What Can Mainstream Entrepreneurship Learn from Transnational Entrepreneurs?

Abstract

Transnationalism in entrepreneurship has predominantly been examined in the context of transnational individuals functioning as multi-resource arbitrageurs between their home and host countries. In this systematic review, we unpack the ways in which transnational entrepreneurs leverage a variety of resources to discover, enact, evaluate, and exploit opportunities across borders, shedding light on both foundational research questions and burgeoning research conversations in the field of entrepreneurship. We review and synthesise the theoretical perspectives, methodologies, and contexts reflected in the past decade of research since the concept of transnational entrepreneurship was introduced. As research on transnational entrepreneurship has emerged in multiple adjacent fields such as strategy, international business, economics, and sociology, we adopt a context-sensitive lens to make sense of these multiple, yet largely fragmented insights, with the goal of expanding the focus of inquiry and propelling the discourse of transnational entrepreneurship beyond niche subfields, to advance entrepreneurship research more broadly.