A typology of Mexican highly educated immigrant entrepreneurs in the United States

Abstract

This study develops a typology of highly educated Mexican immigrant entrepreneurs living in the United States (U.S.) based on their personal resources, motivations and social capital, and the U.S. institutional challenges they face. An exploratory qualitative analysis was conducted by examining 25 in‐depth interviews with Mexican immigrant entrepreneurs and opinion leaders in the United States. The results show that highly educated Mexican migrant entrepreneurs have different resources, motivations, and premigration conditions and face different institutional challenges. These differences give rise to six types of immigrants: “self‐made‐preneurs,” “expat‐preneurs,” “consolidated‐preneurs,” “stubborn millennials,” “runaway‐preneurs” and “avoider‐preneurs.” Previous studies have proposed a typology of high‐skilled migrants or have compared their profile with that of other migrants. However, a typology of highly educated migrant entrepreneurs or any systematic study on the unique institutional challenges they face does not exist.