Minority Business Research Articles

The impact of robotic working patterns on employee work life and job satisfaction: evidence from ethnic minority businesses in the UK

The impact of robotic working patterns on employee work life and job satisfaction: evidence from ethnic minority businesses in the UK

A Pilot Study of Minority, Beginning, and Young Logging Business Owners in the Carolinas and Surrounding States, USA

Abstract The logging industry in the United States faces a demographic shift with aging owners and a decline in intergenerational business transfers. This pilot study explores the potential for new businesses led by minority groups, beginning loggers, and young entrepreneurs in the southeastern United States. Interviews with nine minority, beginning, and young (MBY) logging business owners and four forestry/logging associations uncovered challenges, including high startup costs, limited access to financing and funds, difficulty hiring skilled workers, low profit margins, and a lack of established professional networks. These MBY loggers are well educated and exhibit productive businesses, with an average investment of between $100,000 and $499,999. Proposed solutions to help more MBY logging business owners get started encompass government grants, low-interest loans, marketing initiatives, and legislative measures. Results are limited, and this study serves as a first glimpse into MBY logging business owners’ challenges; additional attention is needed for this population of logging business owners. Study Implications: Understanding the present status and challenges faced by minority, beginning, and young (MBY) logging business owners is instrumental for the industry, as the trend of intergenerational logging business transfer is declining. The study’s results suggest that support from the forest products industry and the government, such as government grants, low-interest loans, and strategic marketing, can enhance the sustainability of MBY logging businesses. These measures, coupled with legislative support, could help to address immediate challenges, such as high startup costs, and lay the groundwork for fostering a resilient logging industry.

Does Greater Visibility Benefit Minority Businesses? Evidence from an Online Review Platform

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, numerous companies took action to advance racial equality. Several online platforms added a feature that identified “minority-owned” businesses to help users locate and, thus, support them. In this study, we investigate how reviews and ratings of restaurants in New York City change after being identified as Black-owned on an online platform. We find that the number of reviews increases, but the average rating decreases after restaurants are identified as Black-owned. We investigate how various contextual factors, such as the number of hate crimes where the restaurant is located and restaurant popularity, as well as reviewer characteristics, such as reviewer race and gender, impact this relationship. We also examine mechanisms that could be contributing to our findings. Collectively, and in contrast to the positive findings in other studies, our results reveal a possible unintended consequence of identity disclosure for minority-owned businesses. Findings from our study offer important implications for society, business owners, and online platforms.

Leading in a Time of Crisis: The Coronavirus Effect on Leadership in America

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented global health emergency, the study explores the vulnerabilities and challenges faced by leadership. The crisis, exemplified by issues such as the misinformation around Omicron Boosters in rural America, has brought to light the complex interplay between leadership, public health initiatives, and societal dynamics. This scenario underscores the study's aim: to analyze and understand the specific attributes, styles, and communication strategies that define effective crisis leadership within the American context. Adopting a quantitative research methodology, the study conducted a survey with 521 respondents, encompassing a diverse cross-section of American society, including members of minority communities, volunteers, students, healthcare workers, business owners, and residents of areas significantly impacted by the pandemic. The survey, focused on collecting data through a structured questionnaire, to assess the interplay between the independent variables (transparency, empathy, stakeholder engagement, context-sensitive leadership style, adaptable leadership styles, targeted communication, and culturally sensitive communication strategies) and the dependent variables (success of crisis leadership and improved crisis management), using Likert scale questions. The data collected were used to test the hypothesis, using regression analysis. The findings reveal significant insights: transparency, empathy, and engagement with stakeholders are crucial for successful crisis leadership; context-sensitive and adaptable leadership styles are more effective than rigid ones in diverse crisis scenarios; and targeted, culturally sensitive communication strategies significantly improve crisis management outcomes. These results underscore the multifaceted nature of crisis leadership and the importance of nuanced, adaptable approaches in times of uncertainty while the study agrees with the assertions of McGregor Burns (2004) and Kouzes and Posner (2023) on the leader’s competencies as key to successful leadership in moments of crisis, this study further reveals the vitality of stakeholders’ engagement and contributions in crisis leadership. Also, while the study’s findings align with those of Erickson (2021) on transparency in communication, the study further reveal that exhibiting empathy along with transparency is very essential in crisis leadership. Therefore, the study recommends developing leadership qualities that emphasize transparency, empathy, and stakeholder engagement, and enhancing adaptability in leadership styles. Additionally, it highlights the need for culturally sensitive communication strategies, tailored to diverse audiences.

