Embedded Economic Culture and Household Transformation: Remittances, Social Norms and Migrant Families in Rural Indonesia

Remittances function not only as monetary transfers but also as social mechanisms shaping household economic cultures. This article examines the emergence of new economic orientations among remittance-receiving households in rural Madiun, Indonesia, through the lenses of embeddedness and the New Economics of Labour Migration. Survey data from 625 households were analysed using multiple linear regression and moderation models. The findings indicate that remittance-based economic resources exert a significant influence on household economic culture, while cultural factors operate both as independent determinants and as moderators that amplify economic effects. These results demonstrate that economic change is produced through interactions between material resources, local values and everyday social relations. The study contributes to migration and development scholarship by providing micro-level evidence on how remittances generate context-dependent socio-economic transformations in migrant-sending rural communities.