Language skills and migrant entrepreneurship: evidence from China

Business ownership constitutes a vital part of the economy. While many of the determinants of entrepreneurship have been intensively studied, the link between language proficiency and entrepreneurship has not. Using the Migrant Dynamics Monitoring Survey, this paper studies the importance of language skills for migrant entrepreneurship. We find that migrants who can understand and fluently speak the local dialect are more likely to become entrepreneurs. The effect of language on entrepreneurship is more pronounced in the urban fringe, towns, and rural areas, and especially where individuals migrate across different dialectal regions. Gaining local dialect skills influences positively the decision to become either a necessity- or an opportunity-driven entrepreneur.

     

A theory of serial entrepreneurship

The contribution of serial entrepreneurs to entrepreneurial activity is significant: in Europe, 18–30% of entrepreneurs are serial; in the US, their contribution is about one-eighth. Yet, theories of entrepreneurship and industry dynamics presume that all firms are launched by novice entrepreneurs and firm failure is synonymous with exit from entrepreneurship. We propose a theory of serial entrepreneurship in which an entrepreneur has three occupational choices: maintain his business in operation, shut it down to enter the labor market to earn an exogenous wage, or shut it down to launch a new venture while incurring a serial startup cost. In equilibrium, a high-skill entrepreneur shuts down a business of low quality to become a serial entrepreneur, launching and subsequently closing firms until a high quality business is found; a low-skill entrepreneur shuts down a business of low quality to enter the labor market, never to become a serial entrepreneur. A decrease in the wage or serial startup cost, or an increase in the startup capital, enhances the contribution of serial entrepreneurs to entrepreneurial activity and promotes new firm formation (by increasing entrepreneurship and the number of new firms that survive), but its effect on the exit rate of new firms is ambiguous. We show the model is consistent with evidence relating to the impact of an entrepreneur’s characteristics and prior experience in entrepreneurship on the survival of his firm and his entry into and survival in entrepreneurship.     

Childhood adversity and the propensity for entrepreneurship: A quasi-experimental study of the Great Chinese Famine

Studies on the determinants of entrepreneurship emphasize that challenged adults tend to become entrepreneurs. However, research has not addressed the childhood origins surrounding the propensity for entrepreneurship. This article links childhood adversity to the propensity of individuals to become migrant entrepreneurs later in life. We test hypotheses derived from this theory in the context of whether, and when, children who survived the Great Chinese Famine of 1959–1961 became migrant entrepreneurs. Results strongly indicate that those who survived greater hardship during the Famine are more likely to become entrepreneurs, especially when they were younger during the famine years. We also find that being younger at the time of migration increased the likelihood of becoming entrepreneurs in their new locale. Overall, this study casts light on why, how and when childhood adversity shapes the propensity for entrepreneurship.     

Evaluations of export feasibility by immigrant and non-immigrant entrepreneurs in new technology-based firms

Entrepreneurs evaluate the feasibility of future export opportunities according to individual-level factors and perceived environmental conditions. However, because individual entrepreneurs are heterogeneous in their characteristics, previous experiences, and perceptions of environment, entrepreneurs will differ in their evaluations of internationalization feasibility. In this paper, we investigate whether and how one relevant source of entrepreneur heterogeneity, i.e., migrant condition, impacts the perceived feasibility of exporting opportunities. Drawing on rich primary data collected from a matched-pair sample of 71 immigrant and 69 native entrepreneurs active in non-internationalized new technology-based firms in Italy, we find that the migrant condition positively moderates the relationship between perceived financial public support and perceived feasibility of exporting, whereas it negatively moderates the relationship between international business skills and perceived export feasibility. We discuss the implications of these findings for research and policy in the area of international entrepreneurship.     

The private financial gains to entrepreneurship: Is it a good use of public money to encourage individuals to become entrepreneurs?

Recent evidence comparing earnings from entrepreneurship versus wage earning shows that, after allowing for obvious observable differences, most entrepreneurs in most developed countries earn less than similar wage-earning employees. Does this mean that the decision to become an entrepreneur should be discouraged? The answer depends in part on whether we believe that entrepreneurs report their income truthfully or not. Adjusting for what is considered to be underreporting by entrepreneurs lifts entrepreneurial earnings by between 10 and 40 %, reversing the fortunes of the entrepreneur such that they appear to be earning much more than their counterparts in a wage-earning job. If this adjustment should prove to be appropriate, then there is no obvious reason to increase the incentive for individuals to become entrepreneurs (such as with tax breaks or direct start-up subsidies) in developed countries, and there is reason, instead, to discuss decreasing these subsidies.     

