The Networking Behaviour of Immigrant Entrepreneurs in South Africa

Fatoki, Olawale; Oni, Olabanji

doi:10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p284

Cited by 4 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Communicating through mediums such as networks is critical for immigrant entrepreneurship because networks allow immigrants to gain access to local contacts who provide knowledge about the host society and the relevant business opportunities (Collins & Low 2010;Nestorowicz 2011;Salaff, Greve & Wong 2006). In a host country such as South Africa, there are numerous hostilities that immigrants face which makes the process of starting-up and operating an immigrantowned business challenging (Fatoki & Oni 2014;Khosa & Kalitanyi 2014). In this respect, immigrant entrepreneurs rely on various networks to facilitate the communication of various opportunities and resources in the environment (Fatoki & Oni 2014).…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a host country such as South Africa, there are numerous hostilities that immigrants face which makes the process of starting-up and operating an immigrantowned business challenging (Fatoki & Oni 2014;Khosa & Kalitanyi 2014). In this respect, immigrant entrepreneurs rely on various networks to facilitate the communication of various opportunities and resources in the environment (Fatoki & Oni 2014).…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Immigrant-owned businesses are increasingly becoming key contributors to the overall economic and social development of host countries through fostering job creation, entrepreneurial activity and poverty alleviation (Fatoki & Oni 2014;Sahin, Nijikamp & Baycan-Levent 2006). Although limited information is available on the business practices of immigrant entrepreneurs, there is a growing acknowledgement of their importance to the growth and development of global economies (Wadhwa et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regardless of these challenges, empirical studies have shown that immigrants adopt various practices in their businesses to assist them in establishing and operating businesses in their host communities (Fatoki & Oni 2014;Khosa & Kalitanyi 2014;Pinkowski 2009). Several scholars (Fatoki & Oni 2014;Khosa & Kalitanyi 2014;Tengeh, Ballard & Slabbert 2012;Toli & Tengeh 2017) suggest that immigrant-owned small businesses create opportunities that have important implications for the South African economy. Moreover, in South Africa, immigrant-owned small retail businesses have increasingly been perceived as competitive and entrepreneurial relative to local businesses (Willemse 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is suggested that the performance of immigrant-owned small businesses is attributed to the various practices that immigrant entrepreneurs adopt in obtaining information from various sources about opportunities in the business environment (Khosa & Kalitanyi 2014;Toli & Tengeh 2017). In this regard, immigrant entrepreneurs communicate and establish relationships with a wide array of individuals in the communities in which they operate that enable them to identify opportunities (Fatoki & Oni 2014;Khosa & Kalitanyi 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Communication channels in the host community market adopted by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Orientation: There is a growing prevalence of entrepreneurial activity by immigrant entrepreneurs in different sectors of various economies across the world. Immigrant entrepreneurs seek to identify opportunities to grow and sustain their businesses in hostile business markets. Immigrant entrepreneurs use an array of channels of communication to gain insight of the opportunities in the market.Research purpose: The study sought to investigate the communication channels used by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs to identify opportunities in the host community market.Motivation for the study: The study was undertaken given the dearth of research on the role of communication channels in enabling the identification of opportunities by immigrant entrepreneurs.Research design, approach and method: A qualitative research design was adopted in which purposive and snowball sampling were adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs operating small businesses in the South African context.Main findings: The results indicate that the immigrant entrepreneurs identified opportunities in the business environment through establishing channels of communication that manifested as networks with family members, customers, local employees and competitors. Building relationships through networks was key for the process of identifying opportunities.Practical/managerial implications: The study provides evidence that information about opportunities in the market is identified through dynamic channels of communication characterised by networks with different stakeholders.Contribution/value-add: Communication channels are pivotal in enabling the identification of opportunities in the business environment. Immigrant entrepreneurs actively create and sustain their relationships with various stakeholders in the business environment to be able to identify opportunities in the business environment.

show abstract

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Communication channels in the host community market adopted by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Exploring Social Capital Influencing Entrepreneurial Process Among Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Malaysia

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Immigrant entrepreneurship has been widely discussed in various perspectives. Yet, their entrepreneurial process has received less attention from the aspect of social capital. This paper intends to explore the role of social capital dimensions (structural, relational, and cognitive) in the entrepreneurial process (discovery and exploitation of opportunity). In-depth interview approach was conducted with six Thai immigrant restaurant-preneurs (TIRps) in Malaysia. The findings revealed that the structural social capital is the most important dimension for TIRps highlighting the supports from family and friends which transpired at both stages of the entrepreneurial process. The study that is based on social capital and entrepreneurial process perspectives also demonstrated the significance of local consumers' eating-out habits identified as structural social capital and local preferences for Thai cuisines identified as cognitive social capital. This signifies the emergence of the Consumer Culture Theory in research on immigrant entrepreneurship. This study contributes to an integrated model of immigrant entrepreneurship and a set of propositions. For practicality, the findings provide some guidelines for policymakers to develop training programmes by leveraging on social capital for further development of Malaysian entrepreneurs.

show abstract

The nexus of social capital, coping ability and employment creation in African immigrant-owned small businesses

Chukuakadibia

Okerue²

2018

Problems and Perspectives in Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Immigrant entrepreneurship, like other facets of entrepreneurship, contributes towards a country’s productivity, partly through employment creation. However, the specific factors, in the form of social capital, that lend themselves to this employment creation potential, remain largely unknown. It is against this background that this study sought to determine if the variables of language proficiency and networking ability bear an association with the employment creation ability of African immigrant entrepreneurs.This quantitative study was executed from a positivism philosophical standpoint. Relying on the population of African immigrants in the small business sector in South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique, the non-probability sampling techniques of convenience and snowball sampling were used to identify 2,500 participants. Data were collected in a cross-sectional manner, with self-administered questionnaires and an effective 33% response rate was realized.Findings reveal a statistically significant relationship between language proficiency and employment creation, while that between networking ability and employment creation was not significant. Nonetheless, most of the studied African immigrant entrepreneurs across the countries agreed that language proficiency and networking ability have helped them cope with the rigors of operating their businesses. These findings signal the need for interventions for building language proficiency and networking ability for African immigrant entrepreneurs.

show abstract

The Networking Behaviour of Immigrant Entrepreneurs in South Africa

Abstract: This study investigated the networking behavior of immigrant entrepreneurs during two different phases of business (start-up and established

Cited by 4 publications

References 20 publications

Communication channels in the host community market adopted by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs

Communication channels in the host community market adopted by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs

Exploring Social Capital Influencing Entrepreneurial Process Among Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Malaysia

The nexus of social capital, coping ability and employment creation in African immigrant-owned small businesses

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About