Connect Virtually, Visit Physically: Social Transnationalism among Korean Immigrants in the U.S.

While there are many studies across different fields of immigrant transnationalism, there are a few that analyze the experience of Korean immigrants social transnationalism. Analyzing a survey of 507 Korean immigrants in the New York-New Jersey area, this study aims to understand (1) the frequency of their engagement in broad (e.g., contact with family and friends in the home country) and narrow social transnationalism (e.g., visit the home country), (2) the relationship between the two types of transnationalism, and (3) the factors associated with different types of social transnationalism, especially focusing on assimilation and socioeconomic status. It finds that Korean immigrants tend to engage more in broad social transnationalism and that the two types of social transnationalism are interrelated. Higher education is positively associated with both types of social transnationalism, whereas the relationship between assimilation and social transnationalism shows different directions depending on the type of social transnationalism. Residing in the U.S. for longer years is negatively associated with broad social transnationalism, and better English proficiency is positively related to narrow social transnationalism. This study contributes to the existing literature and suggests future studies in other understudied areas of Korean transnationalism.