Examining the Relocation of Minority Businesses and Its Relationship with Gentrification and the Banking Industry

Examining the Relocation of Minority Businesses and Its Relationship with Gentrification and the Banking Industry

Community Tech Workers: Scaffolding Digital Engagement Among Underserved Minority Businesses

Small businesses are being encouraged to use digital technologies more than ever before. However, the greater emphasis on technology adoption puts underserved minority business owners (those who traditionally have faced barriers in accessing credit, capital and other resources) at greater risk of being left behind. We take an assets-based approach to understand business owners' strengths and challenges in adopting and using digital technologies. We then implement a community-based intervention---Community Tech Workers (CTWs)---to bridge the growing socio-technical gap in the context of small businesses on Detroit's Eastside, which are primarily Black-women-owned businesses. We take a mixed-methods approach, using a combination of a survey, interviews, and observations, to outline how the CTW program 1) helps businesses determine where to start with technology use, 2) offers support grounded in the day-to-day realities of running a business, and 3) builds caring relationships with business owners to foster trust in technology support services. We suggest opportunities for a more collective perspective on assets-based community development and outline considerations for building culturally-conscious ecosystems of support for digital engagement.

THE EFFECT OF BUSINESS OWNER DEMOGRAPHICS ON LOAN FORGIVENESS IN A PANDEMIC

Generally, crisis situations entail economic hardship for entrepreneurs and their businesses. As such, historical crisis events may be accompanied by government policy to lessen the adverse effects for business owners and their employees. By analyzing a sample of 139,006 U.S. businesses that received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans of $150,000 or more from the United States Treasury, we empirically show that female, racial and ethnic minority business owners will be at a disadvantage in receiving loan forgiveness relative to their peers. These findings advance the literature by highlighting post funding gender, racial and ethnic disparities in accessing venture resources. Practically, the results highlight how governmental intervention during a historical shock may disproportionately increase constraints on female, racial and ethnic minority business owners.

The impact of Covid-19 on struggling ethnic minority entrepreneurs' business strategy: the case of Bangladeshi curry houses in the United Kingdom

PurposeThis paper outlines ways in which struggling ethnic minority entrepreneurial service ventures and their owners might respond to unforeseen economic and social shocks. Interviews with owners of Bangladeshi Curry Houses in the United Kingdom — whom historically have lower performance rates compared to other ethnic minority businesses in the country — reveal that the entrepreneurs' response strategies undertaken to survive and remain in the business despite the challenges faced from operating in a turbulence environment.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted depth phone interviews with owners of Bangladeshi Curry Houses in London during January and February of 2021. The Gioia methodology was applied to the interview scripts to identify which crisis themes exist.FindingsDespite no advanced educational training, Bangladeshi owners have applied all of the different crisis management techniques present in larger companies: retrenchment, persevering, innovation, and exit. Although the results show that government schemes aimed at helping small businesses have contributed significantly to their survival, concerns regarding the post-health crisis situation remain challenging and threatening for their growth and survivability.Originality/valueThe results indicates that the ethnic minority owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are less likely to plan for the future operations; furthermore, they tend not to have formulated a strategy for dealing with an external shock hence affecting and threatening their performance and competitiveness in the marketplace.

Documenting Twenty Years of the Contracted Labor-Intensive Forestry Workforce on National Forest System Lands in the United States

Abstract This paper presents the first nationwide analysis detailing the scope and scale of labor-intensive forestry contracts performed on National Forest System lands and examines the businesses contracted, location and types of work performed, and distance traveled by businesses between 2001 and 2020. During the study period, 61,698 contracts were awarded to 7,896 businesses, totaling $12.9 billion, to perform labor-intensive forestry work, with most work being contracted for wildfire-related activities. Businesses were typically located in western states and non-minority owned businesses received the majority of contracts. Of minority-owned businesses, Hispanic American–owned businesses received the most contracts. The median distance that businesses traveled to accomplish work increased significantly through time but differed by business type. Understanding the scope and work of businesses awarded contracts provides insight into the workforce and its relationship to marginalized populations. Strategic investment in this workforce may have widespread impacts on federal, state, and local economies and the livelihoods of forest workers. Study Implications: Between 2001–2020, the USDA Forest Service spent billions of dollars on contracts with thousands of businesses to conduct labor-intensive forestry projects; however, project locations and awarded businesses were not evenly distributed through space and time. Emerging and minority businesses represented a small proportion of contracts awarded. Advancing understanding of the businesses conducting labor-intensive forestry work lays the foundation for inquiry into the working conditions forest workers experience as well as disparities in contract capture. Some regions may have benefitted more from contract capture than others. Understanding factors enabling places and businesses to capture these contract dollars may help identify others that may benefit from investment.

