The Effect of Push-Pull Forces and Local Integration on Internal Migrant Entrepreneurship in China

Abstract

There are significant local-migrant and urban-rural dichotomies that stand in the way of China’s modernization, which can ascribe to the enormous inter- regional economic and institutional disparities, as well as the longstanding hukou system. With a focus on migrants’ home region’s and host region’s economic and institutional differences, this research investigates how push and pull forces and local integration influence internal migrant entrepreneurship in China. Drawing on an integrated conceptual model which incorporates social integration theory into the push-pull framework, we investigate a national sample of 128,539 internal migrants across the country. The results suggest that push and pull forces and local integration significantly influence migrants’ choice of entrepreneurial entry. We also find that social integration plays a mediating role in the relationship between push-pull forces and entrepreneurial entry. Furthermore, we notice that migrants’ local integration is also largely driven by push and pull forces. The study advances theory by incorporating the integration theory with the push-pull theory and argues that migrants’ entrepreneurial entry decisions are not only determined by the economic and institutional push-pull factors but also significantly affected by their integration in the host society. It also identifies the mediating effects of local integration exist in the relationship between push-pull factors and entrepreneurial entry. We propose practical implications that may assist policy-makers in further facilitating the internal movement of people and entrepreneurship in China and other emerging economies.