Text

theses

This qualitative study profiles the way immigrant entrepreneurs from African and Caribbean countries navigate a different institutional environment than their home country. I also consider how their environment and upbringing influences their business choices as formal or informal entrepreneurs. Positioned mainly in the immigrant entrepreneurship literature, my primary contribution in this study is a constructivist grounded theory that identifies related themes under three main constructs: Motivating Business Success, Entrepreneur Mindset, and Nature of Environment. I combine constructivist grounded theory and case study methodologies to describe and examine the aforementioned processes. My analysis is based in multiple data sources, including direct observations, interviews, archival records, and documentation (Baxter & Jack, 2008). The interviews feature formal and informal entrepreneurs from African and Caribbean countries, native entrepreneurs, support organizations, government officials, and field experts. I created an extensive database using a combination of Nvivo and word processing software to sort and categorize the data for emerging themes and then analyzed the themes for relationships, informed by relevant theory. I also identify future implications for research through propositions identifying both early stage and later stage role models as possible antecedents of ethnic enterprise. I also discuss implications that lack of community participation and civic engagement plays a significant role in maintaining the gap between government policy and access to resources and immigrant entrepreneur responses. First, the study creates narratives of the actual experiences of immigrant entrepreneurs’ interaction with urban entrepreneurship policy. These narratives identify disconnects between the immigrant entrepreneur’s choices and the institutional criteria for accessing entrepreneurial support from both government and community organizations. Understanding the immigrant entrepreneur’s choice to run their business without the help of additional government or community resources creates a bridge between the immigrant entrepreneurship and institutional logic literatures, which can be extended through future research agendas. Additionally, understanding how institutional logics influence entrepreneurship policy has practical implications in highlighting areas that the government’s approach may be ineffective. Further, the implications for practice provide legitimate steps that each participant group can pursue to close resource and knowledge gaps.

ETD_9011

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Lutisha Vickerie

doi:10.7282/T37W6GMC

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.