Do Immigrant Entrepreneurs Have Natural Cognitive Advantages for International Entrepreneurial Activity?

Abstract

Are entrepreneurs with an immigration background more willing to internationalize their entrepreneurial firms compared to their nonimmigrant peers? Previous research has already emphasized that immigrant entrepreneurs possess superior human resources and social capabilities—such as international experience, networks and language skills—that help them to better identify and evaluate international entrepreneurial opportunities. However, literature other than capability-based explanations is rare, and thus it is not yet understood in what sense immigrant entrepreneurs differ from other entrepreneurs in terms of their cognitive characteristics for international entrepreneurial activity. This study addresses this gap by involving a quantitative study of Berlin-based high-tech founding entrepreneurs to empirically investigate how immigrant entrepreneurs vary in their cognitive characteristics, and how this affects their intention to engage in international entrepreneurship. The findings show that immigrant entrepreneurs possess higher levels of proactive behavior, which lead to a more favorable evaluation of international business opportunities, and in turn positively affect the willingness to engage in international entrepreneurial activity. This contributes to a deeper understanding of immigrant entrepreneurs’ natural cognitive advantages and the role they play for entrepreneurial growth, success and national economic development.

Entrepreneurship in an Increasingly Digital and Global World. Evaluating the Role of Digital Capabilities on International Entrepreneurial Intention

“…Furthermore, we found empirical evidence for the role of digital capabilities for IEI in general. Thus, we find that digital capabilities are a significant predictor of IEI, which extends findings of previous research that already highlight the role of demographic characteristics as e.g., migration background [22], institutional environments [97], attitudinal elements like international entrepreneurial orientation and a global mindset [44,97], as well as human capital and experiences [40] for IE.…”

“…Second, we advance IE research and more specifically, the literature on IEI (for example, [22,23,25,38,39]) by underlining the effect of individual-level factors, including digital capabilities in internationalization decisions. Thus, using the TPB, we explain the mechanism leading to the formulation of the intention to create an internationally operating business and empirically show that digital capabilities play a major role here by positively affecting the attitude towards IE and PBC, which are important determinants of IEI.…”

“…In this vein, various studies have emphasized the importance of the three behavioral determinants-innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking-in shaping an international entrepreneurial orientation (for a review, see [44]). Additionally, a considerable number of studies have highlighted a global mindset, represented by an openness for and understanding of different national contexts and cultures [45][46][47], as well as a positive attitude towards IE [22,38,39], as important factors and drivers of IEI.…”

“…Second, entrepreneurial firms are particularly influenced by the personality of the founder and are, therefore, increasingly driven by individual behavior and vision [18][19][20]. Thus, in an entrepreneurial context, it is mostly the individual decision maker who is an important antecedent of the firm's adoption of digital capabilities [21] and the discovery of international opportunities [22,23]. Consequently, without focusing on the capabilities and decision-making heuristics of the individual, the role of digital technologies for internationalization efforts can be understood only partly.…”

Road to Sustainability: University–Start-Up Collaboration

“…An additional limitation can be the nested structure [114] since the data were derived from a sample in Berlin and Brandenburg. This means that entrepreneurs belonging to the same start-up, incubator, region, or city are more alike to each other than to other entrepreneurs [118].…”