Title: Immigrant entrepreneurs challenging conventional wisdom: the adherence to immigrant networks plays a minor role in business success
Authors: Goitom Tesfom, Clemens Lutz
Addresses: College of Business and Public Administration, Eastern Washington University, 3000 Landerholm Circle Se, Mail stop 101, Bellevue, WA, 98007, USA. ' Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Abstract: A large body of literature shows that immigrants are more entrepreneurial because they are able to use their network relationships. Allegedly, immigrant networks allow their members to access resources that are hard to get through formal channels. The findings of this study have put some nuances in this debate. In the perception of immigrant entrepreneurs, immigrant network relationships played only a minor role in their business success, i.e., in fostering the exchange of business information and resources among the Vietnamese and East African entrepreneurs in the Seattle area.
Keywords: immigrant networks; entrepreneurship; immigrant entrepreneurs; East Africans; Vietnamese; immigrants; conventional wisdom; USA; United States.
DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2009.024379
International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2009 Vol.8 No.2, pp.241 - 258
Published online: 02 Apr 2009 *
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