Migration Decision-Making Process by Migrants, Refugees and Forced Migrants: Between Choice and Coercion

Migration decision-making has been a central theme in migration studies, with extensive research and attempts at theoretical analysis. The existing theoretical literature frequently limits decision-making to specific migrant categories and pre-mobility stages of migration, leaving out other groups such as forced migrants (including refugees), as well as later stages of migration. This paper critically explores the present discourse on migration decision-making and proposes a new approach that sees decision-making as inherent in all types of migrants and all migration stages. The proposed model depicts choice and coercion as extremes on a continuum, and emphasising decision-making as a critical component of every migration phase. The analysis was carried out using two complementary methods: expert identification of key theoretical perspectives and a systematic literature review. First the sample was built with a use of a Scopus database search and the themes of papers were identified, then a qualitative analysis of the top cited papers followed. As a result, a new model of migration decision-making is developed and presented in the paper.