Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Life-Satisfaction of Entrepreneurs in the Diaspora: Embedded in Transnational Networks and International Business

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Diaspora Networks in International Business

Part of the book series: Contributions to Management Science ((MANAGEMENT SC.))

Abstract

It is well known that entrepreneurs’ transnational networking is benefiting international business, especially exporting, and that diasporic entrepreneurs are pursuing transnational networks and international business more than natives. Far less is known about outcomes such as well-being. This chapter addresses the question: how are diasporic entrepreneurs’ networking and exporting shaping their satisfaction with life? 1. A globally representative sample of entrepreneurs, including first generation migrants and second generation diasporans, reported on networking, exporting and life-satisfaction. 2. Analyses reconfirm, globally, that entrepreneurs in the diaspora are networking and exporting more than natives, and that networking promotes exporting. As hypothesized, diasporic entrepreneurs, especially in the first generation, have higher life-satisfaction than native entrepreneurs. Life-satisfaction also benefits from networking and exporting. 3. The study contributes to understanding how life-satisfaction of entrepreneurs is shaped by being in the diaspora and by transnational networking and international business.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aliaga-Isla R, Rialp A (2013) Systematic review of immigrant entrepreneurship literature: previous findings and ways forward. Entrepren Reg Dev 25(9–10):819–844. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2013.845694

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashourizadeh S (2017a) Immigrant entrepreneurship: exploring the variety of contextual opportunities and constraints. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Southern Denmark, Kolding

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashourizadeh S (2017b) Iranian entrepreneurs at home and in diaspora: entrepreneurial competencies, exporting, innovation and growth-expectations. In: Iranian entrepreneurship: deciphering the entrepreneurial eco-system in Iran and in the Iranian diaspora. Springer International Publishing, pp 249–262

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashourizadeh S, Schøtt T (2015) Exporting embedded in culture and transnational networks around entrepreneurs. Int J Bus Global 16(3):314–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashourizadeh S, Rezaei S, Schøtt T, Vang J (2014) Entrepreneurs’ human and social capital: direct and reinforcing benefits for export. Int J Entrepren Small Bus 21(2):246–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashourizadeh S, Schøtt T, Pişkinsüt Şengüler E, Wang Y (2015) Exporting by migrants and indigenous entrepreneurs: contingent on gender and education. Int J Bus Global 16(3):264–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bandura A (1986) Social foundations of thought and action. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs

    Google Scholar 

  • Beckers P, Blumberg BF (2013) Immigrant entrepreneurship on the move: a longitudinal analysis of first- and second-generation immigrant entrepreneurship in the Netherlands. Entrepren Reg Dev 25(7–8):654–691

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bosma N (2013) The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and its impact on entrepreneurship research. Found Trends Entrepren 9(2):143–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brzozowski J, Cucculelli M, Surdej A (2014) Transnational ties and performance of immigrant entrepreneurs: the role of home-country conditions. Entrepren Reg Dev 26(7–8):546–573. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2014.959068

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheraghi M, Schøtt T (2015) Conceived globals: entrepreneurs’ transnational networking, across phases, and embedded in culture. Int J Bus Global 16(3):209–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheraghi M, Yaghmaei E (2017) Networks around Iranian entrepreneurs at home and in diaspora: effects on performance. In: Iranian entrepreneurship: deciphering the entrepreneurial eco-system in Iran and in the Iranian diaspora. Springer, Berlin, pp 263–276

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheraghi M, Setti Z, Schøtt T (2014) Growth-expectations among women entrepreneurs: embedded in networks and culture in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and in Belgium and France. Int J Entrepren Small Bus 23(1–2):191–212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elo M (2015) Diaspora networks in international business: a review on an emerging stream of research. In: Larimo J, Nummela N, Mainela T (eds) Handbook on international alliance and network research. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp 13–41

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Enderwick P, Tung RL, Chung HFL (2011) Immigrant effects and international business activity: an overview. J Asian Bus Stud 5(1):6–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flap H, Kumcu A, Bulder B (2000) The social capital of ethnic entrepreneurs and their business success. In: Rath J (ed) Immigrant business: the economic, political, and social environment. MacMillan, Houndmills, pp 142–161

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gedajlovic E, Honig B, Moore CB, Payne GT, Wright M (2013) Social capital and entrepreneurship: a schema and research agenda. Enterpren Theory Pract:455–478. https://doi.org/10.1111/etap.12042

  • Global Entrepreneurship Research Association (2017) www.gemconsortium.org. Accessed 9 Jan 2017

  • Honig B, Drori I, Carmichael B (2010) Transnational and immigrant entrepreneurship in a globalized world. University of Toronto Press, Toronto

