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In the last 30 years or so we have seen a proliferation of research projects on immigrants and non‐white minorities in the labour market (labour market segmentation) and as entrepreneurs (ethnic entrepreneurialism). Each of these literatures helps us understand the nature of immigrant and minority participation in the labour market, but each only offers a partial view. In this paper, I bring these topics together in an empirical investigation of the relationship between ethnic labour market segmentation and ethnic entrepreneurialism in Canada, using 1996 census data. I show that there is a close correspondence between the niches where immigrants and minorities find work, and those where they become entrepreneurs. Immigrants who are drawn to niches that offer few opportunities for self‐employment have low rates of entrepreneurship and, conversely, those who are over‐represented in niches with considerable scope for self‐employment are inclined to establish their own businesses. This shows that the propensity for self‐employment is, to an important degree, determined in the regular labour market. Therefore, entrepreneurship should not be seen as an intrinsically cultural phenomenon (i.e. that certain groups are “naturally” entrepreneurial), but instead as arising out of the opportunity structure associated with wage and salary labour.

This chapter seeks to engage with and extend the current debate in the literature of ethnic entrepreneurship. It critiques the concept of ethnic entrepreneurship and its theoretical underpinnings. It argues that research in ethnic entrepreneurship bears little reflection of the current changes and new realities in the composition of modern societies. Based on qualitative primary data from interviews combined with secondary sources of data, it suggests that the term ‘ethnic entrepreneurship’ is discriminatory and creates a narrative of Othering in the discourse of entrepreneurship, thus, portraying entrepreneurship as a western phenomenon. It argues that it is contradictory to think entrepreneurship is fundamentally contextual, socially and culturally embedded, and then define enterprise with ethnic bias. The concept of ethnic entrepreneurship propagates entrepreneurial Othering and a reductionist view of non-western forms of entrepreneurship. What constitutes ethnic enterprise should not be based on the identity of the owner. The ethnic enterprise is not confined to a geographical boundary; and the ethnic economy and the mainstream economy are not mutually exclusive. In this era of superdiversity and globalisation, researchers are encouraged to rethink the concept of ethnic entrepreneurship and embrace difference without Othering.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the pathways to success of Arab American entrepreneurs in the Detroit Metropolitan Area, and how Arab American businesses impact the local Detroit economy.

The authors conducted extensive search of literature and in‐depth interviews with experts, entrepreneurs, CEOs and other senior executives of two large Arab and Chaldean community organizations. In addition, the authors also conducted site visits at community centers and the Seven Mile project in Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan.

The authors discovered several pathways to success important to Arab American entrepreneurship: start‐up capital provided by families and friends, training and education, support networks and support organizations in Detroit. In addition, some organizations, local churches and mosques have provided many essential services needed by new Arab American entrepreneurs. The authors found that the theory of middleman minority and the enclave economy theory provide very useful explanations for the phenomenon of Arab American entrepreneurship in Detroit. However, the natural business incubator model, first developed by Greene and Butler, best explains the success story of Arab American entrepreneurs in Detroit, Michigan.

The paper identifies some important pathways to the success of Arab entrepreneurship in Detroit, Michigan. The authors expand the natural business incubator model first developed by Greene and Butler by including the names of local organizations that play active roles in assisting Arab entrepreneurs in Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of ethnic minority entrepreneurship in Sweden offered through the sacred‐secular lens of the Islamic Dawoodi Bohra community, with the purpose of exploring the relationship of spirituality to entrepreneurship.

Through a case study, this paper spotlights the entrepreneurship of immigrant women from the Dawoodi Bohra Islamic community in Sweden. Utilizing the literature from spirituality, ethnography and ethnic minority entrepreneurship, this paper seeks to foreground the importance of a transcendent dimension in entrepreneurship which is woven into and sustains the day‐to‐day beliefs and practices of ethnic minority women entrepreneurs.

The women seem to be able to negotiate their spirituality within their role as ethnic minority women entrepreneurs, which gives meaning to their daily existence and increases their izzat (honour) in their community.

This is a specific case study and represents a particular Islamic community, hence cannot realistically reflect all Islamic women in entrepreneurship. Future research can uncover the role of migrant Islamic women from various communities and countries.

The paper presents the interweaving and leavening effect of spirituality and entrepreneurship for Islamic women entrepreneurs and is a valuable insight on how such women negotiate their lives.

The paper presents a close look at Islamic women from the Dawoodi Bohra community whose lived experience represents a negotiation between their spirituality, patriarchy, migration, ethnicity and minority.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the key differences between first- and second-generation immigrant entrepreneurs in their path to entrepreneurship. The aim of the study is to better understand entrepreneurial motivations amongst immigrants by comparing first- and second-generation entrepreneurs in their motivation for business entry, reliance on co-ethnic market, use of social and financial capital, business planning and marketing practices.

Using an interpretivist approach and a qualitative design, this study comprises 20 in-depth interviews with first- and second-generation Turkish entrepreneurs (TEs) in Melbourne, Australia. Turks in Australia were chosen because of their high level of entrepreneurial activity. In order to uncover deep-seeded motivations, participants were interviewed in a face-to-face format guided by a semi-structured interview guide.

The second-generation TEs were distinctively different from their first-generation counterparts in motivation for business entry, business establishment and use of ethnicity. The analysis shows that although the generations differ in their approach to business establishment, they both appear to be drawn to entrepreneurship based on “pull factors”. This is in contrast with previous literature suggesting that first-generation immigrant entrepreneurs were motivated by “push factors”.

