This project studies the factors that affect the adoption of new technologies and employment of refugee workers in the Turkish textile industry, and the implications of these for the growth prospects of and working conditions in textile firms. Through this, it aims to contribute to the critical debates about upgrading in the global value chains (GVC), discussions on the political economy of development and middle-income trap, and the emerging research in the international management literature on migrants’ employment in late-industrialising countries.

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The empirical focus of the project is on the textile and garment industries in Turkey, which constitutes a key industry and LIC to address the research puzzle. Turkey’s development experience in the early 2000s was considered a good example for ‘inclusive development’ by the World Bank, where benefits of high economic growth were more equally distributed (Azevedo & Atamanov, 2014). However, the continuity and inclusivity of this development has been challenged in the 2010s, when economic growth stagnated and when Turkey started hosting the highest number of refugees worldwide, which was followed by the employment of refugees in labour-intensive sectors.

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The project is based on a multi-level research design that involves a macro-level research on national institutions, meso-level investigation on GVC governance, and micro-level inquiry on firms. The methodology involves mixed methods, namely a qualitative analysis of interviews with relevant stakeholders and a quantitative analysis of a firm survey.

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Project Team

Dr Merve Sancak   (PI)

Mr Massimo D'Angelo (RA)

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