Immigrant Entrepreneurs Research Articles

Food as a social weapon: Peruvian immigrant entrepreneurs claiming home, belonging, and distinction in Southern California

ABSTRACT Peruvian immigrants in Southern California encounter a complex context of reception in which xenophobic portrayals of Latinxs exist alongside positive discourses on immigration. Simultaneously, the Peruvian gastronomic boom has reached the Golden State, where foodies’ celebration of Peruvian cuisine creates a favourable opportunity structure for Peruvian immigrant entrepreneurs. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and life history interviews with 35 Peruvian women culinary entrepreneurs in and around Los Angeles, the article argues that these entrepreneurs capitalize on the positive food discourses surrounding Peruvian gastronomy to contest stigmas of an ascribed Latinx identity. Food becomes a powerful weapon to negotiate a position within racial/ethnic hierarchies. By showing that culinary businesses constitute a unique space where these complex processes play out, the paper expands the economic focus in the ethnic entrepreneurship literature and provides knowledge on how immigrants’ economic agency is embedded in broader social processes, such as their search for home and belonging.

Perceived Benefits and Barriers to Implementing Occupational Health Recommendations Among Immigrant-Owned Nail Salons in the Greater Philadelphia Region.

Introduction. Immigrant nail salon owners and employees face multiple barriers to accessing occupational health training and services. We formed an academic-community-based organization-business owner partnership-unique in that all partners were culturally congruent-to develop a pilot intervention program for the nail salon community. Methods. Eighteen individuals (nine salon owners and nine employees) from the Greater Philadelphia region received the training in their native language and provided feedback through in-depth qualitative interviews. Interview guide was developed using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Themes of perceived benefits and barriers were identified and aligned with relevant CFIR constructs to gain better understanding of the implementation challenges. Results. Reported benefits of program were improved knowledge of the workplace hazards and safety practices, and the potential to attract more customers and retain employees. Perceived barriers to implementing recommended practices were limited availability of safer products and high cost, challenges communicating with customers, lack of engagement from some owners, organizational management practices affecting employees' motivation, and limited partnership with local government to assist small immigrant-owned businesses. Conclusions. Our study revealed multiple factors that pit long-term health protection of nail salon workers against the economic viability of the businesses that employ them. Our research highlights the need to (1) advocate for federal policies making safer products to be more accessible to the masses, (2) establish local policy and culturally appropriate technical support programs that engage community-based organizations, and (3) develop economic opportunities and mentorship for immigrant entrepreneurs to operate profitable healthy salons.

Immigrant entrepreneurship and gender dimensions: A systematic review

Purpose: This paper discusses whether the gender dimension of immigrants influences their entrepreneurial activities in host societies. Human capital theory, social capital theory, and disadvantage theory are used to explore immigrant entrepreneurship and its understanding as a migration research field worthy of more attention.Design/methodology/approach: Based on the systematic analysis of literature and peer-reviewed papers, a comprehensive analytical framework was developed. This framework is provided with an overview to discover the 20 articles written between 2000 and 2021 from different countries are discussed.Findings: It has been found that female immigrant entrepreneurs face many different challenges to sustain their businesses in the host countries, based on their human capital, social-capital, and disadvantage perspectives. Consequently, this research adds to the literature on female immigrants and has practical implications for policymakers and the immigrant community.Social Implications: The implication of this study is that destination countries should do something to improve the human and social capital of female immigrants to decrease the disadvantages they face.Originality/value: In this study, we specifically consider female immigrant enterprises to be as important as male enterprises in the destination countries to support the social and economic integration of migrants. On the other hand, this study also shows the disadvantages female immigrant entrepreneurs face before establishing a business and after starting their entrepreneurial activities.

Corporate governance in immigrant-founded entrepreneurial firms: ownership heterogeneity and firm performance

ABSTRACT Drawing from resource dependence theory and the faultlines perspective, this study examines how ownership heterogeneity affects firm performance in the understudied context of entrepreneurial firms founded by immigrants. We find that investment by venture capitalists (VCs) is associated with immigrant-founded entrepreneurial firms being less profitable during their infancy stage. Our results also reveal that the presence of a native-born co-owner has a negative effect on performance for these entrepreneurial firms. This study suggests that immigrant entrepreneurs be more cautious about the costs and benefits of seeking resources from VCs and partnering with native co-owners. Further, seeking capital from alternative sources and employing native talent and expertise in terms of business advisers or executive managers may be effective alternative approaches for immigrant entrepreneurs.

