From Center to Periphery and Back Again: A Systematic Literature Review of Refugee Entrepreneurship

Abstract

This paper presents a qualitative, systematic literature review of refugee entrepreneurship research that has been published in academic outlets, up to 2018. We synthesize the contributions to the field, providing a state of the art, so as to elucidate our current understandings of the phenomenon and highlight gaps that will help enhance our future approaches and knowledge. The empirical analysis reveals a fast emerging, eclectic field, with research from a wide range of disciplines, produced by the ‘academic center’, largely in the ‘academic periphery’. Publication numbers have been on the rise, especially in the last ten years, yet, there is very little mutual acknowledgement and discussions arising between researchers, as revealed by a bibliometric analysis. A content analysis shows three main waves of publications based on countries of origin, countries of residence, and migration timeframes. The vast majority of publications take on an exploratory approach to research, with diverse theoretical framings from an array of disciplines, and the thematic clusters reveal how researchers are attempting to tease out the distinctiveness of refugee entrepreneurs from other, closely related entrepreneurship groups.

What Determines the Entrepreneurial Intentions of Highly-Skilled Women with Refugee Experience? An Empirical Analysis in the Context of Sweden

“…On the other hand, a neoliberal narrative argues that the reception of highly-skilled refugees may be beneficial for the hosting economies in the EU market (Saner et al 2019). In line with other authors, we argue that refugees must not be seen as assets, but diverse people searching for a safe haven due to war or fear of persecution (Ganassin and Young 2020;Sontag 2018;Heilbrunn and Iannone 2020). One of the main challenges faced by the refugee hosting states is to give newcomers financial independence and agency (Gold 1988;Ganassin and Young 2020).…”

“…Until recently, research on refugee entrepreneurship has been treated as a part of the extensive field of migrant entrepreneurship (Glinka 2018). Only since 2015, when the EU witnessed a high influx of asylum-seekers, has refugee entrepreneurship started aspiring to become an independent area of study (Backman et al 2020;Heilbrunn and Iannone 2020;Heilbrunn 2019;Alexandre et al 2019;Alrawadieh et al 2018;Shneikat and Alrawadieh 2019). Therefore, in the context of entrepreneurial intentions, research has mostly treated refugees as one broad category examined in opposition to economic migrants (Bevelander 2016;Lazarczyk-Bilal 2019).…”

“…By examining the determinants of the entrepreneurial intentions of highly-skilled women with refugee experience, we contribute to the intersection of three underdeveloped strands of literature, i.e., entrepreneurial intentions, refugee entrepreneurship and highlyskilled migrant women (Heilbrunn and Iannone 2020). Our study adds a new perspective of refugee experience to the conversation about highly-skilled migrant women analysed so far mostly as voluntary migrants joining, on the basis of the EU family reunification law, their family members with the status of economic migrants (Iredale 2005;Aure 2013;Mozetič 2018).…”

“…We adopt an unusual angle to examine the determinants of the entrepreneurial intentions of women with refugee experience, not just across gender, nationality or ethnicity, but looking through the lens of their qualifications and gender (Lange et al 2020;Mozetič 2018). Last but not least, the existing studies both on refugee entrepreneurship and highly-skilled refugees are mostly based on qualitative analyses (Smyth 2010;Willott and Stevenson 2013;Psoinos 2007;Piętka-Nykaza 2015), which shows the need to conduct more quantitative research in this field (Heilbrunn and Iannone 2020). Our findings overall confirm the importance of previous self-employment, leadership qualities, occupational choices, entrepreneurial role models and the cultural aspect of entrepreneurial intentions.…”

Ethical Considerations for Humanizing Refugee Research Trajectories

“…Since then, and as the academic discipline of refugee studies has grown, mainstream research has provided routes to career opportunities, whether in the university and international humanitarian organizations, and/or as lucrative consultants, and conforms increasingly to policy imperatives aimed at control and exclusion with dehumanizing consequences. To the extent now that the most vulnerable people on the planet are en route to being treated as a pool of labour by international capital, academics style them as "entrepreneurs" or as captive labour to be appropriated in similar ways as in Global North corrective facilities (Heilbrunn & Iannone, 2020).…”