From City Lights to Country Nights? The Long‐Term Effects of Gossip in Rural Communities on Rural Return Migration Preferences and Intentions

ABSTRACT This study explores the role of gossip in rural communities as a barrier to rural return migration. Previous research indicates that perceptions of social control and limited tolerance for diversity diminish residential satisfaction, especially among young women and sexual minorities, and that perceptions of gossip predict migration intentions among both women and men. Our study focuses on the long‐term effects of gossip‐related out‐migration from rural Iceland on rural return migration intentions and preferences. Drawing on survey data from rural out‐migrants living in the Reykjavík capital area, we find significantly less interest in rural return among women who left because of gossip, controlling other predictors of return migration. While gossip contributes to the out‐migration of both men and women, it only seems to decrease rural return migration preferences and intentions among women. These results offer new insights into the mechanisms of return migration and have important implications for rural development.