The transnational dimension of the Pakistani ethnic economy in Barcelona

ABSTRACT The city of Barcelona has become a nodal point of the transnational social space of the Pakistani diaspora. Despite being quite invisible, Pakistanis stand out for their entrepreneurial activities, especially in the food and telecommunication sectors. This paper aims to shed light on the transnational dimension of Pakistani ethnic businesses of Barcelona through the lens of ‘transnational mixed embeddedness’ and a multi-level approach that combines analytical levels (macro, meso and micro) and territorial levels (local/national and transnational). This is within the theoretical debate around globalization from below, immigrant entrepreneurship and transnational entrepreneurship, and by using a mixed-methods design. The results show how migrant entrepreneurs can be placed in a ‘continuum of transnational embeddedness’, depending on the interrelation of agency and micro-sociological processes entailing in-group differences with meso-market and macro-structural factors from a dynamic point of view.

Towards a Greater Understanding of the Prevalence of Immigrant Entrepreneurship in the Informal Economy of Ghana: An Institutional Theory Perspective

ABSTRACT This study aims to explore the prevalence of immigrant entrepreneurship in Ghana's informal economy through institutional theory. Specifically, the study sought to understand how the elements of the institutional theory (norms, culture, and regulations, which form formal and informal institutions) support or discourage immigrant entrepreneurship in the Sub-Saharan African context, with insights from Ghana. It is qualitative research that adopts an in-depth face-to-face interview with 30 respondents. Analyzing the data from the interviews, the key findings are immigrants' inability to find paid jobs, failure to gather sufficient funds to operate in the formal sector, and the willingness to use innate ability. The Ghanaian culture of hospitality and the government's inability to implement trade regulations have been an enabler to the prevalence of immigrant entrepreneurship in Ghana. The legal frameworks that prohibit immigrants from participating in retailing, especially in the informal economy of Ghana, are well known by immigrant entrepreneurs, albeit it has yet to adhere. Therefore, there is a call for policy measures to address the weak institutional framework, which encourages disregard for the country's laws. Immigrant entrepreneurs who wish to remain in doing business in Ghana must obey the rules or suffer the punishment thereof.

Jihye Kim, From Sweatshop to Fashion Shop: Korean Immigrant Entrepreneurship in the Argentine Garment Industry (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), 200 pp.

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Digital ethnicity affordances: from a liability to an asset in immigrant entrepreneurship

PurposeThis paper aims to understand how immigrant entrepreneurs use digital opportunities to overcome the liability of newness and foreignness and how an immigrant's ethnicity can be digitally performed as an asset in business.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts an inductive multiple case study approach using social media content. The data consist of over 3,500 posts, images and screenshots from Facebook, Instagram and the webpages of seven successful Vietnamese restaurants in Sweden. Grounded content analysis was conducted using NVivo.FindingsThe findings suggest that digitalising ethnic artifacts can mediate and facilitate three digital performances that together can turn ethnicity from a liability to an asset: (i) preserving performance through digital ethnicising, (ii) embracing performance through digital generativitising and (iii) appropriating performance through digital fusionising. The results support the introduction of a conceptual framework depicting the interwoven duality of horizontal and vertical boundary blurring, in which the former takes place between the offline and online spaces of immigrant businesses, and the latter occurs between the home and host country attachment of the immigrant businesses.Originality/valueThis study responds to calls for understanding how immigrant entrepreneurs can overcome the liability of foreignness. It offers a fresh look at ethnicity, which has been seen in a negative light in the field of immigrant entrepreneurship. This study illuminates that ethnicity can be used as a resource in immigrant entrepreneurship, specifically through the use of digital artifacts and digital platforms.

Third-party signals in crowdfunded microfinance: which microfinance institutions boost crowdfunding among refugee entrepreneurs?

