Transnational information brokerage and migration chains among Nigerian health workers in Canada and Nigeria

Abstract

Transnationalism theory suggests that migrant engagement in cross-border activities can reproduce migration by signalling to non-migrants that emigration is feasible and beneficial. This paper examines this claim using bilateral survey and interview data from 59 Nigerian health workers residing in Canada and 63 non-migrant health professionals in Nigeria. The analysis shows high levels of transnational engagement among migrants across economic (74.6%), social (88.1%), knowledge transfer (83.1%), and credential acquisition (76.3%) activities, while political participation remains low (10.2%). Migrants who participated in transnational activities were more frequently approached by contacts in Nigeria for migration advice, with 75% of Canadian respondents reporting such inquiries. However, the relationship between transnational engagement and migration aspirations in Nigeria is more complex: although 81% of Nigerian respondents expressed migration intentions, only 39% had sought information from migrants abroad, and respondents attributed their preference for Canada to institutional information channels such as immigration promotion and media narratives. This paper develops the concept of transnational information brokerage as an interpretive framework for understanding how migrants contextualize and communicate migration knowledge within transnational networks. The findings suggest that migrant advice may both encourage and moderate migration aspirations. These findings have implications for understanding health inequalities in global migration systems, particularly how access to professional integration within destination health systems is mediated by informational asymmetries. By foregrounding the role of migrant-mediated knowledge, the study also highlights the importance of credential recognition processes and migration governance structures in understanding migration decision-making and labour market experiences among internationally educated health professionals.

Introduction

Migration scholars have long argued that migrant networks help reproduce migration by reducing the informational, economic, and social costs faced by prospective migrants. Drawing on social capital theory, network analysis, and cumulative causation models, Massey et al. [17] and others suggested that each act of migration generates resources that facilitate subsequent migration within the same social network. Migrants signal that emigration is feasible,they provide information, contacts, and sometimes financial support that allow others to follow. In this framework, migration chains emerge as networks expand and migration becomes increasingly self-sustaining over time.

Nigeria provides a striking example of such transnational engagement. The country ranked sixth in the world in 2015 by volume of remittances received, taking in approximately US$20.8 billion—a figure that likely understates the total, as informal transfer channels supplement it significantly [24]. Remittance inflows have remained substantial since then, with Nigeria continuing to rank among the largest remittance recipients globally, receiving approximately US$21.2 billion in 2024 [25]. These more recent figures are cited solely to establish the continuing relevance of Nigerian transnational financial engagement as a research context,they do not describe the information environment or migration dynamics experienced by study participants, whose data were collected in 2015–2016.

These patterns raise an important question for migration theory: do transnational activities among migrants relate to the reproduction of migration through social networks? In other words, is participation in cross-border economic, social, cultural, and knowledge activities associated with migration aspirations among those who remain in origin communities?

Migration network theory often assumes that migrants transmit information that encourages further migration. Yet less attention has been paid to how migrants themselves interpret knowledge about migration when advising potential migrants. Migrants may not simply transmit information; they may interpret and contextualize migration experiences, communicating advice in ways that reflect their own encounters with migration systems.

This study examines these dynamics in the context of Nigerian health worker migration to Canada. Using a bilateral dataset that includes Nigerian-trained health workers residing in Canada and non-migrant health professionals working in Nigeria, the study examines how migration information circulates within professional networks spanning origin and destination contexts.

The analysis suggests that participation in transnational activities is associated with greater visibility of migrants as sources of migration information. Migrants who remain actively engaged across borders are far more likely to be approached for advice by contacts in Nigeria. However, the relationship between transnational engagement and migration aspirations is more complex than migration chain models might predict. Many Nigerian respondents who expressed strong migration intentions had not sought information from migrants abroad and instead attributed their preference for Canada to institutional factors such as immigration policies, media narratives, and perceived professional opportunities.

To explain this pattern, the paper builds the concept of transnational information brokerage. Transnational information brokerage refers to the interpretive and contextualizing role migrants play when communicating experiential migration knowledge within transnational networks. Rather than serving merely as conduits of migration information, migrants may act as intermediaries who draw on their own migration experiences when communicating advice to potential migrants.

This study addresses three research questions:

1. Is participation in transnational activities associated with migrants' visibility as sources of migration information within transnational networks?

