Muslim Diaspora in the West and International HRM

Interest in Islam and how Muslims organise themselves within the so-called Western
world has largely stemmed from the flow of Muslim immigration since the 1960s and the
1970s (Loobuyck, Debeer, & Meier, 2013). Many of these immigrants have come to these
new lands in the hope of making a better life for themselves economically, or to escape
the political or religious pressures of their homeland (Lebl, 2014). Initially, deeming the
influx of these foreigners to be largely irrelevant, there was little interest in their presence
by the different governments across many jurisdictions. Typically, scant interest was shown
towards entering into dialogue with the Muslim immigrant community. Indeed, until the
1990s, it was not uncommon for Islam to be perceived as a strange, foreign religion that
was best managed through outsourcing to respective consulates (Loobuyck et al., 2013).
Yet, migration and work-based mobility has a significant influence on the world of work
and societies in which organisations are embedded. Many individuals migrate for better
employment perspectives, as well as due to chain migration, betterment in the quality of life
and based on fleeing famine, war and terror zones globally (Sharma & Reimer-Kirkham,
2015; Valiūnienė, 2016). Migration could involve upward as well as downward mobility/
wages, depending on the country and organisation. For example, minimum wages differ
from € 184 in Bulgaria up to € 1923 in Luxembourg (Valiūnienė, 2016). Migration also
contributes to the lived religion of diasporic communities as they navigate their faith at
work (Sharma & Reimer-Kirkham