A first descriptive analysis shows that, on average, migrants across the set of countries considered score higher than their non-migrant compatriots on scales of orientation towards success, risk and money (figure 1).

To measure them, a scale has been created that encompasses three motivational traits that are closely related with achievement: orientation towards success, towards risk and towards money. The data come from surveys where people are asked to what degree they are like someone for whom it is important to be very successful and receive recognition from others (orientation towards success), to take risks (orientation towards risk and to have a lot of money and expensive possessions (orientation towards money). Based on these three elements, an indicator is created that includes information from the different dimensions.
These orientations are acquired very early on through processes of socialisation, probably in combination with certain personality traits, and are very stable over the course of people’s adult life
These achievement-related motivational orientations that are analysed in this research are part of the personality traits or non-cognitive skills widely studied in so-called behavioural economics, and they are extremely relevant for individual career paths (Bowles et al.2001, Cunha and Heckman, 2007). These orientations are acquired very early on through processes of socialisation, probably in combination with certain personality traits, and are very stable over the course of people’s adult life.
What is interesting for our study is to compare migrants with their compatriots who have not migrated, which means that we need access to information from different countries. For example, if we only wanted to compare Brazilians that have migrated to Portugal with Brazilians that have not migrated, we would need not only information collected from Portugal (only on Brazilians, who are migrants), but also from Brazil (only on Brazilians, who have not migrated). In order to obtain information on different groups of migrants originating from countries with different economic levels and cultural distances, two sources of data were used: firstly, the European Social Survey, which collects information on migrants residing in Europe originating from very different countries both inside and outside of Europe; and secondly, the World Values Survey, which enables analysis of residents in non-European countries (for example Brazil, Morocco, etc.), comparing them with their compatriots that migrated. In this way it is possible to compare the motivational traits of, for example, Brazilians who have migrated to Portugal with those of Brazilians who are equivalent in other characteristics such as age or level of education and who continue to live in Brazil.
Finally, to avoid confusing selection with possible effects of acculturation or assimilation in the destination country, the analyses are restricted to migrants who have spent no longer than five years in their destination country. Furthermore, various additional tests have been carried out to be able to ensure that all the results are maintained if experiences are taken into account that could possibly affect orientations, such as unemployment or social isolation. In total, eleven combinations of origin and destination countries have been taken into consideration. The origin and destination groups considered are British people in Ireland, Germans in Switzerland and Austria, French people in Belgium, Luxembourg or Switzerland, Polish people in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Polish people in the Scandinavian countries, Romanians in Spain, Romanians in wealthy European countries, Turkish people in wealthy European countries, Brazilians in Portugal, Andean people (Colombians, Ecuadorians and Peruvians) in Spain and Moroccans in Spain.
Beyond what is shown in figure 1, what is most interesting is not so much the overall analysis of all the countries of origin and destination, but rather the specific cases of certain combinations of origins and destinations.