2. How do migrants interpret and mediate migration knowledge when advising potential migrants in origin countries?

3. To what extent do migration aspirations in Nigeria rely on migrant networks rather than on institutional information channels such as immigration policies, media narratives, and recruitment infrastructure?

This paper makes two contributions to migration and development scholarship. First, it provides empirical evidence from a bilateral dataset linking migrants in Canada with their professional counterparts in Nigeria, allowing both sides of the migration chain to be examined simultaneously. Second, it advances the concept of transnational information brokerage to explain how migrants interpret and contextualize their migration experiences when communicating migration knowledge. By highlighting this brokerage role, the study extends migration network theory beyond cumulative causation models and demonstrates how migration information may both stimulate and moderate migration aspirations. In doing so, the study speaks to three intersecting debates in contemporary migration scholarship: the role of migrant networks in sustaining migration chains, the formation of migration aspirations within origin societies, and the broader informational infrastructures that inform migration decision-making. Beyond its theoretical contributions, the study also contributes to broader debates on migration and health inequalities. For internationally educated health professionals, migration is not only about mobility but also about access to professional integration within destination health systems. These processes unfold within governance regimes, particularly credential recognition systems that influence labour market entry and occupational mobility. By examining how migration knowledge is mediated within transnational networks, this paper highlights how informational processes intersect with broader structural inequalities in health workforce migration.

Literature review

Transnationalism and the migration chain

Transnationalism, as defined by Glick Schiller, Basch, and Szanton Blanc [15] and elaborated by subsequent scholars, describes the process by which immigrants forge and sustain multi-stranded social, economic, and political relations that link their societies of origin and destination. Unlike earlier assimilationist models that expected migrants to sever ties with their home countries over time, transnationalism posits that these ties are maintained and actively managed—and that they have consequences for both the origin and destination societies [14, 18].

The connection between transnationalism and migration reproduction has been theorized primarily through the concept of cumulative causation [11, 16]. Each migration generates social capital — knowledge, connections, demonstrated feasibility — that facilitates subsequent migration from the same origin community. Remittances, in this framework, are not just financial transfers,they are signals of migration’s success that shape the aspirations and risk calculations of potential future migrants [10]. Network effects lower the threshold for migration across successive waves [17].

However, critics of the migration chain hypothesis have noted that the mechanism is more contingent than deterministic. De Haas [11] argues that the conditions under which transnational engagement produces migration reproduction rather than other development outcomes (investment, return migration, non-migration) depend on the specific institutional, political, and social context in which it operates. Spoonley, Macpherson and Bedford [21] emphasize that transnationalism translates into migration reproduction through the circulation of people, capital, and ideas — a circulation whose effects are not automatically additive.

The Nigerian context adds specific features to this debate. Nigerian migration to Canada is not predominantly refugee-driven; it flows primarily through economic, student, and family unification channels. This means the migration chain operates in a context of relatively active decision-making, where potential migrants are calculating costs, benefits, and pathways rather than responding to displacement pressures. The transnational information environment in which those calculations are made is therefore particularly consequential.

Transnational activities: typology and research

Faist [14] categorizes transnational activities as economic (remittances, investment, trade), social (community engagement, cultural maintenance, ceremonial participation), political (diaspora advocacy, homeland political participation), and knowledge-based (skills transfer, professional networking, educational exchange). Each category has different developmental implications and different relationships to migration reproduction.

In the specific case of African health worker migration, the knowledge-based category has attracted the most policy attention: the ‘brain circulation’ model predicts that skilled migrants who maintain professional connections with their home countries can transfer knowledge and skills, thereby partially offsetting the emigration-induced losses [20]. Whether this transfer actually occurs — and whether it occurs at sufficient scale to offset the workforce depletion — remains contested [7]. Less studied is the relationship between knowledge-based transnational activities and migration aspirations in origin countries — whether the visible engagement of migrants in knowledge transfer signals to potential migrants that emigration is both achievable and worthwhile. Recent scholarship has conceptualized these broader informational environments as part of a “migration infrastructure,” referring to the institutional, technological, and social systems that shape migration processes and the circulation of migration knowledge [26]. Digital communication technologies and social media have also become increasingly important mechanisms through which migration information circulates within migrant networks [13].

