Migrant Entrepreneurship
As migration continues to reshape global societies, entrepreneurship has emerged as one of the pathways for migrants to achieve socio-economic integration and contribute to their host communities.
Our research on migrant entrepreneurship focuses on understanding the entrepreneurial activities of immigrants and refugees in their host countries after relocation. These migrants start and operate businesses despite facing structural barriers such as limited access to capital, market discrimination, and the complexities of navigating unfamiliar legal and institutional systems. Our research explores the ways in which structural contexts and ethnocultural resources influence migrant entrepreneurship while simultaneously acknowledging the individual agency of immigrants and refugees to voluntarily pursue entrepreneurship, proactively orchestrate their journey towards it, and grow their ventures. We delineate the principal features of this phenomenon and the conceptual and methodological frameworks through which it can be understood and captured. Our research also provides insights that inform the development of policies and programs designed to support immigrant and refugee entrepreneurs.
Some of the research projects in this area include:
- Firm growth in immigrant-owned businesses
- Opportunity tension and entrepreneurial agency of immigrants in regulated market structures
- A nuanced understanding of the refugee entrepreneurship phenomenon
- Entrepreneurial readiness and behavior of Ukrainian refugees
Some of the publications in this research area:
Abebe, S. A. (2023). Refugee entrepreneurship: systematic and thematic analyses and a research agenda. Small Business Economics, 60(1), 315-350. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-022-00636-3
Abebe, S. A., & El-Awad, Z. (2023). Unfolding the dynamics of refugees’ entrepreneurial journey in the aftermath of forced displacement. In A. Mockaitis (Ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Global Migration in International Business (pp. 465-499). London: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38886-6_20
Abebe, S. A. (2023). Refugee Entrepreneurship: Towards a Nuanced Understanding of the Phenomenon. [Doctoral Thesis (compilation), Lund University School of Economics and Management, LUSEM]. Lund University, Media-Tryck.
Abebe, S. A. (2019). Taking Stock and Moving Forward in Research on Refugee Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Review of the Current Field and Future Research Directions. In V. Ratten & L. Dana (Eds.), Diversity and Entrepreneurship, (pp. 23–62). Abingdon: Routledge/ Taylor and Francis Group.
Högberg, L., & Mitchell, C. (2023). Mixed embeddedness and entrepreneurship beyond new venture creation: Opportunity tensions in the case of reregulated public markets. International Small Business Journal, 41(2), 121-151. https://doi.org/10.1177/02662426221083827
Klinthäll, M., Mitchell, C., Schölin, T., Slavnic, Z., & Urban, S. (2016). Invandring och företagande: Kunskapsöversikt.
Mitchell, C. (2015). Growth the missing ingredient of immigrant entrepreneurship. Lund: Lund University.
Research Team
Contact
Craig Mitchell
Email: craig [dot] mitchell [at] fek [dot] lu [dot] se (craig[dot]mitchell[at]fek[dot]lu[dot]se)