Extrinsic effect of remittance houses on desire to migrate and usage of irregular migration routes

Characteristics of remittance houses display the new financial and social status of migrants; hence, serve as a motivation for others to migrate abroad. However, this effect is highly general without specificity of how individual characteristics of remittance houses influence migration. This study hypotheses that different characteristics of remittance houses have different levels of influence on prospective migrants and their likelihood to use irregular migration routes. With the help of a structured questionnaire, the study interviewed 371 respondents in the Berekum Municipality (an out-migration hotspot in Ghana especially for persons using Sahara regions and the Strait of Gibraltar to Europe) on the external motivation of remittance houses, their desire to travel and the use of irregular routes. Locals perceived characteristics of remittance houses of migrants abroad (Mean [M] = 2.86, Standard deviation [SD] = 0.33) to be higher than non-migrants' houses (M = 1.9, SD = 0.59) while they assigned similar scores for remittance houses of migrants in Africa (M = 2.58, SD = 0.47) and migrants in Ghana (M = 2.58, SD = 0.44). Furthermore, the exterior architecture of remittance houses (β = 0.33, p < 0.01) and social recognition accorded migrants outside Africa (β = 0.30, p < 0.01) motivated locals to migrate to Europe. Again, there was no extrinsic motivation from the characteristics of remittance houses on locals' likelihood to use irregular migration routes. However, the social recognition accorded to migrants in Africa who own houses motivated locals to use irregular routes (β = 0.44, p < 0.01). The study recommends that the locals of Berekum should be educated by the traditional authorities, government agencies and NGOs that better housing characteristics and social recognition are not worthy of risking one's life by using irregular routes.