Skilled migration, transnational networks, and the Nigerian context

Nigeria’s position as a top-six global remittance receiver reflects both the scale of the Nigerian diaspora and the intensity of its financial engagement with the home country. For health workers specifically, remittances are part of a broader pattern of transnational engagement that includes professional mentoring, community development contributions, and the maintenance of cultural and family ties. The literature on Nigerian remittance behaviour [4, 9] has noted the concentration of remittances in urban-origin, better-educated migrant populations — precisely the population represented in this study. Less attention has been paid to the non-financial dimensions of Nigerian migrant transnational activity, and almost none to how those activities intersect with the formation of migration aspirations in Nigeria. This broader pattern is consistent with previous studies documenting the migration of Nigerian health professionals and the continuing challenges that such migration creates for the Nigerian health workforce [19].

More recent scholarship has revisited the migration–development nexus by emphasizing the complex, non-linear relationship among migration, transnational engagement, and development outcomes. Recent work on migration aspirations similarly argues that migration decisions emerge through the interaction of aspirations, opportunities, and perceived capabilities rather than through network effects alone [5, 6, 9].

Rather than viewing migration networks as automatically producing cumulative migration flows, recent work highlights the importance of institutional environments, policy frameworks, and information infrastructures in understanding migration decisions [5, 12]. Studies of skilled migration further highlight the importance of professional networks, credential recognition systems, and labour market integration processes in understanding patterns of brain drain, brain circulation, and occupational deskilling [22, 23]. These insights suggest that transnational connections may be associated with migration aspirations, with these relationships mediated by institutional factors such as immigration policies, professional accreditation systems, and labour market conditions.

Taken together, this literature suggests that migration decisions unfold within complex information environments that include both personal networks and institutional infrastructures. However, relatively little research has examined how migrants themselves mediate the information that circulates within transnational networks. By focusing on the informational role migrants play in advising potential migrants, this study extends migration network theory by highlighting the brokerage functions through which migration knowledge is interpreted and transmitted.

Conceptualizing migrants as transnational information brokers also contributes to the broader literature on migration infrastructures and aspiration formation. Migration infrastructure comprises the institutional, technological, and social systems that facilitate migration, including immigration policies, recruitment agencies, digital platforms, and diaspora networks. Within this broader informational environment, migrants themselves constitute an important but underexamined informational infrastructure. By interpreting and contextualizing their migration experiences, migrants may shape how potential migrants understand and evaluate migration opportunities, risks, and feasibility. The brokerage role identified here, therefore, complements existing theories of migration networks by suggesting that experiential knowledge is not simply transmitted through transnational social ties but is interpreted and contextualized through migrants' own experiences.

While existing research highlights the importance of migrant networks and broader informational environments in understanding migration decisions, less attention has been paid to the interpretive and contextualizing role migrants play when communicating migration knowledge to potential migrants. The concept of transnational information brokerage, introduced in this paper, addresses this gap by examining how migrants contextualize migration information within transnational networks.

Methods

Study design and data collection

This study draws on a larger research project examining the migration experiences of Nigerian-trained health workers in Canada and their professional counterparts in Nigeria. Data were collected between 2015 and 2016 using a mixed-methods design combining structured surveys, semi-structured interviews, and key informant interviews. Semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face in Canada and in Nigeria. Interviews typically lasted between 40 and 90 min. With participants' consent, interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim prior to analysis. The survey component provided a systematic overview of participation in transnational activities and migration-related communication within migrant networks, while the interviews provided deeper insight into how migration information and advice circulate between migrants and non-migrants.

The study captures migration dynamics during a historically specific moment: the early expansion of Canada’s Express Entry immigration system, launched in November 2014, and a period of rapidly increasing skilled migration from Nigeria. This was prior to the post-2017 acceleration of Nigerian Express Entry uptake, prior to the COVID-era intensification of health workforce pressures, and prior to the intensification and normalization of social media and digital platforms as dominant migration information channels. The mechanisms examined in this study — how migrants interpret and transmit experiential migration knowledge within social networks — concern processes that remain central to migration decision-making across changing policy contexts. Although the specific policy environment has evolved, the study’s analytical focus is on how migrants mediate experiential knowledge within transnational networks, a process that remains relevant across changing migration regimes. Readers should nevertheless note that specific patterns of information-seeking and institutional channel use may have shifted since data collection.

