Title: Blow-ins, locals, and natives: socio-cultural embeddedness in Ireland's Gaeltachts

Authors: Bryan T. Stinchfield; Emer Ní Bhrádaigh

Addresses: Department of Business, Organizations and Society, Franklin and Marshall College United States, 415 Harrisburg Avenue, Lancaster, PA 17603, USA ' Fiontar, Dublin City University, 01 700 8101, Dublin 9, Ireland

Abstract: When making comparisons to native (aka 'indigenous') entrepreneurs, existent research largely treats rural newcomer entrepreneurs (aka 'in-migrants') as a mostly homogenous group. However, our investigation into the nature and pattern of entrepreneurs' socio-cultural embeddedness in rural Ireland found two distinct patterns of newcomers' approaches to embedding. We conducted a qualitative, multiple-case study of 11 entrepreneurs in Ireland's Gaeltachts, rural regions where both English and a minority language, Irish, are spoken and found that the existence and usage of a minority language affects newcomers' embedding into these unique contexts. This study's contribution is an empirically grounded typology based on three distinct patterns of socio-cultural embeddedness, thus challenging the homogeneity of newcomers' assumption.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; small business; socio-cultural embeddedness; qualitative; case study; culture; rural communities; indigenous entrepreneurs; newcomers; minority languages; Ireland; Gaeltachts; typology; newcomer entrepreneurs; in-migrants; rural areas.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2016.075679

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016 Vol.28 No.1, pp.1 - 19

Received: 22 Dec 2014
Accepted: 01 Jun 2015
Published online: 31 Mar 2016 *

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