Development of Bangladeshi Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Canada.pdf (original) (raw)

Beyond Skilled Immigration: The Making of New Immigrant Enterprises in Canada

Abstract: Canada’s skilled worker program is designed to attract those educated and experienced individuals from around the world who are eligible to integrate into Canada’s labour market upon arrival. However, many skilled and other non-business-class immigrants do not find suitable jobs upon arrival in Canada. Some of them choose to open their own businesses and eventually become entrepreneurs. Drawing on the experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants, this paper examines how immigrants reposition themselves from the rank of non-business-class immigrants to that of entrepreneurs in the settlement process. The paper reports that migrant entrepreneurship is embedded within the dynamics of immigration trajectory and the broader context of the receiving society. Even though they are driven towards the lower end of the economy, innovations have expanded the breadth and depth of their businesses and made their businesses different and rewarding.

Becoming entrepreneurs: how immigrants developed entrepreneurial identities

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 2017

Using a qualitative approach with 30 in-depth interviews with Chinese immigrants in West Canada, this paper investigates the important process of how entrepreneurial identity is formed and constructed, with the perspective that entrepreneurial identity is social and dynamic, constantly shaped by various life episodes and human interactions, rather than static and unchanging This study has important implications for the understanding of the exploratory and discovery mode of entrepreneurial identity construction. This study also moves away from the contextual and structural hypotheses as the sole explanations for the high rate of self-employment among immigrant entrepreneurs, and provides a useful starting point for a deeper understanding of the agency of immigrant entrepreneurs.

Antecedents of immigrants’ entrepreneurial intention formation process: an empirical study of immigrant entrepreneurs in Canada

Frontiers in Psychology

Economic integration of ever-increasing number of immigrants in the host country is a challenge both for the immigrant and their host government. Immigrant entrepreneurship can be one of the solutions to this challenge. However, little is known about how immigrant entrepreneurship intention formation process takes place. Immigrants face various challenging situations that make them psychologically and cognitively distinct. This study models from a holistic perspective, the dimensions of individual and contextual variables as antecedents of Immigrants’ entrepreneurial intention (IEI). The study aims to identify the key factors responsible for developing EI of immigrants with an implementation intent. Cross-sectional data from Canada is examined using a sample of 250 immigrants. The analysis adopts a structural equation modelling approach. In addition to risk perception, bridging social network, and experience, we postulate that the perceived distance of entrepreneurial culture (count...

Global dynamics of immigrant entrepreneurship: Changing trends, ethnonational variations, and reconceptualizations

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research, 2019

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on immigrant entrepreneurship since the mid-2000s to examine the changing trends, variations and theoretical advances in immigrant entrepreneurship in Western societies. Design/methodology/approach Using the SocIndex and Proquest Business Premium databases, the authors conducted a literature review of about 100 peer-reviewed articles published since the mid-2000s. The authors critically assess the main research findings, identify key concepts and models that have been developed over the past decade, and offer new theoretical insight into the ever-changing global dynamics of immigrant entrepreneurship. Although the focus is on the USA, the authors also include some seminal research based in other Western countries of immigrant reception. Findings Based on a critical review of existing research that has been published between 2004 and the present, the authors highlight main trends and variations of the entrepreneurial endeavors among diasporic migrants, address the emerging forces shaping immigrant entrepreneurship, highlight theoretical advances in the field of entrepreneurship studies, and suggest new directions for future research. The authors note that the changing trends and ethnonational variations are caused not only by unequal access to human capital, social capital, financial capital, and cross-border venture capital on the part of individual entrepreneurs, but also by differences in broader structural circumstances in the home country and/or host country and interaction between national/local and transnational/global forces. The authors discuss new theoretical advances, identify gaps and raise questions for future research. Originality/value The review offers important insight into the ever-changing local and global dynamics of immigrant entrepreneurship and broadens the established conceptual and theoretical models in the sociology of immigrant/ethnic entrepreneurship. Keywords