The study includes two related samples. The first comprises 59 Nigerian-trained health workers residing in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, of whom 42 completed surveys, and 27 participated in semi-structured interviews. Some participants may have taken part in both the survey and interview components; however, overlap in participation was not systematically tracked at the individual level because survey and interview records were maintained separately during data collection. Participants included nurses, personal support workers (PSWs), students, and other health professionals who had received part or all of their training in Nigeria before migrating. The second sample consists of 63 non-migrant health professionals working in Nigeria—specifically in Lagos and Ibadan—of whom 51 completed surveys and 24 participated in interviews. These respondents represent comparable occupational backgrounds within the Nigerian health system. All findings from the Nigerian sample pertain specifically to urban health professionals in these two cities and should not be generalized to Nigeria as a whole.

Participants were recruited through a combination of professional networks, diaspora associations, and snowball sampling among Nigerian-trained health professionals in both Canada and Nigeria. This recruitment strategy enabled access to a dispersed professional population while facilitating data collection on cross-border communication within migrant networks. However, this recruitment strategy may introduce selection bias, as highly networked, transnationally active migrants may have been more likely to be reached through these channels. Consequently, the findings may reflect higher levels of transnational engagement than might be observed in the broader population of Nigerian health workers in Canada. Participation rates should therefore not be interpreted as representative of all Nigerian health workers in Canada or Nigeria. This limitation is discussed further in the Conclusion.

Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques to examine patterns of participation in transnational activities and the frequency of migration-related communication within networks. Interview transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Analysis proceeded in two stages. In the first, inductive stage, codes were generated directly from the data without a predetermined coding framework, allowing themes to emerge from participants’ own accounts of migration advice, information sharing, and aspirations. In the second, deductive stage, emergent themes were mapped against the theoretical constructs of transnational engagement, information brokerage, and migration aspiration formation. As this was a single-researcher qualitative analysis, conventional inter-coder reliability was not assessed; analytical rigour was maintained through systematic memo-writing, reflexive journaling, repeated coding passes across transcripts, and iterative comparison of themes to ensure consistency and analytical coherence. Survey and interview findings were integrated interpretively during analysis. Quantitative findings on participation rates and advice-seeking patterns were used to identify key patterns, which were then explored in greater depth through qualitative analysis of interview accounts.

Transnational activity participation was measured using a structured list of activity categories administered to Canada-based respondents during the survey process. Activities were grouped into several categories derived from the transnationalism literature: economic activities (e.g., remittances), social activities (community engagement across Canada–Nigeria networks), cultural activities (maintenance of Nigerian cultural practices), political activities (participation in political processes), knowledge transfer activities (acquisition or sharing of professional knowledge), and credential acquisition activities related to professional advancement.

Participants were asked whether they engaged in each activity type. Participation rates were then analyzed across demographic characteristics, including occupation, education level, age, and gender.

The study is intended as an exploratory mixed-methods investigation aimed at theory building rather than causal testing. Accordingly, the findings should be interpreted as identifying patterns and associations that are consistent with the proposed concept of transnational information brokerage rather than as demonstrating causal mechanisms.

Operationalizing migration chain processes

To examine the relationship between transnational engagement and migration chain processes, two key indicators were used. First, Canada-based respondents were asked whether individuals in Nigeria had approached them for migration advice or information. This measure captures the extent to which migrants function as information sources within transnational networks.

Second, Nigerian respondents were asked about their migration aspirations, preferred destination countries, and whether they had sought information from migrants abroad. These measures provide insight into the role of transnational networks relative to other sources of migration information. It should be noted that expressed migration intention, as measured here, does not equate to actual migration behaviour. The 81% of Nigerian respondents who expressed migration intentions were reporting aspirations and preferences; this study does not track whether these intentions were subsequently acted upon.

Ethical considerations

Ethics approval for this study was obtained from the Wilfrid Laurier University Research Ethics Board (REB #4111). The study was conducted in accordance with institutional guidelines and applicable ethical standards.

Participants received an information sheet explaining the purpose of the study, the voluntary nature of participation, confidentiality protections, and their right to withdraw at any time. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants before they participated in surveys and interviews.

