positive place communication, and community practitioners rank it as potentially the second most important retention strategy (Nene et al, 2009). Still, there is a lack of focus on the place image perspective of residents (Stylidis, 2018), which has rendered communicated advertising images too often incongruent with residents' perceptions (Palmer, Koenig-Lewis, & Jones, 2013).…”