Entrepreneurship and structural economic transformation

This paper provides an endogenous growth model to illuminate the role of entrepreneurial start-up firms in structural economic transformation. We follow the Lewis-model distinction between a traditional and modern sector and underpin this distinction with micro-foundations. We specify mature and start-up entrepreneurs and make a distinction between survivalist self-employment activities in the traditional sector and opportunity-driven entrepreneurship in the modern. The model shows how opportunity-driven entrepreneurship can drive structural transformation in both the modern and traditional sectors through innovation and the provision of intermediate inputs and services (which permits greater specialization in manufacturing) and by increasing employment and productivity.     

Entrepreneurship as a vocational choice in contested entrepreneurship communities: The role of entrepreneurs' justification strategies

Research on the vocational decision to become an entrepreneur highlights how culture justifies such decisions when entrepreneurs align with the dominant cultural norms. Less is known about such justification when entrepreneurship is seen as less culturally appropriate. This qualitative study explores how entrepreneurs in Santiago, Chile and Nairobi, Kenya use strategies that comply, combine, and defy frames to justify vocational choices. Our framework sheds new light on how entrepreneurs act as purposeful cultural agents and use justification strategies to navigate constraining societal frames.     

A proclivity for entrepreneurship: A comparison of entrepreneurs,small business owners,and corporate managers

Despite intensive inquiry, relatively little is known about the entrepreneur, the central figure in entrepreneurship. The question of how an individual who operates his or her own business differs from a corporate manager remains unanswered. In addressing this question, the primary purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of psychological constructs to predict a proclivity for entrepreneurship. The research model includes three classic themes in the literature: achievement motivation, risk-taking propensity, and preference for innovation.A survey of 767 small business owner-managers and corporate managers was assembled from a 20-state region, primarily the southeastern United States. The participants completed a questionnaire composed of the Achievement Scale of the Personality Research Form, the Risk-Taking and Innovation Scales of the Jackson Personality Inventory and questions pertaining to numerous individual and organizational variables. Respondents were first divided into two groups, managers and small business owner-managers. Subsequently, due to the often cited variations in entrepreneurs, the owner-managers were further categorized as either an entrepreneur or small business owner, using the widely cited Carland et al. (1984) theoretical definitions. Entrepreneurs are defined by their goals of profit and growth for their ventures and by their use of strategic planning. Alternatively, small business owners focus on providing family income and view the venture as an extension of their personalities. In this study, both groups of owner-managers were simultaneously compared with managers using hierarchical set multinomial LOGIT regression.The results indicated that the psychological constructs are associated with small business ownership, but with some important caveats. As hypothesized, those labeled entrepreneurs were higher in achievement motivation, risk-taking propensity, and preference for innovation than were both the corporate managers and the small business owners. This profile of the entrepreneur as a driven, creative risk-taker is consistent with much of the classic literature concerning the entrepreneur. Nonetheless, not all of the owner-managers fit this profile. When compared with managers, the small business owners demonstrated only a significantly higher risk-taking propensity. In terms of the constructs studied, the small business owners were more comparable to managers than to entrepreneurs.In addition to theoretical and methodological implications, the results presented here have important implications for small business owner-managers of both types. A major issue is the connection between the owner’s psychological profile and the characteristics of the venture, including performance. It would appear that psychological antecedents are associated with owner goals for the venture. Some owners will be more growth oriented than will others, and performance should be assessed in light of the owner’s aspirations for the venture. Moreover, owners should be aware of their own personality sets, including risk preferences, which may be more or less suited to different venture circumstances, including those with relatively high levels of risk.Planning in small businesses appears to enhance venture performance. Research has demonstrated the connections between psychological factors and planning behaviors in small businesses. Those labeled entrepreneurs in this study have goals of profit and growth, and tend to engage in more planning. An awareness of these psychological preferences and concomitant attention to planning behaviors have the potential to improve the performance of the venture, irrespective of owner aspirations.Venture teaming is becoming more popular among entrepreneurs. Balanced venture teams appear to improve the chances of entrepreneurial success (Timmons 1990), but a common source of conflict among venture team members is inconsistent or ambiguous motives for the new venture. Awareness of venture partners’ psychological predispositions in areas such as risk-taking could be used to identify and reconcile areas of potential conflict, and enhance the planning process in the small firm. In sum, an individual’s awareness of his or her psychological profile provides a number of advantages, not only to existing entrepreneurs, but also to aspiring entrepreneurs who should assess their perceived entrepreneurial opportunities against the backdrop of their psychological proclivity for entrepreneurship.     

