The burden of hospitality: the role of cultural and economic concerns in attitudes towards Syrian refugees in Türkiye

While the drivers of public attitudes towards immigration have been extensively studied in Western contexts, less is known how these attitudes form in developing countries that host the majority of the world’s refugees. This paper addresses this gap by conducting a conjoint experiment in Türkiye, which hosts the largest Syrian refugee population globally, to test a broad range of theories related to economic, cultural, and humanitarian concerns. The rating outcome findings indicate a strong reluctance to host Syrian refugees, with 61% of respondents favouring return to Syria. Results from the AMCEs analysis further reveal that cultural concerns driven by fears about long-term integration of Syrian refugees, along with sociotropic economic concerns related to their potential economic burden or expected economic contributions play an important role in shaping preferences. Contrary to expectations, shared religious identity is not influential, even among more religious respondents. These findings challenge existing assumptions that cultural closeness plays an important role in forming attitudes towards immigration. The study contributes to the growing body of literature on attitudes towards refugees by demonstrating the limits of Western-derived theories and emphasising the importance of context-specific factors in shaping public opinion.