How has entrepreneurship opportunity formation amongst immigrants been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic?

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how entrepreneurship opportunity formation amongst immigrants has been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, given that environmental changes and irregularity can contribute to entrepreneurship opportunity formation in the immigrant set-up.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a comparative narrative analysis of literature relating to entrepreneurship opportunity formation, immigrant entrepreneurship, environmental change (e.g. COVID-19 pandemic) and demand expansion (e.g. market extension resulting from environmental changes) and primary dataset from 11 semi-structured interviews.FindingsThe triangulation of the literature from these diverse topics leads to the conclusion that environmental changes and irregularity creates demand expansion that can drive entrepreneurship in any climate.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation to the present study is the inability to use more than 11 primary dataset for this study, so future research on this topic should ensure the use of more primary dataset to validate the literature review.Originality/valueThis article contributes to existing knowledge by suggesting that irregular events within the environment (not stable economic growth alone) can positively influence entrepreneurship opportunity formation amongst immigrants.