This paper suggests that both first- and second-generation immigrant entrepreneurs are “pulled” into entrepreneurship voluntarily. While the first-generation entrepreneurs seem to be motivated/pulled by financial reasons, the second generation are motivated by opportunity recognition, status and ambition. Nevertheless, a lack of trust in government support agency is found within both generations. Thus, outreach activities towards entrepreneurial immigrant communities may have positive effects for the economy as well as in the integration of ethnic enclaves.

The aim of this paper is to review and synthesize an interdisciplinary literature on ethnic entrepreneurship studies from a spatial perspective. The major goal is to develop an analytical framework for understanding how place plays a role in ethnic entrepreneurship processes at different geographic scales.

The article starts with a review of perspectives on ethnic entrepreneurship from multiple disciplines in social sciences, mainly from a non‐spatial approach. It then critically discusses the spatial inquiries on ethnic entrepreneurship, with a focus on identifying the gaps across disciplines. Based on these discussions, a comprehensive, multilevel spatial framework is finally conceptualized. Following that, the concluding remarks highlight future directions and public policy significance by implementing this suggested social‐spatial approach.

As the central social actors, ethnic entrepreneurs weave through multiscaled geographic contexts in the process of creatively mobilizing and capitalizing entrepreneurial resources in the labor markets. The multiscaled geographic contexts provide a milieu of social, economic, political, cultural, and regulatory factors and forces. The interaction between the social actors and their social‐spatial contexts further influences entrepreneurs’ values of entrepreneurship, perception of entrepreneurial opportunities, practical management strategies, and ultimately their business performances.

This study provides significant policy implications for entrepreneurship related public policies on regional development, economic recovery, and neighborhood revitalization especially when race and ethnicity are concerned.

By identifying gaps of knowledge in ethnic entrepreneurship and incorporating a multidisciplinary literature, this paper extends the discussion of “contextual effects” from spatial dimensions, explicitly brings race and ethnicity to the spatial framework of entrepreneurship.

This study is devoted to the empirical assessment of the macro‐level impact of social capital on immigrant entrepreneurship (the general levels of immigrant entrepreneurship, as well as high‐value added immigrant entrepreneurship).

The paper applies multiple regression analysis to the data on immigrant entrepreneurship and high‐value added immigrant entrepreneurship provided by OECD. The measures of the independent variables (the components of social capital) are based on World Value Survey.

The results reveal that social capital does play a significant role in high‐value added immigrant entrepreneurship in particular and immigrant entrepreneurship in general. With strong statistical significance, three social capital factors – networking, interpersonal trust, and institutional trust – provide an explanation for variations in immigrant entrepreneurship across countries.

Although the literature has long pointed out the importance of social capital as a determinant of economic activity, entrepreneurship researchers have focused much attention on the impact of personal, economic, and politico‐administrative factors while leaving social capital factors largely unexamined. Thus, study offers a systematic analysis of the effects of social capital on immigrant entrepreneurship and high‐value added immigrant entrepreneurship at a macro level and discusses policy‐making implications.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on “Entrepreneurial migration: characteristics, causes and effects”.

Literature review.

Studies on immigrant entrepreneurship have become increasingly popular and the importance of social context and social connections has been recognized by scholars. However, research on their effects on immigrant entrepreneurship has been rather limited. This special issue explains the essential steps of the entrepreneurial process by immigrants (i.e. host country choice, entrepreneurial engagement, new venture creation, business network development and corporate political activities) and discusses the effects of immigrant entrepreneurs on their host countries.

The paper presents a review of literature on entrepreneurial migration and social impacts.

The purpose of this paper is to look at immigrant family business through the framework of social capital by investigating how the social capital of immigrant family business owners helps them obtain network benefits and improve business performance.

This paper presents an empirical investigation of 170 immigrant family business owners. The authors examine social capital as a multidimensional construct and focus on two attributes of social capital: structural embeddedness and relational embeddedness. In addition, this study examines how social capital influences business performance through the mediating effect of network benefits. Finally, the constructs of family capital and immigrant community capacity are also investigated.

The results suggest that the two attributes of social capital differed in their effects on network benefits, and that network benefits mediated the influence of social capital attributes on family business performance. Specifically, relational social capital influenced access to resources and information, and structural social capital influenced access to resources. Family ties affected network benefits and business performance, and immigrant community capacity had the predicted moderating effect on the relationship between immigrant community ties and network benefits.

This investigation has the potential to advance understanding of immigrant family businesses by assessing how the overall social capital of the family business owner influences business performance. The study also furthers the understanding of family capital and immigrant community capacity. In addition, these results serve practitioners by helping identify avenues to increase immigrant family business performance, an issue that is increasingly important today given the contribution of such businesses to the economic vitality of societies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of immigrant and ethnic enclaves on the success of entrepreneurial ventures as measured by firm profits and viability.

Data on entrepreneurs and their new firms were provided by the Kauffman Foundation and covered the years 2004-2008. These firm-level data were linked to Census 2000 Summary Files at the ZIP Code level and were used to empirically investigate the effect of enclaves.

The paper found a statistically significant negative effect of immigrant representation in an area on firm profitability. This effect operated on native, rather than immigrant, firm owners, which suggested that native-owned firms locating in immigrant enclaves may experience difficulty assimilating the benefits that enclaves offer.

Cultural connections within local communities play a key role in the success of new businesses. Potential firms should recognize the importance of these connections when making firm location decisions. Likewise, the findings suggest that connections within local communities should be considered when designing aid programs.

The authors used a unique measure of enclave representation to incorporate both immigrant, as well as ethnic, representation in the local area. The authors examined the effect of immigration on both immigrant- and native-owned firms in order to provide a broader scope and a more complete understanding of the effects of immigration on entrepreneurial ventures.