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How Small Cities Attract and Retain Skilled People: Development of a Model JANE L. CROAD Thesis submitted to the Cardiff School of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD Director of Studies: Professor Eleri Jones Second Supervisor: Dr. Claire Haven-Tang Third Supervisor: Professor Nicholas Clifton Date of Submission: October 23rd 2020 Cardiff Metropolitan University Cardiff Western Avenue Cardiff, UK, CF5 2YB i Acknowledgement I thank Professor Eleri Jones for her encouragement and support and Dr. Claire Haven-Tang and Professor Nick Clifton for their direction at pivotal points of the research. I am very grateful to my husband, David Protheroe and my daughters, Elizabeth and Isabelle, who have been encouraging and positive and who have given me practical help and support which has been invaluable. I also thank my mother and father, Michael and Christina Croad and my mother-in-law Betty Protheroe, for all their practical support and encouragement that has helped me complete this research. Thank you to Dr. Robert Roderick, who has been such a positive inspiration and has helped me in a practical way to be organised and meticulous in presenting the thesis, and who has motivated me throughout the process of completing the thesis. Thank you also to Dr. Adebimpe Lincoln, Dr. Trefor Lewis and Ian Avery who have encouraged me and given me their expert advice. I thank Sue Rappell who gave me practical help with undertaking the surveys and inputting the data. I am very grateful to Amanda Davies who introduced me to many of the key informants who were central to the research. I thank Carol Whitlow for her practical help and her motivation. I thank my many friends for encouraging me and being positive about my research. Cardiff Metropolitan University Library staff have been fantastic in helping me to access the depth of research I needed, especially Ana Luengo-Martinez, who is so talented, knowledgeable and enthusiastic and has helped me to retrieve scholarly material that was difficult to access. Thank you to the examiners Professor Steve Millington and Dr. John Gibney for their guidance in developing this thesis to bring clarity to thesis in many areas particularly to the contribution to knowledge it makes. iii ABSTRACT Skilled people are generally accepted as a vital force in economic development. The executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, has stated that skilled people will become increasingly more important than capital (Elliot, 2017). The UK is vulnerable to changes in the macro-environment because the economy is so over reliant on London which has a disproportionate level of skilled people, wealth and opportunities compared to the other cities in the UK. This imbalance is of importance particularly with the uncertainties and inevitable changes caused by BREXIT and the Covid19 pandemic. This thesis aims to develop a transferable policy model for attracting and retaining skilled people to small cities, to promote economic development and contribute to addressing the imbalance between London and the other cities in the UK. Based on adapted grounded research in case study cities Manchester, Cardiff, Newport and Bristol, the key factors that motivate skilled people to locate and remain in small cities have been identified as employment, social life, infrastructure, culture and the family. These factors have been labelled as Attraction Motivators based on an adaptation of Herzberg’s two-factor theory. Other factors, such as diversity, safety, inclusivity, accommodation, education, physical factors and shopping, are not motivators to attract and retain skilled people but need to be maintained and managed effectively to maximise economic development and not deter skilled people. The Attraction Motivation Model was developed through combining the findings from adapted grounded research to identify the Attraction Motivators with the city branding literature and the findings from interviews with key stakeholders. The Model will assist small cities to attract and retain skilled people using finite resources. There were some differences in the Attraction Motivators for skilled people with different characteristics of gender, life-stage and location, supporting theory that skilled people cannot be treated as a homogeneous group although they do have commonalities. Considerable communalities were found between skilled and iv unskilled people which is an area for further research to ensure improved inclusivity in policy making. The transferable Attraction Motivator Model assists policy makers to attract and retain skilled people contributing to small cities achieving increased economic and social development, leading to greater prosperity and certainty for its citizens and improving economic balance between the regions of the UK. v Table of Content....................................................................................... Page No. 1. Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................ 1 1.1 Research Outline ................................................................. 1 1.2 The Problem ......................................................................... 2 1.3 Purpose of Study ................................................................. 4 1.4 Background.......................................................................... 5 1.5 The Research Agenda ....................................................... 12 1.6 Aim ..................................................................................... 13 1.7 Research Questions .......................................................... 15 1.8 Overview of the thesis ....................................................... 15 2. Chapter 2 Literature Review .................................. 17 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................ 17 2.2 What are the Attraction Motivators for skilled people in small cities? ....................................................................... 18 2.3 Do skilled people with different characteristics e.g. Life- stage, gender, geographical location, have different views on Attraction Motivators for small cities? ....................... 34 2.4 Is there a model that can guide policy for attracting and retaining skilled people? ................................................... 38 2.5 Summary and Conceptual Framework ............................. 47 3. Chapter 3 Research Approach .............................. 50 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................ 50 3.2 Theoretical Framework Concepts, Philosophies and Methodologies ................................................................... 53 3.3 Pragmatism ........................................................................ 54 3.4 Adapted Grounded Theory ............................................... 56 3.5 Strategy .............................................................................. 61 3.6 Time Horizon ...................................................................... 67 3.7 Mixed methods research ................................................... 68 3.8 Analysis .............................................................................. 79 vi 3.9 Ethical considerations ...................................................... 84 3.10 Summary ............................................................................ 84 4. Chapter 4 Findings and analysis of survey data 86 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................ 86 4.2 Findings and analysis of survey open questions and demographics .................................................................... 86 4.3 Survey findings and analysis background ...................... 87 4.4 Demographic information of the participant ................... 88 4.5 The Motivational Attractors for small cities. .................... 92 4.6 Life-stage comparison of Attraction Motivators .............. 97 4.7 Gender comparison of Attraction Motivators for small cities ................................................................................. 110 4.8 Case study city comparisons of Attraction Motivators 116 4.9 Further Findings relating to Attraction Motivators of small cities ................................................................................. 121 4.10 Unskilled and skilled peoples’ Attraction Motivators compared ......................................................................... 136 5. Chapter 5 Analysis and Discussion .................... 147 5.1 Introduction ...................................................................... 147 5.2 Employment ..................................................................... 150 5.3 Social Life ........................................................................ 168 5.4 Culture .............................................................................. 194 5.5 Infrastructure ................................................................... 227 5.6 Family (Social Capital) .................................................... 246 5.7 Model of how Small cities attract and retain skilled people ...................................................................................... .......................................................................................... 270 5.8 Summary .......................................................................... 273 6. Chapter 6 Application and assessment of the Model ..........................................................................