Immigrant entrepreneurship in Norway by Evgueni Vinogradov Doctoral thesis submitted to the Bodo Graduate School of Business for the degree of Ph.D.
Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 ABSTRACT CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF APPENDIXES ~" VII 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1. ISSUES RELATING TO THE STUDY ON IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURSHIP 1 1.1.1. Effects of entrepreneurship on immigrants and their sending and receiving countries 2 1.1.2. Empirical studies on immigrant entrepreneurship 10 1.1.3. Empirical studies on immigrant entrepreneurship in Norway 16 1.1.4. Rationale for the study 19 1.2. OVERALL RESEARCH PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS 19 1.3. RESEARCH FOCUS 20 1.4. IMMIGRATION AND IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE NORWEGIAN CONTEXT 21 1.4.1. Immigration to Norway: an introduction 21 1.4.2. Key statistics on Immigrant entrepreneurship in Norway 25 1.5. OUTLINE OF.THL THESIS 29 2 THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES 31 2.1. DEFINITIONAL ISSUES 31 2.1.1. Entrepreneurship 31 2.1.2. Immigrant entrepreneurship 32 2.2. MAIN THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURSHIP 37 2.2.1. Cultural thesis 40 2.2.2. Discrimination and the blocked mobility thesis 42 2.2.3. Social capital and utilisation of ethnic resources 44 2.2.4. Individual characteristics and selective migration 49 2.2.5. Middleman minor it}' theoiy 51 iii II III VI VII
2.2.6. Waldinger et al. 's interactive model 54 2.2.7. Mixed embeddedness 57 2.3. DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES COMPARED 60 2.4. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON RESEARCH ETHICS 63 2.4.1. Virtue ethics 63 2.4.2. Utilitarianism 64 2.4.3. Ethics of duty 64 2.4.4. Discourse ethics v 65 2.4.5. Ethical theories: application to research on immigrant entrepreneurs 66 2.5. SUMMARY 67 METHODOLOGY 69 3.1. PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES 69 3.2. RESEARCH DESIGN 72 3.2.1. Level and unit of analysis 73 3.2.2. Populations and sampling in the quantitative studies 74 3.2.3. Case selection for the qualitative study 76 3.2.4. Use of secondary data 77 3.2.5. Operationalization of variables and questionnaire design 79 3.2.6. Data collection: the postal surveys 83 3.2.7. Data collection: the telephone intennews 89 3.2.8. Data processing and analysis 91 3.2.9. Ethical issues 92 3.3. SUMMARY 93 RESEARCH PAPERS: SUMMARY 94 4.1. OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH PAPERS 94 4.2. PAPER 1. CULTURAL BACKGROUND, HUMAN CAPITAL AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT RATES AMONG IMMIGRANTS IN NORWAY 97 4.2.1. Introduction 97 4.2.2. Theoretical framework and hypotheses 98 4.2.3. Method 101 4.2.4. Key findings and conclusions 101 IV
4.3. PAPER 2. SURVIVAL OF NEW FIRMS OWNED BY NATIVES AND IMMIGRANTS IN NORWAY 103 4.3.1. Introduction 103 4.3.2. Theoretical framework and hypotheses 103 4.3.3. Method 107 4.3.4. Key findings 107 4.4. PAPER 3. ENTREPRENEURSHIP AMONG RUSSIAN IMMIGRANTS IN NORWAY AND THEIR STAY-AT-HOME PEERS, 110 4.4.1. Introduction v 110 4.4.2. Theoretical framework and hypotheses 111 4.4.3. Method 113 4.4.4. Key findings 114 4.5. PAPER 4. ETHICAL ASPECTS OF RESEARCH ON ETHNIC/IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURSHIP 117 4.5.1. Introduction 117 4.5.2. Theoretical framework 118 4.5.3. Method 119 4.5.4. Key findings 120 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 123 5.1. MAIN FINDINGS AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE THESIS 123 5.1.1. Key findings 123 5.1.2. Contribution to the theoretical debates 125 5.1.3. Methodological contribution 128 5.2. IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY MAKERS AND PRACTITIONERS 130 5.2.1. Implications for policy makers in receiving countries 131 5.2.2. Implications for policy makers in sending countries 133 5.2.3. Implications for immigrant entrepreneurs 133 5.3. LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 134 INDIVIDUAL SCIENTIFIC PAPERS 137 6.1. PAPER 1. CULTURAL BACKGROUND, HUMAN CAPITAL AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT RATES AMONG IMMIGRANTS IN NORWAY 138 6.2. PAPER 2. SURVIVAL OF NEW FIRMS OWNED BY NATIVES AND IMMIGRANTS IN NORWAY 158
6.3. PAPER 3. ENTREPRENEURSHIP AMONG RUSSIAN IMMIGRANTS IN NORWAY AND THEIR STAY-AT-HOME PEERS 178 6.4. PAPER 4. ETHICAL ASPECTS OF RESEARCH ON ETHNIC/IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURSHIP 209 REFERENCES 239 APPENDIX A. EMPIRICAL STUDIES ON IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURS: AN OVERVIEW 262 APPENDIX B. ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PAPER 2 (ORIGINALLY IN NORWEGIAN) 305 APPENDIX C. ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PAPER 3 (ORIGINALLY IN RUSSIAN) 308 List of tables Table 1. Social, economic and political benefits of immigrant entrepreneurship. 8 Table 2. Social, economic and political dis-benefits of immigrant entrepreneurship. 10 Table 3. Empirical studies relating to immigrant entrepreneurship: a summary. 12 Table 4. Sample sizes and number of cases explored in empirical studies. 13 Table 5. Empirical studies relating to immigrant entrepreneurship: theoretical perspectives and research design. 15 Table 6. Empirical studies relating to immigrant entrepreneurship in Norway. 17 Table 7. Migrant status definitions. 35 Table 8. Immigrant status definition: the person's and parents' origin. 36 Table 9. Theories explaining immigrant entrepreneurship. 61 Table 10. Theoretical perspectives regarding ethics. 66 Table 11. Philosophical systems of beliefs. 70 Table 12. Concepts and variables used in the quantitative papers 81 Table 13. Spatial distribution of valid respondents and non-respondents. 87 Table 14. Comparing postal survey respondents to interviewed non-respondents. 88 Table 15. The main features of the papers included into this thesis 95 VI