Stages of Entrepreneurial Success_ A Qualitative Study of Post-So-16-217

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Chapter 1 Introduction

Overview

This study examined a phenomenon at the individual immigrant entrepreneur level in the

United States to provide increased insight into understanding the phenomena of surges in

immigrant entrepreneurial startups for continued research on immigrant entrepreneurship to

effect related policy formation and decisions.

This research examined a cohort of eighteen post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs from

11 different Eastern European countries with successful businesses in five different states in the

United States operating in ten different market segments of the economy, and their ability to

rapidly overcome host country barriers beyond bare subsistence needs to establish and sustain

new businesses in the United States. In the process, a new definition of entrepreneurial success

was observed and formulated. With exponential growth in demand for entrepreneurship learning,

immigrant influxes in the U.S., and immigrant startups are now outpacing American natives two

to one in the United States. This study aimed to examine a micro-level phenomenon regarding

the immigrant entrepreneurship success of post-Soviets in the United States. It proposes a

conceptual model built on the belief that there was a potential advantage for immigrant

invisibleness in a host country. The study focused on defining success from the participants'

worldview by developing an Immigrant Entrepreneurial Needs (IEN) model to determine how

the participants report initial and sustained success through their motivational lifecycle. Finally,

the research offers further definition and meaning to a novel concept called immigrant

entrepreneurial intelligence (EI) for continued research consideration.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Purpose of the Study

With exponential growth in demand for entrepreneurship learning, immigrant influxes in

the U.S., and immigrant startups are now outpacing American natives two to one in the United

States. This study aimed to examine a micro-level phenomenon regarding the immigrant

entrepreneurship success of post-Soviets in the United States. It proposes a conceptual model

built on the belief that there was a potential advantage for immigrant invisibleness in a host

country. Moreover, the study attempted to understand the intervening variables impacting the

immigrant's ability to gain initial success and sustain that entrepreneurial success through

eighteen post-Soviet immigrant participants' entrepreneurial experiences and worldviews.

Background and Rationale

Over the last century, much of the European continent has experienced a series of

unpredictable alterations in nation-states that generated a series of 'push and pull' events

displacing millions of people from their natural origins (Lee, 1966). Lee (1966) asserts the

following four push and pull factors motivating individuals and groups to migrate: factors

associated with the area of origin, those associated with the destination area, intervening

obstacles, and personal factors. Lee's (1966) push and pull model extends Ravenstein's (1885,

1889) Seven Laws of Migration. This research study uses Lee's (1966) four factors to explain

why individuals of ethnic groups migrate from their home country to Western countries like the

United States of America.

The research used past literature findings on entrepreneurship, ethnicity, culture, and

immigration; its formulation came from the researcher's observations of continuous success by

post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs in the Greater New York City region of the United States.

A fascinating phenomenon occurred by observing post-Soviet immigrants migrating to the

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

United States and mitigating frequent high-risk and stressful obstacles through migration to

business success in their transitory entrepreneurial lifecycle phases.

The academic research literature repository contains an assorted number of theories and

models on intersecting topics of migration, immigration, entrepreneurship, ethnicity, culture, and

immigrant entrepreneurship (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Aldrich and Fiol, 1994; Awotoye and

Singh, 2018; Fairlie, 2012; Fairlie and Lofstrom, 2015; Gunter, 2012; Glazer and Moynihan,

1970; Hunt, 2011; Kerr and Kerr, 2016; Lee, 1966; Ravenstein, 1885, 1889). The topics of

immigration and immigrant entrepreneurship are not new phenomena, as immigrants have been

migrating to the United States since (and before) the country's founding. However, over the last

century, the United States has seen an unceasing influx of immigrants who have migrated to the

U.S. (Awotoye and Singh, 2018; Camarota and Zeigler, 2016). The intervening obstacles (Lee,

1966) and opportunities (Stouffer, 1940, 1960) associated with a home or host country's conflict,

political unrest, and restructuring of economies are the catalysts for migration of large ethnic

groups from home to host countries in the last century.

In 2023, many debates continue to surround the topic of immigration (i.e., policy

changes, monetary concerns, illegal versus legal entry, crime, job competition, wage concerns,

and changing demographics). Immigrants, and their contribution to a host country, have become

a contentious hot point among the general populace (i.e., host country natives) and policymakers

in the United States. However, against this backdrop, statistical findings tend to be ignored in

much of the public discourse on the topic. The statistical data show that immigrant entrepreneurs

arriving and participating in a host country are outpacing the host natives two to one in new

business startups (Awotoye and Singh, 2018; Vandor and Franke, 2016).

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

The researcher discovered a series of corresponding research findings in the literature

repository, conceptual frameworks, and theoretical concepts for explaining immigrant migration

factors and entrepreneurial activities in a host country. While exploring the vast academic

literature over the last century and a half, the level of complexity and scope of the various

research findings were both consistent and diverse in their various reflections. One of the first

challenges for this research study was the development of the terminology for properly framing

the definition of what constitutes an 'immigrant' in the United States and the linkage to the

immigrant entrepreneur. The definition of immigrant can be convoluted with topics like ethnicity

and culture. Therefore, the researcher followed a discovery path of the following topics:

ethnicity, networks, ethnic enclaves, behavior, politics, cultural distances, entrepreneurial

mindset, individual attributes, education level, psychic distance, and others in the research. The

vast literature on ethnicity, culture, and entrepreneur studies aided in shaping the immigrant

entrepreneur criteria and conceptual framework, despite numerous but opaque linkages between

various theoretical models and viewpoints among scholars examining immigrant

entrepreneurship. According to Kerr and Kerr (2016):

A better understanding of how the existing immigrants in the United States can more

effectively engage in starting new businesses requires careful study of the choices and

policy constraints faced by immigrants in their decisions to build and grow new firms

versus being workers in a large corporation. We also lack a clear picture of how

successful immigrant founders enter the United States, which can be for reasons as

diverse as schooling, employment, family reunification, and more. A study of the

transitions or the sequence of events explaining entry by immigrant entrepreneurs and

the role of policies in allowing / blocking this transition would be a helpful start (p. 25).

The study organized the relevant literature into a set series of categories starting from the

individual and working outward from the home to the host country for the immigrant

entrepreneur, as seen in Figure 6 and discussed in detail in Chapter Two. The categories for the

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

development of the theoretical and research model for this study not only outline the various

cross-disciplinary theories but also incorporate literature to help the researcher present a better

understanding of the intervening obstacles and opportunities encountered by immigrants in their

entrepreneurial lifecycle from migration to business establishment and sustainability of their

businesses in the host country.

The study overlays a proposed model against past research findings and concepts for

developing an initial grounded theory that focuses on the topic of invisibleness and a

decentralized protective network as to why a particular immigrant group can enter a host country

and rapidly achieve and sustain entrepreneurial success over host natives and other ethnic

groups. However, during the research data analysis and findings, the influencing strength of

invisibility diminished over potential evidence for a set profile for entrepreneurial intelligence

over the accepted literature on the entrepreneurial mindset (Envick, 2014; Gartner, 1988;

Goldman, 2007; Neck, 2018, 2021; Somers, 2022).

The definition of the individual’s perceived success becomes critical to explain and

assess as it is encapsulated as the unit of analysis for this study. To develop and measure the

immigrant entrepreneur’s initial and sustained success for this study, the researcher developed

the Immigrant Entrepreneurial Needs (IEN) framework in Figure 8 for data analysis and

interconnection to the theoretical model. The IEN framework has four progressive phases that

supported the development of the participants’ interview questions as a measurement instrument

mixed with the set standard for each of the participant's firms having reached breakeven or

profitability and business continuity for more than three years. In Chapter 2 a supplementary

discussion provides the additional context of post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurship and an

emerging definition of success used in this study.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

With a large, diverse number of immigrants residing within the United States, this study

emphasized one geographical cohort. The selected post-Soviet immigrant cohort of participants'

home geographical region contains many diverse ethnic groups who migrated to the U.S. and

established and sustained successful businesses in the host country. The United States, the largest

market for immigrant entrepreneurship, was chosen as the host country for the research study.

The researcher chose to examine immigrant entrepreneurs achieving success in a Capitalistic

Constitutional Republic structured host country who came from socialist home countries

historically having restricted opportunities due to communist governments and economic

uncertainties.

The study's selected participant group for inquiry is from a region formerly known as the

'Eastern Bloc' (Gati, 1990; Magocsi, 1996). The former Soviet Union contained over 100 ethnic

groups (Glazer and Moynihan, 1975) forced to conform to one ideological perspective and

language under the control of a Communist dictatorship, formerly known as the Union of Soviet

Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), from 1919 to 1991. The term, post-Soviet is used synonymously

with layperson terms like Eastern Bloc or Eastern European for the research participant group of

immigrants (Gati, 1990; Glazer et al., 1975; Magocsi, 1996). The geographic/dictatorship state

titled the U.S.S.R., also known as the Soviet Union is referred to as the home country of origin in

the study despite its termination into the Russian Federation and individual nation-states in 1991.

The participants in the study came from the geographical region now referred to as the Russian

Federation, Ukraine, Poland, the Republic of Georgia, Estonia, and other nation-states that make

up the 12 independent republics of the former Soviet Union. Figure 1 illustrates the geographical

territory of the immigrant entrepreneurs who participated in the study.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Figure 1: Eastern Bloc Map

The participant cohort of present-day United States immigrant entrepreneurs interviewed

for the research migrated to the United States from the geographical home region before and

after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and met the criteria for business success. It is this cohort

of participants that provided critical insights for the theoretical development and findings in this

study. These immigrant participants were all from the former eastern bloc territory, where

individuals have been characterized in American popular culture and the media for over fifty

years as the foremost adversary to America throughout the Cold War and continuing to the

present. Most recently, and coinciding with the timing of this research, a major conflict is

underway in eastern Europe between the Russian Federation and Ukraine supported by the North

Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries. The selected immigrant entrepreneurs have

successfully navigated a series of similar 'Red Scares' (Glazer et al., 1975) in America over the

last half century and successfully navigated through push factors (Lee, 1966) like war,

government persecution, and economic collapses. The various push factors (Lee, 1966) initiated

large groups to migrate great distances at extreme sacrifice from their home countries to Western

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Europe, the United States, and other Western countries. In their testimonial interviews, this

participant cohort supported the literature by confirming push and pull factors (Lee, 1966)

referenced for why individuals migrate.

Push and pull factors (Lee, 1966) cannot be disregarded as they have been the catalyst for

mass emigration from post-Soviet into the United States for more than a century. The world is

witnessing a new series of push factors with the war between the Russian Federation and

Ukraine as millions of refugees flee Ukraine and other areas to seek safe harbor and opportunity

elsewhere, including in the United States. America and Western Europe are receiving thousands,

if not millions, of Ukrainian refugees who continue to enter the U.S. and compete in the home

markets against the natives and other ethnic groups. The research study used the Everett Lee's

(1966) theory on migration as a theoretical underpinning for why the post-Soviet participants and

other immigrants seek opportunity and safety in the U.S. by moving massive distances under

duress from their origin to a new destination. Lee's (1966) Theory of Migration expanded on the

British geographer Ernest Ravenstein's "Laws of Migration" (1889). This study introduces

several other literary theories to shape the development of the study's initial proposed conceptual

model for the theoretical propositions. The study examined the factors influencing post-Soviet

immigrants’ migration to the U.S. and how they generate a higher rate of successful immigrant

business startups in the United States over host natives. Not only has this study's participant

group of immigrants achieved successful startups, but they have also been able to sustain their

businesses and expand market shares over natives and other ethnic groups.

Why these post-Soviet immigrants (Glazer, Moynihan, and Schelling, 1975) are

motivated to overcome intervening obstacles to meet their transitory needs factors for rapid and

successful entrepreneurial endeavors was one of the underlying premises for this inductive

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

research approach to the phenomenon of immigrant entrepreneurs outpacing host country natives

by a factor of two to one (Awotoye and Singh, 2018; Vandor and Franke, 2016). The vast

amount of related literature focuses on other ethnic groups like African Americans,

Hispanics/Latinx, Asians, and others as having higher barriers to overcome in a host country than

the post-Soviet cohort. The paucity in the literature was reason to reflect on why and how the

post-Soviet immigrant has lower barriers over other ethnic groups, despite being from a region of

the world steadily branded in Western popular culture as a global Communist threat. The study

initially assumed post-Soviet immigrants, in their ability to conduct entrepreneurial activities,

were challenged with lower barriers over other ethnic groups due to a possibility that this group

of immigrants can 'blend in' to the host native general populace unnoticed. The rationale behind

the researcher’s initial theoretical position of invisibility (or invisibleness as used throughout this

study) as a critical moderating variable between the immigrant’s attributes and business success

in the host country resulted from the historical examples in the literature. One of the historical

examples is the Germans of Post-World War II who were branded as 'Nazis' even though they

immigrated to America successfully and melted into the general populace unnoticed by the

native populace of the time (Glazer and Moynihan, 1970). The German immigrants, like the

post-Soviet participants, appeared in the literature to be able to go unnoticed, thus creating the

potential for an entrepreneurial ethnic strategy in America. This lack of 'noticeableness' led to the

initial belief that the invisibleness of immigrant groups by host natives could correlate to the

native populace's threat level reduction of an immigrant group resulting in lower entrepreneurial

barriers. However, the study found a divergence from this initial belief in the findings explained

in Chapters 4 and 5.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

The researcher, leveraging the past literature for the study's initial position, formulated a

position that invisibleness was being employed as an ethnic strategy by the immigrant

entrepreneur because their ability to blend into the native populace provided them a reduction in

the native's threat levels. Thus, the barriers associated with intervening obstacles for the

immigrant entrepreneur become reduced. At the start of the study, it was unclear how certain

groups could enter the United States and rapidly penetrate various market sectors with successful

businesses when native African Americans and other ethnic groups continue to struggle in the

American economic, educational, and governmental systems. The literature did not readily

support arguments that certain groups can acclimate rapidly, while African Americans and other

ethnic groups continued to fight for the ability to be fully acclimated into American society as

natives (Cummings, 1980; Glazer and Moynihan, 1970, 1975; Light, 1972). The study started out

examining the phenomenon of entry into a host country to rapid immigrant entrepreneurial

success for post-Soviets, searching for how invisibility influenced their entrepreneurial success.

The study sought to understand why a post-Soviet ethnic group of immigrants was able to

successfully navigate a host country's potential for dehumanization barriers (Markowitz and

Slovic, 2020), lack of capital (Glazer and Moynihan, 1970.1975), limited networks, the liability

of newness (Das et al.,2017; Kerr and Mandorff, 2015; Savino, 2014; Saxenian, 2000), and

several other obstacles for business creation and sustainable success in the United States.

However, the research findings from the field work changed the researcher's initial

position on the influencing strength of invisibleness for immigrant entrepreneurial success in the

immigrant host country business lifecycle.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Significance of the Study

The rate of immigrant entrepreneurship continues to grow, affecting economic

development in many host country communities. Immigrant entrepreneurs are found in past

research studies to be outpacing host natives in entrepreneurial activities, offering additional

economic, social, and cultural benefits (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Awotoye and Singh, 2018;

Das et al., 2017; Kerr and Mandorff, 2015; Kloosterman, 2010; Sanders and Nee, 1996; Savino,

2014; Saxenian, 2000; Vandor and Franke, 2016). This study examined a phenomenon at the

individual immigrant entrepreneur level in the United States to provide increased insight into

understanding the phenomena of surges in immigrant entrepreneurial startups for continued

research on immigrant entrepreneurship to effect related policy formation and decisions.

Immigration and entrepreneurship are two topics characteristically American and critical

to our economic success since the country's founding. This research effort examined the

literature concerning immigrant entrepreneurship to offer a new theoretical proposition for

correlating other theoretical positions captured to aid in mitigating research gaps in the academic

repository. Immigrant entrepreneurship in America has continued to grow over the past several

decades, thus making it an essential area of interest for policymakers, competing businesses,

academic institutions, and widespread press reporting (Kerr and Kerr, 2016). At the intersection

of immigration and entrepreneurship are individuals, and these individuals are from a multitude

of ethnic groups that make up the collective demographic of the United States of America (i.e.,

the melting pot as described by Glazer and Moynihan, 1970). The demand for discussions and

learning on entrepreneurship and immigrant entrepreneurship has grown steadily over the past

decade among business schools and the general populace in the United States (Kerr and Kerr,

2016, 2018; Mescon, 2021). Research scholars continue to endeavor to explain how

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

entrepreneurs are a vital component of the driving influences behind long-term economic

growth, with their roles of creating, operating, and advancing existing markets with innovative

ideas (Gunter, 2012).

Nevertheless, entrepreneurship and the controversy surrounding immigration continue the

debate among business scholars and policymakers. Aside from immigration, one of the primary

contemporary debates on entrepreneurship studies and instruction in recent decades centers

around the argument of considering entrepreneurship as an actual field of research that requires

more attention in the economic literature versus a byproduct of other business field's teachings

(Gunter, 2012; Shane and Venkataraman, 2000; Sorenson and Stuart, 2008). Universities

continue to advance instruction on entrepreneurship and social behavioral sciences instruction on

immigration with persistence. The common underpinnings for entrepreneurship teachings usually

focus on the psychology of the entrepreneur, the entrepreneurship process of developing a

business plan and model, navigating statutory requirements for starting businesses, and the

seminal theories encompassing entrepreneurship. A few of the seminal theories students continue

to learn are the works of Drucker's (1986) innovative opportunity, Schumpeter's (1942) gales of

creative destruction, or the Kirznerian entrepreneur (1997) who, through arbitrage and

speculation seize advantage of overlooked opportunities that add equilibrium to markets through

their influences (Gunter, 2012).

The word 'entrepreneur' is connected to the immigrant for this research study. Over the

past several decades, the Entrepreneur has begun to take on the connotation of the opportunistic

innovator (Drucker, 1986) or market disrupter (Schumpeter, 1942) with stories about founders of

multinational corporations like Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon as contemporary

examples. Teachings have led students to ask, who is an entrepreneur, and what is considered

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

entrepreneurial, especially in today’s technologically dynamic and hypercompetitive global

market. For this research study, Gunter's (2012) explanation for what constitutes an entrepreneur

is the criteria for defining an entrepreneur. Gunter (2012) defines entrepreneurs as "individuals

who, in an uncertain environment, recognize opportunities that most fail to see, and create

ventures to profit by exploiting these opportunities." Therefore, the immigrant entrepreneur is, by

definition, an individual who navigates through uncertain environments and leverages his/her

human, social (including ethnic) capital to employ strategies to seize opportunities in markets

(Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Kerr and Kerr, 2016; Sanders and Nee, 1996; Vinogradov and

Jergensen, 2017).

In the transition from the definition of an entrepreneur to the word immigrant, a series of

questions surfaced; these questions required answering before continuing with the research.

Starting questions that were addressed included, who are considered immigrants in the United

States in 2022, what does the literature explain, are these individuals, naturalized citizens, green

card holders, or anyone not born in America? These questions on who and what became

increasingly complex, especially when the discussions on ethnicity were inserted into the

discussion mix for various groups coexisting within America among this ambiguous native group

called citizens (Glazer and Moynihan, 1970; Glazer, Moynihan, and Schelling, 1975). For this

research study, the standards for the word immigrant originate from the literature as any first-

generation immigrant arriving in America through the legal Federal immigration process. The

participants for this study were required to have, at a minimum, authorized refugee status, green

card holders, children born in America from immigrant parents, or naturalized citizens. The

study did not account for illegal immigrants operating uncertified and unregulated businesses

within ethnic enclaves (Portes, 1987). Though this study recognizes the impacts and is

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

sympathetic to those entrepreneurial individuals who operate in the shadows of the United States

economy by starting businesses for subsistence needs, and even though these individuals are an

extension of immigrant entrepreneurs, they are outside the scope of this research study.

A recent report by the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the number of immigrants in the

United States at over 40 million (Awotoye and Singh, 2018; Camarota and Zeigler, 2016).

Researchers have found that immigrant startups are outpacing ventures launched by natives in

the U.S. by two to one (Awotoye and Singh, 2018; Duan et al., 2020; Vandor and Franke, 2016).

According to Sundararajan and Sundararajan (2015), "the Small Business Administration (U.S.)

detailed immigrant entrepreneurs are twice as likely to start a business as native-born citizens,

and more importantly, immigrants are creating jobs in neighborhoods where they are needed the

most" (p. 30). Moreover, Awotoye and Singh (2018) uncovered data from the Kauffman

Foundation showing that immigrant startups grew significantly from 13.3 percent in 1997 to over

25 percent by 2015. Immigrant entrepreneurs are now encompassing a large segment of the U.S.

economic engine (Das et al., 2017; Saxenian, 2000). According to Kerr and Kerr (2019), "First-

generation immigrants create about 25% of new firms in the United States, but this share exceeds

40% in some states."

Post-Soviet Immigrant Entrepreneurs

The continuous growth of immigrants in the United States and immigrant

entrepreneurship rising and competing against the U.S. natives is a phenomenon that compelled

this researcher to examine this topic. Figure 2 provides two visuals. The top graph shows the

increased growth of post-Soviet immigrants into the United States since the collapse of the

Soviet Union. In the graph, Western Europe showed steady decline while Eastern Europe

doubled over the same period. The bottom map shows geographical clustering of post-Soviet

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

immigrants within the United States. The research study accessed and interviewed participants

from four of the six major geographical clusters shown in the host country in the map in Figure

Figure 2: European Immigrant Population Clusters in the U.S.

Given this backdrop, how are immigrants outpacing natives, who appear to have an

increased language and system knowledge advantage over the immigrant in entrepreneurship

achievements? The researcher’s initial thoughts when developing this study were centered on the

possibility of certain groups of immigrants having the ability to acclimate and accelerate

entrepreneurial activities rapidly. The research initially leaned toward evidence for post-Soviet

immigrants' ability to leverage predisposing traits with perceived behavioral control (Ajzen,

1991) to go unnoticed (i.e., invisible) by a host country’s populace majority, thus reducing host

native threat barriers for the immigrant’s business startup success. These two essential questions

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/european-immigrants-

united-states-2016#RegionsCountries

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

supported by evidence within the literature developed the researcher's need for further

exploration and findings discovery. The research set out to provide an initial theoretical

proposition using the grounded theory approach to present the justification to investigate the

possibility of an invisible group factor contributing to immigrant entrepreneurial success. The

researcher started the study by looking for factors influencing an immigrant entrepreneur's choice

to employ invisibility as an ethnic strategy in a host country. This also assumed the immigrant

entrepreneur leveraged a decentralized protective market and networks as ethnic advantages over

other ethnic groups and host natives for entrepreneurial success and sustainment. Taken together,

this could help explain entrepreneurial startups and success.

Against the backdrop of this study, there is an ongoing debate about newcomers

worldwide migrating into the United States. This immigration debate continues as almost

nonstop political and media concern spotlights the controversy involving border control of the

U.S. Mexico border in particular. Likewise, the participants in this study reported that this level

of regimental reporting on immigrants in the host country's popular culture and political arena

does create intervening obstacles for all immigrants (Lee, 1966) in America.

