Diversity of Entrepreneurial Perceptions: Immigrants vs. Native Population

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between immigrants and the native‐born population concerning estimations of the feasibility of becoming an entrepreneur, and to examine the relationship between the propensity for risk‐taking and the perceived feasibility of becoming an entrepreneur. The paper developed the renewed application of the entrepreneurial intentions model, with perceived feasibility to be an entrepreneur expressed as an assessment of opportunity to act, and risk‐taking propensity derived from an assessment of opportunity to succeed. This renewed approach enabled us to explain the paradox between immigrants' high entrepreneurial motivation and low perceived feasibility of becoming an entrepreneur based on the risk homeostasis theory. The high level of apparent immigration‐related risks experienced by immigrants in the past affects their risk‐taking propensity, thus decreasing their perceived feasibility of establishing businesses.

Contextualized indigenous entrepreneurial models: A systematic review of indigenous entrepreneurship literature

“…In recent decades, research on indigenous entrepreneurship has begun to appear in the literature (Hindle & Lansdowne, 2005;Peredo & Chrisman, 2006;Dana & Anderson, 2007;Frederick, 2008;Dana, 2015). This topic has affirmed itself as an independent field of research from the mainstream entrepreneurial literature and is distinct from ethnic entrepreneurship, which mostly concerns the entrepreneurial activities of immigrants or other major ethnic groups (Dana, 2007b), even if differences and similitudes need to be explored further between indigenous entrepreneurship and ethnic entrepreneurship (Peredo et al, 2004;Kushnirovich, Heilbrunn, & Davidovich, 2017).…”

Trends in entrepreneurial behaviour among immigrant students: Conclusions from research conducted at the University of Social Sciences

“…On the other hand, the risk connected to migration may have a negative influence on the perception of the chances for business success. (Kushnirovich, Heilbrunn, & Davidovich, 2018). Similarly, Kosała (2016) cites data from which it follows that Poland is a country in which economic activity is greater among migrants than indigenous inhabitants.…”

Evaluations of export feasibility by immigrant and non-immigrant entrepreneurs in new technology-based firms

“…The entrepreneur's migrant condition is a significant variable affecting the cognitive processes behind entrepreneurial opportunity recognition and evaluation (Bolívar-Cruz et al 2014;Sundararajan and Sundararajan 2015;Vandor and Franke 2016;Kushnirovich et al 2017). Immigrants are a self-selected group of individuals who undertake the risks of migration to improve their lives and earnings (Constant and Zimmerman 2006) and are therefore 'more able and more highly motivated' (Chiswick 1978: 900) towards entrepreneurship in the host country than natives.…”

“…On the other side, several studies highlighted that immigrant entrepreneurs are more likely to face compromised human, social, and financial capital, to lack business-related knowledge, to lack governmental assistance, and to face adverse regulations in the host country (e.g., Constant and Zimmerman 2006;Hammarstedt 2001). Therefore, the issue of whether immigrant entrepreneurs, because of their different exposure to national and cross-national domains, have different perceptions of potential entrepreneurial opportunities than native entrepreneurs is still awaiting further clarification (e.g., Bolívar-Cruz et al 2014;Vandor and Franke 2016;Sundararayan and Sundararayan 2015;Kushnirovich et al 2017). In this paper, we specifically draw a comparison between immigrant and native entrepreneurs whose firms are not yet active in foreign markets asking the following research question: "Do the antecedents to the perceived feasibility of internationalization affect immigrant and non-immigrant entrepreneurs differently?…”