To ensure confidentiality, identifying information was removed from transcripts and datasets, and pseudonyms were used for qualitative quotations. All research data were stored securely and accessed only by the researcher.

Findings

Transnational activity participation in Canada

Overall, participation in transnational activities among Canadian participants is high, with marked variation across categories. Social activities — community participation spanning the Canada–Nigeria connection — had the highest participation rate at 88.1 percent (n = 52 of 59). New knowledge acquisition (activities oriented toward skills that could be transferred back to Nigeria) followed at 83.1 percent (n = 49), and new credential acquisition at 76.3 percent (n = 45). Economic activities — remittances and financial transfers to Nigeria — stood at 74.6 percent (n = 44). Cultural activities had a participation rate of 62.7 percent (n = 37).

Political participation was comparatively low: only 10.2 percent (n = 6 of 59) of Canadian participants reported participating in political activities spanning the two countries. This finding is not incidental. It suggests that the political dimension of transnationalism, often associated in the literature with origin-country political development, plays a relatively limited role within this population. The explanation offered by participants was not alienation or disinterest, but rather a different conception of political participation: several noted that they voted when elections occurred but did not seek or hold political office in either country. The low rate reflects the specific institutional context of Nigerian diaspora political engagement in Canada rather than a general disengagement from civic life.

Disaggregation: Who Participates, and in What?

Disaggregating by occupation, education, age, marital status, and gender reveals several notable patterns.

By occupation: Participation rates are broadly consistent across nursing, PSW, and ‘other’ categories, with the notable exception that students participate at lower rates in economic activities (50% versus 75–81% for other groups). This is consistent with the financial constraints of student status — those who are not yet earning income are less able to remit funds. PSWs participate at 100 percent in social activities in Canada, the highest rate among all groups in all categories.

By education: Participation in economic activities is universal among master’s-degree holders (100%), but drops substantially among certificate holders (40%). The pattern is consistent with the income gradient: higher education is associated with higher earnings and greater capacity to remit. Participation in cultural activities also shows an education gradient, with bachelor’s-degree holders (69.6%) and master’s-degree holders (66.7%) both outpacing certificate holders (40%).

By age: An age-related pattern was observed. Participants aged 60 and over showed participation rates of 80 percent or above in every activity category except politics. The 50–60 age group also showed elevated participation across categories. The under-30 group, by contrast, showed markedly lower participation in economic and cultural activities (25% in economic activities), though they participated at 75% in knowledge acquisition activities. This pattern is consistent with earlier research on Nigerian migrant health workers, which found that younger migrants tend to focus on individual skill development and professional mobility. In contrast, older migrants are more oriented toward maintaining transnational networks and contributing resources and knowledge back to Nigeria [2].

By gender: Female participants showed high participation across all non-political categories, consistent with the broader literature on women’s transnational engagement [8]. Male participants showed a striking reversal in economic participation: while males in Nigeria reported 83 percent economic participation, males in Canada reported only 33 percent. This reversal likely reflects the disruption of the provider role that migration creates for Nigerian men: those who have migrated and are in the process of requalification are often not yet earning at levels that meet the remittance expectations of male household providers in Nigerian social norms.

Transnational activity and advice-seeking

The central finding of the migration chain hypothesis is that 75 percent of Canadian participants (n = 44 of 59) reported being asked by non-migrant counterparts in Nigeria for migration information and advice. This is a high rate — three in four migrants are functioning as migration information sources for their home-country networks.

Among participants who engaged in transnational activities, advice-seeking tends to be higher. Among the seven participants who did not participate in any transnational activity, only one — a midwife in Nigeria who had become a PSW in Canada — was asked for migration advice; the other six were not. While the group of non-participants is too small for statistical inference, the directional finding is consistent: transnational visibility (being seen by Nigerian contacts as active and engaged) correlates with being consulted as a source of migration information.

Among the three participants who identified with negative skilled-migration discourse categories (brain drain or brain waste), two participated in transnational activities and were asked for migration advice. The one who did not participate in transnational activities was not asked. This suggests that the correlation between transnational activity and advice-seeking is not contingent on the migrant’s positive evaluation of their own migration — even migrants who describe their experience negatively are consulted, as long as they maintain transnational visibility.