Moving on from popular press rhetoric into the academic literature on immigration,

ethnicity, and immigrant entrepreneurship, the researcher found a large and mixed amount of

research on the topics. However, the literature findings for immigrant entrepreneurship are

minimal for post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs as a cohort in the United States. The research

literature indicates a consensus on three topics: immigration, ethnicity, and entrepreneurship.

First, immigrants face enormous trials and tribulations, referred to here as intervening obstacles

that are aside from typical everyday challenges associated with entrepreneurship activities,

regardless of country of origin or destination in the quest for business ownership (Lee, 1966).

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Second, research efforts to quantify data in a quantitative approach on human beings interacting

within their environments are complex and challenging to achieve clarity for reporting

(Charmaz, 2006; Schein, 2000). Third is the importance of the ethnic enclave and how these

enclaves develop protective ethnic markets and networks for an ethnic group's entrepreneur

(Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Cummings, 1980; Gonzalez and Campbell, 2018; Light, 1972;

Portes, 1987; Uzzi, 1996). Given the intricacy of this study area for ethnic groups immigrating

and starting businesses in the United States, it was imperative to seek a qualitative inductive

research approach to develop the study's grounded theory.

Continuing the discussion, the researcher found more questions than answers in

developing the research study. If America is a "Melting Pot," as Glazer and Moynihan (1970)

argued, could certain groups go unnoticed over other ethnic groups in a host country, and can

this unnoticeability provide the opportunity for immigrants to use invisibleness (i.e., blend in) as

an ethnic entrepreneurial strategy? Or is invisibility a byproduct of the host country system

forcing immigrants to leverage ethnic resources, tribal networks, and mix embeddedness

(Kloosterman, 2010) to achieve entrepreneurial success to overcome obstacles in a host country?

Are post-Soviet immigrants going unnoticed as an ethnic group in America, and does this

invisibility provide them an advantage over other ethnic groups? African Americans represent

one such group. Why do Black American natives continue to demand equal opportunity among

the U.S. White majority populace, even though they are host natives? Or why are Black

Americans in the literature being lumped into other African immigrant groups and commonly

referred to as African Americans instead of just Americans like the U.S. preponderance of

Caucasians? Why are the post-Soviet immigrants able to enter the U.S. and rapidly achieve

success if Black American natives continue to address grievances against the U.S. government

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

about feeling unable to effectively assimilate into the general populace of the United States for

over 200 years (Glazer and Moynihan, 1970)? Restructured and represented, in 2023, who is

considered an actual native of the United States given the diverse ethnic makeup of the native

population, is White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) still an acceptable term for defining

Caucasian majority in America? Are racially white individuals WASPs in the Census reporting,

or are they inaccurately branded as WASPs and then everyone else who is nonwhite? These are

sensitive but essential questions as all ethnic groups make up the U.S. melting pot’s (Glazer and

Moynihan, 1970) economic engine, and all groups must peacefully coexist and have equal

opportunities for civil society to function.

Invisibleness as Ethnic Advantage

The research in the approach began to seek out if certain ethnic groups appear to have an

entrepreneurial advantage over others regardless of their status as immigrants or natives. At the

most basic level, the U.S. economy is people interacting with each other to produce and

exchange goods and services. All people are critical to the U.S. economy regardless of what

ethnic group the popular press, government census reporting, or politics package into them. The

literature becomes blurred when segmenting ethnicity and immigration, leading the researcher to

repeat the question: Can a specific ethnic group of immigrants go unnoticed amid a large,

dominant Caucasian segment of the population? If so, is this leveraged as an advantage by the

immigrant for achieving rapid entrepreneurial success over their competitive natives in the host

country?

At face value, it is hard to imagine that an entire group of immigrants could go unnoticed

and acclimate quickly among a native populace. Even more so, this seems impossible if a group

is negatively branded similarly to Germans called Nazis by political and popular cultural

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

rhetoric, thus generating a threat to the native populace of the United States. This 'immigrant

invisibleness' seems unachievable in periods of anti-immigrant sentiment or dehumanization of

immigrants (Markowitz and Slovic, 2020), like the United States is experiencing in 2023.

However, it did occur with literature arguments on post-World War II Germans immigrants in

the United States (Glazer and Moynihan, 1970). Was it possible that post-Soviet immigrants

could be invisible to natives? The literature suggested the possibility of an advantage to being

invisible for immigrants whose entire identity – or significant parts – can be withheld. The

study's initial position on invisibility in the theoretical development stage before inductive

analysis believed there was the potential for a mix of home and host country, societal and

individual underlying factors influencing the phenomenon. Against the backdrop of the host

country environment, there is a decentralized secure ethnic network created out of social media

tools and word of mouth by ethnic groups to rapidly exchange knowledge for small business

competitive advantages over Native Americans. This decentralized ethnic network is largely

invisible to host natives. The research study's findings and results provide the transition of the

study’s initial premise for invisibleness as an immigrant entrepreneurial factor to emphasizing

increased importance on the immigrant's predisposing attributes for entrepreneurial success in

the host country.

Host Country Ambivalence Toward Immigrants

The need for immigrants to navigate through a host's politically charged societal

atmosphere on immigration is not new to America. Additionally, racially charged debates and

other manifestations of social justice actions and policies to improve diversity, equity, and

inclusion are now at the forefront of the present national dialogue. However, white Christian

Ukrainian refugees are acceptable for entry into the United States, or vice versa. Over the past

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

century, countless natives of the United States are the descendants of past immigrants coming

through Castle Garden or Ellis Island during the Postbellum Expansion and Progressive Era in

American history (Briggs, 1984). The divisive immigration debate is a topic that continues to

resurface going back to the mid-1800s and early 1900s in the United States. Like contemporary

debates on U.S. immigration, the topic of immigration has been, and always will be emotionally

charged and continuously disputed among different political factions of the native populace in

America. Some American natives seeking research findings will continue to argue that

immigrants benefit the U.S. economy or lower natives' wage growth, cost natives’ jobs, and limit

host country resources that can destroy sectors of the U.S. market (Hunt, 2011). A host country's

popular press and political parties will argue the bigotry and rhetoric with an endless set of newly

ordained natives projecting aggression toward the next wave of immigrants.

This research study attempts to avoid contentious debates on immigration benefits or

shortcomings for a host country. This research topic for study is complex and multifaceted in the

literature. Before engaging in data collection, the researcher was conscientious of the debates and

took the time to comprehend the controversy and research findings surrounding the topic of

immigration and immigrant entrepreneurship. This study required a comprehensive investigation

into ethnic groups' entrepreneurship, home, and host country factors, including who is considered

the native and immigrant within the populace of the United States.

The contention behind immigration is not something contemporary in the U.S., as the

literature is full of historical debates going back to 1783 when the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant

(WASP) founders of America struggled to develop the U.S. Constitution for the topic of

immigration. During this period, the developers of the U.S. Constitution tackled three concepts

that ultimately led to the United States' criteria surrounding citizenship law and the general

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

populace's significant shifts in norms that have stood the test of time. The researcher

discovered importance here by explaining the historical literature findings to mitigate any

controversial findings provided in Chapter 4. The three concepts developed and captured in the

American Constitution are called jus soli (i.e., birthright or those born in the U.S.), jus

sanguinis (i.e., those children born to U.S. citizens), and naturalization or what is commonly

known now as the pledged allegiance (Grabbe, 1989; Safran, 1997). Therefore, leveraging the

founder's language in the development of the constitution, the word 'native' is equivalent to the

word citizen though some argue differently.

Historical Trends in Immigration

In the last forty years, going back to 1980, a significant increase in migration from

around the world of people wanting to enter the United States for opportunity and safety has

steadily increased in response to push and pull events (Lee, 1966). Studies in recent years present

information supporting a narrative that a surge in immigration in the U.S. is aligned to severe

monetary alterations and governmental unpredictability in other nation-states worldwide

(Esterline and Batalova, 2022). Another major contributor is the structural transition to a post-

industrial economy where services represent a significant share of urban economies, mix

embeddedness increasing opportunities for small firms in general due to the shift to services,

outsourcing, market fragmentation, and the availability of cheap information and communication

technology (I.C.T.) (Kloosterman, 2010). Less expensive labor and little need for financial

capital for specific market opportunities allow immigrant entrepreneurs to replace native

business owners who have sold their businesses and properties in search of other opportunities.

The Migration Policy Institute (M.P.I.) continues to compile data from the U.S. Census

Bureau over the past several decades. Figures 3 and 4 provide a general breakdown of the data to

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

display the influx of immigrants as a percentage of U.S. society over the last hundred and sixty-

plus years. Note the significant influx of immigrants entering the U.S. in recent years, similar to

the period commonly referenced as the Ellis Island New York period in American history. The

influx of immigrants is exponentially growing (Camarota and Zeigler, 2016), as observed in the

two graphs dating back to 1850.

Figure 3: Historical Trends of Immigrant Share and Number of Immigrants in the U.S.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010-19 American Community Surveys (A.C.S.), and 1970, 1990, and 2000 Decennial

Census (Gibson and Lennon, 1999)

Figure 4: Annual Immigrant Admissions by Type: 1783-2019

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010-19 American Community Surveys (A.C.S.), and 1970, 1990, and 2000 Decennial

Census (Gibson and Lennon, 1999)

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2022, the United States will have over 332

million people. The statistical number of 40 million immigrants (Awotoye and Singh, 2018;

Camarota and Zeigler, 2016) incorporated into the 332 million people are immigrants that

comprise the various legally authorized immigration visa types (Hunt, 2011) allocated to

immigrants recorded entering the United States. The 40 million number excludes naturalized

citizens or noncitizens who circumvented legal immigration processes and reside in the host

country illegally as defined by U.S. immigration law. As in the historical past of America,

today’s host country consists of generational immigrants who are now considered the native

populace, which is far different than the WASP founders that represented the early U.S.

populace. A question is who and what group are perceived as the real 'Native Americans' inside

the United States in 2023?

The researcher found questions like this too complex to frame the study, especially when

one steps outside the bounds of statistical reporting and looks through the worldview lenses of

individuals operating within the mixed populace of America. The late 1700s WASP

demographic majority no longer exists in this context even though anyone 'White' from different

ethnic groups is commonly branded into this single group (Glazer and Moynihan, 1970; Glazer

et al., 1975). The plausible reality is that the U.S. natives' makeup is a mix of the many ethnic

groups supporting the term coined the Melting Pot by Glazer and Moynihan (1970). The host

native is any individual who lived in the host country from adolescence to adulthood, regardless

of ethnicity. A native in the context of this study uses English as a primary language and whose

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

beliefs, education standards, and societal traditions were shaped during their developmental

years in the host country by its governmental and societal systems.

For this study, the literature search helped formulate the researcher's initial premise of

invisibleness for the study by providing findings on specific groups of immigrants from

particular geographical regions having the ability to use invisibleness as a concealment

advantage among the host country's natives (Erickson,1972; Glazer and Moynihan, 1970; Glazer

et al., 1975, Leinonen, 2012). Removing language challenges or immigrant accents, certain

ethnic groups over other ethnic groups can rapidly acclimate and achieve entrepreneurial success

in the United States among the demographic majority (Erickson,1972; Glazer and Moynihan,

1970; Glazer et al., 1975, Leinonen, 2012). Nevertheless, the researcher discovered novel

insights during the research study that reshaped the initial position built from the literature on the

advantages of invisibleness for post-Soviet immigrants in a host country. In the research findings

discussed in Chapter 4, immigrants, regardless of home country origin, significantly contribute to

the American entrepreneurial economic engine by achieving over 25 percent of all new business

startups (Awotoye and Singh, 2018; Vandor and Franke, 2016).

The research study examined the effects of barriers or dehumanization (Markowitz and

Slovic, 2020) and whether they dissipate for immigrants when they achieve their naturalized

citizen status. Preliminarily, the literature and this study's findings did not conclude that

immigrants achieving naturalized citizen status transition the immigrant to native status

(Bryce-Laporte, 1972; Cummings, 1980; Glazer and Moynihan, 1970; Glazer et al., 1975;

Light, 1972). The study examined whether invisibility is connected to the term assimilation, as

being synonymous with the term native for when the immigrant achieved naturalized

citizenship status.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Despite the direction of invisibleness on the immigrant living within a host country, the

correct term for transitioning an immigrant toward a native status is their ability to acclimate

quickly among the host populace by learning the language and host system. This research

suggests that the term assimilation was an unrealistic achievement for immigrants even when

naturalized citizenship status is achieved. The results of this study side with the literature

findings on acclimation over assimilation (Bryce-Laporte, 1972; Cummings, 1980; Glazer and

Moynihan, 1970; Glazer et al., 1975; Light, 1972). The study continued to inductively examine

if invisibleness in the acclimation process offered any advantages to immigrant entrepreneurs

for their entrepreneurial goals. Chapter 2 expands on this terminology by framing the context

of invisibility, acclimation, and native and immigrant success, while Chapters 4 and 5 provide

the results and reflections of these topics in the study.

In 2023, there is growing consensus that ethnic groups are rapidly changing the business

landscape of small businesses in the U.S. economy. Immigrant startups continue to grow into the

bedrock of the contemporary United States economy. Many immigrants arrive in a host country

like America looking for better societal conditions, employment, and safe harbor. The research

study proposed that post-Soviet immigrants see opportunities and employ ethnic strategies by

utilizing their networks, social capital, and ethnic resources (Kloosterman, 2010; Sanders and

Nee, 1996; Vinogradov and Jergensen, 2017) to create businesses. It is these immigrant business

startups that ultimately permeate out of ethnic enclaves (Achidi and Priem, 2011; Aldrich and

Waldinger, 1990; Portes, 1987; Zhang et al., 2016) into host country open markets (Bonacich,

1973; Wingfield and Taylor, 2016). These newly minted immigrant entrepreneurs in a host

country tackle environmental and cultural adversity to overcome a series of host country legal

and language obstacles to access the host country’s markets for entrepreneurial success. The

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

immigrant entrepreneur’s success creates a ripple effect across markets, increasing market

opportunities for themselves, host natives, and other immigrant groups. Certain immigrant ethnic

groups appear to be able to rapidly adapt to the native U.S. population, learn the host country

system, and achieve tremendous financial success through entrepreneurial activities.

Generation after generation, the cycle repeats with a new set of natives and immigrants.

This cycle of immigrant to native and expansion of immigrant entrepreneurship promotes a need

for more investigation and insight into the U.S. business literature concerning immigrant

entrepreneurship and how the most prominent global market can sustain it. Therefore,

researching how specific immigrant cohorts can enter the United States and establish businesses

rapidly without venture capital backing or long-term system knowledge over their native

competitors was worthy of a deeper investigation. When speaking of the rapid business startup in

the findings, the general timeline for immigrant entrepreneurial employment activities was

within three to five years of gaining access to a work-authorized green card in the host country.

Comparable to the historical past, contemporary concerns of the U.S. populace include

debates on the influx of immigrants, along with a series of global and domestic turbulences with

a virus pandemic, a rise in U.S. inflation, surging crime, and a war in eastern Europe, or what

some could call back-to-back black swan events (Taleb, 2010). These are independent from

home and host country push or pull factors. The war in Eastern Europe, potentially spilling over

into Western Europe, the Baltic states, and Poland, is causing thousands of Ukrainians and

potentially other ethnic groups to flee their home in the same general focus area for this research.

The global events provided the researcher with opportunities and challenges for conducting the

study.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Comparable to research interest for the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 on

small businesses, research interest should offer increases in investigating the impacts of

immigrants, specifically post-Soviet immigrants (e.g., Ukrainian and other refugees), on the U.S.

domestic markets and the economy. The new influx of post-Soviet immigrants, like the 1919 and

early-1990s waves, are using their mixed embeddedness advantages of socioeconomic,

institutional, and cultural dynamics (Kloosterman, 2010; Kloosterman et al., 2016) during their

host country's transitionary period to achieve entrepreneurial success over natives while the host

natives are preoccupied with addressing domestic and global priorities. In the years to come, how

will these newly minted post-Soviet immigrants entering the U.S. in 2023 impact the host

country's market makeup, and what are the impacts on the host native future opportunities?

Decentralized Ethnic Networks and Markets

The post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs who informed this research offered additional

insights about entering the U.S. by using established American Jewish-Russian-Polish-Ukrainian

networks, both localized and globally, for distributed knowledge sharing to negate liabilities

(Das et al., 2017; Savino, 2014; Saxenian, 2000). The post-Soviet immigrants leveraged their

structural embeddedness linked through social networks (Uzzi, 1996) to mitigate various host

countries’ intervening obstacles (Lee, 1966) while going unnoticed by the host country system

and natives. Like the participants' testimonies in this study, it is unknown if modern-day host

natives will be as welcoming to the current generation of post-Soviet immigrants entering the

host country as the immigrants of the past in this study. A more evident finding in the research is

that past cohorts explained desire for the expanded networks that the present post-Soviet

immigrants are leveraging. Today’s decentralized protective ethnic networks built in the host

country by prior post-Soviet immigrants provide a global reach network access into a host

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

country for planning and knowledge sharing, allowing the immigrants to position themselves for

entrepreneurial strategies before entry. These decentralized ethnic networks and markets in the

host country allow contemporary immigrants to mitigate various intervening obstacles (Lee,

1966) by using their social capital to access co-ethnic resources from decentralized networks

(Sanders and Nee, 1996; Vinogradov and Jergensen, 2017). Access to co-ethnic resources and

networks (Sanders and Nee, 1996; Vinogradov and Jergensen, 2017) is critical for immigrants to

establish a foothold in the host country and rapidly deploy business startup activities by

commandeering opportunities (Stouffer, 1940, 1960) over natives.

The timing of this business research study aligns with contemporary geopolitical events

occurring around the world and inside the United States. With the war in Eastern Europe and

what appears to be a series of nonstop economic disturbances affecting the natural order of life

speeding up, demand for entrepreneurship is gaining momentum among the U.S. populace. With

an uptick in demand for entrepreneurship understanding, people could instinctively execute some

inherent principles of effectuation (Sarasvathy, 2001) to mitigate concerns about unemployment,

economic conditions, and the need to sustain an expected level of accustomed subsistence

standard. An article by 'gold standard' accreditation for M.B.A. programs, AACSB International

(Burrus, 2015; Stein, 2021) is leveraged to show the demand for entrepreneurship. According to

Mescon (2021):

In March 2020, demand for entrepreneurship education was up 66 percent year-on-

year—a strong indication that, during times of great crisis, students perceive new

business creation as a catalyst for helping them find opportunities.

Individual Lived Experiences Inform Grounded Theory

So, why wouldn't one expect immigrants entering the United States not to share the same

underpinning ideologies that drive students' demand for entrepreneurship learning? The research

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

advanced the academic literature repository on immigrant startups by approaching the topic of

immigrant entrepreneurship from a grounded theory approach. This research provides an

understanding of the influencing factors for immigrant entrepreneurs to quickly establish and

sustain entrepreneurial success in a host country from the immigrant entrepreneur's perspective.

The study's goal is to achieve a more precise understanding of the influencing societal factors on

groups that impact the development of individual attributes (Awotoya and Singh, 2018;

Hirischian, 1982; Portes, 1987) influencing immigrant entrepreneurial success to explain the

details of the rapid growth in immigrant business startups compared to natives in the United

States (Stillman, 2021). The examination of the literature on influencing environmental host and

home factors (Hofested,1983, 1985; Hofstede and Minkov, 2010; Johanson and Vahlne, 2009)

and predisposition components (Awotoya and Singh, 2018; Hirschman, 1982; Portes, 1987) for

individuals within a set group supports the development of this research study.

Research suggested there is a congregation of various influencing factors developed from

the immigrant's home country experience coupled with local and societal factors in both the host

and home countries that allow certain ethnic groups of immigrants to achieve success, thus

giving them an entrepreneurial advantage over other ethnic groups (Ajzen, 1985,1991;

Muchinsky and Monahan, 1980). The participants in this study were found to have the ability to

circumvent obstacles in a host country by leveraging their ethnic capital, networks, and resources

to employ ethnic strategies (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990) that capture opportunities from

market imperfections for entrepreneurial success in a host country over other ethnic groups and

native groups. Though the focus at the start of the study was on invisibility as an ethnic strategy,

the findings and discussions in Chapters 4 and 5 provide a shift from the initial research position

for invisibleness as an ethnic advantage in a host country.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Adding to the Macro Level Research and Teaching Tradition

Past research studies on immigrant entrepreneurship have leaned toward the individual

and group arguments on ethnicity challenges and opportunities (Aldrich et al., 1985; Aldrich and

Waldinger, 1990; Cummings, 1980; Glazer and Moynihan, 1970, 1975; Light, 1972), visa entry

differences (Hunt, 2011; Jasso et al., 2007; Kerr and Kerr, 2016; Lubotsky, 2007; Massey and

Nalone, 2002; Sweetman and Waman, 2008; Wadhaw, 2008), access to capital and ethnic

markets (Cummings, 1980; Kerr and Kerr, 2016; Light, 1972), Newness and Social Networks

(Das et al., 2017; Savino, 2014; Saxenian, 2000; ), Sojourning effects (Light, 1972; Siu, 1952),

ethnic enclaves importance (Portes, 1981, 1984), ethnic protected markets (Aldrich and

Waldinger, 1990) and other theoretical discussions like middleman theory (Aldrich and

Waldinger, 1990; Awotoye and Singh, 2018; Bonachich, 1973; Wingfield and Taylor, 2016).

With influencing factors impacting both internal and external strategic approaches coupled with

foreign direct investment ideas (Buckley and Casson, 1998; Johanson and Vahlne, 2009) from a

macro level, researchers seek to find answers to how businesses adapt, sustain a competitive

advantage (Barney, 1991), and navigate transaction costs (Coase, 1937; Williamson, 1975) in

hypercompetitive and dynamic markets worldwide (D'Aveni et al., 2010).

This study leveraged all the past macro-level, cross-disciplinary research to cross-

examine those findings and theories with ethnicity and entrepreneurial studies to formulate this

grounded theory view at the micro level for immigrant entrepreneurs. This grounded theory

research separated itself from beliefs that a host country word like assimilation is achievable and

proposed that certain ethnic groups of immigrants can become invisible among the native host

country population in America even though they can acclimate. The researcher supports the view

that no one group or individual immigrant can effectively assimilate (Glazer and Moynihan,

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

1970, 1975) into one unified group called Americans. However, some groups, as seen in the

literature, can acclimate rapidly and take advantage of their immigrant situation despite the factor

of invisibleness as a barrier by the host system. If a group could assimilate and achieve this goal,

one must ask, why can't the perceived Caucasian ethnic groups like Irish, French, Italian,

German, and British assimilate into one group without centuries of warfare with each other? As

the Swedish-American activist Joe Hill (1911) would say, it is a 'pie in the sky dream' to believe

different ethnic groups can achieve host country assimilation. The research suggests the term,

assimilation be replaced by acclimation as the correct term for the ethnic groups peaceably

coexisting under one umbrella group called Americans. The context of the word, acclimation for

this study comes from the principles in Glazer and Moynihan’s (1970) Northern Model discussed

in more detail in Chapters 2, 4, and 5.

