DYNAMICS OF MIGRATION TENDENCY OF CREATIVE CLASS IN EMERGING MARKETS: ISTANBUL CASE

Abstract

Since 1970s, rapid development in Information and Communication Technologies has been changing the production strategies on global scale and finally has led to the era of the “Creative Class” as introduced by Florida (2002). The powerful actors of the New Economy (Castells, 2000) stand out to be those that have the ability to adjust to recent innovations and simultaneously revise their investment strategies accordingly. Therefore, competitiveness of a country, especially with regards to high-tech productions, depends mainly on the existence of its creative class. Thus, tendency of migration of Creative Class and its underlying dynamics is one of the key research fields to be investigated. In this study, we analyze the migration tendency of 400 individuals that comply with the definition of Creative Class, given demographic properties and attitudes about work/living place. Our findings highlights the fact that high level of tolerance and better security standards are also significant factors affecting migration decisions, besides better income or better living standards.