Despite the relevance of crowdfunding as a financing tool for underrepresented entrepreneurs, prior research pays scant attention to the funding gap for refugee entrepreneurs. Using a composite framework that integrates both entrepreneurship research and signalling theory, the current study investigates how microfinance institutions (MFIs) and refugee entrepreneurs can deploy signals to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities on digital platforms. The results, based on refugee data pertaining to 5615 loans on Kiva during 2015–2018, reveal that when refugee loan campaigns are affiliated with an MFI that itself features lower default rates, achieves high profitability, adopts an entrepreneurial support orientation, operates transnationally and is digitally focused, the campaign achieves better crowdfunding performance outcomes than refugees campaigns affiliated with an MFI that lacks these features. These findings provide clear evidence that when MFIs offer reputational signals, visible to the crowd of lenders, it can increase entrepreneurial financing and democratize resource acquisition among financially excluded refugee entrepreneurs.Plain English SummaryCan microfinance institutions boost crowdfunding among refugee entrepreneurs and their small businesses? Yes, they can. Third-party signals may support growth in alternative finance for #refugees. While research on entrepreneurship has largely targeted immigrant entrepreneurs, the refugee context has been neglected, namely how refugee entrepreneurs fund their economic activities. With signalling literature on new venture financing of entrepreneurship being greatly fragmented, we contribute to the understanding of how crowdfunding microfinance boost venture financing of refugees. We study the gain of legitimacy by refugee entrepreneurs displayed through reputational signals intertwined with the reputation of microfinance institutions (MFI). Our results reveal higher success in funding outcomes when the loan campaign is linked with microfinance institutions with lower loan default rates, higher profitability, driven by entrepreneurial support, operating internationally and with a digital presence, compared with MFI that lacks these features. Our work has relevant implications for underrepresented refugee entrepreneurs, crowdfunding actors, policymakers and scholars. Our findings indicate that the affiliation between refugees-microfinance institutions creates certain reputational signals which enhance entrepreneurial finance and shape conditions for societal integration in the host country. For crowdfunding platforms, we show that to develop an effective, self-perpetuating entrepreneurial ecosystem, they should work to build their reputation among lenders, by capitalizing on and making third-party signals more readily available. At the same time, they must conduct due diligence to assess and monitor MFIs’ behaviour. Policy makers are recommended to build up on this digital microfinance experience to enhance new venturing finance refugee programs. We, thus, extend prior findings about the importance of third-party affiliations by establishing a composite framework of third-party signals in the context of new venture financing for financially excluded communities, and refugees in particular. Accordingly, for scholars, we offer cross-disciplinary insights into which characteristics of intermediaries can facilitate links between the supply (crowd of lenders) and demand (refugee entrepreneurs) sides in prosocial crowdfunding.

The role of marketing agility and risk propensity in resilience and survival of eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs in Denmark

PurposeWhile extant research has increasingly examined minority entrepreneurs, less attention has been paid to Eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs and the role that marketing agility and risk propensity play in their resilience and survival in Nordic countries. This paper aims to highlight the importance of these factors for Eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs in the developed Nordic economy of Denmark.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts the dynamic capabilities view as a theoretical framework and uses a qualitative research approach with interviews as the main data collection method. The empirical sample comprises 12 entrepreneurs originating from Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania, who operate in Denmark.FindingsThe findings show that contrary to prior studies that have highlighted a reliance among the migrant entrepreneurial community on ethnic networks as their dominant target market, Eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs located in Denmark, in contrast, focused on attracting Danish consumers as their target market audience. Leveraging multiple networks was therefore found to be critical to the survival of these immigrant ventures. Additionally, the entrepreneurs' marketing agility, underpinned by their optimistic approach, growth ambitions and passion for entrepreneurship, was found to play a pivotal role in their survival. Finally, despite the stable institutional environment in Denmark and the ease of doing business (both of which are influential factors in shaping the risk propensity and risk perception of entrepreneurs), the authors found immigrant entrepreneurs' risk propensity to be rather low, which was contrary to the expectations.Originality/valueThe current paper is one of the first studies that explicitly analyzes the roles of marketing agility and risk propensity in the resilience and survival of the ventures of relatively skilled immigrant entrepreneurs from Eastern Europe in a developed Nordic economy (Denmark). The paper's findings also challenge the notion associated with immigrant entrepreneurial ventures being primarily focused on ethnic customers or enclaves. The paper also specifies the peculiarities of marketing agility in immigrant entrepreneurial contexts and solidifies the importance of diverse networks in immigrant business survival and development.