Contemporary business schools provide students and emerging entrepreneurs with

incredible insights and publications linked to business theories, finance, or how to choose one of

the many strategic approaches to mitigate a hypercompetitive (D'Aveni et al., 2010) business

environment experiencing a continuous explosion of new entrants (Porter, 1985). The immigrant

and native entrepreneurs at the grassroots level fall into the shadows of business school studies

that focus instructions on things like multinational corporation case studies, human resources

federal laws, theories on strategy, global economics, the foundations of organizational behavior

applied to large businesses, understanding global supply chains, and or how to gain advantages

through business plan innovation (Zott and Amit, 2010). Each of these areas of study is critical to

understanding the broad and deep areas of business, but startup businesses are where it all starts.

Hollywood movies rarely show the current state of corporations like Apple, Facebook, or

Starbucks; these movies or documentaries typically elaborate on the tale of a unicorn type of

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

founders and their story of starting a business that revolutionizes a market to become a popular

culture household name. Few of these famous American movies reflect the reality of the

fundamental underpinnings of the American economy; it is the millions of small businesses

created by immigrants and natives with an almost innate entrepreneurial profile of attributes. The

entrepreneur's story is fascinating, but understanding immigrant ethnic strategies and influencers

behind the phenomenon of immigrant entrepreneurship surges in the U.S. during a large influx of

new immigrants is even more relevant (Carmarota and Zeigler, 2016).

With globalization and migration (Lee, 1966) continuing to increase dramatically across

the globe and war in Eastern Europe, the lines of separation between various nation-states'

supply chains, governmental economic policies, and national workforces are becoming blurred

between nation-states. Thomas Friedman (2005) explained this in his book, The World Is Flat: A

Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. The flat world Friedman (2005) referred to is

demonstrated in the book by a modest illustration of how a laptop was conceived, developed,

assembled, tested, and shipped to his doorstep (Friedman, 2005). In the almost twenty years

since Friedman (2005) explained a flat world with global markets and diverse workers,

globalization has made the workers and nation-states even more connected through the global

market by linking research, development, employment, and maintenance of consumer products

and services. With increased migration of talented individuals from home to host countries and

the rise of globalization, immigrants are significantly impacting the foundation of many host

countries' local economies. Many of these newly arrived entrepreneurs have brought from their

home countries formally developed skills, experience, and network connections developed while

working in the global supply chains. Findings from past research studies have identified that

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

many entrepreneurs are spillovers with explicit and tacit knowledge from working within the

large corporation as members of the global supply chain (Hunt, 2011).

For this study on immigrant entrepreneurship in the United States, the research required a

series of building blocks from past research results and scholarly publications to define the

immigrant, immigrant entrepreneur, native, and a series of frameworks supporting the research.

The initial building blocks established the foundation for the next layer of literature exploration

on ecological effects on business development, the value of social networks (Uzzi, 1996),

entrepreneurial mindset (Goldman, 2007; Neck, 2018, 2021), ethnic enclaves (Aldrich and

Waldinger, 1990; Light, 1972; Porter, 1985), culture (Hofested,1983; Hofstede and Minkov,

2010), and tacit knowledge from home to host countries influence the psychic distance (Johanson

and Vahlne, 2009) for the immigrant to use their predisposition factors almost as entrepreneurial

intelligence (Envick, 2014; Neck, 2018, 2021) to become successful entrepreneurs. The heavy

labor of past research efforts was instrumental in providing the literature backbone for

completing this research effort and developing the theoretical proposition presented in chapters

four’s results and five’s reflections.

Questions that Guided the Research

RQ1. What facilitators and barriers do post-Soviet immigrants encounter when establishing a

business in the United States?

RQ1a. Do post-Soviet Immigrant entrepreneurs encounter similar or disparate

opportunities and challenges in entrepreneurship activities compared to natives?

RQ1b. What does invisibleness mean to the post-Soviet Immigrant entrepreneur?

RQ1c. What is considered an initial success for the post-Soviet immigrant

entrepreneur?

RQ2. What factors contribute to continued business success for post-Soviet immigrant

entrepreneurs?

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

RQ2a. Are such factors related to constructs of invisibleness as an ethnic strategy?

RQ2b. What factors do modern networking tools like social media support immigrant

entrepreneurship activities in the U.S.?

RQ2c. Are such factors related to constructs of continued Immigrant Entrepreneurial

Success?

Definition of Terms

Acclimation

The belief that an immigrant or group of immigrants of different ethnicity and cultural heritages

adapt to their interacting environment or situation in a host country. The ability to coexist

without the host country's natives perceiving them as an outgroup.

Assimilation

The belief is that an immigrant or group of immigrants of different ethnicity and cultural

heritages conform to the host country's traditions, language, and cultural norms.

Dehumanization

The act of treating out-group individuals as less than human by the in-group majority.

Post-Soviet Immigrant Entrepreneur

Any entrepreneur in the United States whose country of origin was directly influenced by the

Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) communist government before its dissolution

in 1991. These participants come from the region now known as the Russian Federation,

Ukraine, Poland, Armenia, the Republic of Georgia, and other nation-states that comprise the 12

independent republics. This specific group of present-day United States immigrant/naturalized

citizens migrated from this region in Eastern Europe prior to or after the collapse of the Soviet

Union.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneur

For this research, Gunter's (2012) definition of an entrepreneur is used for this study: "any

individual who, in an uncertain environment, recognize opportunities that most fail to see, and

create ventures to profit by exploiting these opportunities."

Entrepreneurial Mindset

For this research, Neck’s (2018) definition of the entrepreneurial mindset is used: the courage to

act on opportunities under varying conditions of unknowingness.

Entrepreneurial Success

Immigrant entrepreneurial success is a consolidation of participants' data using the Immigrant

Entrepreneurial Needs (IEN) model of four phases linked to the immigrant entrepreneurs'

lifecycle transition periods from migration and establishment phases into a growth and

sustainment phase mixed with a set standard for each of the participant's businesses having

reached breakeven or profitability while maintaining business continuity for three plus years.

Ethnic Enclave

A set area where a specific ethnic group has clustered both socially and economically. An area

distinctly different from other host country ethnic groups.

Ethnicity

Ethnicity is the condition of belonging to a particular ethnic group, or group membership. Given

the challenges with the study's cohort, the term is defined as a group with a shared cultural

tradition and sense of identity as a more significant society subgroup. Petersen (1980) states,

"Ethnic is an adjective that refers to differences between categories of people."

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Immigrant

For this research study, the term immigrant is any individual who is a first-generation immigrant

who arrived in America through the legal federal immigration process. These individuals have

authorized refugee status and can be green card holders, children born in America from

immigrant parents, or naturalized citizens. The study does not account for illegal immigrants

operating noncertified and unregulated businesses within ethnic enclaves (Portes, 1987). This

study uses the definition of immigrants by Kerr and Kerr (2016): "those persons born outside of

the United States; immigrants may have later been naturalized and become citizens."

Invisibleness

The ability of an individual or group to conceal their ethnic, language, and cultural differences to

a host country's native majority, to blend into the native populace unnoticed.

Decentralized Protective Network (i.e., Tribal what? Chain or another descriptor)

Networks that are closed to outside ethnic groups but distributed in the administrative functions

of a central authority or concentrated areas used by individuals who share ethnic connections,

language, and cultural similarity compared to a host country's native populace; to exchange

information, knowledge, and build relationships for personal goal achievements during their

lifecycle in a host country.

Push and Pull Factors

The term push and pull consists of the four factors Lee (1966) developed in his Migration theory.

The four factors are areas of origin, areas of destination, intervening obstacles, and personal

factors. Push factors are why people leave their homes, and pull factors attract people from their

homes to new locations.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP)

This term refers to racially white individuals of British descent who were the wealthy elitist class

in the United States during its early developmental years, The Founders of the American

Constitution.

Initial Conceptual Model

An initial conceptual model was prepared to guide the research as shown in Figure 5. As the

research progressed, this conceptual model evolved, and is reflected in subsequent sections of the

study in Figures 8 and 13 in Chapter 2, and Figure 29 in Chapter 5.

Figure 5: Initial Conceptual Model

Organization of the Remainder of the Study

The remainder of this research study consists of Chapter 2 Literature Review, Chapter 3

Research Methodology, Chapter 4 Research Results, Chapter 5 Discussion, Implications,

Recommendations, References, and the Associated Research Appendixes. Chapter 2 comprises

an extensive literature review in the academic repository applicable to immigration

entrepreneurship. The chapter features a series of theories, propositions, viewpoints, and

Eastern Bloc

Immigrant

Entrepreneur

Eastern Bloc

Immigrant

Entrepreneur

Success in U.S.

Home Country Culture Influences

Home Country Predisposing Factors

Intervening Obstacles

Migration Destination Protected

Market

Ethnic

Enclave

Invisibleness

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

frameworks on Immigration, Entrepreneurship, Ethnicity, and Culture. The chapter includes but

is not limited to the Migration Theory, the North and South Model, the Theory of Planned

Behavior, the Ethnic Enterprise, 3 Dimensions Framework, The Six Dimensions of Demands of

Immigrants, the Ethnic Enclaves Viewpoint, the Protected Market Hypothesis, and several

others. Chapter 3 encompasses the research methodology that includes this study's approach,

design, and processes for collecting, analyzing, and reporting the data captured. Chapter 4

provides a detailed outline of the research findings by sequentially explaining the research

challenges, participant profiles and their connections to the literature, demographics, coding

methods and categories, model updates, thematic framework discussion, and novel insights.

Chapter 5 encompasses the chapter overview, study contributions, discussions and implications,

essential models, themes and propositions for the study, recommendations, limitations, and

future research suggestions. The chapter concludes with a short narrative of the researcher's

reflections. The remainder of the study's artifacts are all associated references and appendices.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Chapter 2 Literature Review

Overview

This chapter provides an in-depth and expansive examination of the vast literature

encircling the topic of immigrant entrepreneurship. The chapter aims to align the literature in a

concise and clear building block format to support the ideological underpinnings behind

formulating a theoretical proposition for immigrant entrepreneurial success. The results of the

research’s inductive approach moved the researcher from an initial view of invisibleness as a

significant moderating variable for immigrant entrepreneurial success toward the importance of

individual attributes generating a profile consistent with the past literature on the entrepreneurial

mindset (Goldman, 2007; Neck 2018; Neck et al., 2021; Somers, 2022) and novel term,

entrepreneurial intelligence (Envick, 2014; Neck 2018; Neck et al., 2021) to explain immigrant

entrepreneurial success. Invisibility as an influencing variable for the relationship between the

immigrant and his/her entrepreneurial success in a host country was found in the immigrant’s

entrepreneurial lifecycle. The details of the research findings are discussed later in chapter four.

The consolidation and grouping of the various theories, models, viewpoints, and frameworks

from the literature search for the research development of immigrant entrepreneurship is visually

provided in Figure 6. The literature wheel in Figure 6 is structured from the individual working

outward from host to home countries.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Figure 6: Literature Review Wheel

This literature review introduces three important intersecting topics to the study. These

critical intersecting areas of literature findings or viewpoints on entrepreneurship and immigrant

entrepreneurship are migration, ethnicity, and culture. Regardless of origin, people migrate large

distances and overcome individual and societal challenges as they navigate the home and host

country's cultural, economic, and language differences in their journey to use their social capital,

networks, and tacit knowledge to sustain entrepreneurial success in a host country. The chapter

baskets the available literature into four sets on immigrant entrepreneurship. It expands on these

literature sets to shape the context for this study's overall purpose by including the two additional

but applicable literature topics. Chapter 2 was a living document in this grounded theory

approach as it impacted changes in the study’s chapters. As the study inductively collected the

data from eighteen post-Soviet entrepreneurial participants in America, the literature for the

Individual Level - Eastern European Immigrant

Home Country Local Level Former U.S.S.R.

Home Country Societal Level Former U.S.S.R.

Host Country Local Level - U.S.

Host Country Societal Level- U.S

Individual

eritag

ance

Ind

vid

lis

Masculinity

BehaviorsEducated

Trained

cei

Low

syc

ist

host

eli

epta

eas

Native Russia

Speaker

Shared popular

culture

Predisposing

Factors

Psy

ogi

ital &

Com

Subgroups

Accepted

Characteristics

Sub-Group

Identity

Tribalism Trust

Ethnic Identity

Tight Networks

Brotherhood

Forced Tribal

Association

Serfdom/

Control

Negative B

anding

(

is or

mun

sts)

ared Experie

Shared

Heritage

The Worker

Ethnocentric

Modernized

Traditional

Russian Speaking

ork

must

Underground

Church Infl

Push or Pull

Events Support

Black-markets

n Host

ountri

Forc

tivis

cti

vis

rket

cia

tal

tricte

Property

Ownership

Sout

Mod

Ladder

rtain

dance

nta

rsev

ran

Socialism

Communism

Nationalism

High Power

Distance

tur

Cuis

olidays

Lev

ruption

Acceptance

Subsistence

& Survival

focus

ocia

Groups

ect

Church

two

Eth

ic E

claves

utual

-A

Lin

Open

ources

Midd

eman

heor

act

ost

Acces

s t

Buye

and

d M

pot

sis

ss to

Owne

Soc

Org

iza

Her

tage

ink

Social

sol

heore

ica

titi

nic

All

Fra

ati

n /

egi

ces

human

mila

ion

rements

Opportunity

Structures

Nati

Forgotten Group

Worker

homeowners

WASP

lack S

Soc

onn

ect

Sta

Poli

ies

duc

ion

Value Hi

Pow

tance

nali

ial

ous

Nor

nce

inty

voida

red

Regi

nal

rences

Native

–Soc

l T

bal

Low

(

)

Individualistic

Markets

uca

Liability of

Newness

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

study was shaped and updated accordingly to the evolving data required to refine this study’s

final theoretical proposition and conceptual model updates seen in chapters four and five. The

major update to the study associated supporting literature was the unearthing of research findings

for the entrepreneurial mindset (Goldman, 2007; Neck, 2018; Neck et al., 2021; Somers, 2022)

and a discovery of the novel term called Entrepreneurial Intelligence (Envick, 2014; Neck 2018;

Neck et al., 2021) linked directly to the research findings of a consistent profile of attributes for

the immigrant entrepreneur.

Questions That Guided the Research

The research on immigrant entrepreneurs is at the center of the following four

intersecting areas of research: entrepreneurship, culture, ethnicity, and intervening obstacles

associated with migration and the establishment of a business in a host country (Aldrich, 1985,

1990; Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Aslund et al., 2014; Awotoye and Singh, 2018; Bonacich,

1973; Cummings, 1972; Das et al., 2017; Fairlie, 2012; Fairlie and Lofstrom, 2015; Glaser,

1975; Glazer and Moynihan, 1970; Glazer et al., 1975; Goldman, 2007; Hofested,1983; Hofstede

and Minkov, 2010; Hunt, 2011, 2015; Kerr and Kerr, 2016, 2018; Kerr and Mandorff, 2015; Lee,

1966; Light, 1972; Lofstrom, 2002; Lubotsky, 2007; Jasso et al., 2007; Johanson and Vahlne,

2009; Massey and Nalone, 2002; Markowitze and Slovic, 2020; Mohl, 1985; Neck, 2018;

Sanders and Nee, 1996; Saxenian, 2000; Somers, 2022; Sweetman and Waman, 2008; Van der

Sluis et al., 2008; Vinogradov and Jergensen, 2017; Wingfield and Taylor, 2016; Yinger, 1985).

In 2020, immigrant startups have risen to 30 percent in the U.S. (Stillman, 2021), with research

studies reporting immigrants are outpacing host country natives two to one in business startups

(Awotoye and Singh, 2018; Vandor and Franke, 2016). Therefore, the research goal was to

advance the insight into this phenomenon through investigative research using a particular

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

immigrant cohort of post-Soviet immigrants who entered the United States and rapidly

acclimated to achieve initial and sustainable entrepreneurial business success. The research

questions driving this inductive grounded theory research are:

RQ1. What facilitators and barriers do post-Soviet immigrants encounter when establishing a

business in the United States?

RQ1a. Do post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs encounter similar or disparate

opportunities and challenges in entrepreneurship activities compared to natives?

RQ1b. What does Invisibleness mean to the post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneur?

RQ1c. What is considered an initial success for the post-Soviet immigrant

entrepreneur?

RQ2. What factors contribute to continued business success for post-Soviet immigrant

entrepreneurs?

RQ2a. Are such factors related to constructs of Invisibleness as an ethnic strategy?

RQ2b. What factors do modern networking tools like Social Media support immigrant

entrepreneurship activities in the U.S.?

RQ2c. Are such factors related to constructs of continued Immigrant Entrepreneurial

Success?

Entrepreneurship

Before delineating the literature providing the groundwork for the initial theoretical

development of this study, as represented in Figure 6, it is suitable to expound on what the

literature expresses for the overarching umbrella of entrepreneurship. In 2000, Shane and

Venkataraman (2000) conducted a study to deliver a conceptual framework for entrepreneurship.

The researcher's framework for studying entrepreneurship started with the underpinnings of

premises that aid in this study. The first explains that entrepreneurship activities are a 'conduit'

for societies where technical information transforms into products and services (Shane and

Venkataraman, 2000). Second, Shane and Venkataraman (2000) take from Drucker (1985) by

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

explaining that entrepreneurship activities identify and mitigate inefficiencies in each market by

sensing disequilibrium within a society's economy at all levels (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000).

Last, like the novel proposition for entrepreneurial intelligence (Envick, 2014) discussed in

Chapter 5, researchers use Schumpeter (1934) and Mill (1848) to explain that entrepreneurial

activities initiate change for societal advancements (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000).

Shane and Venkataraman's (2000) research reconfirmed Drucker's (1985) opportunity

categories. The researchers discovered that entrepreneurs perceive different views on resources;

they look at resources from a polling effect (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). Asymmetry of

information and an entrepreneur's beliefs are critical requirements regardless of the market

conditions (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). These scholars found that diffusion, essential

ownership of information, and the cognitive ability to value this information are critical for

entrepreneurial success (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). Another relevant finding by Shane and

Venkataraman (2000), possibly associated with immigrant entrepreneurs, is the correlated topics

of opportunity exploitation and ambiguity. Studies have shown that individuals with a higher

tolerance for ambiguity are more likely to see and exploit opportunities with market

inadequacies, while others are challenged with obscuration and thought clutter generated from

unmanageable obstacles (Begey and Boyd, 1987; Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). Shane and

Venkataraman (2000) help contribute to select underpinning for this study from their effort to

develop a conceptual framework for the study of entrepreneurship.

Immigrant Entrepreneur Success

Defining success for an immigrant entrepreneur became increasingly complex when

examining the literature. The study's unit of analysis is the success of the post-Soviet immigrant

entrepreneur; therefore, defining what constitutes 'successes' for these individual entrepreneurs

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

was critical. Consequently, it was imperative not to generalize the word success but to dissect the

literature and restructure this multifaceted and dynamic word for this study.

The research literature consistently frames the firm's success into two areas, business

establishment and business sustainment. Scholars have provided research findings on factors like

education (Hunt, 2011), opportunity structures (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990), structural

embeddedness (Kloosterman, 2010) linked to social networks (Uzzi, 1996), Social Capital

(Gomez et al., 2020), and access to ethnic enclaves and resources (Cummings, 1980; Gonzalez

and Campbell, 2018; Light, 1972; Portes, 1987) . These are all ways to define success in the

context of how and why certain immigrants are successful in the establishment of their

businesses. Some scholars define success from the more traditional sequentially staged business

mindset by examining a firm's establishment, survival rate beyond five years, and growth in the

number of employees, capital, and wages (Churchill and Lewis, 1983; Kerr and Kerr, 2016). The

baseline graduate-level business school literature provides instruction on success with topics like

growth, liquidity, and strategic controls (Baron and Barbieri, 2019), with numerous theoretical

discussions and models on how firms can sustain success. These business schools provide

business success instruction through the prism of topics like sustained competitive advantages

(Barney, 1991), innovation rents (Drucker, 1986; Miles et al., 2003), and achieving market

positions over a firm's competitors using strategic approaches and tools like the Strengths,

Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis framework, Blue Ocean Strategy

(Kim and Mauborgne, 2005) or employing Porter's (2008) five forces model. However, most of

this literature in the repository focuses on industries and at the macro-level for firms. This

research scaled macro-level findings to a micro-level by researching post-Soviet immigrant

entrepreneurial participants to examine and define success through their worldviews.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

This study's hybrid definition of success originated from the academic literature and

participants' perspectives using the Immigrant Entrepreneurial Needs (IEN) framework, see

Figure 7. The IEN framework is developed from the theoretical foundation in the theory of

human motivation by Maslow (1943). Maslow's (1943) theory explained individuals are

motivated by their need to fulfill immediate lower-level needs before becoming motivated to

transition to higher level individual needs (Maslow, 1943). The four intersecting phases captured

in the initial IEN framework consist of Subsistence, Personal, Social, and Growth. These factors

are transitory in their priority level by the individual's motivation, as captured in Figure 7. Based

on the immigrant entrepreneur desired goal for each phase and motivation level, each phase level

is persuaded by exogenous pressures labeled as intervening obstacles (Lee, 1966) and

intervening opportunities (Stouffer, 1940, 1960) through a transitory three phased lifecycle for

the immigrant entrepreneur.

The first initial phase in the IEN framework is Subsistence; it encompasses an individual

or group's basic needs for survival through the migratory process from origin to destination and

includes their basic sustainment needs as the immigrant establishes their existence in a host

country. The second initial developed phase was labeled Personal; it was believed to be the core

demand of the individual to meet their intended goals for successful migration and establishment

from the home to host country. The third phase developed was labeled Social; this factor

incorporates the immigrant entrepreneur's need to influence social capital, ethnic resources, and

structural embeddedness within what was theoretically believed to be a decentralized protective

market. The last phase was designated Growth. The Growth phases was conceptualized as the

highest phase of success with a premise the immigrant entrepreneur desires increase in capital to

employ their higher level of entrepreneurial goals directly connected to their experiences and

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

influences as they transitioned in and out of phases. The entrance and exit criteria for each phase

at the initial development of the research study was unknown. In chapter four results, the

restructure of the. IEN framework and exit and entry criteria for phase transitions defining an

individual’s success realization for each phase are provided. Moreover, the preliminary IEN

framework in was believed to be bidirectional. However, the findings in provided in Chapter

Four did not validate the researcher’s initial assumption and aligned with Maslow’s (1943)

directional position.

Figure 7: Initial Immigrant Entrepreneurial Needs (IEN) Framework

The hybrid definition used data derived from four traversing building block phases

captured in the IEN framework as the immigrant entrepreneur moves through a three phased life

cycle approach in their entrepreneurial activities as seen in the expanded final theoretical model

in Figure 29 within Chapter 4. The initial two-phased lifecycle model in Figure 8 was developed

before the data collection and analysis phases of the research, as follows. Figure 8 provides a

visual consolidation of the preliminary theoretical model with an overlayed of the two research

questions on initial and sustained success for the immigrant entrepreneur. The Figure 8 model is

proposed as an illustration of the developmental process for the final theoretical model provided

in Figure 29.

