Abstract
Immigrant entrepreneurship, like other facets of entrepreneurship, contributes towards a country’s productivity, partly through employment creation. However, the specific factors, in the form of social capital, that lend themselves to this employment creation potential, remain largely unknown. It is against this background that this study sought to determine if the variables of language proficiency and networking ability bear an association with the employment creation ability of African immigrant entrepreneurs.This quantitative study was executed from a positivism philosophical standpoint. Relying on the population of African immigrants in the small business sector in South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique, the non-probability sampling techniques of convenience and snowball sampling were used to identify 2,500 participants. Data were collected in a cross-sectional manner, with self-administered questionnaires and an effective 33% response rate was realized.Findings reveal a statistically significant relationship between language proficiency and employment creation, while that between networking ability and employment creation was not significant. Nonetheless, most of the studied African immigrant entrepreneurs across the countries agreed that language proficiency and networking ability have helped them cope with the rigors of operating their businesses. These findings signal the need for interventions for building language proficiency and networking ability for African immigrant entrepreneurs.
Highlights
The unemployment rate in South Africa is estimated to be at 27.7% (Statistics South Africa, 2017)
It is against this background that this study sought to determine if the variables of language proficiency and networking ability bear an association with the employment creation ability of African immigrant entrepreneurs
Evidence has shown that 90% of all immigrant entrepreneurs are small scale businesses (Azmat & Zutshi, 2012, p. 66) and they play a major role in job creation, since about half of the work force in Australia are employed by small businesses (Collins & Shin, 2012, p. 19)
Summary
The unemployment rate in South Africa is estimated to be at 27.7% (Statistics South Africa, 2017). High rates of unemployment in any country can be a bane to its people This is partly why in South Africa, the government has prioritized the SME sector to increase opportunities and reduce the high unemployment rate. To this end, the role for immigrant entrepreneurs who have shown to provide jobs for locals Many countries have established special visas and entry requirements to attract immigrant entrepreneurs These special visa entry requirements have possibly been borne out of a belief that immigrants can contribute socio-economically and otherwise to the development of these countries. Evidence has shown that 90% of all immigrant entrepreneurs are small scale businesses (Azmat & Zutshi, 2012, p. 66) and they play a major role in job creation, since about half of the work force in Australia are employed by small businesses (Collins & Shin, 2012, p. 19)
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