Immigrant and native's export benefiting from business collaborations: a global study

The authors hypothesised that export develops in the network of business collaborations that are embedded in migration status. In that, collaborative networking positively affects export performance and immigrant entrepreneurs enjoy higher collaborative networking than native entrepreneurs due to their advantage of being embedded in the home and the host country. Moreover, the advantage of being an immigrant promotes the benefits of collaborative networking for export compared to those of native entrepreneurs. A total of 47,200 entrepreneurs starting, running and owning firms in 71 countries were surveyed by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and analysed through hierarchical linear modelling technique. Collaborative networking facilitated export and migration status influenced entrepreneurs' networking, in that, immigrant entrepreneurs had a higher level of collaborative networking than native entrepreneurs. Consequently, immigrant entrepreneurs seemed to have benefited from their network collaborations more than their native counterparts did. This study sheds light on how immigrant entrepreneurs' network collaborations can be effective for their exporting.

Uncertainty and Immigrant Entrepreneurship: Evidence From Brexit

Uncertainty and Immigrant Entrepreneurship: Evidence From Brexit

The interoperability of mobile phone technology as a way to improve immigrant entrepreneurship in South Africa

The paper seeks to illustrate the propinquity between mobile phone technology and the profitability of immigrant entrepreneurs’ businesses and whether there is a positive effect. The outcome should ascertain if mobile technology could be propounded as a credible source of competitive advantage. The paper uses a qualitative approach, using content analysis as the research design tool. Data analysis was done through the conceptual content analysis approach. Various online databases such as EBSCOhost, Google scholar, JSTOR, and Science Direct were accessed for literature. Different terms (keywords) such as; “Mobile phone technology”, “mobile marketing”, and “mobile payment” were searched. The data collected through a systematic literature review were compiled, analysed, and generated conclusions. This paper deduces that immigrant entrepreneurs stand to gain a competitive edge by using mobile phone technology, thereby improving business performance. Future researchers need to expand the scope of their study to other sectors and industries globally. The paper exhibits the significance of apps and websites as mobile technology tools that can positively impact business performance. This paper outlines how mobile technology is now an essential catalyst in the performance of various business sectors. Results are essential to app and website developers, entrepreneurs and the business society.

Do welfare policies matter for immigrant entrepreneurship? An analysis in the context of France

AbstractThere is little research on the relationship between welfare policies and immigrant entrepreneurship. Accordingly, this paper examines changes in three welfare domains: child‐care, health/medical insurance, and unemployment insurance in the context of France since roughly the 1980s, but with a focus on the 21st century. Given changes in French welfare policy, I show that immigrants' greater access to fluctuating, sometimes declining, but overall increasing spending in the three domains, can be positively correlated with slowly increasing immigrant entrepreneurship since the early 2000s. However, I also argue that welfare policies do not seem to have a significant effect on the levels and survival of immigrant‐owned firms in France. The findings of this paper should nonetheless be taken with extreme caution in light of the obstacles to analyzing this relationship. As a consequence, I provide an assessment of three possible research designs as a route towards better understanding this relationship.