The new generation of millennial entrepreneurs: A review and call for research

Entering the third decade of the new millennium, the millennial generation is stepping into their most productive stage of life. We have witnessed a number of exemplary millennial entrepreneurs, such as Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook. The world’s economy is evolving fast and presenting distinct entrepreneurial opportunities to millennials across the globe. It is critical that scholars of international entrepreneurship explore the new breed of millennial entrepreneurs and contrast them across generations and countries. Regrettably, the extant literature comes up short in fully addressing the new generation of entrepreneurs. We call for immediate scholarly attention on millennial entrepreneurs as they are in substantive ways unlike all earlier generations. We urge researchers to explore the unique characteristics of millennial entrepreneurs, their influence on entrepreneurial motivation, orientation, opportunity discovery and exploitation process, and the global ambition of their entrepreneurial ventures.     

Beyond Achievement: Entrepreneurship as Extreme Experience

How do entrepreneurs experience entrepreneurship, and what are the implications? The cognitive and emotional experiences of the entrepreneur as he/she performs the tasks associated with venture creation and high growth have received limited attention from researchers. The entrepreneurial context can be characterized in terms of peaks and valleys, or periods of relatively high pressure, stress, uncertainty, and ambiguity and periods of relative stability and predictability. Three inter-related psychological variables are investigated to determine their applicability in an entrepreneurial context: peak performance, peak experience, and flow. Results are reported of a series of in-depth, structured interviews conducted with two samples of entrepreneurs. Both qualitative and quantitative evidence is provided of the relevance of all three variables to entrepreneurs, with the highest scores for each variable demonstrated by entrepreneurs in high growth ventures. A number of implications are drawn for ongoing research and entrepreneurial practice, most notably in the area of entrepreneurial motivation. The findings suggest that entrepreneurship be approached as a vehicle for optimal human experiencing.     

Founders’ human capital and the performance of UK new technology based firms

This paper investigates the role of entrepreneurs?? general and specific human capital on the performance of UK new technology based firms using a resource based approach to the entrepreneurship theory. The effect of entrepreneurial human capital on the performance of NTBFs is investigated using data derived from a survey of 412 firms operating in both high-tech manufacturing and the services sectors. According to the resource based theory it is found that specific human capital is more important for the performance of NTBFs in relation to general. More specifically individual entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial teams with high levels of formal business education, commercial, managerial or same sector experience are found to have created better performing NTBFs. Finally it is found that the performance of a NTBF can improve through the combination of heterogeneous but complementary skills, including, for example, technical education and commercial experience or managerial technical and managerial commercial experience.     

Sensor-based entrepreneurship: A framework for developing new products and services

As the Internet of Things (IoT) begins to dominate the technology landscape, there will be new products and services that will become technically and financially feasible. Internet technologies and advancements in social interaction tools have led to an increase in the use of the crowd as a provider of business solutions. Yet, we have seen a mere fraction of the possibilities of crowdsourcing technologies. This is because most of the development, discussion, and research around crowdsourcing has focused on active-input crowdsourcing. However, the real transformative pressure will come from passive sources of data generated primarily by developing and growing sensor technologies. This next generation of crowdsourcing will be a game changer for entrepreneurial opportunities. As crowdsourcing systems proliferate, more input will be acquired from sensors, artificial intelligence, bots, and other devices. As a result of this explosion, the variety of product and service opportunities will swell as entrepreneurs become more aware of technologies merging—such as the combination of crowdsourcing, sensors, and big data into a new type of entrepreneurship: sensor-based entrepreneurship. The purpose of this research is to contribute by (1) clarifying the next generation of crowdsourcing and (2) developing and presenting a framework to help sensor-based entrepreneurs plan, develop, and map their new products and services.     