Intervening

Obstacle

Pressures

Subsistence

Personal

Social

Growth

Intervening

Opportunities

Pressures

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Figure 8: Two-phased Immigrant Entrepreneurial Success lifecycle model

Stages of Success in IEN Framework

For a complete definition of success, the researcher used the four intersecting phases

captured in the Immigrant Entrepreneurial Needs (IEN) framework seen in Figure 7 as a tool to

measure the post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneur testimonies for success. The IEN framework

was updated in Chapter Four and shown again in Figure 25 after the research findings of

misalignment with the data results. The IEN framework was created using the theoretical

groundwork found in the theory of human motivation by Maslow (1943). Maslow's (1943)

theory explains that individuals are motivated by a need to fulfill their immediate lower-level

survival needs before becoming motivated to transition to the next higher level of individual

needs (Maslow, 1943). The four intersecting factors in the IEN tool consist of Subsistence,

Social, Growth, and Personal. The four phases of the IEN framework are transitory in a

sequential priority level with entry and exit criteria as the immigrant entrepreneur transitions to

the next higher level to achieve their motivational goals. Outside the individual motivation level,

each factor's priority level is influenced by exogenous pressures labeled as intervening obstacles

(Lee, 1966) and intervening opportunities (Stouffer, 1940, 1960) encountered by immigrant

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

entrepreneurs throughout their entrepreneurial lifecycle as they navigate through three transitory

phases in the updated theoretical model in Figure 29. The study discovered that two of the four

transitory phases initially presented in Figure 8 do not align with the research findings.

The first factor in the IEN framework is Subsistence; it encompasses an individual or

group's basic needs for survival through the migratory process from origin to destination and

includes their basic sustainment needs as the immigrant establishes their existence in a host

country. The second initial factor was considered personal; it was believed to be a core demand

of the individual in meeting their intended goals for migrating from home to a host country.

However, the researcher discovered that the personal phase was the highest level of the IEN

framework as it was entwined to what these participants called ‘Personal Freedom.’ The update

to the IEN model in Figure 8 is discussed in greater detail in Chapter Four. Initially believed to

be Social, the third factor became the second factor after the data findings. The Social factor

incorporates the immigrant entrepreneur's need to influence social capital, ethnic resources, and

structural embeddedness within the decentralized protective market to grow their networks.

However, if a decentralized ethnic network is limited or lacking, the need for the immigrant to

build their host country's ethnic network becomes the social phase priority. The last factor was

believed to be Growth. However, Growth became the third phase after initial entrepreneurial

success because the immigrant desires here for increases in capital to employ a higher level of

immigrant entrepreneurial goals directly connected to their Personal and Social factors with

influences due to the subsistence factor experiences in the mobile and establishment phase.

Organization of the Remainder of the Chapter

The rest of the chapter is organized into six sections representing the literature. The

literature review structure is in a sequential outline six-step model below in Figure 9, and briefly

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

described in the paragraphs that follow. Each step is then explored in greater detail through a

thorough synthesis of the relevant literature.

Figure 9: Literature Review Six Step Model

1. Migration. This section examined the literature on migration, predisposing attributes of

individuals, entry and educational factors, and the intervening obstacles immigrants

encounter on their pathway to entrepreneurship in the host country (Aslund et al., 2014;

Awotoye and Singh, 2018; Fairlie, 2012; Fairlie and Lofstrom, 2015; Glazer and Moynihan,

1970; Hunt, 2011, 2015; Lee, 1966; Lofstrom, 2002; Lubotsky, 2007; Jasso et al., 2007;

Massey and Nalone, 2002; Markowitz and Slovic, 2020; Sweetman and Waman, 2008; Van

der Sluis et al., 2008).

2. Destination. This section provided the study with literature theories on why immigrants start

businesses and where these immigrants initially start their ethnic businesses (Achidi and

Priem, 2011; Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Audretsch et al., 2017; Cummings, 1980; Lewis,

2013; Kerr and Mandorff, 2015; Portes, 1987; Zhang et al., 2016).

3. Protected Markets. This section provided literature on how immigrants leverage mixed

embeddedness and ethnic resources through decentralized protective networks to establish

businesses within protected markets, all while managing interethnic competition to seize

opportunities (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Das et al., 2017; Kerr and Mandorff, 2015;

INVISIBLENESS

MIGRATION DESTINATION PROTECTED

MARKET

OPEN

MARKET

1 2 3 4

CULTURE

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Kloosterman, 2010; Sanders and Nee, 1996; Savino, 2014; Saxenian, 2000; Vinogradov and

Jergensen, 2017).

4. Open Market. This section summarized the literature on how immigrant entrepreneurs gain

access to open markets / nonethnic markets (Aldrich, 1985, 1990; Awotoye and Singh, 2018;

Bonacich, 1973; Light, 1972; Mohl, 1985; Wingfield and Taylor, 2016).

5. Culture. The section provided the study’s findings traceability to the literature on culture

applicable to immigrant entrepreneurs (Hofested,1983; Hofstede and Minkov, 2010;

Johanson and Vahlne, 2009). It is culture and ethnicity where immigrant entrepreneurship

intersects with other theories and viewpoints of immigrant entrepreneurship (Aldrich and

Waldinger, 1990; Cummings, 1972; Glaser, 1975; Glazer and Moynihan, 1963,1970; Glazer

et al., 1975; Light, 1972; Yinger, 1985; Hofested,1983; Hofstede and Minkov, 2010;

Johanson and Vahlne, 2009).

6. Invisibleness. The final section summarizes the relevant and conceptual framework

developed for the study. However, this study's invisibility coincides with the literature but is

executed as an advantage in the last stages of the immigrant entrepreneurs’ lifecycle, as seen

in phase three of Figure 29. The initial phases of the updated theoretical model from the data

findings in Chapter Four found invisibleness as an obstacle for immigrants, not an

opportunity until after the immigrant entrepreneur has sustained their entrepreneurial success.

Step 1: Migration

In 1966, the scholar Everett Lee published what is now known as the theory of migration.

Lee’s (1966) Theory of Migration is an extension of the British geographer Ernest Ravenstein’s

"Laws of Migration," completed in 1889. Ravenstein (1885, 1889) presented and represented

these laws after attaining twenty other countries' data beyond the 1881 British Census report to

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

the Royal Statistical Society in 1885 (Lee, 1966). Unfortunately, Ravenstein’s (1889) laws

received little fanfare when he presented them to the Royal Statistical Society (Lee, 1966).

Ravenstein’s (1889) Seven migration laws have held the test of time as the true bedrock for

understanding migration, and Lee's (1966) building blocks for his theory on migration.

Ravenstein’s (1989) Seven laws are in Figure 10.

Figure 10: Ravenstein’s Seven Laws of Migration

Lee’s (1966) conceptual model follows in Figure 11. Lee’s (1966) theory of migration

accounts for what he devised as the push and pull factors influencing individuals' or groups'

decisions to migrate. Not only do the push and pull factors influence migration decisions, but

they also influence the migration process, including the assimilation of migrants at a destination

of choice.

Figure 11: Lee’s Theory of Migration

Lee (1966) consolidated his push and pull factors into the following four categories: (1)

Factors associated with the area of origin, (2) factors associated with the area of destination, (3)

Intervening Obstacles, and (4) Personal Factors. Lee (1966) explained that the first three factors

RAVENSTEIN (1889) SEVEN LAWS OF MIGRATION

1) Migration and Distance –the center of absorption.

2) Migration in Stages –settle in the centers of commerce and industry.

3) Stream and Counter-Stream –each Migration produces a compensating counter-stream.

4) Urban and Rural differences in propensity to migrate –natives of towns are less migratory than rural.

5) The predominance of females among short-distance migrants –females, predominate short journey migration activities.

6) Technology and migration –development of industry and manufacturing increases in migrants.

7) The dominance of the economic motive –oppressive laws, high taxes, bad climate, and unwelcoming social

surroundings- increases migration events, men more for economic prosperity reasons.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

are in his model, with pluses (i.e., positive) and minuses (negative) displayed for the multitude of

reasons that attract or repel individuals. Furthermore, Lee (1966) explains that his model consists

of zeros. The zeros represent ‘indifferent’ factors because all people at varying class levels (i.e.,

education, marriage, and financial status) react differently to a given set of personal factors. Lee

(1966) goes on to explain. “Persons living in an area have an immediate and often long-term

acquaintance with the area and can make considered and unhurried judgments regarding them”

(p.50). Lee’s (1966) theory of migration sets no condition on distance but includes distance as an

intervening obstacle since the knowledge of a destination is rarely complete. Lee (1966)

explains, “Migration is defined broadly as a permanent or semi-permanent change of residence.

No restriction is placed upon the distance of the move or upon the voluntary or involuntary

nature of the act” (p.49). Lee (1966) continues, “No matter how short or how long, how easy or

how difficult, every act of migration involves an origin, a destination, and an intervening set of

obstacles” (p.49). Lee’s theory of migration is the entry point into this research study’s literature

review, given that the study is on immigrant entrepreneurs. Using Gunter’s (2012) definition of

entrepreneurs for this study on immigrant entrepreneurs, these individuals circumnavigate

through uncertain environments to employ their social capital, networks, and ethnic resources to

overcome continuous intervening obstacles. These immigrants employ ethnic strategies to

mitigate negative factors to seize market opportunities in a host country (i.e., destination)

(Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Kerr and Kerr, 2016; Lee, 1966; Sanders and Nee, 1996;

Vinogradov and Jergensen, 2017).

Expanding on the ideologies contained in Lee’s (1966) migration theory, the following

section examines the building blocks for an immigrant’s predisposition factors and the associated

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

intervening obstacles to entry and establishment of the immigrant at the destination (i.e., United

States).

Predisposing Factors, and Behavior, Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior Theories

The context of predisposing factors for this study is any human capital factors (i.e.,

motives and ambition) developed by an immigrant at their origin by association with a group’s

social and cultural orientation before and after the execution of the migratory process to a new

nation-state’s ethnic enclave entry point (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Hirschman, 1982; Portes,

1987). According to Aldrich and Waldinger (1990), “By predisposing factors, we mean the skills

and goals that individuals and groups bring with them to an opportunity” (p.122). Nevertheless,

the definition of predisposing factors can get intertwined with the topic of predisposition in the

literature as that term trends toward medical field research. For this research study, predisposing

factors apply to an immigrant’s profile of attributes in their worldview, intentions, and behavior

shaped by their home country’s group membership. The literature provides a theoretical position

on how an individual can have shaping factors at origin that become associated with the

immigrant’s entrepreneurial attitude and behavioral controls (Ajzen, 1985, 1991) in this study’s

exploration of understanding why this post-Soviet cohort can migrate and achieving rapid

acclimation and are motivated to entrepreneurial success in the United States. Like all

individuals, the immigrant cohort for this study carries a set of predisposed attributes derived

from cultural influences that impact and shape the individual's attitude, worldview, intention, and

executing behavior (Ajzen, 1985, 1991; Hofstede, 1983, 1985, 2011). The literature used for this

study was derived from the researchers Lewin's (1936) behavior equation and Ajzen's (1967,

1985, 1991) theories of Planned Behavior and Reasoned Action captured in Figure 31. Lewin's

(1936, 1951) and Ajzen's (1967, 1985, 1991) works assisted in expanding the researcher's

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

investigation to frame the criteria of what constitutes 'predisposing factors' and the executable

intentions and behavioral controls for an immigrant entrepreneur's human capital (Aldrich and

Waldinger, 1990; Hirschman, 1982).

Lewin (1936) initially developed the concept of field theory derived from adapting the

Gestalt principles to show that people are a system of systems. From Lewin's (1936, 1951) work,

he developed a behavior equation known as the Lewin equation. Lewin's (1936, 1951) equation

explains that Behavior (B) is equal to the function (f) of personal traits (P) and one's environment

(E). Lewin’s (1936, 1951) equation is mathematically shown as B=f (P, E). Lewin (1936, 1951)

explains the relationship between an individual's attributes, environment, and behavior. Using

Lewin's (1936, 1951) equation to understand that characteristics and the individual's environment

can influence these immigrants' entrepreneurial behavior, it is the work of Ajzen (1967, 1985,

1991) that links an individual's behavior to attitude and their perceived behavioral controls.

For conciseness and clarity, Ajzen’s (1967, 1985, 1991) two theories are presented

sequentially in their development. First, Ajzen and Fishbein (1967) developed a theory called

Reasoned Action. The theory proposes an association between an individual’s attitudes and

behavior. Fishbein and Ajzen’s (1967) theory predicts that an individual’s behaviors are derived

from their pre-existing attitudes and behavioral purposes; then, individuals will decide to execute

a specific behavior if they feel they will achieve a desired outcome from the behavior. Therefore,

considering Lee’s (1966) personal factor and aligning with Ajzen’s (1985, 1991) theoretical

works, a post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneur in the U.S. executes the behavior of migrating from

their origin (i.e., U.S.S.R Controlled territories) to a destination (i.e., United States) due to their

attitude and social acceptance. Ajzen’s (1967, 1985) theoretical concepts are captured in the

rings of the literature taxonomy in Figure 6. Second, Ajzen (1985, 1991) expands on the original

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

theory of reasoned action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1967) with the theory of planned behavior by

updating the original model with what is called perceived behavioral control (PCB). According

to Awotoye and Singh (2018) on Ajzen’s (1985) theory, “a person’s behaviors is predicted by

their intentions, intentions are predicted by one’s attitude, subjective norms and perceived

behavioral control (PBC).”

When dissecting Ajzen’s (1985) theory, attitudes are an individual’s assessment (i.e.,

positive or negative) of their planned behavior. Subjective norms capture whether a social

group's interpretation of a chosen behavior is acceptable. The third term of perceived behavioral

control (PBC) is the individual’s perceptions of the difficulty level in executing the behavioral

activity. The term intention mediates the effects of attitude and subjective norms on behavior.

(Ajzen,1985; Awotoye and Singh, 2018; Kautonen et al., 2015). During the research, the study

explored whether the host and home societal factors associated with the post-Soviet participants

create an interpretation of their chosen behavior based on their societal past. The cohort

explained in their testimonies of the home environment as restricted and corrupt under the Soviet

regime reducing their ability to opportunistic pursuits with prestige only afforded to the nobility

dependent on heredity and wealth or those in favor of the hierarchy Communist Government

(Glazer et al., 1975). They would execute a behavior to migrate after the push factor of the

collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 and economic instability for opportunities in the United States

because this became acceptable amongst their social groups. Ajzen’s (1985, 1991) theoretical

proposition was confirmed in the researcher’s data findings discussed in Chapter 4. The

participants explained their perceptions of pull factor opportunities in host countries outside the

U.S.S.R. The participants perceived that they owned superior tacit knowledge developed during

the Communist party years (Snow, 1959), and this knowledge allowed them to trust their ability

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

to circumvent any intervening obstacles associated with a host country's cultural distance

(Hofstede, 1983, 1985, 201x; Lee, 1966).

The literature provided evidence supported by the research findings that an immigrant’s

behavior is predicted by their intention. If intentions are in search of entrepreneurial success,

then the immigrant entrepreneur’s intention is predicted by their attitude, subjective norms, and

perceived behavioral control (Awotoye and Singh, 2018). Furthermore, an immigrant

entrepreneur’s PBC allows these individuals to handle higher stress levels than U.S. natives

(Awotoye and Singh, 2018). Awotoye and Singh (2018) proposed resilience as the moderating

variable between stress and entrepreneurial intentions for immigrant entrepreneurs, all within the

backdrop of PBC (Awotoye and Singh, 2018). The principles behind Ajzen's (1985) theory on

PBC and Lewin's (1936, 1951) equation for behavior were critical theoretical positions for

defining the entry and exit criteria in the Immigrant Entrepreneurial Needs (IEN) model phases

for assessing the data captured in this study.

Entry Factors – Visa Type and Education

An immigrant’s visa category is the first area of discussion when examining an

immigrant’s entry into a host country after migrating from their origin. The United States, like

other developed nation-states, has created a series of visa categories to include special visas

along with entry requirements to entice immigrant entrepreneurs (Fairlie and Lofstrom, 2015).

Policymakers in advanced nation-states like the United States recognize the significance of

immigrant entrepreneurship in assisting their host country’s economic development, supporting

employment opportunities, and positively impacting market innovation (Lofstrom, 2017). The

literature reveals that these immigrant businesses enhance immigrant labor market assimilation

into the open market (Cummings 1980). When approaching the topic of visa type at entry for an

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

immigrant’s projected success in a host country, the literature reveals a correlation between visa

type at entry and the predictors for entrepreneurship traits of the immigrant (Hunt, 2011; Kerr

and Kerr, 2016). Hunt (2011) discovered that the performance of immigrants who entered the

United States on work and student visas outpaced natives by 18.2 percent in wage earnings and

patenting and commercializing. Hunt’s (2011) research found a correlation between

entrepreneurial success in niche markets to the immigrant’s explicit knowledge associated with

their specific skill training, including a master's or doctoral education. Hunt (2011) explains,

“who arrive as graduate students considerably, to a statistically significant 1.2 percentage point

advantage over natives. these results point to such immigrants having a niche in startups founded

on advanced technical knowledge” (p. 22)

Hunt (2011) explains that naturalized immigrants outperform natives in wage earnings.

However, Hunt (2011) found evidence that immigrants who entered the family unification

process or as dependents perform equally or less than natives in the United States. Hunt’s (2011)

research implies that age and skill level factors weaken or strengthen an immigrant’s economic

and entrepreneurial success in the United States. Therefore, home country predisposing factors

influence an immigrant’s entrepreneurial achievements. To validate this statement, Hunt (2011)

explains, “All entry visa groups would earn the same as or more than similar natives had they

arrived as children and acquired only U.S. degrees” (p. 28). As the literature has shown,

education and training from the home country and additional host country learning give

immigrants an advantage over natives in their entrepreneurial endeavors and overall wage

earnings. The researcher used Hunt’s (2011) research findings to develop specific participant

interview questions and cross-examine the data findings. All the post-Soviet participants in this

study received a formal education, with most having graduate degrees from their home country.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Intervening Obstacles and Dehumanization Theories

Intervening obstacles are commonly known as situations or events that can cause an

individual or group an obstruction. This study’s definition of ‘Intervening Obstacles’ is taken

from Lee’s (1966) explanation developed from leveraging Stouffer’s (1960) theory on

intervening opportunities. According to Lee (1966), “Between every two points, there stands a

set of intervening obstacles which may be slight in some instances and insurmountable in others;

the effect of a given set of obstacles also depends upon the impediments with which the migrant

is encumbered” (p. 51). Intervening obstacles can be access to capital, language barriers, and

isolation from a group majority that shapes into a strict line of discrimination by natives in a host

country. There are limitless obstacles all individuals face throughout their lives. This research

focused on one insurmountable obstacle, in particular, that immigrants have always faced,

dehumanization effects by natives. Restructured dehumanization can take on the connotation of

racism by an outside group, as experienced over the centuries by African Americans, Asians,

Italians, Puerto Ricans, Jews, and Irish in the United States (Cummings, 1980; Glazer and

Moynihan, 1970; Glazer et al., 1975; Light, 1972). However, the data revealed inadequate

dehumanization factors by host country natives toward post-Soviet immigrants, as discussed in

chapter four.

At face value, dehumanization in the word itself explains what it means (i.e., less than

human). The literature emphasized dehumanization concerns for immigrants trying to navigate

their way through a host country onto entrepreneurial opportunities (Markowitz and Slovic,

2020; Waytz, 2012). Markowitz and Slovic (2020) explain that dehumanization is a social

process of how some individuals judge and make extrapolations about others. These researchers

explain that individuals who behave, speak, and look like the host group majority will be

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

perceived positively from the host group’s vantage point (Markowitz and Slovic, 2020), linking

their positions to assimilation. However, those individual migrants who do not look, speak, or act

like the group majority will take on the perception of negativity and face a series of

insurmountable obstacles unnecessarily (Markowitz and Slovic, 2020). According to Markowitz

and Slovic (2020), “Dehumanization toward immigrants is a pressing and unrelenting issue

across the globe” (p. 9268). The literature provided four theoretical frameworks to use in the data

analysis that make up the overall construct of dehumanization for any findings. The first

theoretical perspective is the Infrahumanization Theory (Markowitz and Slovic, 2020; Waytz,

2012). This theory explains that dehumanized individuals or groups are intentionally denied

derived emotions (i.e., uniquely human characteristics like nostalgia) as a tacit form of

dehumanization by the out-group while simultaneously giving these secondary emotions to in-

groups (Markowitz and Slovic, 2020; Waytz, 2012).

The second framework is called the ‘Dual Perspective of Humanness’ (Haslam, 2006;

Markowitz and Slovic, 2020). The Dual Perspective of Humanness theory for dehumanization

combines two perspectives, as Markowitz and Slovic (2020) explain. According to Markowitz

and Slovic (2020), “In the first perspective, if people are denied human uniqueness, they are

perceived as animals without ‘refinement, self-control, intelligence, and rationality.”

Dehumanization behaviors lead certain groups to explicit metaphors about the targeted

dehumanized groups, such as Jew and Hispanic immigrants being called parasites and leeches. In

the research, several post-Soviet participants referenced other ethnic groups in the U.S. aside

from host natives as projecting dehumanization behaviors onto them. In the second perspective,

if people are denied human nature, they are objectified and perceived as instruments in society.

The dual perspective of humanness is unique because it proposes human-object and human-

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

animal distinctions and suggests that humanness is orthogonal on two dimensions (i.e., Human

Uniqueness and Human Nature).

The 'Dehumanized Perception' theory is the third framework for the dehumanization

concept (Harris and Fiske, 2006; Markowitz and Slovic, 2020). This theory is explained as a

cognitive perspective where the in-group’s intentional cognition fails to recognize or

acknowledge the individual or out-group (Markowitz and Slovic, 2020). This theory is close to

the past concept of the “Invisible Man” assigned to black Americans without a job and not

accounted for in the U.S. census (Glazer and Moynihan, 1970). According to Glazer and

Moynihan (1970), “In the 1960s, the black Invisible Man became the working class and the

middle class, people who had been leaders in their communities, they were now pushed aside by

young militants, who were supported by white mass media and some white political leaders.”

Invisibility or dehumanized perception is negative if given to an immigrant by the in-group

versus an immigrant using the idea of invisibleness as a positive ethnic strategy to offer them

concealment within the native populace in a host country.

The fourth and final theoretical framework on dehumanization is called the ‘Mind

Perception’ (Gray et al., 2007; Haslam and Loughnan, 2014; Markowitz and Slovic, 2020). The

literature explains this framework as immigrants or out-groups are believed to lack the

compacity of cognitive freedom and agency (Markowitz and Slovic, 2020). The definition of

mind perception restated is that dehumanized individuals or out groups are believed to lack the

ability to execute higher thinking and act rationally within the norms of society by in-groups

(Markowitz and Slovic, 2020). The study’s overall premise is that dehumanization toward

immigrants creates the various barriers immigrant entrepreneurs encounter in a host country.

