Entrepreneurial experiences of Syrian refugee women in Canada: a feminist grounded qualitative study

Senthanar, Sonja; MacEachen, Ellen; Premji, Stéphanie; Bigelow, Philip

doi:10.1007/s11187-020-00385-1

Cited by 24 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Much of the available literature on refugee women in both Global North and Global South host nation contexts considers refugee women there as necessity entrepreneurs [5], home-based entrepreneurs [6], or micro-entrepreneurs [7], requiring training and mentoring support to establish their enterprises. As such, we offer a unique focus through our consideration of refugee women as mentors, with experience and expertise, and thus agency, to mentor other nascent refugee women entrepreneurs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Refugee Women Business Mentors: New Evidence for Women’s Empowerment

Street

Al‐Dajani³

2022

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

With over 27.1 million refugees displaced globally across national borders as a result of protracted crises, conflict, and danger, resettlement in host nations remains challenging. One approach for empowering refugee women in their host nations is to enhance their economic participation through entrepreneurship. We contribute to the growing research on refugee women’s entrepreneurship by focusing on refugee women entrepreneurs as mentors to other refugee women and exploring the impact of mentoring upon the empowerment of refugee women business mentors. The aim of the study is to explore the impact of being a mentor on the empowerment of refugee women entrepreneurs settled in the United Kingdom. As such, the research question asks to what extent does being a mentor influence the empowerment of refugee women entrepreneurs. The qualitative study involved six refugee women business mentors who co-designed and led an entrepreneurship training programme for refugee women in the United Kingdom and charted their empowerment journeys through four potential empowerment junctures within the mentoring process. First, the refugee woman as a mentee, then as a member of a mentoring group, thirdly as a facilitator in the mentoring process, and finally as a reflective agent. Our contribution to the women’s entrepreneurship discipline lies in our finding that refugee women’s engagement as mentors enhanced their empowerment in ways that their entrepreneurship alone cannot.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Refugee Women Business Mentors: New Evidence for Women’s Empowerment

Street

Al‐Dajani³

2022

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In reality, the refugee workforce has faced a range of obstacles [16] that restrict their ability to integrate into new cultures, partially due to a lack of both the experience and skills needed by the labour market when pursuing a decent job opportunity [17]. In addition, the economic and social context imposes a difficult reality, with obstacles created by unstable living situations and financial, cognitive, social, and cultural factors [5,18]. Despite all these circumstances, some refugees were able to start entrepreneurial activities that would enable them and their families to integrate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Entrepreneurship in Crisis: The Determinants of Syrian Refugees’ Entrepreneurial Intentions in Turkey

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study aims to identify the determinants of entrepreneurial intentions among Syrian refugees in Turkey. The research, based on planned behaviour theory, focused on the impact of the refugee context on those intentions and thus on the attitudes and behaviour of entrepreneurs. The study is based on the positivist paradigm, and a quantitative methodology was used to collect data. We preferred the method of convenience sampling and chose 122 entrepreneurial projects at the beginning of 2020. The results show that psychological characteristics have no significant impact. Motivation, conviction, and independence are not sufficient conditions for the choice of an entrepreneurial profession. Self-standards do not affect the entrepreneurial intentions of refugees, as support from family and friends may not be sufficient reason to engage in an entrepreneurial project. However, entrepreneurship emerged among the refugees distinguished by perseverance, efficiency, a spirit of innovation, prior experience, adequate perceptions of barriers, and having the resources needed to implement projects. The refugee context has a negative emotional impact on entrepreneurship for reasons related to conditions of instability, language difficulties, the need for capital to invest, and a lack of entrepreneurial knowledge. The research findings can be used to support the role of humanitarian organisations, UN agencies, and host governments in developing a deeper understanding of entrepreneurial intentions in the refugee context.

show abstract

“…Prior research in small business management has largely followed variations of this approach, such as the following: Amoako et al (2021), Gomez et al (2020), Grimstad et al (2019), Gudeta and van Engen (2018), Khan (2018), Murthy and Paul (2017), Preedy et al (2020) and Senthanar et al (2021). Also, we used thick description to interpret the results, as this approach means the in-depth description of human social action through the addition of subjective explanations by the researchers who collect the data and lead the research subjects to specific behaviors (Ponterotto, 2006).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crisis, innovation and change management: a blind spot for micro-firms?

Chatzinikolaou

Vlados²

2022

JEEE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose This paper aims to explore how the owners of less competitive micro-firms (MFs) perceive the “crisis–innovation–change management” triangle. It examines whether their understanding of these overarching entrepreneurship theory principles is inadequate compared to the relevant scientific literature. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative analysis follows principles based on the inductive method and grounded theory, thickly describing the results from research conducted in a sample of 38 tertiary-sector MFs in the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace region – one of the least developed and competitive areas across Europe. It triangulates the data with 11 respective small firms. Findings MF owners perceive the crisis as an ostensibly exogenous phenomenon, innovation as something quasi-unattainable – although vaguely significant – and change management as a relatively unknown process. This understanding lies somewhat distant from the extant literature that examines the structural nature of crises, the innovational power to exit profound restructurings and the rebalancing requisite for building new overall organizational methods to survive this internal–external transformation. In essence, the triangle crisis–innovation–change management is a blind spot for the examined MF owners as they ignore its significance as an adaptation mechanism – contrary to several direct competitors. Social implications Based on the reluctance of these individuals to cultivate their systematic business knowledge, it seems unrealistic that they would seek to pay the necessary high price for business consulting in the future. An ideal solution would be to build public entrepreneurship clinics to provide these less dynamic and adaptable organizations with free preliminary or in-depth counseling. The Institute of Local Development-Innovation could aim to provide free consulting services to reinforce organizational physiology by coordinating different socioeconomic actors. Originality/value To the best of our knowledge, this empirical research is one of the first to test the comprehension of weaker MFs – less competitive and developed in organizational terms – to the triangle crisis–innovation–change management.

show abstract

Entrepreneurial experiences of Syrian refugee women in Canada: a feminist grounded qualitative study

Cited by 24 publications

References 39 publications

Refugee Women Business Mentors: New Evidence for Women’s Empowerment

Refugee Women Business Mentors: New Evidence for Women’s Empowerment

Entrepreneurship in Crisis: The Determinants of Syrian Refugees’ Entrepreneurial Intentions in Turkey

Crisis, innovation and change management: a blind spot for micro-firms?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About