African Women in the Entrepreneurial Landscape: Reconsidering the Formal and Informal Sectors

Informal and formal sectors can be seen as “dual economies” of African countries. This article discusses the entrepreneurial landscape in Africa considering both sectors, as well as the continuum from small to large within each. It queries whether there can be mobility within and between sectors and whether upward movement, as seen elsewhere, is possible for most African entrepreneurs. The landscape displays the range of women entrepreneurs from traditional microenterprises to large informal-sector traders, from small- to large-scale formal-sector companies, as well as emerging globalists (the “new generation of African entrepreneurs”). Paradigms compare and contrast these entrepreneurs in terms of demographic variables, types of typical enterprises and companies, product sources and markets, start-up capital, networks and associations, and mobility within and between the sectors. Findings show the informal?formal distinction is useful to disentangle the landscape, but that movement between informal sector categories is not substantial because of the entry requirements of education, capital, business networks, etc. Similarly, within the formal sector of small to large businesses, limited access to capital, networks, market niches, and product innovation hinders upward mobility for most. The new generation of African entrepreneurs form an endpoint of the continuum because their global business methods, networks, financial transparency, and business ethics propel them to success. Hence, while most African women entrepreneurs are lower on the scale, there is a growing cadre of women at the top who provide role models of achievement within their countries.     

Does entrepreneurial self-efficacy distinguish entrepreneurs from managers?

Previous research on the psychology of entrepreneurs found that personality traits such as locus of control failed to distinguish entrepreneurs from managers. In search of an individual characteristic that is distinctively entrepreneurial, we proposed an entrepreneurial self-efficacy construct (ESE) to predict the likelihood of an individual being an entrepreneur. ESE refers to the strength of a person’s belief that he or she is capable of successfully performing the various roles and tasks of entrepreneurship. It consists of five factors: marketing, innovation, management, risk-taking, and financial control.We conducted two studies, one on students and the other on small business executives. Study 1 found that the total ESE score differentiated entrepreneurship students from students of both management and organizational psychology, and that across the three types of students, ESE was positively related to the intention to set up one’s own business. We also found the entrepreneurship students to have higher self-efficacy in marketing, management, and financial control than the management and psychology students. In study 2, we simultaneously tested effects of ESE and locus of control on the criteria of founders vs. nonfounders of current businesses. After controlling for individual and company background variables, the effect of ESE scores was significant, but the effect of locus of control was not. More specifically, it was found that business founders had higher self-efficacy in innovation and risk-taking than did nonfounders.The results of this study demonstrate the potential of entrepreneurial self-efficacy as a distinct characteristic of the entrepreneur. From these results, some important implications can be drawn on entrepreneurial assessment, education, counseling, and community intervention. First, ESE can be used to identify reasons for entrepreneurial avoidance. There may be many individuals who shun entrepreneurial activities not because they actually lack necessary skills but because they believe they do. This is especially true for sectors of the population such as women or those minority groups who are perceived as lacking entrepreneurial traditions. Communities and individuals could benefit from identifying sources of entrepreneurial avoidance by targeting their efforts toward enhancing ESE of particular groups or individuals for specific aspects of entrepreneurship.An additional use of ESE is to identify areas of strength and weakness to assess the entrepreneurial potential of both an individual and a community. Once entrepreneurial potential is identified, resources can be channeled and more effectively used to promote entrepreneurship. Finally, diagnosis and treatment of ESE can be performed on real entrepreneurs. The entrepreneur may be completely avoiding, or performing less frequently, certain critical entrepreneurial activities because s/he lacks self-efficacy. For example, the entrepreneur may be avoiding company growth for fear of losing control. Identification and removal of self-doubt will enable the entrepreneur to be actively engaged in entrepreneurial tasks, more persistent in the face of difficulty and setbacks, and more confident in meeting challenges.Overall, ESE is a moderately stable belief and requires systematic and continuous efforts to be changed. Two broad approaches can be taken toward desired change. One is the micro-approach that directly focuses on people’s beliefs. In designing and conducting entrepreneurship courses, training institutions should not just train students in critical entrepreneurial skills and capabilities but also strengthen their entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The current state of entrepreneurship courses in most management schools may fall short in both respects. Courses focus on commonly identified management skills, but often ignore entrepreneurial skills such as innovation and risk-taking. Furthermore, the teaching of entrepreneurial skills tends to be technical, with insufficient attention paid to the cognition and belief systems of the entrepreneur. Educators should take into account entrepreneurial attitudes and perceptions when designing or assessing their course objectives. Conscious efforts could be made to enhance ESE by involving the students in “real-life” business design or community small business assistance, by inviting successful entrepreneurs to lecture, and by verbal persuasion from the instructor and renowned entrepreneurs.The second approach to enhancing ESE is to work on the environment of potential and actual entrepreneurs. According to the reciprocal causation model, the environment may affect self-efficacy not only directly but also indirectly through performance. An environment perceived to be more supportive will increase entrepreneurial self-efficacy because individuals assess their entrepreneurial capacities in reference to perceived resources, opportunities, and obstacles existing in the environment. Personal efficacy is more likely to be developed and sustained in a supportive environment than in an adverse one. A supportive environment is also more likely to breed entrepreneurial success, which in turn further enhances entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Communities can work toward creating an efficacy enhancing environment by making resources both available and visible, publicizing entrepreneurial successes, increasing the diversity of opportunities, and avoiding policies that create real or perceived obstacles.     