Exoduster Entrepreneurs: Distinctiveness and Segregation in Minority Communities

Abstract This study examines the creation of Black communities in the context of the Exoduster movement, the first major migration of African Americans out of the southern and border states. We focus initially on Nicodemus, Kansas, a site with well-preserved archival information, and then turn to census microdata on roughly three-hundred African-American communities that emerged in Kansas, Colorado, and Oklahoma between 1880 and 1920. Analysis of these communities informs a general model of minority-majority group relations that is differentiated along two dimensions: spatial segregation and the distinctiveness of business activities. Under conditions of prejudice from the majority ethno-racial group, the model predicts that rates of minority business proprietorship and community growth will increase with segregation and distinctiveness, but that the joint occurrence of these conditions presents an existential threat. We draw conclusions for the trajectories of several well-known Black communities, including Nicodemus, Tulsa, and Langston, Oklahoma.

Credit Availability for Minority Business Owners in an Evolving Credit Environment

Disparities in access to small business financing through loan denials and discouragement are estimated using Federal Reserve Small Business Credit Survey data from 2016 to 2020. Substantial differences in credit denial rates continue to exist despite the growth of fintech lenders, which prior research has shown to have expanded the set of small businesses receiving credit. The pandemic period brought many direct additional changes to the business and lending environment, but these results show no evidence of trends in credit access over this period. The Paycheck Protection Program loans represented unprecedented support for small businesses that was not dependent on the credit worthiness of businesses, but minority-owned businesses are estimated to have received a smaller fraction of the funds that they applied for from the program in its 2020 implementation.

Entrepreneuring in Diverse Neighbourhoods: Policies and Minority Business in Copenhagen, Istanbul, Milan and Warsaw

Entrepreneuring in Diverse Neighbourhoods: Policies and Minority Business in Copenhagen, Istanbul, Milan and Warsaw

The Paycheck Protection Program: Minority vs. Non-Minority Bank Response

We are the first to empirically analyze whether the "Guidance on Accessing Capital for Minority, Underserved, Veteran and Women-Owned Business Concerns" (Guidance) program was successful. The program was implemented to promote the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans provided by Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) in the second round compared to the first round of PPP. Using both loan-level data from the Small Business Administration (SBA) and balance-sheet-level data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), we obtain compelling empirical evidence indicating that MDIs issued relatively more PPP loans (scaled by institution assets) than non-MDIs in the second round. This finding is evidence that the goal of dedicated access for MDIs under the Guidance program was successful. It also enhances the understanding of the PPP lending program and the impact of the Federal Reserve PPP Liquidity Facility (PPPLF) in terms of the role played by MDIs.

Do Minority-Owned Labels Help or Hurt Minority Businesses? The Effect of Minority-Owned Labels on Purchase Intentions Depending on Consumers’ Political Orientation and Race

Do Minority-Owned Labels Help or Hurt Minority Businesses? The Effect of Minority-Owned Labels on Purchase Intentions Depending on Consumers’ Political Orientation and Race

Linkages between regional characteristics and small businesses viability

Our study identifies regional traits associated with small business viability, paying particular attention to bank lending to minority-owned firms. Although creditworthy minority business enterprises (MBEs) have less access to bank financing than similar White-owned firms, they have increased their nationwide employee numbers substantially since 2002, more so indeed than White-owned firms. The discouraged borrower incidence among creditworthy MBEs, nonetheless, is quite high. Given their limited access to financing, the dynamism displayed by these firms is surprising. To link regional characteristics to bank lending policies, local economic well-being measures and racial intolerance levels are used to identify areas where banks participate in Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) agreements, a proxy for their willingness to disregard owner race and firm geographic location when financing firms. We find that regional prosperity is positively linked to CRA agreement presence, while a legacy of institutionalized racism is negatively linked. We next explore whether the presence of local CRA agreements is linked to relatively fewer discouraged small business borrowers. The incidence of creditworthy borrowers discouraged from seeking bank financing drops significantly when CRA agreements are present locally.

Discovering ethnic minority business research directions using text mining and topic modelling

PurposeThis study aims to unveil within the current academic literature the principal directions in the ethnic entrepreneurship and small business marketing research context.Design/methodology/approachAn automated literature analysis procedure was undertaken, attempting to cover all literature published on the subject since 1962. A total of 188 articles were analysed using text mining and topic modelling.FindingsThe results show a lack of framing of ethnic entrepreneurship literature outside the narrower scope of migration. Some core themes were found (e.g. network, diversity) around which several other themes orbit, including both related issues to the ethnic factor (e.g. barriers and minorities) and managerial issues (e.g. marketing and production).Originality/valueEthnic minority business and small business marketing research has seen a growing number of publications. However, a careful review of existing work is missing.

