Abstract
Given the rising rate of migration across the globe, immigrant entrepreneurship is more than ever a topic of high theoretical and practical relevance. Immigrant entrepreneurship can offer host societies a win-win situation, generating incomes for immigrant entrepreneurs and contributing to knowledge transfer, innovativeness, and economic growth within the host economy. However, studies reveal that immigrant entrepreneurship is primarily male dominated and our understanding of the drivers and contextual factors that explain the gender gap is limited. Based on the mixed embeddedness approach, this multi-country study investigates the effects of immigrants’ embeddedness in supportive economic, social, and institutional environmental conditions on the gender gap in immigrant entrepreneurship. Our key findings are threefold: First, the results confirm that a gender gap in immigrant entrepreneurship exists. Female immigrants, compared with their male counterparts, are less likely to start and run their own business. Second, the results reveal that female immigrant entrepreneurship is encouraged by a supportive entrepreneurial environment, showing that policy can enhance female immigrant entrepreneurship through supportive conditions. Third, we find the same pattern of results for forced immigrants and opposite results for natives, suggesting that entrepreneurship is a “Plan A” employment strategy for (forced) female immigrants, whereas it is only a “Plan B” employment strategy for female natives.
Highlights
The global number of refugees and internally displaced persons has reached the highest level since World War II
We examine the effect of a supportive environment in terms of the host country’s economic, social, and institutional factors on the gender gap in immigrant entrepreneurship
We computed the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) which estimates the percentage of total variance in immigrant entrepreneurship that exists between countries
Summary
The global number of refugees and internally displaced persons has reached the highest level since World War II. By the end of 2017, the number of refugees, internally displaced persons, and asylum seekers stood at 68.5 million (UN Refugee Agency 2018). One possibility for assimilating immigrants into host societies is integration through entrepreneurship (Aliaga-Isla and Rialp 2013). A common form of entrepreneurship is starting a new business (Gartner 1985). Starting a new business has a positive effect on the immigrant entrepreneur (e.g., through socioeconomic integration) and can evoke positive societal effects within the host country. Immigrants may bring new and different experiences, perspectives, knowledge, skills, and networks from which the host society can benefit. Immigrant entrepreneurs can make significant contributions to knowledge transfer, innovativeness, competitiveness, and economic growth (Baycan-Levent and Nijkamp 2009; Xavier et al 2012; Marchand and Siegel 2014; Saxenian 2002)
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