Ahmed Mujtaba Razzak: an immigrant entrepreneur with big dreams

Learning outcomes At the end of the case discussion, students should be able to: ▪ Evaluate the relevance of community and networks to immigrant entrepreneurs. ▪ Appreciate the entrepreneurial journey of immigrant entrepreneurs in the South African context. ▪ Consider the challenges of the socio-economic environment affecting businesses in South Africa. ▪ Make an informed decision regarding how creating a family entrepreneurial ecosystem can mitigate business risk. ▪ Critically evaluate which strategies could exploit any further opportunities and grow the businesses. Case overview/synopsis In April 2022, Ahmed Mujtaba Razzak, director of Montage Interior Solutions, a design, building and construction company based in Mayfair, Johannesburg, was preparing for the official opening of the company’s newly-built Clifton Mall. Ahmed, whose family had immigrated to South Africa from Pakistan in 2004, had big goals for the mall: he wanted it not only to be profitable for his family, but also to help uplift the lives of the shop owners and the members of the surrounding community, many of whom were also from Pakistani immigrant families. Thus, instead of having to rent the units, shop owners were able to buy them under sectional title. The model promised the benefits of unit ownership for the shop owners and a quicker return on investment for Montage. As he prepared for the opening, Ahmed wondered whether he had set everything up for the venture to be able to achieve his goals. The case study provided a deeper understanding of different challenges, approaches and strategies used in immigrant start-ups. The case study included various business and entrepreneurship themes focused on immigrant start-ups, strategy and diversification, family business and business growth. It also considered both individual and contextual factors influencing immigrant entrepreneurship, insofar as family and the business are “inextricably intertwined”, where the effects of social exchange between generations meant that successful enterprising families showed tremendous respect for the sensitive relations between the business and the family. Complexity academic level Postgraduate Diploma, MBA, Masters, Executive Education Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Internationalization of transnational entrepreneurial firms from an advanced to emerging economy: the role of transnational mixed-embeddedness

PurposeThis study investigates the role of transnational mixed-embeddedness when transnational entrepreneurial firms (TEFs) become internationalized. First-generation immigrant entrepreneurs who maintain business arrangements in their home and host countries own TEFs. In many cases, they internationalize from emerging economies to advanced economies. Nevertheless, this study focuses on TEF cases that internationalize from an advanced to an emerging economy, which prior transnational entrepreneurship studies have largely overlooked.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses a qualitative approach based on six TEF case studies from Canada and the UK venturing into China to explore TEFs' internationalization.FindingsThe case studies explore the elements that constitute TEFs' cognitive and relational embeddedness—two main types of embeddedness—in home and host countries and how TEFs exploit such embeddedness for their internationalization. The results suggest that high levels of transnational mixed-embeddedness help TEFs reduce resource and institutional distance barriers in home countries, thereby assisting their internationalization. A framework that visualizes the role of transnational mixed-embeddedness in TEFs' internationalization and novel categorizations of transnational mixed-embeddedness is proposed.Originality/valueAlthough there has been a growing demand for research on the emergence of internationalized smaller firms, there have been few empirical efforts on TEFs' internationalization. It is still unclear how TEFs internationalize differently than homegrown entrepreneurial firms. This study fills this gap in transnational entrepreneurship literature by examining the influence of transnational mixed-embeddedness on TEFs' internationalization.

Socially and culturally sustainable public participation in urban development: Map questionnaire as a bridge-building tool in Kontula shopping mall

Social sustainability is a prerequisite for legitimate public participation. Currently, multilingualism and multiculturalism place particular demands on participation methods and processes. This article presents a case study where entrepreneurs with an immigrant background were engaged in the development process of Kontula shopping mall in Helsinki, Finland. The results show that an existing digital participation tool, specifically a map questionnaire can be utilized in a novel way in a multicultural context to build a bridge between this marginalized group and urban development. New skills and tailored methods are required to support the participation of immigrant entrepreneurs.

Bibliometric analysis of immigrant entrepreneurship research 2009–2019

Bibliometric analysis of immigrant entrepreneurship research 2009–2019

Toward understanding the dynamics of the relationship between religion, entrepreneurship and social change: Empirical findings from technology-savvy African immigrants in UK

Despite increasing interest in the relationship between religion and entrepreneurship, extant studies have failed to provide a clear explanation of this interdependence at the individual level. Our study addresses this knowledge gap by using a methodology based on an inductive and interpretative approach to collect and analyze primary data from 27 African immigrant entrepreneurs who are members of several Christian communities in the United Kingdom. Our original contributions include: At the theoretical level, the identification and definition of three types of individual religious expressions; at the methodological level, the development and application of qualitative measurement scales to the evaluation and graphical representation of individual religious profiles; on a practical level, the presentation of relevant content that indicates the mutual interdependence between an individual's religious manifestations and their entrepreneurial decisions and actions. Finally, in terms of modelization, we propose a general model that connects the individual profile of religious expressions and entrepreneurial initiatives in a dynamic process, which fuels emergent gradual changes in religion, culture, and the socio-economic context.

The experiences of Black immigrant entrepreneurs of African descent in the Prairies of Canada.

The experiences of Black immigrant entrepreneurs of African descent in the Prairies of Canada.