Dehumanization can lead to increased barriers to entrepreneurial success by denying access to

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

capital, inhibiting social media networks, increasing liability to newness, reducing trust by

natives, access to markets and resources, assimilation, and acceptance of education credentials

(Aldrich, 1985; Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Cummings, 1980; Glazer et al., 1975; Kerr and

Mandorff, 2015; Lewis, 2013; Light, 1972; Mohl, 1985). As discussed in chapter four, the

participants provided little testimony to support the theoretical framework on dehumanization by

most host natives. The study discovered that the immigrant entrepreneur’s challenge of being an

outgroup member was perceived by the host country system and other immigrant groups, not

natives.

Northern and Southern Models

The last literature topic applicable as an intervening obstacle is the two conceptual

models called Northern and Southern by Glazer and Moynihan (1970) to explain the dynamic

and challenging native environment of group relationships immigrants face when they enter and

sustain themselves in the United States. Glazer’s and Moynihan’s (1970) model, on the one

hand, attacks the concept of assimilation as unachievable with their bipolar choice model called

Southern while offering up another model called Northern as a means for ethnic groups to

acclimate together and peacefully coexist. According to Glazer’s and Moynihan’s (1970)

definition of the Southern Model, “In the Southern Model, society is divided into two segments,

white and black. The line between them is rigidly drawn. Other groups must choose to which

segment they belong, even if, as many Southern Jews felt, they do not really want to quite belong

to either” (p. 23).

Glazer and Moynihan (1970) explain the Northern model: "The Northern Model is quite

different; there are many groups. They differ in wealth, power, occupation, values, but in effect,

an open society prevails for individuals and groups, over time, a substantial and rough

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

equalization of wealth and power can be hoped for even if not attained, and each group

participates sufficiently in the goods and values and social life of a common society so that all

can accept the common society as good and fair” (p. 23). Glazer and Moynihan (1970) allude to

their model concerning the U.S. historical past, where the northeast and west coasts of the U.S.

fostered a Northern style model, and the Southern and Midwest regions of America fostered

more of a Southern-style model. Regardless, assimilation was challenged and recommended

from the data findings for replacement with the term acclimation.

All immigrants and immigrant entrepreneurs are challenged with this intervening societal

obstacle amongst regional differences and social tribalism of the native populace in America

when they look to employ ethnic strategies for business startup, sustainment, and expansion to

open markets. The Northern and Southern Models in the literature offer up the concept of choice

by the immigrant entrepreneur to willingly choose to be invisible as a concealment advantage to

reduce threats correlated to barriers by natives as an ethnic strategy for entrepreneurial success.

However, the overarching host system can project invisibleness onto an immigrant in their early

stages of redevelopment in a host country. If the host country system projects invisibility onto

the individual immigrant, it is an obstacle and not an employed ethnic strategy for their goal of

attaining success.

Six Dimensions of Demand Framework

Aroian et al. (1998) provided a framework called the six dimensions of demands faced by

immigrants in the United States. These six dimensions are considered obstacles immigrants face

while adjusting to a host country. Aroian et al. (1998) six dimensions are loss, novelty,

occupational adjustment, language barriers, discrimination, and not feeling at home (Awotoye

and Singh, 2018). The first dimension of loss is an unresolved attachment to the origin of the

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

immigrants (Awotoye and Singh, 2018). The next novelty dimension is the liability of newness

or strangeness to the host country (Awotoye and Singh, 2018). The third dimension, called an

occupational adjustment, deals with an immigrant’s challenges in seeking employment or being

viewed as having a lower status by natives (Awotoye and Singh, 2018). The fourth dimension of

language is the immigrant’s perception of their ability to speak English relative to natives

(Awotoye and Singh, 2018). The fifth dimension, discrimination, is the effects of

dehumanization (Markowitz and Slovic, 2020). The last dimension of not feeling at home is the

immigrants' perception of feeling like a stranger (Awotoye and Singh, 2018). The literature

explains that an immigrant’s perception of not feeling at home in a host country is referred to as

sojourning (Light, 1972; Siu, 1952). Awotoye and Singh (2018) leverage the six-dimension

framework by Aroian et al. (1998) to present a theoretical proposition that immigrant

entrepreneurs have higher stress tolerance levels due to these interviewing obstacles over natives;

therefore, high perceived behavioral controls of stress are correlated to entrepreneurship success

for immigrants. The study supported the researcher’s positions found in the literature.

Step 2: Destination

Once a newly minted immigrant has successfully arrived in America and established a

foothold, they begin navigating through their new environment, socially learning the host

country's norms, and wargaming their forecasted entrepreneurial goals. However, stepping back

to the point of entry at the destination, the past literature findings are supported by the research

results that an initial immigrant choice of location settlement is based on their tribal network,

shared knowledge, and access to initial ethnic resources (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990;

Cummings, 1980; Light, 1972; Portes, 1981; Uzzi, 1996).

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Ethnic Enclave, Sojourning Orientation and Linkage to Predisposing Attributes

As defined in Chapter 1, ethnic enclaves are specific areas within a host country where

ethnic groups cluster socially and economically. It is this area that is distinct from other host

country ethnic groups. Portes (1981) coined the term “immigrant enclave” and provided a

theoretical concept containing two characteristics. Portes (1981) explains that the first

characteristic of an immigrant enclave is a clustering of immigrant-owned businesses that

employ the same ethnic group members. The second characteristic of these enclaves is what

Portes (1981) called the spatial clustering of enterprises. Aldrich and Waldinger (1990) expand

on Portes' (1987) work by explaining that group characteristics provide ‘opportunity structures’

for entrepreneurial access. According to Aldrich and Waldinger (1990), “Group characteristics

are emphasized by researchers concerned with why particular ethnic groups are disproportionally

concentrated in ethnic enterprises (Portes, 1987). We have identified two dimensions of group

characteristics: predisposing factors and resource mobilization” (p.122). As described earlier in

step one, predisposing factors impact entrepreneurial motivation and entry points at the

destination.

The ethnic enclaves in a host country allow for the immigrant to use their tacit

knowledge, predisposing attributes, and cultural norms from their origin for migration area

selection. This selective migration is found in the literature on studies about educated Cubans

fleeing Castro’s takeover of Cuba and the post-1965 influx of white-collar Koreans into America

(Perez, 1986; Min, 1988). These studies explain that immigrants’ selectiveness in migrating to

their destination correlates to individual predisposing factors and characteristics (Perez, 1986;

Min, 1988). The literature explains that immigrants will migrate to ethnic enclaves because the

enclave provides not only a semi-alignment with the immigrant’s local home markets but offers

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

access to co-ethnic buyers and the ability to use their embedded networks for the immigrant

entrepreneurs (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Gurau et al., 2020). This initial entry point allows a

new immigrant entrepreneur to expand their embedded co-ethnic networks and resources.

Aldrich and Waldinger (1990) explain ethnic resources using Light’s (1984) model as “any and

all features of their ethnic group that potential owners can use, such as cultural endowments,

reactive solidarity, and sojourning orientation” (p.127). Step two in the literature shapes the

conditions for step three (i.e., Protected Market Hypothesis and Interethnic Competition) and

step four (i.e., access to nonethnic markets / open market entry) outlined in Figure 7 at the

beginning of this chapter.

In closing step 2 of this literature review, intervening obstacles are added to the

discussion. These ethnic enclaves provide a safe harbor for new and legacy immigrants who

cannot acclimate with the host country’s natives. Many immigrants remain with ideological

perception as temporary visitors within these ethnic enclaves and are described as sojourning

immigrants (Siu, 1952). The literature explains sojourning as an immigrant who never fully

accepts his or her place in a host country. According to Siu (1952), “an immigrant who clings to

the culture of his own group and who is unwilling to organize himself as a permeant resident in

the country of his sojourn” (p.34). Light (1972) expanded on the topic of sojourning by stating,

“Discrimination and minority status are unique features of sojourner life in America” (p.103).

Though the ethnic enclaves offer a sense of comfort and safe harbor to immigrant groups (Light,

1972), they are not without the challenges of intervening obstacles associated with establishing a

business, interethnic competition, and rivalry over resources and customers (Aldrich and

Waldinger, 1990).

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Nevertheless, it is the ethnic enclaves that produce the initial relationships between the

immigrant entrepreneur and co-ethnic and native networks (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990). The

discussion of the literature on ethnic enclaves is introduced in this literature review but initially

not deemed as critical in supporting a theory for advantages of invisibleness as an ethnic

strategy. The term invisible (i.e., rapidly acclimating into a host country without native

awareness) was believed to support immigrant entrepreneurs in initiating entrepreneurial

activities by leveraging ethnic enclaves that provide access to co-ethnic group customers and

networks that participate within the protected market (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990). However,

the study found that in the initial stages of the immigrant’s entrepreneurial lifecycle, they desire

to be visible in the host country by the system and natives. Invisibility, if utilized by the post-

Soviet immigrant in the later stage of entrepreneurial success when dealing with the host system,

was found to have a positive connotation for the participants. However, invisibleness can be

applied negatively to the immigrant by a native populace, as African Americans have

experienced for over a century (Light, 1972).

Step 3: Protected Market Hypothesis

In step 1 of the literature review information was provided on why immigrants migrate

from home to host countries, predisposing factors, education, visa considerations, and a

discussion on intervening obstacles and opportunities. Step 2 provided information on ethnic

enclaves to explain why immigrants mass together in particular locations with co-ethnic groups

inside a host country to leverage their human capital (i.e., tacit knowledge) and networks for

mobilizing ethnic resources to employ opportunistic strategies. It is the ethnic enclave that

generates co-ethnic markets where an immigrant entrepreneur outside of venture capital backing

can build capital and expand networks for access to the open market while retaining dedicated

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

access to a co-ethnic customer base (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990). However, though the

literature on ethnic enclaves is critical in the evolution of an immigrant entrepreneur in a host

country, it is the ‘Protective Market Hypothesis’ developed by Light (1972) within these ethnic

enclaves that provide immigrant entrepreneur the ability to leverage ethnic resources and

employment of a set ethnic strategy. Light’s (1972) Protected Market is explained as the initial

market for immigrant entrepreneurs within an ethnic enclave; these protected markets serve the

needs of co-ethnic customers that the immigrant entrepreneur can leverage. According to

Cummings (1980):

The idea that distinct ethnic groups produce, distribute, and consume resources is largely

alien to orthodox modes of economic thought. As is emphasized in a widely used

economic text, “Economics is based upon facts concerning the activities of individuals

and institutions in producing, exchanging, and consuming goods and services.” Here

“institutions” refers to business and commercial establishments, as well as the banking

and financial communities. The fact that immigrant groups created explicit economic

institutions for the purpose of influencing the distribution of income and wealth and

expanding employment opportunities has largely escaped the attention of most

economists. In most economics texts one finds no mention of immigrant banks or credit

unions, mutual benefit societies or fraternal, cooperation or lodges, or collectively owned

commercial and agricultural operations. (p.8).

Aldrich and Waldinger (1990) expand on Light's (1972) and Cumming’s (1980) work on

protected markets and self-help by developing a conceptual framework with three interactive

components to provide additional insight into ethnic business creation. The words, immigrant

and ethnic group are interchangeable in literature. Aldrich and Waldinger (1990) offer a

conceptual framework allowing additional linkage to the preceding literature. Aldrich and

Waldinger (1990) call their framework’s three interacting components: opportunity structures,

group characteristics, and strategies. As immigrant entrepreneurs operate within an ethnic

enclave that provides access to protected markets, the immigrant observes favorable co-ethnic

market conditions (i.e., opportunity structures) by leveraging their predisposing factors (i.e.,

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

group characteristics) to overcome intervening obstacles by employing ethnic strategies as

immigrants learn to adapt to their environments (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Lee, 1966).

The Decentralized Network and Market

Initially, the researcher asked, can a protective market be decentralized? Merriam-

Webster dictionary defines 'decentralized' as the dispersion or distribution of functions and

powers, the delegation of power from a central authority to regional and local authorities, and

the redistribution of population and industry from urban centers to outlying areas (Merriam-

Webster, 2022). This idea of decentralized presents a research inquiry in 2023; with social

media now global and imperfect nation-state border constraints on social media, are the

historically centralized ethnic enclaves with controlled, protected markets transitioned to a

decentralized status? The data revealed that in 2023, the emergence of increased acceptance

for social media platforms like Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are now

leveraged globally by post-Soviet immigrants for rapid information sharing and exchanging of

goods and services. Therefore, social media is aiding immigrants to mitigate host country

obstacles by offering new co-ethnic decentralized protective markets and networks for their

entrepreneurial activities. This study is coining the terms 'decentralized protective market and

network.' The participants’ testimonies supported the researcher's position to confidently

argue that co-ethnic protective markets and networks function in 2023. Modern technology

provides access to distributed ethnic resources, networks, and customers across the United

States, requiring little to no capital investment or time. The literature search found no research

that coins ‘decentralized protective market or network.’ Therefore, one of the underlying

theoretical positions in this study was the belief that a large decentralized protective ethnic

market and network assists post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs in their entrepreneurial

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

activities. Decentralized and distributed protective co-ethnic markets and tribal networks are

helping post-Soviet immigrants in their ability to carry out advanced entrepreneurial activities

even within a system that can project invisibility onto the immigrant in their early stages of

host country entry and business startup. The study’s results supported an initial theoretical

position of decentralized protective markets and ethnic networks supporting the immigrant in

learning the host language and system for rapid acclimation and system use. Access to the

decentralized protective market through ethnic networks assists an immigrant in overcoming

intervening obstacles through information sharing and access to resources that historically

took many years to achieve in the centralized urban ethnic enclave centers. The contemporary

brick-and-mortar urban ethnic enclaves for post-Soviets still support immigrant startups, but

most have transitioned into a social retreat center over ethnic support areas.

Step 4: Open Market

Through this literature review, the chapter provides a sequential approach to the various

research findings to show a linkage between migration to destination and immigrant startups.

Step 4 expands on the literature by explaining the theoretical propositions and views behind an

immigrant entrepreneur’s movement from the protected market into the open market. This

expansion into the open market for the immigrant entrepreneur was found to coincide with the

IEN phases associated with growth and personal.

Middleman Minority Theory

Several of the theories supporting this research on post-Soviet immigrant

entrepreneurship have been presented in discussions on ethnic enclaves (Alchidi and Priem,

2011; Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Portes, 1981; Zhang et al., 2016), selective migration

(Audretsch et al., 2017; Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Perez, 1986; Min; 1988) and research

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

findings on social capital, networks and use of ethnic resources (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990;

Light 1972, 1984; Gurau et al., 2020; Sanders and Nee, 1996). This step in the literature findings

will introduce the Middleman Theory (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Awotoye and Singh, 2018;

Bonacich, 1973; Wingfield and Taylor, 2016).

According to Aldrich and Waldinger (1990):

The classic model of middleman minorities, as refined by Bonacich (1973) and others,

includes three traits characterizing a group’s cultural patterns: first, sojourner

orientation to their host country; second, distinctive social and cultural characteristics

that promote solidarity communities; and third distinctive economic traits, including a

concentration in entrepreneurial roles, a tendency to keep capital liquid, and a

preference for kin and co-ethnic labor. (p.125).

The theory of the middleman minority continues to be constantly debated (Aldrich and

Waldinger, 1990; Jain, 1988); Light and Bonacich, 1988; Rischin, 1962; Wong, 1987;). In

simple terms, a middleman minority is used to explain how immigrant/ethnic entrepreneurs can

provide a linkage between protected markets and the open markets of a host country. This term

gets its historical context from the days after the abolishment of slavery when WASP ruling

elites leveraged certain Black business owners to exchange goods into protected markets

(Bonacich, 1973; Glazer and Moynihan, 1970). Middleman theory was minimally discovered in

the research data findings.

Step 5: Culture: Psychic Distance and Cultural Distance

When a discussion on culture occurs, three collaborative building blocks define cultural

differences among ethnic groups of different nation-states. Johanson and Vahlne (1977)

developed the first building block for this research by advancing the term Psychic Distance (PD)

in their research on business' foreign direct investment decisions. Johanson and Vahlne (1977)

explain psychic distance as the measure of impediments to the flow of information between

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

ethnic groups (i.e., buyers and suppliers). When exploring the impact of psychic distance on

immigrants who choose to migrate from their origin to a host country destination, researchers

found evidence that common language, country-specific international experience, and education

aided in the reduction of the psychic distance perceptions of an immigrant (Ambosa et al., 2019).

With the many challenges associated with intervening obstacles, as explained in Step 2 of

this chapter’s literature review and Figure 29, immigrant entrepreneurs can circumvent obstacles

like the impediment of host system information and language understanding. The immigrant

entrepreneur can do this by leveraging embedded host country co-ethnic networks, decentralized

protected market access, language connections, international experience, and a tribal linkage to

ethnic enclaves that provide access to protected and open markets within host countries.

Cultural Dimensions

The following culture topic incorporates the Cultural Dimensions Model by Hofstede

(1983, 1985, 2011), represented below in Figure 12. Hofstede’s (1983, 1985, 2011) model’s six

dimensions criteria is captured in the literature wheel shown in Figure 6 at the beginning of

Chapter Two in the rings designated for home and host country segments.

Figure 12: Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension Model

Hofstede (2011) believed that culture results from the collective programming of an

individual's mind. It is these individuals that make up the collective ethnic groups. Hofstede

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

(1983, 1985, 2011) created the conceptual framework called six dimensions to explain the

variance between one ethnic/cultural group from another; they are Power Distance, Uncertainty

Avoidance, Individualism/Collectivism, Masculinity/Femininity, Long/ Short Term Orientation,

and Indulgence/Restraint (Hofstede, 2011).

The third term described in the literature is Cultural Distance (CD), developed by Hofstede

(2001, 2011). Cultural Distance is the level of difference between two cultural groups' norms and

values (Hofstede, 2001). Hofstede (1983, 1985, 2011) expanded his original four dimensions

concept to six to identify the cultural distance between different countries (Hofstede, 1983, 2001,

2011). These six dimensions can act as intervening obstacles, as displayed in the literature for

immigrant entrepreneurs operating in a host country.

Step 6: Invisibleness and the Invisible Man

The literature investigation on invisibleness found the term associated with a topic called

the ‘Invisible Man’ (Glazer and Moynihan, 1970). The invisibility is rarely found as a positive

connotation in the literature findings. In the literature on Black ethnic groups, invisibility is a

negative suggestion that becomes closely associated with inequality (Bryce Laporte, 1972). Afar

with the association of invisibility and inequality, the term continues to be associated with the

1960s Invisible Man. The Invisible Man is the intentional act of a majority group to ignore a

specific ethnic group, historically applied to African American, Chinese, and Puerto Rican group

members (Glazer and Moynihan, 1970).

According to Glazer and Moynihan (1970):

The Invisible Man once meant the black man without a job, without a home, truly

invisible, not even counted in the census. In the 1960’s, the black Invisible Man became

the working class and the middle class, people who had been leaders in the communities.

They were now pushed aside by young militants, who were supported by white mass

media and some white political leaders. Thus, a good deal of the practical, effective

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

working in raising the income and power of individual blacks and of the black

communities was totally ignored by whites and blacks (p. 54).

Invisibility can be changed to an advantage from the Invisible Man's negative

perspective by individuals. If individuals use invisibility instead of it projected onto them

like the Invisible Man position, then using invisibility to acclimate among a host native

majority group could reduce barriers for the immigrant in the host country. The term

invisibleness in this research used the optimistic view versus a negative connotation for

post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs initiating their entrepreneurial activities. It was

initially believed that post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs used invisibility to host

natives while leveraging ethnic markets and networks that provide access to co-ethnic

group customers and networks that participate within the protected and open markets

(Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990). Invisibility was examined to see if it was utilized

opportunistically by the post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneur in the host country.

Therefore, the post-Soviet immigrant was thought to use invisibility as a strategic

approach versus the act of inequality occurring to a specific ethnic group by a native

majority group. The study did find immigrants as an ‘invisible man’ by the host system in

the first two phases of the updated theoretical model in Figure 29. Invisibility was more

of a cultural norm and not leveraged as an advantage until the post-Soviet immigrant

achieved high financial success and wanted to hide from the host system and natives.

Some literature references immigrant ethnic groups in the U.S. using

‘Invisibleness’ as an ethnic strategy to melt into the host country among natives

unnoticed. Through the participants’ testimonies, they expressed minimal acclimation

challenges from natives versus other ethnic groups’ complaints, only a select few used

invisibleness as an ethnic strategy in their entrepreneurial goals. As discussed in Chapter

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

One on the Germans of Post-World War II who were branded as ‘Nazis’ though they

immigrated to America successfully and melted into the general populace unnoticed,

immigrants today can use it, too (Glazer and Moynihan, 1970). However, the researcher

found that applying invisibleness as an opportunity to the immigrant entrepreneur was

imprecise in phases one and two of the entrepreneur’s lifecycle captured in the theoretical

model in Figure 29. The book by Erickson (1972) called ‘Invisible Immigrant: The

Adaptation of English and Scottish Immigrants in the 19th Century America’ showed how

these immigrant groups successfully melted into American society. Erickson (1972)

found that English and Scottish white-collar workers, farmers, and industrial workers

could successfully immigrate to the United States without the pressures imposed on other

ethnic groups. A study by Leinonen (2012) looked at Finnish immigration and the

internationalization experiences of Americans who were immigrants amongst Finnish

natives. The study focused on the intervening obstacles associated with American

immigrants gaining access to employment compared to other immigrant ethnic groups

(Leinonen, 2012). In Leinonen’s (2012) study, American immigrants were shown to have

an advantage of ‘Invisibleness’ compared to other non-white immigrant groups.

Invisibility is the ability of immigrant groups to camouflage themselves in a host country

for rapid acclimation to employ ethnic strategies for immigrant entrepreneurship

activities. The findings are not disputing past research; however, the research found

minimal discovery for the early stages of the immigrant’s entrepreneurial activities where

invisibility is used as an ethnic strategy.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Theoretical Framework

The initial independent variable of predisposing attributes influencing immigrant

entrepreneurial success in America for post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs remains the same

after the data analysis. The moderating variables of intervening obstacles and opportunities with

higher-level influencing variables of cultural distance and psychic distance below in Figure 13

were perceived in the initial conceptual framework evolution to the theoretical framework for

this inductive qualitative grounded theory research study.

Figure 13: Primary Theoretical Model

However, in Figure 26 presented later in Chapter Four, the research findings required the

researcher to restructure of the preliminary research model in Figure 16 for the mediating and

moderating variables affecting the relationship and strength for post-Soviet immigrant

entrepreneurs predisposing attributes and their entrepreneurial success.

Summary

In summary, Chapter 2 provided primary components acquired from literature for the

development of the research. This chapter explained several theories, concepts, and frameworks

contributory for advancing the researcher’s conceptual models. Chapter Two provided

Eastern Bloc

Immigrant

Entrepreneur

Predisposing

Characteristics

Eastern Bloc

Immigrant

Entrepreneur

Success in U.S.

