Chinese immigrant entrepreneurship: Embeddedness and the interaction of resources with the wider social and economic context

Abstract

This article investigates the factors that influenced the entrepreneurial start-up businesses among Chinese immigrants who had been granted residency under three different immigration policies in Australia. These immigrant groups differed in their resources and experienced different market conditions which led to different opportunity structures and subsequent choices of entrepreneurial activities. The mixed embeddedness model was identified as being useful for analysing the factors contributing to the business start-ups of these Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs. The research contributes to the existing literature by developing a dynamic analysis of the interaction of personal resources and economic conditions in the pursuit of business ventures. Also, the intersectionality of gender, race and class is analysed in relation to the mixed embeddedness model. Importantly, this research emphasises the need to look beyond either broad cultural factors or single factors in attempting to analyse the pathways selected by immigrant entrepreneurs.

Doubly Disadvantaged: Gender, Spatially Concentrated Deprivation and Nascent Entrepreneurial Activity

“…Combining the perspectives of human capital, intersectionality and positionality in the mixed embeddedness framework, we theorize a double‐disadvantage effect faced by female entrepreneurs in deprived areas. Prior research applying the concept of intersectionality at the individual level has informed us of the constructed identity of female entrepreneurs (Martinez Dy et al, 2017; Wang and Warn, 2018). We embed this within locales to explain associations between relative human capital of women and men at the level of the locale and associated gender disparities in entrepreneurial activity, and further link this to the moderating effect of spatially concentrated deprivation.…”

“…Human capital theory highlights the relevance of two types of human capital on entrepreneurial activity: general (education) and specific (entrepreneurial skills and experience) (Becker, 1976; Marvel et al, 2016). Intersectionality literature discusses privileges and disadvantages emanating from intersecting social positions of gender, race, and ethnicity (Gill and Larson, 2014; Martinez Dy et al, 2017; Wang and Warn, 2018). Gill and Larson (2014) extended the intersectionality argument to highlight the intersecting role of place‐based effects.…”

Contesting effectuation theory: Why it does not explain new venture creation

“…Entrepreneurs act in particular ways in concrete sociohistorical settings that make possible, but do not determine, the process. Structural and cultural contexts enable, motivate and constrain entrepreneurs positioned variably in relation to structural relations and cultural norms (Martinez Dy et al 2014Wang and Warn 2018). Failure to theorise structural and cultural influences means that effectuation can offer only an under-socialised and ahistorical conception of new venture creation that implicitly grants nascent entrepreneurs excessive powers of agency.…”

Entrepreneurship Advancement and Malaysia Immigrant Policy: A Conceptual Analysis

“…These have its own pros and cons. However, studies from the western world have it that the advantages of immigrant entrepreneurial actions superseded the adversaries in terms of job creation and new firm startups (Bhachu, 2017;Gibson et al, 2018;Wang & Warn, 2018). This leads to the subject topic of immigrant entrepreneurship.…”

“…Besides, as identified in the study of Gibson et al (2018), the editorial comments reveal that although there are numerous studies on immigrant entrepreneurship, this concept is still at its infancy stage, exploring immigrant entrepreneurship from a new perspective and incorporating environmental characteristics are among the few issues that needed attention. Earlier studies have it that, environmental opportunity identification, migration histories, and structural artifact in home and host countries, resource availability, host country characteristics as per policies, ethnicity and location interaction (Bhachu, 2017;Wang & Warn, 2018) are some of the few factors that influence, instigate and enhance immigrants entrepreneurship specifically in the western world.…”