Migration aspiration in Nigeria

Among Nigerian participants, 81 percent (n = 51 of 63) reported intentions to migrate. This high rate reflects the specific context of data collection (Lagos and Ibadan, Nigeria’s most economically dynamic cities, with high professional aspiration among health workers) as well as the general pattern of migration aspiration among Nigerian professionals documented elsewhere [1].

However, the relationship between this aspiration and transnational information networks is less direct than the migration chain hypothesis would predict. Only 39 percent of Nigerian participants (n = 25 of 63) had sought information from overseas contacts — meaning that 61 percent (n = 38) of those who expressed migration intentions had not consulted migrants already in Canada or elsewhere. This finding suggests that the majority of aspirant migrants in Nigeria are forming their intentions without direct access to the experiential knowledge of current migrants.

When Nigerian participants were asked about their preferred destination country, 60.7 percent (n = 38 of 63) identified Canada, suggesting a relatively high degree of destination specificity. When probed further, many participants were unable to articulate detailed reasons for their preference beyond general associations with opportunity. Some participants also referred to television campaigns and social media promotion of Canada's Express Entry immigration pathway when discussing their preference for Canada. These accounts are consistent with the interpretation that institutional information channels may complement personal networks in informing migration aspirations. One participant captured the institutional rather than network origin of her aspiration to go to Canada: ‘I will go if God wants me to go’ — and when asked which country, she said Canada, citing programmes she had seen on television.

This finding complicates the narrative of the migration chain. If the majority of migration aspirations toward Canada in Nigeria are informed by institutional channels such as government advertising, immigration consultants, and media coverage, then the migration chain mechanism may account for only part of the story. The transnational information environment includes both personal network flows and institutional channels, and the two may interact in complex ways. In this sense, the concept of transnational information brokerage suggests that migration networks are not merely conduits through which migration knowledge circulates but also spaces where migrants interpret, contextualize, and communicate experiential information drawn from their own experiences.

What migrants tell Nigeria: the advice regime

Among the 75 percent of Canadian participants (n = 44) who were asked for migration advice, the responses were predominantly positive but consistently nuanced. The most frequent advice theme was ‘better opportunities,’ with participants recommending Canada for education, career advancement, family safety, and quality of life. Nevertheless, a substantial minority offered cautionary counsel — advice that reflects the occupational navigation challenges documented in research on Nigerian migrant health workers’ professional integration in Canada [3].

“I always told them, it’s not advisable if they have a good job, fetching them a daily living in Nigeria. I told them to do their homework. It’s not easy, but some of them don’t listen. Then, when they get here, they start complaining to you.”

“Canada is a good place to migrate to, and there are great opportunities to improve one’s life. Canada is not easy to make money in, but with good education and hard work, you can succeed.”

“They should only come on vacation and see if they can cope with the situations here, especially if they have a good job in Nigeria. Keep their job if they have a good one, and come for vacation once in a while.”

This range of advice suggests that migrants are not merely amplifying migration aspirations. Rather, the findings are consistent with an interpretation in which migrants contextualize and tailor migration information to reflect their own experiences. The concept of transnational information brokerage, introduced below, attempts to capture this function.

To illustrate the patterns identified in the empirical findings, Fig. 1 presents a conceptual model of transnational information brokerage. The model illustrates how migration information flows through two primary channels: institutional information sources such as immigration policies, recruitment infrastructures, and media narratives, and interpersonal networks linking migrants and non-migrants. Within these networks, the model proposes that migrants may serve as intermediaries, interpreting and contextualizing migration knowledge and communicating it in ways that reflect their own migration experiences.

Fig. 1.

Conceptual Model of Transnational Information Brokerage in Migration Networks

The findings presented earlier reveal a complex pattern of transnational engagement and communication regarding migration among Nigerian health workers in Canada and their professional counterparts in Nigeria. While migrants are often approached for advice and information about migration, the content of these interactions is usually nuanced, cautious, and tailored to the circumstances of potential migrants. These patterns are consistent with an interpretation in which migrants do not merely transmit migration information through their networks but also act as interpreters of migration experiences, contextualizing and communicating knowledge in ways that reflect their own experiences. The following section develops this interpretation further through the concept of transnational information brokerage.