The need for inclusion of entrepreneurship education in Nigerian school curricula

This article advocates the inclusion of entrepreneurship education as a subject in the curricula of all the educational institutions in Nigeria and other developing countries. Some innovative entrepre‐neurship education practices such as periodic entrepreneur‐pupil/student interaction and students' attachment period with established entrepreneurs are also proposed in inculcating the entrepreneurial culture. The regular interactive sessions with entrepreneurs from the organized private sector will engender consistent and systematic orientation of the young adults in acquisition of skills, competencies, and knowledge requisite for self‐employment. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The cognitive perspective: a valuable tool for answering entrepreneurship's basic “why” questions

It is suggested that a cognitive perspective may provide important insights into key aspects of the entrepreneurial process. Specifically, it is proposed that this perspective—which has yielded impressive results in many other fields—can help the field of entrepreneurship to answer three basic questions it has long addressed: (1) Why do some persons but not others choose to become entrepreneurs? (2) Why do some persons but not others recognize opportunities for new products or services that can be profitably exploited? (3) Why are some entrepreneurs so much more successful than others? Specific cognitive factors relevant to each of these questions are identified, and their potential effects are described. It is suggested that a cognitive perspective can prove beneficial both to researchers wishing to understand entrepreneurship as a process and to practitioners hoping to assist entrepreneurs in their efforts to create successful new ventures.     

The entrepreneur's mode of entry: Business takeover or new venture start?

We extend the well-known occupational choice model of entrepreneurship by analyzing the mode of entry. Individuals can become entrepreneurs by taking over established businesses or starting up new ventures from scratch. We argue that the new venture creation mode is associated with higher levels of schooling whereas managerial experience, new venture start-up capital requirements and industry level risk promote the takeover mode. A sample of data on entrepreneurs from The Netherlands provides broad support for these hypotheses, and also bears out a prediction that entrepreneurs whose parents run a family firm tend to invest the least in schooling. We go on to discuss the implications for researchers, entrepreneurs and public policy makers.     

Entrepreneurship in the Region: Breeding Ground for Nascent Entrepreneurs?

This paper employs data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP) and data from the German Social Insurance Statistics to study nascent entrepreneurship. In particular, micro data from the SOEP characterizing employees and nascent entrepreneurs is combined with data characterizing the entrepreneurial environment. The principal findings suggest that individuals are embedded in their local entrepreneurial environment which influences an individual especially at the beginning of the decision process about whether to become self-employed. Work and previous self-employment experience is more important than formal education for the likelihood of being a nascent entrepreneur. Furthermore, social capital is an important stimulus for nascent entrepreneurs. Finally, the results indicate that financial assets are less important for nascent entrepreneurs.     

An exploratory study of characteristics and attributes of Turkish entrepreneurs: A cross-country comparison to Irish entrepreneurs

There has been limited research on entrepreneurship in Turkey. Given the fact that globalization has rapidly been increasing, that foreign direct investment is spreading throughout the world, and that more and more foreign investors are seeking partners in emergent markets such as Turkey. One important reason for the interest in Turkish entrepreneurs is because they have many characteristics that are similar to entrepreneurs in Western markets. Even if there are many differences between Western entrepreneurs and Turkish entrepreneurs, it would be valuable to compare the characteristics of Turkish entrepreneurs with others. Moreover, a few cross-cultural studies have examined the similarities among entrepreneurs in various nations. Ireland and Turkey have many striking similarities despite varying cultural backgrounds. Hence, this empirical research was undertaken to investigate the characteristics and attributes of Turkish entrepreneurs and compare them to Irish entrepreneurs. The research design in this study focused on 161 Turkish entrepreneurs who were randomly selected from a list (obtained from local Chamber of Commerce) and interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The questions assessed relevant areas, such as demographic and business information, motivations, entrepreneurial characteristics, business problems, personality characteristics, and management skills. Information on the Irish entrepreneurs was incorporated from a published study. Overall, in terms of entrepreneurial characteristics, Turkish entrepreneurs displayed surprisingly similar characteristics to the Irish. The implications of this study are discussed along with some recommendations.