Explaining Attitudes towards Self‐employment among Immigrants: A Canadian Case Study

Abstract

Implicit in Canada's immigration policies is that some immigrants are endowed with a particular entrepreneurial spirit, and that this spirit relates to immigrants' origin. This paper examines whether attitudes towards entrepreneurship indeed relate to origin, or whether they can be explained through labour market circumstances at the place of settlement and/or Canada's immigrant selection procedure. The empirical study focuses on the reported attitudes towards entrepreneurship. A survey of 509 Vancouver residents of a predominantly Chinese immigrant neighbourhood, a predominantly South Asian immigrant neighbourhood, and a neighbourhood of non-immigrants reveals that ethnic origin is a weak indicator of entrepreneurial attitudes. Instead, urban or rural background emerges as a more powerful predictor. The results also raise doubts about whether the Canadian government's immigration policy, which selects immigrants on the basis of economic potential, indeed selects immigrants with a greater desire to become self-employed. Furthermore, the amount of time immigrants have spent in Canada does not significantly affect attitudes towards entrepreneurship. 110Bauder

Regional variations in entrepreneurial cognitions: Start-up intentions of university students in Spain

“…Some examples reveal the character of these relations: the influence of gender on attitudes towards new enterprise creation (Kolvereid 1996;Mazzarol et al 1999); the relationship between gender and self-efficacy (Zhao, Hills, and Siebert 2005); the influence of role models on self-efficacy and possibly on personal attraction and subjective norms (Scherer, Brodzinsky, and Wiebe 1991;Carsrud 1992;Boyd and Vozikis 1994); age or labour experience as factors affecting a person's propensity to start a firm (Robinson et al 1991;Cooper 1993) and the relevance of experience and social influences (Davidsson 1995;Kolvereid 1996). Additionally, some authors point to the higher entrepreneurial activity by immigrants (Bauder 2008). In this sense, we have considered the inclusion of six control variables in the analysis: age, gender, labour experience, self-employment experience, role models and being an immigrant.…”

Immigrants Doing Business in a Mid‐sized Canadian City: Challenges, Opportunities, and Local Strategies in Kelowna, British Columbia

“…Market conditions are commonly perceived to determine business access and development for immigrants. The few extant studies emphasize the appropriateness of the social embeddedness approach (Bauder ; Chan and Cheung ; Dalziel ; Hiebert ; Marger ; Teixeira , ; Teixeira, Lo, and Truelove ) although a few recent studies have hinted at the appropriateness of mixed embeddedness (Hiebert , ; Ley , ). However, as suggested earlier, these studies have two limitations.…”

“…Apart from Bernard () and Lo and Li (), who found that immigrants settling in small cities generally experience a higher degree of economic integration than their counterparts in large metropolitan centres, there has been little research on the economic experiences of immigrants and especially of immigrant entrepreneurs in SMCs (Collins and Low ). With aging demographics, and immigrant businesses often considered to be an engine of economic growth and regional development (Bauder ; Hum and Simpson ; Ley ; Marger ), it is pertinent to ask who will provide critically needed service businesses when the only plumber in town and the owner of the only electronic store are set to retire and their children have moved elsewhere. What role can immigrant entrepreneurs play and what impact can they have in the economic development of these cities?…”

Personal values and entrepreneurial intention: an empirical study

“…Vicarious learning (Bandura, 1997) may also be important when an entrepreneurial role model is available (Matthews & Moser, 1996;Scherer, Brodzinsky, & Wiebe, 1991). Additionally, some authors point to the higher entrepreneurial activity by immigrants (Bauder, 2008).…”