Abstract: | This paper traces the antecedents of entrepreneurship across ethnic minority groups as reflected in their different rates of business formation in New Zealand, an ethnically diverse nation. The study contrasts the experiences of the Dutch, Chinese, Indian, and Pacific Peoples, groups who have historically exhibited different levels of entrepreneurship. A grounded theory approach led to a model with four linked embedding constructs—migration, settlement, identity, and business—sufficient to interpret longstanding intergroup differences in business formation rates. The findings give new insight into the nature of ethnic minority embedding and an original substantive theory of the antecedents of ethnic minority entrepreneurship. |