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

Abstract

One of the main challenges faced by refugee hosting states is the labour market integration of newcomers, which can be achieved to some extent through the creation of small businesses. This paper analyses the individual level determinants of the entrepreneurial intentions of highly-skilled women with refugee experience. The study adds a new perspective to the conversation about highly-skilled migrant women analysed so far, mostly as family reunion migrants joining economic migrants. It also contributes to the relatively new research on refugee entrepreneurship by adopting an unusual perspective for looking at highly skilled women. The empirical analysis embedded in the context of Sweden is two-fold. First, it is done in SPSS on the sample (N = 98) drawn from the 2017 Swedish Invandrarindex data set with the use of binary logistic regression. Second, the findings from the quantitative analysis are nuanced with the analysis of two case studies based on SSI with Syrian women having refugee experience. The results show that the gender variable does not predict the effect on entrepreneurial intentions. The findings confirm the importance of previous self-employment and leadership experience and indicate the potential importance of entrepreneurial role models, the cultural aspect of entrepreneurial intentions and the role of an encouraging environment in the host country.

Negotiating stigmatised identities: Enterprising refugee women in the United Kingdom

“…Within this emergent body of refugee entrepreneurship literature (Bizri, 2017; Wauters and Lambrecht, 2008), there is increasing acknowledgement of heterogeneity and the influence of context, with research exploring: entrepreneurship in refugee camps (Jacobsen, 2006), the influence of gender upon displaced women entrepreneurs (Al-Dajani and Marlow, 2013; Al-Dajani et al, 2015; Refai et al, 2018), entrepreneurial intention among refugees (Lazarczyk-Bilal and Glinka, 2021; Mawson and Kasem, 2019) and refugee business support programmes in developed economies (Meister and Mauer, 2019; van Kooy, 2016). Research conducted into the refugee experience of entrepreneurship in European host countries found that refugee entrepreneurs face greater barriers to their endeavours than economic migrants; being less likely to access extensive social networks in the host country or return to their home country to access funds, capital or labour for their ventures and having left with little or no preparation, refugees often arrive with no valuables or certificates of credentials (Fong et al, 2007; Gold, 1988; Wauters and Lambrecht, 2008).…”

Drivers and obstacles on refugee entrepreneurship. The host country perspective

“…Moreover, having prior experience as self-employed increases the likelihood of entrepreneurial intention in the host country (Lazarczyk-Bilal & Glinka, 2021). Work experience in industries or sectors where refugees aspire to establish their entrepreneurial ventures, whether acquired in their home country or the host country, is also significant (Alrawadieh et al, 2021).…”

“…A subtopic that has emerged in the literature on RE is refugee women entrepreneurship (Abebe, 2023). Women, in general, face more challenges than men when it comes to entrepreneurship (Lazarczyk-Bilal & Glinka, 2021). Refugee women often choose entrepreneurship for its flexible schedules, enabling them to work from home and balance household chores and childcare responsibilities (Senthanar et al, 2021).…”

“…Refugees face yet another problem, "deprofessionalization" (Lazarczyk-Bilal & Glinka, 2021;Richey et al, 2022), where they lose the recognition of their credentials from their country of origin. This loss can be especially shocking for refugees who held high-skilled positions, such as doctors or professors, and it often leads to unemployment or unsatisfactory employment.…”

Forcibly displaced refugee women entrepreneurs in Glasgow-Scotland

“…Findings suggest that most of these forcibly displaced refuge women have the necessary skills, experience and knowledge to identify and exploit business opportunities for starting, despite facing several challenges in creating enterprises (Bikorimana and Nziku, 2023; Adeeko and Treanor, 2022; Huq and Venugopal, 2021; Kooy, 2016; Senthanar et al , 2021). However, evidence suggests that many forcibly displaced women face barriers to accessing the labour market due to language barriers (Alrawadieh et al , 2019; Mulvey, 2015); cultural barriers and labour exclusion (Zhang, 2015; Ram et al , 2022; Meer et al , 2020; Refai et al , 2021), lacking recognition of their educational qualifications (Maj and Kubiciel-Lodzińska, 2020; Collins, 2017; Backman et al , 2020; Craig, 2015; Lazarczyk-Bilal and Glinka, 2021; Bikorimana and Nziku, 2023, 2022). Similar studies found that most of the forcibly displaced women faced acute difficulties in finding jobs because of discrimination, racism and xenophobia (Luseno and Kolade, 2022; Griffiths and Yeo, 2021; Stewart and Shisheva, 2015; Carter et al , 2015; Ram, Jones, Doldor, Villares-Varela and Li, 2022).…”