The Returning Syrian Diaspora: A Cultural Assessment and Implications for Entrepreneurship

Abstract

This paper assesses the cultural values of Syrian people anticipating a return to their homeland following a 14-year civil war and international sanctions that have decimated its economy. The paper provides insight into a displaced refugee population spread across many countries that reaches into the millions. The anticipated return of these Syrians follows a lightening offensive by opposition forces that ousted Syria’s leader, Bashar al-Assad, on December 8, 2024. The analysis also provides implications for entrepreneurship that could help rebuild the war-torn country and restart its crippled economy. The cultural assessment was conducted using the 5-D Hofstede model of cultural values. It compared the cultural orientations of the Syrian diaspora with Iraq, Jordan and Turkey – countries into which the displaced people settled over the last decade – and with the USA. This paper also contrasts the cultural orientations of the victims of the Syrian diaspora hoping to return to their homeland with the data on Syria originally obtained by Hofstede in 1980. The results suggest that the returning displaced Syrians have some of the cultural values important for country-changing entrepreneurship.