A study of ten Polish entrepreneurs operating in Leicester, UK is reported in this article. The concepts of social, cultural and economic capital are used as the lens through which to explore the way the capital they access is employed and converted into entrepreneurial activity. Ethnic entrepreneurship takes place within wider social, political and economic institutional frameworks and opportunity structures and so this is taken into account by differentiating two groups – post-war and contemporary Polish entrepreneurs. The differing origins and amounts of forms of capital they can access are shown as is how these are converted into valued outcomes. Combining the mixed embeddedness approach with a forms-of-capital analysis enables looking beyond social capital to elaborate on intra-ethnic variation in the UK’s Polish entrepreneurial community

Despite increased academic attention paid to migration flows in Europe, the gendered nature of transnational migrant entrepreneurial journeys within the context of a family business remains under‐researched. We address this gap by investigating how transnational spaces allow women to challenge dominant ideas about their roles, and to claim legitimacy by opening branches of their family business abroad. With extensive longitudinal evidence collected over a seven‐year period, we showcase four biographical narratives of women operating transnational family businesses in the UK that had originated in Eastern Europe. Adopting this novel longitudinal approach, we provide insights into how these transnational migrant women entrepreneurs exercise individual agency to overcome structural constraints by developing strategies that prioritize their own business aspirations without fully sacrificing their family ties.

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An understanding of ethnic and immigrant entrepreneurship is developed in this paper by exploring how ethnic and entrepreneurial identities intersect. Bourdieu's concept of habitus frames the analysis of narratives of five post‐war Polish entrepreneurs in Leicester. The narrative analysis illuminates the multilayered and nuanced nature of identities. The Polish origin of these entrepreneurs’ habitus was interpreted in light of individual and collective experiences gained growing up in the United Kingdom. While Polish identity was pertinent, it did not define the narrative of entrepreneurship. Our contribution is a theoretically informed, rich qualitative study of what ethnic identity means to individuals and how it intersects with entrepreneurial identity.

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues in studying hidden populations, with particular focus on methodology used to investigate ethnic minority entrepreneurs who illegally run their businesses in the UK. In this paper, on reflection, the authors look at what issues should be considered before engaging with such communities, as we identify current approaches and evaluate their merits.Design/methodology/approachCertain methodological problems are faced by researchers working with hidden populations, and this paper explores these using a sample of Ukrainian illegal self‐employed construction workers operating in London. Semi‐structured interviews with 20 Ukrainians showcase the issues raised and help illustrate the limited applicability of some commonly used research methods to ethnic minority entrepreneurship studies. The authors used an intermediary to help gain access to these illegal migrants in order to satisfy the sensitive issues of this vulnerable group of respondents.FindingsThe authors analyse the ethical considerations, problems and issues with access to such data, discuss early and more recent sampling methodologies and the ways to estimate the size of hidden population. This paper, hence, establishes the state‐of‐the‐art approaches in this field and proposes potential improvements in achieving representativeness of the data. Using the Ukrainian illegal self‐employed construction workers as an example, this paper evaluates the choices made by the researchers.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this paper is to showcase the methodological issues emerging when studying hard‐to‐reach groups and to emphasise the limited applicability of some methods to research on hidden populations.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise how various value dimensions of Harambee, the Kenyan culture, affect the fostering of entrepreneurial behaviours. Theoretically, we draw upon perspectives that view culture as a toolkit and use cultural variables provided by Hofstede to examine the links between national culture and entrepreneurial endeavours in an African context. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on review and synthesis of accessible secondary sources (published research, country-specific reports, policy documents, firm-level empirical evidences, etc.) on the topic and related areas to understand and advance research propositions on the link between enterprising efforts and national culture specific to the Kenyan context. Findings Several theoretical propositions are offered on themes of collective reliance, social responsibility, enterprising, resource mobilisation and political philanthropy to establish relationships, both positive and negative, between values of Harambee and entrepreneurial behaviours. Further, the study provides initial insights into how actors blend both collectivistic and emergent individualistic orientations and display collective identity in the process of mobilising resources and engaging in entrepreneurship. Research limitations/implications The conceptual framework presented bears a considerable relevance to the advancing theory, policy and practice associated with the national culture and entrepreneurial behaviour in the African context and has potential to generate valuable insights. Originality/value This original study provides a springboard for studying the relationship between African cultural context and entrepreneurial behaviours.

The transformative potential of feminist knowledge in the disciplines of entrepreneurship, business and management has arguably been hindered by persistent gender knowledge regimes that marginalize feminist scholarship and channel widely applicable gender expertise into niche streams, conferences and publication outlets. Whilst offering valuable spaces for feminist knowledge production, removing gender expertise from mainstream fora reduces its centrality to broader debates, maintaining its marginality and limiting its impact. Taking a collaborative autoethnographic approach, we explore the formation and development of a UK‐based organization for feminist entrepreneurship scholars, the Gender and Enterprise Network, as a means of collective resistance to this perpetuation of enforced marginality. Our network challenges extant gender knowledge regimes and offers transformative opportunities within and outside of our respective organizations, providing insights for others wishing to form similar networks and contributing to ongoing debates on the value and valuing of feminist knowledge.