Public policy responses to COVID-19 and the survival of ethnic minority businesses (EMBs): does entrepreneurial orientation (EO) matter?

PurposeThe global economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused the closure of countless ethnic minority businesses (EMBs) worldwide, partly due to the public policy responses. This paper investigates whether EMBs’ entrepreneurial orientation (EO) mediates the impact of public policy responses to COVID-19 on their survival.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing institutional theory, the authors developed a novel conceptual framework that divides policy responses to COVID-19 into aggressive (imposing restrictions on movement, e.g. lockdowns) and less aggressive policy responses (not imposing restrictions on movement, e.g. social distancing). The authors then surveyed intra-regional EMBs, specifically businesses owned by ethnic minorities in the Kano and Katsina provinces of Nigeria, and analysed the data using structural equation modelling and analysis of variance (ANOVA).FindingsThe authors found that intra-regional EMBs in developing countries are very vulnerable to the public policy responses imposed by governments to curb COVID-19. Aggressive policy responses have a more significant negative effect on the survival of intra-regional EMBs than their less aggressive counterparts. Furthermore, the authors found that EO as a crisis response strategy significantly supports intra-regional EMBs in managing their vulnerability to the hostile institutional environment, reduces the adverse effect of public policy responses and stimulates their survival during the COVID-19 pandemic.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the institutional theory of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)/entrepreneurship and the literature on EMBs by showing the role of EO in mediating the effects of COVID-19 institutional policies on the survival of intra-regional EMBs.

Birds of a Feather Struggle Together? The Perils of Racial Homogeneity to Entrepreneur Performance

Several studies suggest minority business owners face higher barriers relative to their majority counterparts and this may be why they stagnate or fail. However, such arguments are limited in that they emphasize the macro and micro limitations of minority entrepreneurs, ignoring the meso-level elements affecting minority businesses. The tendency of entrepreneurial ventures to operate in teams, be distinctively endogenous compared to organizational teams, along with the importance of team composition to its performance, suggests that the plight of minority entrepreneurs can be explained by the interaction of minority status with the different team formation and functioning stages an entrepreneurial team goes through. In this paper, we study the minority team composition-emergence-performance relationship, leveraging the homophily perspective and entrepreneurial team cognition literature. Using these frameworks, we argue that racial homogeneity can have both positive and negative effects on startup performance, and the direction of such effect is contingent on the team development stage. In making these arguments, we contribute to the minority entrepreneurship literature, entrepreneurial teams research, and team learning processes space.

Using a CDFI-Like Program to Expand Online Lending to Minority Business Owners

Minority business owners face challenges in accessing credit due to banking industry-wide trends moving away from small-dollar loans and because many have less formal credit information. Online lenders have emerged to meet this market demand, using various sources of data besides credit scores to assess creditworthiness. These platforms help minority business owners who have limited credit data. However, online lenders may suffer liquidity problems during a recession, when business owners may be especially in need of funding.
 This Note advocates for programs that incentivize online lenders to invest in low-income and minority communities. Specifically, this Note outlines a proposal for a community development financial institution fund-like subsidy system that offers federal grants to online lenders that invest in certain low-income communities and businesses, upon the condition that these lenders will maintain enough capital reserves to ensure they can continue providing credit during a recession. Such a program can help ensure minority business owners have consistent access to credit.

Management Practice of Women in Entrepreneurship Activities of Micro Enterprise Running in Parbat District, Nepal

Correction: On 21st September 2022 the co-author was changed from Dr D.K. Maheshwari to Prof. Dr. Devendra Kumar Modi Micro-enterprises are small-scale businesses run by low-income people with government or non-government assistance. It helps people manage their daily requirements by improving their quality of life and adding value to the local economy in underdeveloped countries. They provide many small-scale jobs, raise income, increase purchasing power, and strengthen the country's economy. The major goal of this research was to find out how women micro-entrepreneurs may run their businesses as under-represented and seemingly stigmatized minority business owners. Micro businesses make managerial decisions based on individual tastes and priorities. The study discovered that the true meaning of micro-enterprise management goes beyond the standard business semantics. The study included 384 women from the Parbat district of Nepal who worked in micro-enterprises. According to the study, the participation of family members has a substantial impact on the success of a micro business. The results suggest that 99 percent of the women agreed the involvement of family members and supporters to run the enterprise. Similarly 74.50 percent women agreed that they received training to run their enterprise.