Interpreting migration advice: transnational information brokerage

Beyond the simple chain model

The conceptual model illustrated in Fig. 1 helps explain why transnational networks in this study function not only as channels through which migration information circulates but also as informational systems through which migration experiences are interpreted and contextualized. The migration chain hypothesis, in its classic formulation, describes a cumulative process in which each act of migration reduces the costs and risks of subsequent migration for network members. Social capital accumulated by current migrants is transmitted to potential migrants through network ties, lowering the information costs of migration decision-making. The mechanism is conceived primarily as additive: more migration generates more migration capital, which in turn generates more migration.

The findings of this paper suggest a more nuanced picture. Transnational activity is associated with increased advice-seeking — migrants who maintain visible transnational engagement are more likely to be consulted as sources of migration information. However, the advice they provide is not uniformly pro-migration. Rather, the patterns observed are consistent with an interpretation in which migrants contextualize migration experiences differently depending on occupational trajectories and personal experiences.

This means that the migration chain, in this population, is not a simple process of amplification. In this population, migration networks appear to function not only as channels through which information circulates but also as interpretive systems that contextualize experiential knowledge. In this sense, migrants may communicate the challenges and uncertainties of migration alongside its opportunities. In this sense, migrant networks may sometimes moderate migration pressures rather than amplify them, as migrants communicate the challenges and uncertainties of migration alongside its opportunities. A nurse in Lagos with a stable position in a well-resourced hospital may receive different advice from her migrant counterpart than a nurse in a chronically understaffed public facility with insecure tenure.

Transnational information brokerage defined

Transnational information brokerage refers to the process through which migrants interpret and contextualize experiential migration knowledge when communicating advice to potential migrants. This concept is distinguished from two related but distinct frameworks. Migration infrastructure theory [26] analyses the institutional, technological, and organizational systems that facilitate and govern migration at a structural level,transnational information brokerage concerns the interpretive work that migrants perform at the individual level within and alongside those structural systems. Social capital and network accounts treat information as a resource flowing through social ties, but pay less attention to the interpretive and contextualizing roles that migrants play when communicating their migration experiences to potential migrants. Transnational information brokerage foregrounds the interpretive and contextualizing role migrants play when communicating migration experiences, extending migration network theory by suggesting that migrant networks may influence how migration knowledge is understood and evaluated.

The brokerage concept captures three analytically distinct features. First, interpretation: migrants translate their own migration experiences — credential recognition processes, labour market integration, settlement challenges — into actionable information for someone who has not yet migrated. Second, contextualization: migrants communicate advice in ways that reflect the recipient's occupational position, resources, and expectations. These patterns are consistent with an interpretation in which such advice may encourage migration for some potential migrants while tempering aspirations for others. Third, and as a consequence of these processes, migration aspirations informed through brokerage contacts may be grounded in more realistic expectations than those based solely on institutional promotion. Situating this within De Haas’s [12] aspirations-capabilities framework clarifies the contribution further: transnational information brokerage can be understood as one possible interpretive process through which potential migrants evaluate the relationship between aspirations and capabilities.

This perspective contributes to migration network theory by suggesting that migrant networks function not only as channels through which cumulative causation processes unfold, but also as interpretive systems through which migration knowledge is understood and evaluated. Rather than uniformly encouraging migration, migrants may communicate advice that reflects their experiences of credential recognition, labour-market integration, and settlement challenges. These patterns are consistent with an interpretation in which migrant advice may both encourage and temper migration aspirations depending on the circumstances of potential migrants.

Implications for the migration chain literature

The transnational information brokerage concept has several implications for migration chain theory. First, it suggests that the chain’s effects are occupation- and circumstance-specific: whether transnational engagement generates more migration depends on what information is being transmitted to whom. For Nigerian health workers, who face well-documented credential recognition challenges in Canada, the findings suggest that migrants communicate information about retraining requirements and labour market integration in ways that may lead some potential migrants to reconsider migration if the anticipated costs are perceived as prohibitively high. In this sense, migration networks may both facilitate and moderate migration aspirations.

Second, the finding that 61 percent of aspirant migrants in Nigeria had not sought information from overseas contacts is consistent with the interpretation that institutional information channels (government migration promotion, media, and immigration consultants) may play an important role alongside personal network channels in informing migration aspirations. The migration chain hypothesis may overstate the role of personal networks relative to institutional factors, at least in the Nigerian context during the study period. The post-2017 expansion of Express Entry promotion by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada coincided with increased Nigerian participation in the program. Although these developments fall outside the study period, they are broadly consistent with the interpretation that institutional information channels may play an important role alongside personal networks in informing migration aspirations.

