Transnational Entrepreneurship: The Practice of Cross-Cultural Affiliation

Abstract

Transnational entrepreneurs--immigrants who maintain business-related linkages with their countries of origin and adopted countries--have become an increasingly influential vehicle of business globalization. Studying the creation of new businesses by transnational entrepreneurs requires an understanding of the dynamic relationships that span a cross-cultural actor's multiple fields of activity. To this end, we introduce a conceptual framework based on Bourdieu's Theory of Practice, which conceives of entrepreneurial action as guided by both structure and agency. We show that dialectical relations within the configuration of habitus, field, and capital are crucial for understanding the creation of transnational entrepreneurs' practices and their complex outcomes. We further contribute to the application of the Theory of Practice by introducing the notion of boundary configuration.