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In this paper, the authors suggest that Central Americans can use entrepreneurship to solve economic uncertainty in their home country and that entrepreneurship can contribute to reducing the number of undocumented migrants to the USA.

The authors first illustrate the context of Central American illegal migration to the USA from a transitional entrepreneurship perspective, the authors address the economic drivers of illegal migration from Central America, which results in marginalization in the USA. Second, the authors build a theoretical model that suggests that Central Americans can improve their entrepreneurial abilities through the entrepreneurial cognitive adjustment mechanism.

Central Americans at risk of illegally migrating to the USA have high entrepreneurial aptitudes. Entrepreneurship can help them avoid the economic uncertainty that drives Central Americans to illegally migrate to the USA and become part of a marginalized community of undocumented immigrants. This conceptual paper introduces an entrepreneurial cognitive adjustment mechanism as a tool for Central Americans to reshape their personalities and increase their entrepreneurial abilities in their home countries. In particular, entrepreneurial intentions reshape the personality characteristics of individuals (in terms of high agreeableness and openness to experiences, as well as low neuroticism) through the entrepreneurial cognitive adjustment mechanism, which consists of reflective action in sensemaking, cognitive frameworks in pattern recognition and coping in positive affect.

This paper studies Central Americans at risk of illegal migration using the lens of transitional entrepreneurship, which advances the understanding of the antecedents to marginalized immigrant communities in the USA and suggests a possible solution for this phenomenon. Besides, the authors build a cognitive mechanism to facilitate the transitional process starting from entrepreneurial intention to reshaping individuals' personality, which further opens individuals' minds to entrepreneurial opportunities. Since entrepreneurial intention applies the same way to all entrepreneurs, the authors' aim of constructing the entrepreneurial intention unfolding process will go beyond transitional entrepreneurship and contribute to intention-action knowledge generation (Donaldson et al., 2021). Moreover, the conceptual study contributes to public policy such that international and local agencies can better utilize resources and implement long-term solutions to the drivers of illegal migration from Central America to the USA.

The purpose of this paper is to review the utilization of game theory in the entrepreneurship literature. Game theory can potentially be employed to assess strategies incentivizing productive entrepreneurial activities and subsequent economic development. Therefore, the author reviews entrepreneurship articles and explores the application of game-theoretic models and concepts in the literature.

First, the author provides an overview of the entrepreneurship ecosystem concept, highlighting key challenges in its study. The author also briefly highlights successful applications of game theory in the innovation literature. Second, the author systematically reviews and synthesizes entrepreneurship research employing game-theoretic models and concepts. The author's objective is to provide a state-of-the-art overview of the use of game theory in entrepreneurship.

Broadly, the author categorizes entrepreneurship-game theory articles into three groups based on their scope and purpose: entrepreneurial policy applications, inter-firm applications and entrepreneurship theory applications. Entrepreneurial policy applications include entrepreneurs and the government or policy as the main players in a game. Inter-firm applications encompass games between entrepreneurs and other private entities. Entrepreneurship theory applications include articles that utilize game theory to advance the author's understanding of entrepreneurial behavior and/or mechanisms in the market.

To the best of the author's knowledge, no previous paper has reviewed the use of game-theoretic approaches and models in entrepreneurship literature. This study addresses this research gap.

This paper aims to investigate the distinctive economic and social dynamics of ethnic quasi-enclave industrial sub-clusters and to econometrically analyse the main factors affecting the economic performance of Chinese-migrant microentrepreneurs with a specific focus on social capital.

An interpretative framework that encompasses sustainable local human development and mixed embeddedness is applied to a case study of Wenzhounese migrant socioeconomic quasi-enclave leather industrial sub-clusters located adjacent to the industrial district area of Florence, Italy. Given the complexity of the phenomenon, the research study adopted a mixed-method approach encompassing both qualitative and quantitative methods. The econometric analysis was based on data collected via a survey administered to a random sample of enterprises.

Ethnic social capital plays a central role in ethnic entrepreneurship. The results confirm the relevance of social networks in the context analysed and reveal the importance of ethnic and non-ethnic business social capital as one of the main factors affecting enterprise’s economic performance.

The findings propose potential policies to upgrade the ethnic enterprises especially in terms of increasing their formality and inclusion in the Italian social and economic systems of production.

This analysis contributes to existing literature on migrant entrepreneurship and communities, adding new evidence related to ethnic enterprises and the importance of social capital in terms of performance and working conditions of the community of entrepreneurs.

This paper aims to analyse the evolution of Chinese industrial ethnic clusters in Italy, by focusing on the role of social networks and the processes behind the phenomenon of Chinese worker exploitation and entrepreneur “self-exploitation”.

The case study is a sub-cluster of micro and small enterprises owned by Chinese entrepreneurs within the leather industrial district of Florence, Italy. This research adopts the following mixed methods: a small-scale survey to capture the characteristics of the sub-cluster and a social network analysis to describe cluster evolution, complemented by life-course interviews conducted with key informants and entrepreneurs.

