Decision-Making and Destination Selection Among Syrian Refugees - A mixed-method research of asylum destination choice; The Case of Sweden

Abstract: This research explored why self-selected refugees made a decision to choose Sweden as a final destination after introducing the restrictive asylum laws (2016:752) by the Swedish Government in 2016. With a pragmatist approach, data were gathered through a mixed-methods research design to investigate the research questions at hand by analyzing quantitative surveys, further supported by and expanded upon by the qualitative follow-up interviews with five respondents. The findings showed that Sweden was selected as a destination of choice due to the country’s perception in terms of freedom, human rights, “welcomeness” and quality of life. The results from this research demonstrated that refugees’ social networks played a decisive factor in the asylum destination decision. Thus, it showed the importance of migrants networks in forming the image of the intended country, hence, influencing the destination choice. On the other hand, the restriction of migration laws played only a minor role in the decision-making, and economic opportunities played a marginal role in influencing the choice of destination. Accordingly, from the results of this research one can conclude that the choice of destination is primarily directed by irrational reasons.