Third, the age gradient in participation in transnational activities has implications for the generational dynamics of migration chain effects. Older migrants (50 +) participate in transnational activities at the highest rates and are presumably the most visible as transnational actors in Nigeria-based networks. However, their discourse identifications (brain networking, brain circulation) and their career trajectories (established professional positions, post-credential-acquisition) make them qualitatively different migration information sources from those of younger migrants still in the retraining process. The chain effects generated by older and younger migrants are not equivalent.

Conclusion

This paper makes two contributions to migration and development scholarship. The first is empirical: drawing on a bilateral dataset linking Nigerian-trained health workers in Canada with non-migrant health professionals in Lagos and Ibadan, it provides evidence from both sides of a migration chain simultaneously. The findings show that transnational engagement is associated with a greater likelihood of being consulted as a migration information source: migrants who participate in cross-border activities are more likely to be approached by contacts in Nigeria for advice. However, the relationship between transnational engagement and migration aspirations is more complex than cumulative causation models predict. The majority of Nigerian respondents who expressed migration intentions had not sought information from migrants abroad. Many respondents attributed their preference for Canada primarily to institutional channels — immigration promotion, media narratives, and social media advertising — suggesting that institutional and personal network channels operate in parallel rather than sequentially.

For Nigerian health workers facing the well-documented credential recognition challenges of the Canadian system, the brokerage function identified here may play a significant role in preparing aspirant migrants for the realities they will face. Situating these findings within the broader literature on migration and health inequalities, the study underscores how informational access operates as a form of stratification within global health workforce mobility. Migrants with access to experiential knowledge are better positioned to navigate complex credential recognition systems, while those without such access rely more heavily on institutional narratives that may obscure integration challenges. In this sense, transnational information brokerage may influence how migration aspirations are understood and may contribute to unequal pathways into health systems across national contexts.

The policy implications are significant. Development interventions aimed at managing the health worker migration chain from Nigeria to Canada should not focus solely on remittance volumes or network structures. They should attend to the content of the information transmitted through transnational networks — and to the extent to which that information prepares or misleads aspirant migrants about the occupational transitions they will face. Formalizing and systematizing the pre-migration information environment — ensuring that all potential migrants have access to the experience-grounded knowledge that current migrants share informally — may be as important as any structural intervention in the credentialing system itself.

Although this study focuses on Nigerian health workers migrating to Canada, the concept of transnational information brokerage may apply to other forms of skilled migration in which migrants navigate complex credential recognition systems and labour market transitions. Future research should examine how brokerage dynamics operate across different skilled migration corridors and policy environments, track whether patterns shift as digital platforms become more prominent migration information channels, and investigate how brokerage intersects with the selectivity and timing of actual migration decisions over time.

As an exploratory mixed-methods study, this research is intended to support theory building rather than causal testing. Accordingly, several limitations should be noted. First, the cross-sectional design does not permit causal inference; it documents associations between transnational engagement and advice-seeking, not causal relationships. Second, the Nigerian sample is geographically limited to Lagos and Ibadan; findings should not be generalized to Nigerian health professionals in other regions or rural areas. Third, snowball sampling through professional and diaspora networks may over-represent transnationally active migrants, potentially inflating estimates of transnational engagement. Fourth, the data were collected in 2015–2016, prior to the post-2017 acceleration of Nigerian Express Entry uptake, the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on health workforce migration, and the normalization of social media and digital platforms as primary channels for migration information. Findings should be interpreted as capturing this particular historical moment rather than as a current account of Nigerian health worker migration to Canada. Future research should track the relationship between transnational activity, information transmission, and actual migration outcomes.

Author contributions

S.A. conceived and designed the study, conducted data collection, performed data analysis, and wrote and revised the manuscript.

Funding

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) through a supervisor-held grant for field research.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to participant confidentiality and the sensitive nature of qualitative interview data but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethics approval for this study was obtained from the Wilfrid Laurier University Research Ethics Board (REB #4111). The study was conducted in accordance with the Tri-Council Policy Statement, institutional guidelines, and applicable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Consent to publish

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.