Home Country

Societal

Influences on

Groups

Home Country Groups

Influences on

Individuals Predisposing

Factor Influencers

Intervening Obstacles

Migration Destination Protected

Market

Ethnic

Enclave

INVISIBLENESS

Open

Markets

Cultural Distance

ORIGIN DESTINATION

INDIVIDUALS AT ORIGIN

PERCEIVED PSYCHIC

DISTANCE WITH DESTINATION

ETHNIC STRATEGY

ENPLOYMENT CHANGES

Intervening Opportunities

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4

STEP 3.1

Decentralized Protected Market

(Social Media Networks)

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

discussions on literature concerning behavior, ethnicity, immigration, culture, ethnic enclaves,

dehumanization, migration, and numerous others. The chapter concludes with a preliminary

theoretical model prior to research data collection and analysis.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Chapter 3 Methodology

Overview

This chapter is a descriptive outline of the research methodology for an inductively

derived theory of invisibility used as an ethnic strategy by post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs

in the United States. The research inductively examined if invisibility acted as a moderating

variable in understanding the increases in immigrant entrepreneurship success in the United

States. Of the five traditional qualitative research methodologies (i.e., ethnography, grounded

theory, case study, phenomenology, and narrative), this study’s strategic approach uses a

qualitative design and the grounded theory methodology (Creswell and Poth, 2017). The

grounded theory methodology allowed the researcher to develop a general theory for a process,

activity, or interaction derived from the views of eighteen post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneur

participants (Creswell, 2014). Grounded theory’s research roots are from Glaser and Straus

(1967), who developed a methodology for theory development through methodical coding of

interviews with terms. This approach allowed for a richer understanding of a cohort of post-

Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs' experiences establishing and sustaining their businesses in the

United States. The rationale for using a qualitative grounded theory approach for this study is to

support a theory development created from the data to understand what factors influence

successful immigrant entrepreneurs in a host country navigating through intervening obstacles.

Grounded theory is a verified and validated qualitative approach that captures knowledge from

individuals for a collective understanding (Stake, 2010). A series of literature results discovered

in examining the proper pathway for grounded theory research is provided in Figure 14 below.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Figure 14: Grounded Theory Methods

Organization of the Remainder of the Chapter

The chapter is organized into four sections to present the research methodology. To

explain this qualitative grounded theory approach, Chapter 3 provides primary components for

the overarching plan of action for this research. The subsequent section describes ethical

concerns and philosophical worldview, restates the research questions, and provides the research

design, sampling, and conceptual model. Section two provides the research approach,

geographical area of study, recruitment of post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneur participants, and

selection of participants. Section three is the data collection, analysis, and interview questions.

The final section of this chapter addresses validity and ends with a summary.

Ethical Considerations

Like all research studies, the researcher used a series of controls and precautions for the

safety of participants and the study’s integrity (Creswell and Poth, 2017). For the integrity of the

study and the safeguarding of all participants, this study adhered to all procedural precautions by

initially attaining the authorized IRB approval before executing any interaction or data collection

Year Author Title

1967 Glaser and Strauss The Discovery of Grounded Theory

1978 Glaser Theoretical Sensitivity

1987 Strauss Qualitative Analysis for Social Scientists

1990 Strauss and Corbin

Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and

Techniques

1992 Glaser Basics of Grounded Theory Analysis

1994 Strauss and Corbin

Grounded theory methodology: An overview in Handbook of

Qualitative Research (1st Edition)

1995 Charmaz Grounded theory: In rethinking Methods in Psychology

1998 Strauss and Corbin

Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and

Techniques (2nd Edition)

2000 Charmaz

Grounded Theory: Objectivist and Constructivist Methods, in

Handbook of Qualitative Research (2nd Edition)

2005 Clarke Situational Analysis: Grounded Theory after the Postmodern Turn

2014 Charmaz

Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through

Auqlitative Analysis (2nd Edition)

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

activities with participants. Before any data collection activities occurred, the researcher received

voluntarily signed consent forms from each participant. The voluntary consent form safeguards

all participants from any deceitful act or misinformation about their participation (Creswell and

Poth, 2017; Grant, 2017). All data collected, stored, and analyzed is physically secured and

protected by encryption to maintain the confidentiality and safety of all participants (Creswell

and Poth, 2017; Sekaran, 2003).

Philosophical Worldview

Charmaz (2006) describes a grounded theory method as having positivist and

constructivist dispositions. This research effort employed an inductive approach to an observed

phenomenon of immigrant entrepreneurial startups with significant success rates increasing for

immigrant entrepreneurs over host country ethnic group natives. This approach was qualitative in

design, using a grounded theory methodology to explore and comprehend the factors behind a

phenomenon and its meaning attributed to immigrant entrepreneurs (Creswell & Poth, 2017) by

using an inductive approach for the general conclusion development from the researcher's initial

ideas for the theory development (Bougie and Sekaran, 2020; Creswell, 2017). Therefore, the

worldview perspective for this research takes the constructionist approach. This perception

assists in understanding a phenomenon through the post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneur

participants' lenses. The lived experiences of this post-Soviet cohort of immigrant entrepreneurs

promoted a better understanding of the construction of a theory as to why these individuals of a

collective group are achieving entrepreneurial success rates at or above other ethnic groups and

natives. Bougie and Sekaran (2020) explain, “Constructionists do not search for the objective

truth. Instead, they aim to understand the rules people use to make sense of the world by

investigating what happens in people’s minds” (p.22). Using a ship captain analogy, by looking

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

through a constructionist’s lens just like a ship captain navigating the open seas through their

telescope, the research attempts to capture what these post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs

perceive for ethnic strategy development and employment for entrepreneurial success. As a ship

captain navigates through intervening obstacles to arrive at safe harbors, a constructionist uses

his/her worldview in the coding process for the data by offering descriptive knowledge on

entrepreneurship, immigration, business ecology, and small business policies for theoretical

development. The proposition of entrepreneurial intelligence (Envick, 2014; Neck, 2018)

discussed in Chapter 5 was supported by the literature discovery in Chapter 2 and the research

results presented in Chapter 4.

Questions that Guided the Research

RQ1. What facilitators and barriers do post-Soviet Immigrants encounter when establishing a

business in the United States?

RQ1a. Do post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs encounter similar or disparate

opportunities and challenges in entrepreneurship activities compared to natives?

RQ1b. What does invisibleness mean to the post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneur?

RQ1c. What is considered an initial success for the post-Soviet immigrant

entrepreneur?

RQ2. What factors contribute to continued business success for post-Soviet Immigrant

Entrepreneurs?

RQ2a. Are such factors related to constructs of invisibleness as an ethnic strategy?

RQ2b. What factors do modern networking tools like social media support immigrant

entrepreneurship activities in the U.S.?

RQ2c. Are such factors related to constructs of continued immigrant entrepreneurial

success?

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Research Design

Past research on immigrant entrepreneurship offers contemporary researchers a series of

selective theories, viewpoints, and propositions on the subject. These past research findings

focus on immigrant entrepreneurs’ home and host country's supply chain linkages, cultural

challenges, access to capital, embedded networks, ethnic enclaves and resources, open and

protective markets, migration challenges associated with visa types, and education at entry.

However, the body of research lacks a contemporary theoretical descriptive reason behind the

rapid growth of certain groups of immigrants’ entrepreneurial successes in open markets over a

host country’s diverse ethnic natives. Using interpretive grounded theory from a constructivist

vantage point allowed the researcher to conceptualize this study’s phenomenon, comprehend it in

abstract terms, and theorize the data findings (Charmaz, 2006). This research design required a

qualitative grounded theory methodological approach to support the inductively conceived

theory developed by collecting and analyzing data (Bougie and Sekaran, 2020; Strauss and

Corbin, 1990). This research study conducted a theoretical sampling for theory creation through

coding (i.e., essential words or groups of words) and writing memos for performing several

groupings and comparisons (Birks and Mills, 2015; Bougie and Sekaran, 2020). According to

Glaser and Strauss (1967), “theoretical sampling is the process of data collection for generating

theory whereby the analyst jointly collects, codes, and analyzes the data and decides what data to

collect next and where to find them, in order to develop his theory as it emerges” (p.45).

This researcher initially intended to develop a theory on invisibility for the phenomenon

of immigrant entrepreneurial success by looking through the worldview lenses of immigrants. In

an attempt to confirm the belief that rapid acclimation is occurring with certain immigrants, the

researcher conducted an extensive examination of the academic literature and collected a robust

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

amount of data for analysis. Immigrant entrepreneurial success initially conceived by the

researcher was believed to correlate to ethnic strategies employed under the cloak of

invisibleness as a camouflage to host natives against the backdrop of other ethnic group

dehumanization factors to achieve their entrepreneurial success within a host country. However,

though invisibility was found in the inductive analysis, the theoretical development took a

different direction after the data was collected and analyzed. This study followed the seven

stages of planning provided by Birks and Mills (2015) for the theoretical positioning for theory

development. The seven stages followed were: acknowledge assumptions, clarify the research

questions, review the literature before and after data collection, develop a research design,

identify ethical and legal concerns, determine needed resources, and create a timeline (Birks and

Mills (2015). Using Birks’ and Mills’ (2015) stages, the researcher realized the current literature

findings were an extensive interpretation of the participants' shared experiences being post-

Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs in the United States, as the study’s results required the researcher

to seek out additional past literature findings to appreciate the results. In conclusion, the research

design for generating this grounded theory study for the observed phenomenon of immigrant

entrepreneurship adhered to the methodological approach taken by Glaser and Strauss (1967), as

provided visually in Figure 15.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Figure 15: Grounded Theory Coding Process

Sampling

To accomplish the intent of this study, specific host country regions and an ethnic cohort

were identified and chosen for focused-based sampling. The researcher focused on the

importance of selecting the proper collection areas and participants to gain access to valuable

information for the researcher to generate the grounded theory position of entrepreneurial

intelligence (Envick, 2014; Neck, 2018) linked to the participants’ predisposing attributes for

explaining the phenomenon of increases in immigrant entrepreneurship startups and success are

occurring with post-Soviet immigrants (Palinkas et al., 2015). This qualitative inductive

approach required a systematic examination to achieve a ‘Focused Based’ sampling. It was

imperative to select participants who understood the area of research (i.e., immigrant

entrepreneurship) and had a level of required ‘lived’ experiences needed to capture the data

(Creswell & Poth, 2017; Palinkas et al., 2015). Furthermore, as outlined under the ethical

considerations section of this study, this effort was able to attain access to participants who are

not only enthusiasts about this topic but have the required accessibility to contribute to the

Purposive sampling

Initial coding

Concurrent data collection or generation

Theoretical sampling

Constant comparative analysis

Category identification

Advanced coding

Theoretical

integration

Theoretical sensitivity

Intermediate coding

Selecting a core category

Theoretical saturation

Memos

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

study’s effort. It was imperative for the integrity and safety of the study that all participants were

allowed to express their opinions, feelings, and experiences willingly and truthfully.

For this qualitative grounded theory research effort, all selected participants were immigrant

entrepreneurs from the defined cohort regardless of gender identity. The study cohort represented

a diverse range the levels of entrepreneurial experience, time in the host nation-state, education

achievements, visa entry status, and personal identifiers with all the post-Soviet participants. The

data from this cohort's lived experiences in navigating various intervening obstacles in their

entrepreneurial achievements in a host country was captured in more than 300 pages of reliable

data for critical analysis in developing this study’s grounded theory. A subset of this dataset is

included in Appendix F Participants’ Full Quotes from Chapter 4. Still a smaller subset was used

as supporting evidence in Chapter 4 Findings.

This study’s sample comprises one cohort of group members for data collection. This

study conducted eighteen individual interviews for purposeful sampling and coding. The initial

research model shown in Figure 16 required an update after the data was analyzed to the new

model in Figure 26.

Research Model

Figure 16: Preliminary Research Model

Eastern Bloc

Immigrant Entrepreneur

Predisposing

Characteristics/Attributes

Eastern Bloc

Immigrant Entrepreneur

Success in the U.S.

Intervening Obstacles

Intervening Opportunities

Cultural Distance

Individuals At Origin Perceived

Psychic Distance With Destination

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Moderating Variables

Mediating Variables

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Research Approach

Research Site

The geographical region for this study was initially the greater New York City area,

commonly known as Tri-State Area in the Northeast United States. This area encompasses the

regions of northern New Jersey, the City of Manhattan, and Western Connecticut. The researcher

was able to access post-Soviet cohort entrepreneur participants who live outside the Greater New

York City region during the data collection. The researcher accessed and collected data from

participants operating businesses and living in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia,

California, Texas, and Florida. Moreover, additional considerations for the safety of all

participants concerning the Covid-19 pandemic were in the research design. Though the study

desires all data collection to be in person, the participants chose to conduct their interviews

remotely via telephonic or virtual engagements using Microsoft Teams application offered by the

researcher. Since this is a qualitative research study, this data was collected through a series of

interviews using a structured questionnaire for all participants.

Recruitment

The researcher was able to gain access to twenty-four participants for the research.

Several of the post-Soviet participants did not meet all the requirements for the study. Those

participants were used to refine the interview questions through pilot interviews. The researcher

qualified eighteen participants who met the research criteria for data collection. The study

received the IRB acceptance to conduct the research. All participants voluntarily supported a

one-hour interview session. To achieve maximum participant support for data collection, the

researcher attempted to keep all interviews under one hour and use the Microsoft Teams tool to

accommodate each participant's schedule. Any participant who failed to meet the identified

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

requirements for the study was removed from the participant list. The research effort conducted a

pilot in support of the refinement of the interview questions. All interviews used voice and video

tools for the data collection to help capture several areas of nuances.

Interview Process

The researcher contacted participants in initial discussions to verify that each met the

criteria for the research and was willing to participate voluntarily with the accepted terms of the

study. The terms protected the subjects’ privacy and allowed them to speak freely during the

interviews. The researcher was conscientious by ensuring each participant understood the

interview’s purpose and its use for research. Next, the researcher set up a scheduled appointment

through email with each participant for a recorded Microsoft Teams meeting. All interviews

were recorded using the Microsoft Teams application. The Microsoft Teams application

provided a transcript of the recorded interviews. The actual names of the participants were

replaced, and their transcripts were verified by the participants for accuracy and secured to

ensure validity. Once the video was transcribed, the subject's name was removed and replaced

with a different name before coding. The person's identity was also assigned a number only

known to the researcher. However, each participant expressed no reservations about their first

names being used by the researcher in the study. Finally, the transcriptions were read and

thoroughly analyzed for accuracy. After reformatting from the published Microsoft Teams

application, the transcriptions were returned to the participants for validation through member

checking before being coded using the software NVivo. Appendix B contains the interview

protocol and interview questions.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Selection of Participants

All participants in this research effort were post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs in the

United States. These immigrant entrepreneurs were individuals whose country of origin was

directly influenced by the U.S.S.R. before its dissolution. The participants came from the region

now known as the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Poland, the Republic of Georgia, Ukraine, and

other nation-states that comprise the 12 independent republics. This specific group of present-

day United States immigrant/naturalized citizens migrated from this region in Eastern Europe

prior to and after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This specific group of present-day United

States post-Soviet immigrants and naturalized citizens are all successful entrepreneurs in

America.

Data Collection

The researcher executed exploratory factor analysis to align the questions with the

constructs of the study by conducting a pilot study with three participants to modify, add, or

eliminate the interview questions for relevancy to the research effort. The pilot study participants

were post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs but did not meet the baseline requirements for the

study. The pilot study was instrumental in restructuring, eliminating, and adding questions to

ensure clarity for the participants who had strong accents and challenges with some English word

meanings in the interview questionnaire to avoid a ‘bad fit’ between the data (i.e., interviews)

and the theory developed for this research. The pilot adjusted question sequences, eliminated

questions, and added two new questions to create a total of 45 interview questions for the core

study. The Microsoft Teams software tool was used to schedule and execute eighteen interviews

with participants living in seven different states in the United States. The software tool provided

a dial-in number from their cellphones for a telephonic interview or online video access through

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

a web browser or application. The Microsoft Teams software allowed the researcher to conduct,

record, and generate raw transcripts for all interviews. The telephone was the primary choice for

interviews by most participants as it allowed them to answer the questions without schedule

constraints. Several telephonic interviews lasted two to three hours due to the participants’

responses.

Data Analysis

In the data capture and analysis phase, the researcher ensured this qualitative study was

reliable and valid by ensuring the categories balance and refinement in the pilot, assessing for

bad-fit data, conducting internal and external validity using triangulation (i.e., using multiple

theories/perspectives and sources to interpret the data). The one challenge identified early in the

interviews was the challenges with this cohort of participants' accents and the Microsoft Teams

software to capture verbatim their responses accurately. To protect the reliability of the study, the

researcher sent a copy of each participant's adjusted transcripts to ensure the accuracy of the

transcripts with their confirmation. In addition to providing each participant a copy of their

individually recorded transcripts for an accuracy check, the researcher avoided defining

categories in a ‘broad manner’ from the approved transcripts in the data analysis process. The

average length of each interview’s transcript was thirteen pages of single-spaced testimony. This

process supported the coding tags for category development that generated the thematic

framework of the research study. All raw data captured through the interview process was

transcribed using the Microsoft Teams software application tool. The video and voice data were

reviewed and cross-reviewed with the researcher's memos for analysis. The transcriptions of the

personal interview represent raw research data provided by the Microsoft Teams application

requiring a format restructuring and validation by the participants before each transcript was

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

uploaded into the NVivo qualitative data analysis software tool. Analytical memos and pertinent

findings in research studies from the literature were also entered into NVivo. NVivo was used to

develop 9,315 codes with 167 peak tags for the development of 15 categories building 8 themes

in the thematic framework presented in Chapter 4. The research study followed the Saldaña

(2021) Streamlined Codes to Theory Model process in Figure 17. The qualitative researcher

Saldaña (2021) explains:

Our brains synthesize vast amounts of information into symbolic summary (codes); we

make sense of the world by noticing repetition and formulating regularity through

cognitive schemata and scripts (patterns); we cluster similar things together through

comparison and contrast to formulate bins of shared knowledge (categories); and we

imprint key learnings from extended experiences by creating proverb-like narrative

memories (themes). (Saldaña, 2015, p.11)

First- and second-cycle coding was accomplished in the coding process. The standard

tool of NVivo offered the researcher a coding and sub-coding tool for group lines of data and

creating themes in this theoretical approach, as shown in Figure 17.

Figure 17: Streamlined Codes to Theory Model

Source: Saldaña (2021), The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers 4e, Sage, p18.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Reliability and Validity

Ensuring this qualitative study is reliable and valid, the topics of categories balanced and

refined, bad-fit data, internal and external validity, and the triangulation technique were all used.

There was a slight variance in reliability and validity for conducting this qualitative versus

quantitative research study. Reliability in qualitative approaches is described by Bougie and

Sekaran (2020) and Kassarjian (1977):

Reliability in qualitative data analysis includes category and interjudge reliability.

Category reliability ‘depends on the analyst’s ability to formulate categories and present

to competent judges definitions of the categories so they will agree on which items of a

certain population belong in a category and which do not’ (Kassarjian, 1977, p. 14).

Thus category reliability relates to the extent to which judges are able to use category

definitions to classify the qualitative data. Well-defined categories will lead to higher

category reliability and eventually to higher interjudge reliability (p. 318)

Consequently, to protect the reliability of the study, the researcher worked diligently to

avoid defining categories in a ‘broad manner’ that diminished the relevance of the study’s

findings. Collection and analysis of the data became an art and a science for ensuring the

reliability of the data for the findings to provide maturity of the grounded theory effort. The

study balanced category reliability and the importance of the categories in this study (Bougie and

Sekaran (2020); Kassarjian, 1977). Furthermore, the study conducted a pilot to stress modifying

the categories and refine the interview questionnaire for the participants to avoid a bad fit

between the data (i.e., interviews) and theory development.

Bougie and Sekaran (2020) explain validity in qualitative research as the degree to which

an instrument measures what it intends to measure; it is explained by two points called internal

and external validity (Bougie and Sekaran, 2020). Internal validity refers to the accuracy of the

collected data for the research results, and external validity can be described as generalizations or

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

settings (Bougie and Sekaran, 2020). This study leveraged the triangulation technique (i.e., using

multiple theories/perspectives and sources) to interpret the data in this qualitative study.

Finally, the researcher made every attempt to control for validity threats. In the recruiting

process for study participants, the researcher recognized and considered a particular form of

selection bias called Survivor Bias (Morgenstern, 2018). According to Morgenstern (2018),

“Survival bias is a type of sampling error or selection bias that occurs when the selection process

of a trial favors certain individuals who made it past a certain obstacle or point in time and

ignores the individuals who did not (and are generally less visible).” Though there is always a

potential for bias in any research, the researcher could not exclude the potential for this area of

bias given the researcher’s participants all met the required established criteria for

entrepreneurial success for the study. Though the researcher had maintained all aspects of

integrity for the study, survival bias is acknowledged as a consideration to the study’s results.

Summary

In summary, chapter three provided the primary components for the study’s

methodology. This chapter explained the ethical concerns, a philosophical worldview, the

research questions, the research design, sampling, and the initial research model. The chapter

also provides the researcher’s approach, data collection sites, recruitment of participants, and

selection of participants. The chapter concludes with how the research study’s data was analyzed

and how it maintained reliability and validity in the data and results.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Chapter 4 Results

Overview

This chapter summarizes the process from data capture through analysis and a detailed

summary of the research findings. With demand for entrepreneurship training rapidly increasing

(Mescon, 2021) and data revealing immigrants and immigrant startups are outpacing American

natives two to one in the United States (Vandor and Franke, 2016), the purpose was to examine a

micro-level phenomenon regarding immigrant entrepreneurship success inductively. To execute

this study, the researcher chose a cohort of participants connected by geographical origin. The

cohort consisted solely of eastern European immigrant entrepreneurs in the United States who

came to the United States from the post-Soviet geographical region. Inductively, the research

began with a proposed conceptual model on the potential advantage of the term ‘Invisibleness’ as

an ethnic strategy for success to better understand the nuances between the term’s assimilation

and acclimation. Within the backdrop of Invisibleness and through the immigrant participant’s

lived experiences and worldviews, the study investigated potentially influencing interacting

variables impacting an immigrant’s life cycle from country entry through sustained

entrepreneurial success in the United States.

Conversely, during the data analysis, Invisibleness, still an evolving factor, was not found

as a critical stimulant for immigrant entrepreneurial success. The findings on Invisibleness

indicate that the term aligns with the concepts in the theoretical positions on cultural distance

(Hofstede, 1983, 2001, 2011), individual's perceptions of psychic distance (Ambos et al., 2019;

Johanson and Vahlne, 2009), and the interaction between a host countries culture and systematic

environment. What did emerge in the analysis phase of the data were individual attribute

linkages to a novel term called Entrepreneurial Intelligence (Envick, 2014; Neck et al., 2021).

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial Intelligence appears to be surfacing from studies on Emotional Intelligence,

Intelligence, and Entrepreneurial Mindset (Goldman, 2007; Neck 2018; Neck et al., 2021;

Somers, 2022). Hence, the findings of this study may contribute to a better understanding of the

interacting variables of immigrant entrepreneurial success by adding to the Academic literature

repository for future researchers in a quest to build a consistent pattern of traits (Gartner, 1988)

for defining Entrepreneurial Intelligence.