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen KW, Schøtt T (2015) Start-up firms’ networks for innovation and export: facilitated and constrained by entrepreneurs’ networking in private and public spheres. Soc Netw Anal Min 5(1):1–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen KW, Schøtt T (2017) Components of the network around an actor. In: Alhajj R, Rokne J (eds) Encyclopedia of social network analysis and mining, vol 1, 2nd edn. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen KW, Rezaei S, Schøtt T, Ashourizadeh S, Li J (2015) Chinese entrepreneurs’ human and social capital benefiting innovation: in China and in the Chinese diaspora. Int J Bus Global 16(3):350–377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen KW, Liu Y, Schøtt T (2018) Entrepreneurs’ innovation bringing satisfaction with job, work-family balance, and life: in China and around the world. Int J Innov Stud 1:193–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masurel E, Nijkamp P (2004) Differences between first-generation and second-generation ethnic start-ups: implications for a new support policy. Eviron Plann C Gov Policy 22(5):721–737. https://doi.org/10.1068/c0356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pavot W, Diener E (2008) The satisfaction with life scale and the emerging construct of life satisfaction. J Posit Psychol 3:137–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Portes A, Haller WJ, Guarnizo LE (2002) Transnational entrepreneurs: an alternative form of immigrant economic adaptation. Am Sociol Rev 67(2):278–298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Portes A, Fernández-Kelly P, Haller W (2009) The adaptation of the immigrant second generation in America: a theoretical overview and recent evidence. J Ethn Migr Stud 35(7):1077–1104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powdthavee N (2008) Putting a price tag on friends, relatives and neighbours: using surveys of life satisfaction to value social relationships. J Socio-Econ 37(4):1459–1480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds P, Bosma NS, Autio E, Hunt S, De Bono N, Servais I, Lopez-Garcia P, Chin N (2005) Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: data collection design and implementation 1998–2003. Small Bus Econ 24(3):205–231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan R, Deci E (2000) Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation. Am Psychol 55(1):68–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salaff JW, Greve A, Siu-Lun W, Ping LXL (2003) Ethnic entrepreneurship, social networks, and the enclave. In: Yeoh BSA, Lai KPY, Charney MW, Kiong TC (eds) Approaching transnationalisms: studies on transnational societies, multicultural contacts, and imaginings of home. Springer, New York, pp 61–82

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Schøtt T (2016) Entrepreneurs’ satisfaction with job and life in the Sub-Sahara African diaspora: dual embeddedness in home-society and host-society’. FUTA J Manage Technol 1(1):75–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Schøtt T (2017a) Immigrant and indigenous youth in Europe: entrepreneurial intention building on human, financial and social capital. Int J Entrepren Small Bus 30(3):374–394

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schøtt T (2017b) Networks around women and men entrepreneurs in the Iranian diaspora: dual embeddedness in Iran and in host-society. In: Iranian entrepreneurship: deciphering the entrepreneurial eco-system in Iran and in the Iranian diaspora. Springer, Berlin, pp 231–248

    Google Scholar 

  • Schøtt T (2018) Entrepreneurial pursuits in the Caribbean diaspora: networking and its mixed benefits. Entrep Reg Dev (in press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Schøtt T, Cheraghi M, Rezaei S, Vang J (2014) Innovation embedded in entrepreneurs’ networks in private and public spheres: a global study focusing on China and Denmark. Int J Entrepren Small Bus 23(1/2):145–167. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJESB.2014.065302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singer S, Amorós JE, Moska D (2015) Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2014 Global Report. GERA. www.gemconsortium.org. Accessed 9 Jan 2017

  • Snijders T, Bosker RJ (2012) Multilevel modeling, 2nd edn. Sage, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Stephens S (2013) Building an entrepreneurial network: the experiences of immigrant entrepreneurs. J Enterprising Communities 7(4):233–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vorderwülbecke A (2013) Entrepreneurship and migration. In: Xavier SR, Kelley D, Kew J, Herrington M, Vorderwülbecke A (eds) Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2012 Global Report. Babson Park, MA, Babson College. www.gemconsortium.org. Accessed 9 Jan 2017

  • Weick KE (1976) Educational organizations as loosely coupled systems. Adm Sci Q 21(1):1–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wyrwich M (2015) Entrepreneurship and the intergenerational transmission of values. Small Bus Econ 45(1):191–213. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-015-9649-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou J, Xie Y (2015) Does economic development affect life satisfaction? A spatial-temporal contextual analysis in China. J Happiness Stud. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-015-9612-1

  • Zhou L, Wu WP, Luo X (2007) Internationalization and the performance of born-global SMEs: the mediating role of social networks. J Int Bus Stud 38(4):673–690

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu X, Woo SE, Porter C, Brzezinski M (2013) Pathways to happiness: from personality to social networks and perceived support. Soc Netw 35(3):382–393

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Data were collected by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Responsibility for interpretation rests with the authors. The authors’ work was supported by an award to Liu for her research project ‘On the collaborative ability and improvement of hybrid organization in entrepreneurial universities’ from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, grant number 71603241. Schøtt was supported by the project DiasporaLink, www.diasporalink.org, funded by the European Union Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE), H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014, Project number 645471, and benefitted from sojourns at Yale University and as Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for Migration and Development at Princeton University. The chapter also benefitted from comments from the reviewers and the editors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Administration, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China

    Ye Liu

  2. Department of Entrepreneurship and Relationship Management, University of Southern Denmark, Kolding, Denmark

    Ye Liu & Thomas Schøtt

  3. Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research, Beijing, China

    Ye Liu & Thomas Schøtt

Authors
  1. Ye Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thomas Schøtt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics, Belt & Road, Institute of International Business, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China

    Maria Elo

  2. Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Maria Elo

  3. Migration Institute of Finland, Turku, Finland

    Maria Elo

  4. Mona School of Business and Management, The University of West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica

    Indianna Minto-Coy

  5. International Migration Research Centre, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada

    Indianna Minto-Coy

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Liu, Y., Schøtt, T. (2019). Life-Satisfaction of Entrepreneurs in the Diaspora: Embedded in Transnational Networks and International Business. In: Elo, M., Minto-Coy, I. (eds) Diaspora Networks in International Business. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91095-6_13

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation