Diaspora entrepreneurs as institutional change agents: The case of Thamel.com

Abstract

Diasporans are migrants and their descendants who maintain a relationship to their country of origin ( Safran, 1991). Diasporans who establish new ventures in their countries of origin comprise a special case of international ethnic entrepreneurship. In countries of settlement, diasporans confront institutional environments that often are quite different than those that exist in their countries of origin. We refer to the exposure to and adoption of institutional roles and relationships associated with a new cultural setting as “institutional acculturation.” Most extant work in management and marketing focuses on how a migrant's acculturation affects his/her behavior in the new country of residence. We shift the analytical lens to the country of origin. Utilizing a case study from Nepal, we demonstrate how institutional acculturation can inspire a diaspora entrepreneur to transform institutional arrangements in his/her country of origin and generate dramatic change in society's role expectations of the government, suppliers, and buyers.