Recruitment Challenges

In the recruitment phase of this study, three significant challenges occurred. The first

challenge was identification and location to engage potential participants to support the study.

The researcher discarded the search for this specific participant cohort using government

databases and local township city halls to share information to access participants for the study.

The researcher identified early in the stage of recruitment that to collect this type of data, a

sponsor was required to penetrate and gain trust from members of this cohort of post-Soviet

immigrant entrepreneurs for participation. The researcher was able to establish a post-Soviet

immigrant entrepreneur business owner sponsor. During this study phase, the researcher’s

sponsor provided invitations to a series of social events that many successful post-Soviet

immigrant entrepreneurs attended. In attending the social events, the researcher conducted a

series of individual recruitment conversations with potential participants. In addition to the

researcher attending the social events for recruitment, the researcher’s sponsor used their access

to a series of closed social media networks to assist in recruiting the participants for this study.

The second challenge during the recruitment phase was gaining the participants' trust, as

the researcher was not part of this cohort of post-Soviet immigrants. Leveraging the Institutional

Review Board (IRB) approval authorization memorandum, providing details of participant

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

safeguards, and the value of the researcher’s sponsor provided the required elements of trust for

each participant's willingness to participate in an interview session voluntarily. The last

challenge was achieving the proper coordination needed to voluntarily conduct a forty-five-

minute to a one-hour interview session with each participant. In the scheduling of the interviews,

the researcher determined the participant's work demands, and the constraint of schedules created

challenges in establishing a date and time for the interviews. The researcher used the Microsoft

Teams software tool to mitigate the scheduling challenges for each participant. The Microsoft

Teams software tool was instrumental in assisting with the scheduling and execution of each

interview.

Organization of the Remainder of the Chapter

The remainder of this chapter is sequential and outlined as follows: a restatement of the

questions guiding the research, demographic profiles of the post-Soviet immigrant cohort,

participants' profiles with selected testimonials providing linkages to the literature, coding

method, peak codes (i.e., tags), thematic framework and summary. During the coding process the

researcher identified 167 peak codes, from which 15 categories were derived, from which 8

themes emerged in the thematic framework. The results of the research provided in Chapter 4 are

supported by the literature summarized in Chapter 2 and provided discovered novel insights for

future researchers. Chapter 5 amplifies the research findings in Chapter 5 by providing

contributive detections from the results that will require additional investigation by future

researchers.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Questions that Guided the Research

RQ1. What facilitators and barriers do Eastern European Immigrants encounter when

establishing a business in the United States?

RQ1a. Do eastern European Immigrant entrepreneurs encounter similar or disparate

opportunities and challenges in entrepreneurship activities compared to natives?

RQ1b. What does Invisibleness mean to the Eastern European Immigrant Entrepreneur?

RQ1c. What is considered initial success for the Eastern European Immigrant

Entrepreneur?

RQ2. What factors contribute to continued business success for Eastern European Immigrant

Entrepreneurs?

RQ2a. Are such factors related to constructs of Invisibleness as an ethnic strategy?

RQ2b. What factors do modern networking tools like social media support immigrant

entrepreneurship activities in the U.S.?

RQ2c. Are such factors related to constructs of continued Immigrant Entrepreneurial

Success?

Demographics of Participants

The 18 participants for this study come from a set geographical region now known as the

Russian Federation, Ukraine, Poland, Republic of Georgia, Belarus, and other nation-states that

make up the 12 independent republics of the former Soviet Union. The geographical territory for

this group of immigrant entrepreneurial participants leveraged for the study is illustrated in

Chapter 1, Figure 1. The study gained access to participants from eight countries within the

former Soviet Union. The most prominent geographical group of participants is from the Russian

Federation. In terms of age, seventeen or 94 percent of the participants immigrated to the United

States before turning forty with a mean age of 22.8 years. The researcher was able to provide a

balanced gender makeup of 56% male and 44% female participants. The participants for the

study reside in five different states in the United States and have a combined number of twenty-

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

five businesses. Of the twenty-five small businesses, the participating firms operate in ten market

segments within the host country's economy. Of the participants, 44 percent have owned

businesses for over eleven years. The study found that 78 percent of the participants had some

entrepreneurial experience or desire before migrating to the host country. The most significant

percentage captured in this study was the use of a distributed protective network. Of the 18

participants, 100 percent used a Russian speaking distributed social media network for

information clarity to achieve business and personal needs.

The participants in this study are a highly educated cohort of immigrant entrepreneurs, all

receiving a formal high school education in their host country. Of the participants in this study,

83% had a bachelor's degree or higher from their home country, and 56 percent held master's or

doctorate degrees. Of the 18 participants, only 16 percent worked in some capacity within their

college degree area of study in the host country. However, 83 percent of the participants attended

some additional formal education in the host country. The study found that 89 percent of the

participants experienced challenges or did not attempt the host country process to gain

reciprocity for their home country University degrees. In the study, 28 percent experienced some

level of sojourning in their migration journey in the host country; 78 percent received no

subsistence support in the host country from a government or non-government organization.

Thirty-three percent of the participants received no assistance during their initial entry into the

host country.

Of the 18 participants, 83 percent claimed some religious beliefs; 72 percent immigrated

with their family or just the spouse. The study separated the immigration timeframe for entry into

the host country by two, before or after 2000. Of the 18 participants, there was an equal split

among participants, with 50 percent in each category. Sixty-one percent of the participants

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

attained access to the host country by claiming asylum, whereas 22 percent through marriage and

16 percent on other types of visas. Figures 18 through 22 provide demographic tables for the

participants of this study.

Figure 18: Participant Demographics

(Gender, Immigration Age, Education, Support, and Sojourning)

N = 18 # of Participants

Male 10

Female 8

Home Country Education: Primary 3

Home Country Education:Bachelor Degree 5

Home Country Education:Master Degre 8

Home Country Education:Doctor Degree 2

Attained Additonal Training / Education in U.S. 15

Did Not Attend Training / Education in U.S. 3

Challenges Transfering Education in U.S. 6

No Challeges Transfering Education in U.S. 2

Did Not Attempt (Various Reasons) 10

Immigration Age (0-18) 3

Immigration Age (19-27) 8

Immigration Age (28-40) 6

Immigration Age (41-60+) 1

Mean Age at Immigration 22.8 Yrs.

Received Support when immigrated - Acquaintances 5

Received Support when immigrated - Family 2

Received Support when immigrated - Government 2

Received Support when immigrated - NGO 2

Received Support when immigrated - Church 1

Received No Support 6

Observed Sojourn Effect 5

No Observed Sojourn Effect 13

Mean Time at First location on Entry to U.S. 3.4 years

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Figure 19: Participant Demographics

(Religion, Visa Status, Business Years, Experience, Year of Immigration, and Networks)

Figure 20: Participant Country of Origin

N = 18 # of Participants

Immigrated with Family 10

Immigrated with Spouse Only 3

Immigrated Alone 5

Relgion (Christian) 3

Religion (Jewish) 3

Religion (Protestant) 1

Religion (Orthodox) 6

Religion (Catholic) 1

Religion (Other) 1

No Religion 3

Immigration Visa to Green Card (Tourist) / Then Asylum 6

Immigration Visa to Green Card (Other) 3

Immigration Visa to Green Card (Refugee - Asylum) 5

Immigration Visa to Green Card (Marriage) / Enter as Tourist 2

Immigration Visa to Green Card (Marriage) 2

Years in Business (3-10) 7

Years in Business (11-25) 11

No Entrepreneurial Experience or Desire in Home Country 4

Desire for Entrepreneurship - No Experience in Home Country 3

Entrepreneurial Experience in Home County 11

Use Some Form of Eastern European Group Digital Network 18 (100%)

Immigrated Prior to 2000 9

Immigrated After 2000 9

Home Country (N=18) # of Participants

Russia 7

Ukraine 1

Poland 1

Armenia 1

Macedonia 1

Kazakhstan 1

Republic of Georgia 1

Uzbekistan 2

Belarus 1

Estonia 1

Azerbaijan 1

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Figure 21: Participant Business Locations

Figure 22: Participant Business Industry

Participant Profiles

This section of Chapter 4 provides a series of direct quotes by each of the 18 participants

in the data collection process. Though the expansion of testimonies as the participant’s

testimonies in this section of chapter four is novel, the researcher felt it was crucial for the

derived conclusions of this study. The data findings presented in this section are not all

encompassing of the raw and assessed data. The full statements of this section for each

participant’s direct quote from the interviews are provided in Appendix F. Nevertheless, the data

captured in the course of this effort is rich with information and pertinence, for the purposes of

brevity for Chapter Four, only a selected number of quotes from over 300 pages of interview

testimonies are provided here in this chapter. Figure 23 provides a crosswalk of the 18

participants for this research.

Business Location # of Participants

California 5

Georgia (USA) 1

New York City / New Jersey 8

Florida 2

Texas 1

Pennsylvania 1

Business Industry # of Businesses

Medical Industry 4

Transportation Industry 1

Personal Services Industry 3

Construction Industry 4

Real Estate Industry 4

Education Industry 1

Hospitality Industry 4

Auto Industry 1

Personal Care Industry 1

Fitness Industry 2

Total 25

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

100

Participant

Gender

Religion

Education

First

Employment

Business

Industry

Years in

Business

Country of

Origin

Visa

Status

Entry

Age

U.S.

Citizen

Александр

Male

Orthodox

Medical School,

*Medical School

Hotel Laundry,

Cab Driver,

Bouncer

Diagnostic

Laboratory,

Medical

Russia

Tourist,

Political

Asylum

Yes

Алексей

Male

Orthodox

Bachelor

Accounting,

Master Finance

MBA

FDI

VC, Education

Russia

Анна

Female

Orthodox

Bachelor

Daycare, Bank

Teller

Construction,

Real Estate

Kazakhstan

Tourist,

Political

Asylum

Yes

Бесо

Male

Christian

Bachelor Sports

Medicine

Hotel Worker,

Elderly Care,

Cable Tech

Hospitality,

Construction,

Real Estate

Republic of

Georgia

Tourist,

Political

Asylum

Yes

Билл

Male

Orthodox

Bachelor, Master

Printing,

Construction,

Truck Delivery

Construction,

Security

Macedonia

Student

No (in

process)

Елена

Female

None

Master

Economics,

*Cosmetology

Home Cleaner,

Nanny, Salon

Worker

Personal Care

Ukraine

Tourist,

Green

Card,

Marriage

Yes

Грегорий

Male

Baptist

Middle School,

*Medical School

(MD)

Student

Medical

Armenia

Refugee

Yes

Игорь

Male

Pentecostal

Bachelor

Engineer-

Electronics, *BS

Computer

Science

Delivered

Pizza,

Construction

Transportation

Uzbekistan/

Russia

Tourist,

Political

Asylum

Yes

Айк

Male

Orthodox

High School,

*Some College

Washing Dishes

Restaurant, RV

Dealerships,

Wedding Hall

Armenia

Refugee

Yes

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

101

Participant

Gender

Religion

Education

First

Employment

Business

Industry

Years in

Business

Country of

Origin

Visa

Status

Entry

Age

U.S.

Citizen

Екатерина

Female

Scientology

Bachelor

Physical

Education

Daycare,

Cleaner

Fitness

Russia

Green

Card,

Marriage

Yes

Елизавета

Female

Protestant

Bachelor

Self Employed

Personal Care

Russia

Green

Card,

Marriage

Михаил (1)

Male

Jewish

Bachelor

Mechanical

Engineer

Janitor,

Beverage

Distribution,

Painter

Medical

Services, Owns

Hospitals,

Elderly Care

Belarus

Refugee

Yes

Михаил (2)

Male

Catholic

Master

Mechanical

Engineer

Taxi Driver,

Shop Operator,

Construction

Poland

Tourist,

Political

Asylum

Yes

Олена

Female

Jewish

Master

Economics,

*Electrology

Bookkeeper,

Dental Office

Medical,

Personal Care

Russia

Refugee

Yes

Вечеслав

Male

None

High School

Professional

Sports

Fitness

Russia

Worker

Yes

Валентина

Female

Christian

Bachelor, Master

Business,

*Doctor

Business

Hotel Worker,

Night Audit

Hospitality,

Real Estate

Estonia

Green

Card,

Marriage

Yes

Виолета

Female

Jewish

High School,

*Some College

Daycare,

Dermatology

Office

Medical, Dental

Azerbaijan

Refugee

Yes

Евгения

Female

Orthodox

Bachelor

Salon Worker

Personal Care

Russia

Green

Card,

Marriage

Yes

*Attained in the U.S. System Figure 23: Research Participants Crosswalk Matrix

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

102

Alex (Александр)

Alex immigrated to the United States almost thirty years ago after the fall of the Berlin

wall and the Soviet Union collapse. Alex is a successful immigrant entrepreneur who owns

several very successful businesses in three states within the United States. Before starting his

entrepreneurial journey, he was a physician in Russia. In his story, Alex alludes to push and pull

economic and social freedom factors (Lee, 1966), leading him to immigrate to the United States

from Russia in 1993. In Alex’s own words, he explains the economic push factors (Lee, 1966)

leading to a decision to migrate to the United States. According to Alex:

I decided to leave, but my goal in my life was to work, enjoy what you do, and don't think

about money. That was my ultimate goal, and that was what I always was living with,

that idea. And while you are in Russia, you always have to be focused on money, for

survival, pretty much, because again, inflation. Now we're talking about inflation here,

it's like nothing. It's a kinder color here. But we have inflation in Russia, let's say, uh,

obviously, you know, trying to buy some, uh, hard currency, either it's the Deutsche mark

at the time or American dollars.

So, for example, if buying, you know one $1.00 U.S. dollar cost, let's say 500 rubles,

tomorrow that $1.00 dollar is already 600 rubles. The day after that its 700, the next day

after that, it's thousand and so on, it's crazy. That's what, that’s what we call inflation.

So, obviously you have to make sure that your funds are secured and not become like a

paper that you can use in the toilet. The inflation was so bad that the, the, and then what

they did, let's say you got 1000 rubles, right?

And it's worth $1.00 dollar, then they just decided, OK, uh, we're gonna cut the zeros. So,

they cut 2 zeros and instead of $1000 rubles you start having 10 rubles. And this is how

they did it. That was not a good thing to do.

Outside the push and pull factors (Lee, 1966) of economics between home and host

countries, there is a romantic spot of freedom within Alex that spawned a pull factor leading to

his decision to abandon everything and migrate to the United States. According to Alex:

I was dreaming about the United States ever since I was in middle school. So, that, that's

pretty much my dream fulfilled. My dream is freedom, you know, be free, because the

United States knowing at that time was free.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

103

Alex was a physician in Russia when he immigrated to the United States; however, the

host country's system did not have reciprocity for his formal medical education (Hunt, 2009,

2011). This lack of recognition for his medical degree from his home country when Alex

migrated with little resources to the United States with his wife and child created many

intervening obstacles for him (Lee, 1966; Johanson and Vahlne, 2009). Alex speaks to

leveraging a tribal-like relationship with a formal classmate from his home country to secure

shelter, employment, and other resources needed to position himself and his family in the host

country (Cummings, 1980; Xie and Gough, 2011). Long before his entrepreneurial success, his

journey as an unrecognized physician with no knowledge of the host country system began with

jobs folding laundry in a hotel, being a uber driver before uber, working construction, moving

household goods, and providing security in bars. According to Alex:

Some people learning to swim, they just drop them in the water, in the deep water and

then you have to survive. That that's pretty much what happened here.

Alex discussed the importance of learning the host country's language, its system and

building a network inside and outside the immigrant groups to learn (Uzzi, 1996). When asked

about the term invisibleness in his experiences, Alex confirmed he does use the term as part of

his business practices. According to Alex:

If you become visible, meaning in your business and you stick out, you got vultures like

lawyers, insurance companies, representatives, and so you name it, they will go after you

because they are vultures.

But it, it's, you know, it's a rule of thumb, if you if you stick out you will be noticed, and

the people will come after you.

During the interview, when the topic of success was part of the questions, Alex would link

success to financial gains with a stronger emphasis on freedom. In the formal analysis of Alex’s

interview, the researcher found Alex transitioned through all four motivational needs layers in

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

104

his journey from initial to sustained entrepreneurial success. He began at the foundational layer

of subsistence at host country entry in the IEN model before transitioning through social and

growth to finally reaching the personal layer with his repetitive testimony of the word freedom,

giving him the ability to travel and allocate more time to family. According to Alex:

Success is when you, when you do your business, you like to do it because that's the goal.

Otherwise, if you don't like what you do, I don't think you're going to make any money.

Hmm, and obviously, the freedom, if, if this business gives you freedom to you know,

travel to get some, I don't know, good times.

Alex met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Aleksey (Алексей)

Aleksey immigrated to the United States eight years ago in 2015 as part of his greenfield

foreign direct investment initiative with his business in Moscow. Aleksey is a successful

immigrant entrepreneur who expanded his business into the United States. Alesksey operates a

venture capitalist firm for technology, starting with a business division dedicated to business

education training. In his story, Aleksey's migration is due to market pull factors for intervening

opportunities causing him to immigrate to the United States from Russia in 2015 (Lee, 1966;

Stouffer, 1940, 1960). In Aleksey’s own words, he explains the pull factors leading to migrating

to the United States. According to Aleksey:

So, the reason was my business because I was doing similar things in Russia. I invested

in technology companies and, uh also I'll consult with startups. How to do business

globally and you know it was very silly, I'm consulting them how to go global and I'm not

in the US.

The U.S. is the best market for my portfolio companies and for me to continue developing

this kind of business investment in technology.

Outside the pull factors of his business expansion, Aleksey explains challenges with a

lack of information clarity and system knowledge for the United States environment (Johanson

and Vahlne, 2009). Like many of the participants in this study, Aleksey leverages its cohort

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

105

protective networks to execute systematic and calculated planning (Aldrich and Waldinger,

1990; Uzzi, 199; Xie and Gough, 2011). In his testimony, he alludes to the differences between

assimilation and non-assimilation factors among members of immigrant groups (Glazer and

Moynihan, 1970). Both assimilated, acclimated, and non-acclimated individuals within a

protective network are present in the data. According to Aleksey:

Funny story. So, I reached out to a couple of my classmates with whom I haven't seen for,

let's see, maybe 25 years. So, they immigrated 25 years before me, and I tried to figure

out some details about the area for living. Just some, details about you know. Uh,

lifestyle about life, information about schools, medicine, and other thing.

You know everything I get was zero useful information from them. Really zero with

couple of meetings. We did a couple of meetings for couple of hours each and I get

nothing, no understanding how to do stuff, how financial system works, how education

system works and all other life stuff. Nothing, so, then I meet with the friend of mine from

Moscow, but he immigrated, let's say only around five years before me. And in an hour,

he explained me everything.

Aleksey is highly educated with financial degrees and immigrated to the United States on

an O-1 visa, a visa for extraordinary talents visa (Hunt, 2009, 2011). In the interview, Aleksey's

immigration process was the outlier over many participants in the study. Aleksey explains in the

interview that his significant challenges were the cultural and system differences between home

and host countries (Hofstede, 1983, 2001, 2011). It appeared there was perceived lower Psychic

Distance (Ambosa et al., 2019; Johanson and Vahlne, 2009) between home and host country, but

that changed once Aleksey entered the host country environment and began his entrepreneurial

journey—Aleksey talks of unpredictability, economic differences and the need to build networks

for information clarity. According to Aleksey:

Living, you know huge difference in everything. Uh, especially when you just moved. I

mean, maybe first two years every time you trying to compare everything. Prices uh, you

know, very different, yeah. Some stuff with finance, with utilities, with food, with services,

with everything. Uh, the communication with people, you know, uh in Russia, everything

is much more predictable.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

106

In the interview question on Invisibleness, Aleksey provides a conflicting response to the

researcher’s initial intuition for immigrant entrepreneurial success factors. Aleksey discussed the

importance of being visible in what he termed as the ‘information age’ (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991;

Fishbein and Ajzen, 1967). According to Aleksey:

So, if you are invisible, there is no business. That's it. Hmm, because it's, uh, we live in

information century and if there is no information about you, you know, for other people

you do not exist. So, you do not have credibility etcetera. Nobody can check your

background track and make some conclusions about how to deal with you, who you are.

So, I mean you can't be invisible, it's impossible. I'm well very visible.

His interview brings up attributes of the immigrant as always running, multitalented, hard

work is almost innate, and a rebirth as his views on entrepreneurial success for immigrants over

host country natives (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991). Specifically, the ‘reborn’ and ‘run’ phrases,

though restructured in other participants' statements, these two words maintained the same

context for all participants. According to Aleksey:

I think immigrants do much more things, completing with native people because you

know they need to do much more in much more shorter time period because Americans

start doing something when their born and we came here when we already grown up but

we came to you like we are just born without a track record, without everything, you

know nothing.

In Aleksey’s statement on the definition of success, the researcher found him currently in

the growth phase of the IEN model, given the financial success he has achieved as an immigrant

entrepreneur. However, an exciting discovery in his testimony surfaced, as did with many other

participants. It appears this cohort is never satisfied, constantly changing, and does not align well

with firm set rituals (Saravathy, 2001). Aleksey focuses on growing, adapting, and diversifying

his business to assist his family’s upper mobility to success (Sanders and Nee, 1996). According

to Aleksey:

I don't know, because, uh, when you reach some goal, uh, you already have another one in

your head. You know you can't stop, it's like addiction.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

107

I am successful because I already have some different idea in my head.

Aleksey met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Anna (Анна)

Anna has a remarkable story of adolescent self-preservation through her migration years

into entrepreneurial success in the United States. She immigrated to the United States over

twenty years ago at 26. Like many participants in this cohort, Anna is formally educated in their

home country (Hunt 2009, 2011) and migrated due to push and pull factors (Lee, 1966) with

home and host countries. Anna and her husband, in a partnership, have two very successful

businesses. Anna’s predisposing attributes assist in her entrepreneurial behaviors and risk control

(Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991); the researcher feels it is only proper to hear Anna’s testimony of life

before migrating to the United States. According to Anna:

To be honest with you, I start being in sales when I used to be in the second grade in

school. Ok, and then, I had very tough childhood and technically I started living by

myself when I was 12.

The life was difficult in the cities because there were no opportunities, no job. People

could not survive.

And since 14 or maybe even 13 years old, I was going to the market. I've been standing

on the market and selling the stuff on the market. And then got married at 17, OK. And

then when I captured it was, I will speak of this farm so badly, I was ready to run away.

Given the push economic factors (Lee, 1966) driving Anna’s migration to the United

States, the researcher asked her about acclimation challenges in the host country. In this

testimony, the researcher found that, like many participants, Anna knew how to accumulate

resources against economic differences between home and host countries to advance

entrepreneurial goals. Beyond saving capital to execute a business strategy, Anna explains the

challenges with a lack of information clarity and system knowledge for the United States

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

108

environment. She explains that language is the key to unlocking the system, and once the system

is unlocked, they systematically learn the system to navigate it to entrepreneurial success rapidly.

According to Anna:

Yeah, of course. I think everyone has issues. You don't speak English, you have to, uh,

learn the language. That's #1, OK, then you have to learn the customs here. I mean, there

is certain things that you need to know. How, how, pretty much, everything.