Migrant social capital and social networks play a central role in the evolution of the case study sub-cluster. Social networks play a supportive role in migration, job creation, entrepreneurship formation and the creation of business opportunities. Simultaneously, they enhance the phenomenon of worker exploitation and entrepreneur self-exploitation. Furthermore, the more the business community grows, the more the economic performance of ethnic enterprises depends on agglomeration forces produced by the cluster.

The findings suggest a series of potential policies to upgrade the ethnic enterprises' capacities, to increase their formality and inclusion in the Italian social and economic systems and sub-cluster.

To the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first attempt to examine the evolution of social networks in relation to the phenomenon of Chinese worker exploitation and entrepreneur self-exploitation in an ethnic industrial sub-cluster.

The purpose of this study is to explore how the personal traits of the informal entrepreneurs influence their formalization decisions.

This study adopted a qualitative approach using a multicase design in which 28 informal entrepreneurs situated in Kampala district, Uganda, were engaged. An interview guide, recorders and note books were used in data collection.

The results indicate that the traits of informal and semiformal entrepreneurs are distinct. Informal entrepreneurs have been noted to be more courageous and resilient, while their semiformal counterparts have greater passion for their businesses. It is thus observed that the formalization prospects are higher for the semiformal entrepreneurs than for their informal counterparts. Entrepreneurs that would be willing to formalize their businesses are discouraged by distance, technology and the cost of involving middlemen. Whereas the resilient entrepreneurs are noted to work through these challenges, the passive ones in both the informal and semiformal categories will not formalize their businesses by giving such excuses.

This study contributes to the extant literature on informal entrepreneurship by providing initial empirical evidence on how the personal traits of the entrepreneurs influence their formalization decisions specifically.

Policy mobility scholarship concerning anti-money laundering (AML) has typically favoured the study of power structures and interests to the neglect of the constructivist perspective and the local cultural–symbolic driving forces of policy adoption. This study aims to redress this, by analysing the shifting ideational drivers of AML policy in Singapore over the past 31 years through a thematic analysis of Singapore’s parliamentary debates (Hansard).

Through a thematic analysis of Singapore's Hansard over the past 31 years, this study seeks to present a social constructivist perspective of AML policy adoption in Singapore.

The thematic analysis reveals how the internal driving forces of AML policy in Singapore have shifted, from the idea of “crime prevention” in the early 1990s, to the symbolic value of “international norm compliance” by the 2010s.

This constructivist perspective of AML policy adoption is particularly useful in complementing the existing materialist theories of AML policy diffusion and allows us to better appreciate the historical nuances of AML policy transfer across the globe.

This research will provide a useful comparative case study for other policy mobility scholars interested in presenting a constructivist account of AML policy adoption in different jurisdictions.

There is no literature in the field of policy mobility, explaining the diffusion/transfer of AML policy from a social constructivist perspective.

While entrepreneurship has long been heralded for its positive contributions, there is a growing recognition of its “dark side,” characterized by unproductive, unethical and destructive actions. This exploratory literature review aims to illuminate the underexplored dark side of entrepreneurship, thereby enriching the discourse on entrepreneurship’s dual nature.

This study employs a robust mixed-method approach, integrating phenomenologically detailed co-citation bibliographic coupling with detailed thematic data and code-weaving. Science mapping tools like R-Bibliometrix and VOSviewer enhance the credibility of the findings by providing a sophisticated and reproducible methodological framework.

This review defines dark entrepreneurship, its characteristics, and its complexities. We introduced the “Dark Entrepreneurship Trinity”: Ethical Complexity, Institutional Navigation and Conflict Entrepreneurialship, with Institutional Navigation as the apex theme. It elucidates how this theme influences ethical dilemmas and operational strategies in conflict zones, illustrated through a diagram depicting their complex interrelations and dynamics.

The originality of this literature review lies in its comprehensive synthesis of the dark side of entrepreneurship. This review significantly contributes to the academic discourse by delineating a clearer picture of the destructive potentials of entrepreneurship. It compiles existing research, critically addresses the gaps and suggests future pathways for empirical studies.

Immigrant integration through entrepreneurship is hindered by the prevalent informality of their ventures. This study aims to examine the factors influencing the formalisation of immigrant entrepreneurship, with special focus on those who are under the impact of the host country.

The study is based on a series of focus groups conducted among a total of 59 Ukrainian immigrants in Poland. Based on coding into first-order categories, second-order themes and aggregate dimensions, the authors created a model of immigrant entrepreneurship formalisation.

The results of the research included in the model show the groups of factors influencing the formalisation of immigrant entrepreneurship. Immigrants bring both their personal attitudes and embeddedness in their country of origin during immigration. Then, factors of the host country’s institutions, interactions between local authorities and local communities and the need for a new place of belonging interact in the formalisation process. Formal entrepreneurs, as a new identity for immigrants, are the result of the formalisation process.

The results not only focus on social capital or the institutional failures of formal and informal institutions in transforming immigrants into formal entrepreneurs, but we also recognise the individual aspect of the new identity as formal entrepreneurs and a new place of belonging. In addition, the authors distinguish the importance and interactions between local communities and local authorities in this process. The paper contributes to the theory of entrepreneurship, migrant study and institutional theory.