Family embeddedness in immigrants’ entrepreneurial opportunity creation processes

Evansluong, Quang; Ramirez-Pasillas, Marcela

Abstract

This paper employs an inductive case study to develop theory on the role of family relationships with the immigrant entrepreneur in the opportunity creation process. We rely on the perspective of the process of opportunity creation and family embeddedness for theory building purposes. We employ data collected from four cases of immigrant entrepreneurs who established businesses in Sweden and that have their origins in Cameroon, Lebanon, Mexico, and Syria. The paper identifies three norms of reciprocity and obligation facilitating the opportunity creation process: fulfilling family duties, interacting regularly with family and family friends and deploying family loyalty. These norms of reciprocity and obligation are connected to specific processes of the opportunity creation such as the triggering process, the development of an entrepreneurial idea and the refinement of the entrepreneurial idea. With the identification of these norms in the opportunity creation process, we show that the immigrant entrepreneurs concentrate on building new family relationships in the host country, they focus on sustaining family relationships with their home country. This dynamic creates different norms of reciprocity and obligations for the immigrant entrepreneurs and their families, which manifest and support the opportunity creation process.

Citation

Evansluong, Q., & Ramirez-Pasillas, M. (2016, November). Family embeddedness in immigrants’ entrepreneurial opportunity creation processes. Paper presented at RENT XXX conference, Antwerp, Belgium

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: RENT XXX conference
• Start Date: Nov 16, 2016
• End Date: Nov 18, 2016
• Acceptance Date: Nov 16, 2016
• Publication Date: Nov 16, 2016
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: immigrant entrepreneurship, opportunity creation, family embeddedness, host country, home country
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : RENT XXX, Belgium, November 16-18, 2016