Motivations for Indigenous island entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurs and behavioral economics in Greenland

Abstract

Greenland continues to undergo decolonization, the ultimate political ambition being a 'self-sustaining economy' and political independence from Denmark. Drawing on a recent survey in combination with ethnographic fieldwork, this paper explores the connection between political independence and entrepreneurial activities in Greenland. While entrepreneurs are increasingly expected to play a central role in fostering economic change, we are curious about what motivates them, and especially whether their motivations are related to the struggle for national independence. While entrepreneurship generally seems primarily motivated by a desire for personal autonomy, entrepreneurship in the context of an Indigenous island community seems driven by certain communal values, such as supporting the local community, cultural pride, family, and place. Our research supports the notion that entrepreneurship is motivated by non-pecuniary values, and we find entrepreneurship to result from a mesh of intertwined motivations. While we were unable to identify a direct link between the ambition for national autonomy and entrepreneurship, the paper contributes to the understanding of entrepreneurship as an instrument for decolonization drawing on a range of empirical cases and a multidisciplinary approach.

Food entrepreneurship and self-employment in an island context

“…Informal institutions influence the presence or absence of social capital and the quality of entrepreneurial activities (Lajqi and Krasniqi, 2017). Previous research has stressed that informal institutions and social capital play a key role in influencing island development and entrepreneurship (Baldacchino, 2015; Wennecke et al ., 2019).…”

Tourism worlding: Collective becoming in East Greenland

“…Up until the COVID-19 pandemic and looking into the future, much hope is accorded in Greenland to the development of tourism. On a national level, tourism is set to economically supplement export revenues from fishing, which currently represents the dominant economic pillar in Greenlandic economy, covering 92% of the national exports (Wennecke, Jacobsen, & Ren, 2019). In 2018, 21.239 overnight guests stayed in East Greenland (Visit Greenland, 2020), which was the largest increase in international overnight stays in Greenland.…”

Embeddedness as a Differentiating Element of Indigenous Entrepreneurship: Insights from Mexico

“…The Indigenous entrepreneurial spirit is closely related to the economic development base in the community [36], as well as cultural values, where work is involved in every moment of communal life accomplished in the communal assembly through a decision [33]; furthermore, it is motivated by the family and land to which it belongs [48].…”