I’ve been by myself, as I mentioned to you since I was like 12. Ok, and I kind of learned

it, I used to depend on myself always, ok, and, oh, I like the freedom. And I think it was, it

was not even a question to go to work for someone, or to become a business owner and

work for yourself.

Although formally and informally educated in her home country, Anna desired to receive

more education in the host country despite the economic wealth attained (Hunt, 2009, 2011). To

the researcher, Anna’s testimony aligned with other participants' continuous quest for more

knowledge and pathway to achieving more personal freedom links her to the top phase of the

IEN model. According to Anna:

Because even though we're more free, we have more freedom. But still, you know, I

cannot leave the business every month for a week and go on vacation every month. Still,

you have to always be present for business to run.

On the question of Invisibleness, Anna’s response offered an altered view of the

researcher’s initial predisposition. Anna alludes to a characteristic of this cohort not wanting to

‘draw attention’ to oneself (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991). Furthermore, Invisibleness in Anna’s

testimony appears to be projected onto these immigrants by the host country system, not an

ethical strategy or the host country native’s discriminative behavior. According to Anna:

You know, people don't acknowledge you. Yeah, Mm-hmm, Yeah, and from and from a

business standpoint and establishing business.

I don't want to draw attention, first of all that, my nature, my human nature, let's put it

this way. I don't like attention to myself. OK, since I was a child, I don't like attention to

myself. That's why the way I do business the same thing. I don't like too much attention.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

109

In Anna’s interview, the topics of opportunity, having to hustle, street smarts, and hard

work are her linkages to entrepreneurial success for immigrants over American natives

(Kloosterman, 2010; Stouffer, 1940, 1960). Specifically, views on American natives are that they

have all the opportunities over the immigrant as the immigrant must catch up. This hustle-and-

run theme is repetitive for all participants. According to Anna:

I feel like some people, the big difference is the opportunity. The people who have been

born here, they have much more opportunities.

To learn English, whatever I speak English, I picked up everything on the street. OK.

Because I had no time to do it, to go to school. I have to go work.

In Anna’s statement on the definition of success, the researcher found her in between the

social (i.e., system development) and business growth phases of the IEN model. According to

Anna:

I guess the success is when you make more money than you spend. We achieved a lot.

Umm, we've been able to establish the business. You know, we have uh clientele and we

have, uh, like local client, loyal clients who's coming back to us even after 20 years. And

plus, we're not in financial stress.

Anna met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Beso (Бесо)

In Beso’s testimony, he has four successful businesses in the United States. He has been

in business in the U.S. for fifteen years. Beso initially came to the U.S. in 2004 at age 19 before

returning to his home country due to a feeling of projected negative Invisibleness by the host

country environment, sojourning effects (Light, 1972; Siu, 1952), and a misjudgment of the

Psychic Distant (Ambosa et al., 2019; Johanson and Vahlne, 2009) between the host and home

countries. After returning to his home country for over a year, Beso explains the pull factors of

opportunity for a better life in the host country as an entrepreneur made him decide to return and

fully immigrate on his second entry into America. According to Beso:

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

110

Umm, I would say to, to do something for a living, financial. And ultimately, uh, I always

wanted to own my own business. That would be, that would be, just better life, I would

say generally, umm, I wanted a better way.

I did have a major culture shock. So, I did go back, but then I decided that I might like it

second time and I would have better impression, and I came back.

Somehow, I got by and convinced myself that, you know, you have to do it and it's to be

done and there is no going back. So, that's what I can say about it.

Beso, in his interview, provides testimony aligned with the literature associated with

sojourning effects (Light, 1972; Siu, 1952) felt by immigrants in a host country. However, Beso,

like many of the participants in this study, provides insight into assisting in building an

Entrepreneurial Intelligence (Envick, 2014; Neck, 2018; Neck et al., 2021) profile with

individual traits like commitment, resilience, and persistence in their ability to acclimate,

negotiate host country system and execute strategies to achieve their entrepreneurial goals in the

host country. According to Beso:

I would say that here you're really alone. I mean alone. Like nobody's really going to

give you anything, and general, generally you are on your own, you have to make it.

And I would say if I was not an immigrant, I probably would not have, would not have

succeeded. Let's put it this way, And I can elaborate very, very deeply about that because

I sometimes, I think because of my accent because of my international manners, you

know, different understandings, you know, some sense, you know, some, I would say

qualities, right, personal qualities Help me, uh succeed and become successful.

Beso is a systematic and calculated, resilient individual who appears to have an abnormal

level of risk absorption for his entrepreneurial activities with his self-awareness of the host

country environment (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991). Beso explains he had initial business failures,

but his motivation was never impacted. In the interview testimony, this participant associated his

initial failures with a lack of information about the host country system, capital challenges, and

limited networks to provide the proper knowledge of the industry he was penetrating as a startup

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

111

business. In these early years of Beso’s testimony, the researcher found he was transitioning

from the subsistence phase into the social phases of the IEN model. According to Beso:

My first business, so serious, Let's, let's call that I did have failed businesses. I have very

failed businesses, failed businesses with businesses. The motivation was there, but the

goal was financial.

When starting the business, uh, information. Information was very, very hard to come by,

umm, back in the day, there wasn't that much information. Umm, because you have to

know how insurance works. So, and this is not actually the profession related, it's more

like I would say, uh, not management related, it was more, more, I would say uh,

paperwork related.

I would say challenges was bureaucracy, right. Let's call it one of those things where

bureaucracy was the biggest challenge and still is.

Beso, throughout his interview, stated the importance of learning the host country's

system and bureaucracy, the industry knowledge within which competing, and the importance of

the network information clarity. When Beso was asked about invisibility in his experiences, he

confirmed the researcher’s initial premises that invisibility is an evident factor in their immigrant

entrepreneur’s success. However, Invisibleness in Beso’s testimony is not a calculated ethnic

strategy, and Invisibleness is a learned cultural trait within this post-Soviet cohort that can

permeate their behavior and business practices (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991). According to Beso:

I think it's a cultural thing because I know for sure that in Georgian culture, in Russian

culture, Ukrainian culture showing off something is very not, not polite, so that would say

it's called the bad manners, And somehow, somehow, it’s very deep. You know, it's that

we have to be quiet. Um, and you know, do it that way because it provides more chance

that you will achieve something versus just go around and you know, keep screaming and

demanding this and that. I think it's cultural thing.

I don't think there is anything very different, but you very rarely find, any Eastern

European areas out there, going crazy with the YouTube and everybody knows about

him, there are some, but you can't tell where the guys from because they've been here for

so such a long time, they could be general or generalized as some immigrant guy.

We have the ability of improvisation. Um to improvise things, adaptation to things,

maybe hardship. Or just like general, you know, challenges. It could be even daily. You

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

112

know, I would not imagine anybody I know ever back home would not be able to, let's

say, put the TV on the wall, right.

For the topic of success in the interview questions, Beso linked his success to achieving

financial gains with a strong emphasis on personal freedom. The researcher found Beso was in

the transitory phases of growth and personal in the IEN model. In his comments on success, Beso

speaks to the need for a higher level of motivation, networks, avoidance of ritual-like behaviors,

and adaptation (Saravathy, 2001). According to Beso:

I see success as a business owner as very good financial stability, ok, number one.

When I get tired, you know, or maybe doing the same thing, I try to change things, or do

something different. And most importantly, just always have the drive. You know that is

important. It has to be, because without it You know, it's not worth it, you know, because

I'm, I'm not only a business owner, you know, it's, it's my passion, so we do it. You know,

it's like I just can't imagine any other way. So, you know, I always try to keep the same

amount of that hunger, you know.

Beso, in his final interview comment, provides a series of closing comments aligning

with the data findings in Vandor and Franke (2016) that immigrant startups outperform

American natives two to one. Beso talks about the changes in the pre-year 2000 immigrants who

went straight to work, whereas the new immigrants are entrepreneurial in their mindsets

(Goldman, 2007; Neck, 2018; Neck et al., 2021; Somers, 2022). Last, a thematic phase amongst

this post-Soviet cohort continues to resurface in the participant’s statements; though the phrase is

worded differently from participant to participant, the comment is consistent. In Beso’s passage

below, the critical phase is underlined in the passage just as it is in each participant’s profile

when captured. According to Beso:

I see the new generation that’s coming in still in the country, they all want to become

businesspeople right away. I would say eight people in ten, maybe from 10-1 want to

start some kind of business versus when I remember, everyone went straight to work, took

any work.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

113

I've been in Brooklyn, especially most of businesses I would say is somehow associated

with the Eastern Europe. Many businesses, I would say more than 50% in Brooklyn.

Yeah, I guess they have drive, Yeah, they're hungrier than Americans.

I’m just gonna say one more thing just came in my mind. I think that it is very important

thing, that when you see something is on the table and it's within your reach, you will

have to just put out an effort to get it.

Beso met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Bill (Билл)

Bill is an immigrant entrepreneur who has been in business for eighteen years and owns

four successful businesses in the United States. Bill explains in his testimony that his initial plan

was to work in the U.S. for a few months and return to his home country, but the opportunity he

witnessed while in the U.S. was a pull factor for his wanting to stay in the host country (Lee,

1966). According to Bill:

Originally, I was thinking it's going to be just uh to work for a few months and actually

see New York and see Louisiana.

In Bill’s testimony, he provides testimony aligned with the literature associated with

entrepreneurial traits. Bill, like most participants, was formally educated and explained that he

could quickly advance and learn the host country's system, given his foundation in speaking the

language (Hunt, 2009, 2011). Bill’s testimony adds to this study's profile for controlled

entrepreneurial behaviors (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991) and additional insight into building

Entrepreneurial Intelligence (Envick, 2014; Neck, 2018; Neck et al., 2021) profile. According to

Bill:

I believe it's a four year of college, but yeah, basically transfer when you transfer the

credits because of the intensity that they do over there because I've tried to transfer the

credits, it comes out to a master’s degree in United States, but I don't know, I never had a

need for any diploma in my life.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

114

I like to learn how to learn a lot. I like to know a lot. So, it was pretty simple. How to

figure it out. The, the system and how to, I wouldn't say manipulate, but how to work

inside the system.

Bill, in his interview, displayed entrepreneurial behaviors in his home country before

migrating to the host country. However, though Bill was executing entrepreneurial activities in

his home country, he was limited in opportunity due to corruption in building a legitimate

business. Bill’s testimony provided the research data supporting home country push and host

country pull factors (Lee,1966). During these early developmental years, Bill’s testimony is

consistent with the other post-Soviet cohort’s predisposing characteristics related to their

entrepreneurial success in the United States. According to Bill:

I didn't have the company, if that's what you're asking me. But I did bought and sell quite

a bit. I was going to Turkey and to Bulgaria. I was buying clothes, machinery and a lot of

different stuff. And I was selling them in Macedonia for almost 4-5 years, but it wasn't a

company.

My country has always been, uh, corrupted. There is a big corruption going on over

there. It's a very difficult to earn a living. If you wanna do anything, you gotta either be

with the government or with the whatever local mafia it is. Uh, so, it's a, it's huge and you

don't have opportunities, uh, like over here.

The researcher presented the question on Invisibleness to Bill, and he confirmed the

researcher’s initial premises that Invisibleness is an evident factor in their immigrant

entrepreneur’s success. Bill’s testimony aligns with other participants explaining that this post-

Soviet cohort has a learned cultural trait not to promote oneself (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991). Bill’s

statements explain that Invisibleness is used as ‘looking average’ in his ethnic business strategy

for business success (Kloosterman, 2010). However, Bill does explain that he encounters the

systematic negative aspects of Invisibleness as a recipient by the host country environment in his

early years of business development. According to Bill:

A little bit, Uh, interesting. Uh, I drive small car, very small car that has a dent on it that

I when I bought it, a lady backed into me and I never fixed it, And the reason why is I

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

115

deal with the government, employers that usually their salary is not big enough. So, if I

show up with an expensive car and this one, I'll be totally ignored and I will be called

white boy, rich boy, whatever the hell you wanna say. But when I show up in a beat-up

car with a dent on it, they tend to be lot more open and a lot more accepting uh to

whatever I'm telling them, and uh, whatever I'm doing, whatever I wanna do for them. So

that works, I've seen it and I've heard that a lot of times and I experienced myself a lot of

times.

On the topic of success, Bill, in his statements, links success to financial gains in the

sense of wealth security for himself and his family. Bill does not explicitly call the term personal

freedom, but in his testimony, this term is a theme in his definition of success. The researcher

found Bill is in the transitory phases of growth and personal in the IEN model. According to Bill:

I came over here almost 20 years ago now with nothing. I had 180 bucks in my pocket. I

live in a decent house, I drive decent cars, I have a decent salary, my kids are going to

decent schools. And for me, that's uh, success, and I don't, uh for everybody, everybody

can understand success in a different, uh, ways in a different shapes or form. Uh, but for

me I feel that I am a successful and I do, I do have more than what most of the people

that they have done in my age.

So, to measure success it's a, it’s only I measure it only on a personal level. I don't really

measure it with the business for business. I go, and I work, and I do my best, and

whatever is going to be the outcome, I, I understand it and I take as much as I'm going to

be able to do, I will do. I'm not interested to be a billionaire or stuff like that. I earn

enough not to think about and not to worry about.

Bill has successfully sustained his business for eighteen years and credits an extreme

work ethic, adaptation through continuous professional development, and using the host

country’s political system at the local levels to his advantage (Kloosterman, 2010). Bill’s

position, as most participants, is not associating success or sustained success with their firm's

financial health and growth but defining both success and sustained success on a personal level.

The researcher holds firm in the findings that Bill is transitioning from the growth phase into the

personal phase of the IEN model. According to Bill:

I'd have an extreme, I'm the first guy that goes to work and I'm always the last guy that

leaves the jobs.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

116

I didn't understand that you need no matter how long you wanna do it, you need to have

political connections to be able to deal in some of these difficulties. And then throughout

the years I understood that.

Bill met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Elena (Елена)

Elena is an immigrant entrepreneur who has been in business for three years in the United

States. Elena has a formal education with a master’s degree in economics from her home

country. Elena's inclusion in this study is because she met the three-year minimum threshold for

operating a business in the United States. Elena is a relatively recent immigrant entrepreneur

who migrated to the United States a decade ago. Elena’s business in the U.S. is in the same

industry as the original business she operated in her home country for a decade before

immigrating. Elena is limited in her U.S. experiences to provide post-five years of business

operations for explaining sustainability of success in the U.S. However, she does provide

cherished data for understanding the immigrant entrepreneur’s business establishment process

and the lived factors for creating their initial business success.

Elena does not talk to either push or pull factors (Lee, 1966) motivating her migration to

the United States from Ukraine. Elena’s lack of push or pull factors (Lee, 1966) is connected to

her migration a decade before the recent war in Ukraine displaced many immigrants from this

region. Elena’s reasoning for migration to the U.S. is more associated with the seven laws of

Migration by Ravenstein (1885, 1889). However, Elena does show signs of still being in an

acclimation stage of the host country environment as her testimony as linkage to the literature on

sojourning appears in her statements (Light, 1972; Siu, 1952). Her statement of ‘Born Again’

and defining herself as solely Ukrainian speaks to the cultural distances, perceived behavior

controls (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991; Hofstede, 1983, 2001, 2011) and perceptions of psychic

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

117

distances (Ambos et al., 2019; Johanson and Vahlne, 2009) between the home and host

countries. According to Elena:

If I wouldn't meet my husband, I would still live in Ukraine. Yes, of course I worry, yes,

because everything was new, I even couldn't speak English.

Oh, everything was new, so, I was concerned about so many different things, like how to

label, like everything for me. It, I felt like I was born again.

I don't know the exact examples right now, I, it doesn't come to me, examples, but I

remember like in every, every day something different. Then it was the saying that it's not

like they're just different country, it's like another planet here.

The interview posed a series of questions to Elena on entrepreneurial motivation, goals,

and challenges she had to overcome to become a new immigrant business owner in the United

States. Elena, in her testimony, discusses tacit knowledge of the business industry for assisting

her ability to create a startup in the U.S. for desires of independence and financial gains. When

discussing the intervening obstacles to starting her business, Elena explains the process for her

was “smooth” due to her access to a distributed immigrant network and an American Sponsor’s

(i.e., her husband) support in navigating the host country system (Sanders and Nee, 1996).

According to Elena:

I wanted to uh, earn more, yes, I'm gonna have more. I like to be independent.

So, it's word of mouth and the people like clients were telling clients on Facebook. So

that's how I had gained clients. We have in Livingston, Russian speaking, Livingston

moms, and they were talking about me every day. So that I gained clients. I don't know

how many members on Facebook, but, uh, maybe less than 1000. For the workers, they

found me too in these networks.

When asked to define her definition of success, Elena showed she is transitioning from

the social phases to the growth phase of the IEN model on meeting the immigrant’s

entrepreneurial motivational phase for success. The definition of success for Elena in her

testimony links the desire for the growth of her business with building a solid reputation and trust

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

118

between her business, its workers, suppliers, and customers. In Elena’s closing comments on

immigrant entrepreneurial success, she stresses the importance of learning the host country's

language, penetrating social media networks, and using these media networks to build success.

According to Elena:

I really want, I sincerely want to help them dissolve their problem.

I would tell everyone to use media. Uh like all platform what is like on top. Um, because

it helped me a lot. And uh, what else, uh, exactly, Language, I told you about language,

uh, definitely every immigrant has to learn English. But media, it helps a lot.

Within the context of the study’s term invisibleness, the researcher asked Elena for her

views. Elena, in her testimony, has a confirmed lived experience of Invisibleness. However,

Elena’s description of Invisibleness was not from the context of negative or positive concerning

the researcher’s initial premises that Invisibleness is an evident factor in their immigrant

entrepreneur’s success. Elena's worldview on Invisibleness is the creation of oversaturation of

businesses in a given industry. Therefore, Elena talks of a desire to be visible and not invisible

for her business success. The researcher finds Elena in phase two of the updated theoretical

model in Figure 27. According to Elena:

I’m not sure if I'm correct, but I'm, I'll tell you my, my thoughts. Uh, I feel like so much of

this country is, has so many businesses, that, We, uh, we become not that visible. So, we

are like, umm, like your invisible, because uh, there are here are so, so many of us, blend

in. Oh, it’s good or bad like you said in different ways, ok. Yes, sometimes you have to

you want to be visible. sometimes not. Maybe I have used this, but I don't remember.

Elena met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Gregory (Грегорий)

Gregory is an immigrant entrepreneur who has grown his business into a very successful

and large business. Gregory has been in business in the United States for ten years before

recently merging his company with another firm. Gregory is one of two participants in this study

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

119

who migrated to the United States in their early teenage years. Gregory entered the United States

at the middle school level, was formally educated, and received a medical degree from a U.S.

University (Hunt, 2009, 2011). His family migrated to the U.S. due to push factors (Lee, 1966)

of war and discrimination in their home country. Gregory, like Ike and Mike, is the closest

participant to the definition of assimilation over acclimation (Glazer and Moynihan, 1970).

However, neither Gregory nor Ike, who entered the U.S. at a younger age in their testimony,

provide the criteria for complete assimilation into the host country. According to Gregory:

Um, part of it, if not, the entire reason was, um, kind of some, I guess you would call it

racial tensions. But, uh, racial typically implies to a different skin color. But for us, it was

as Armenians and Russia.

Gregory did not provide any statements that showed struggles with acclimation to the

host country from his home country (Johanson and Vahlne, 2009). In Gregory’s statements, he

explains that his family migrated to an ethnic enclave (Achidi and Priem, 2011; Aldrich and

Waldinger, 1990; Hirschman, 1982; Portes and Jensen, 1987; Portes, 1984; Xie and Gough,

2011; Zhang et al., 2016) inside the host country. Gregory’s story on entry from home to the host

country aligns with the literature. It is this migration into an ethnic enclave within the host

country and initial governmental support systems that Gregory states provided a level of support

for him and his family in their acclimation phases to the host country (Xie and Gough, 2011). In

Gregory’s testimony, the researcher found the principles behind the definition of acclimation

over assimilation as discussed in the Northern Model by Glazer and Moynihan (1970), where

different ethnic groups coexist under one umbrella called America. According to Gregory:

Thankfully we were, um, able to have uh, I guess you would say some social programs

like welfare, um support. Uh for the first nine months of being here. So, I think it was free

healthcare through the medical or Medicaid program. And I want to say, umm 700 plus

or minus dollars’ worth of support, including food stamps for our family of five.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

120

It was a relatively smooth transition. Um, obviously part of that transition had to do with

the fact that I was able to learn the language pretty quickly and part of it had to do with

the fact that the area we lived in had a relatively large Russian community. And uh, so I

had Russian speaking classmates who were able to help me through the most difficult

part of the transition.

Though Gregory states he did not experience any feelings of being an outsider from

native Americans, there were some levels of discrimination from other ethnic groups

experienced (Mohl, 1985). However, Gregory does explain the role of the church and the ethnic

community in supporting the younger generation to acclimate and stay out of criminal activities

in the host country (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991; Cummings, 1980; Uzzi, 1996; Xie and Gough,

2011). In Gregory’s statements, the home country’s morals and ethics learning is brought into

these ethnic enclaves (Achidi and Priem, 2011; Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Ajzen, 1985, 1987,

1991; Hirschman, 1982; Portes and Jensen, 1987; Portes, 1984; Sanders and Nee, 1996; Xie and

Gough, 2011; Zhang et al., 2016) in the host country. It is the home country's cultural ethics and

morals passed onto younger generations by the group that the researcher finds as part of the

ideological factors that develop individuals predisposing attributes needed for the successful

immigrant entrepreneur (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991; Sanders and Nee, 1996). It is these

predisposing attributes that feed into the theoretical model trace to building a profile for

Entrepreneurial Intelligence (Envick, 2014; Goldman, 2007; Neck, 2018; Neck et al., 2021)

According to Gregory:

Yeah, I'd say more so from other immigrant group groups than native Americans. There

was some a gang activity from the Hispanics and Asians. You know, fortunately gangs

never got to a uh form in the Russian community. Um, just I think, largely due to the fact

that a big portion of the Russian community, especially in this town or city that I was

growing up in was church going and religious.

In Gregory’s interview, the researcher expanded on his responses for more insight

between the immigrant and nonimmigrants and why the data shows immigrants outpacing

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

121

nonimmigrants in entrepreneurial startups. The rationale behind this research study opportunity

here in Gregory’s interview is that he is a member of both the immigrant and nonimmigrant

worlds. Gregory immigrated to the U.S. in his early teens, grew up in an ethnic enclave

influenced by the home country members (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991; Sanders and Nee, 1996),

and received the highest level of education in the American system before becoming a successful

business owner (Hunt, 2009, 2011). Gregory’s insight into the immigrant entrepreneur and

nonimmigrant aided this study in the building blocks of the predisposing characteristics

influencing immigrant entrepreneurs’ success (Kloosterman, 2010). Gregory talks of immigrants

differing from American natives with the following attributes: resiliency, strong work ethic,

broader knowledge, need for independence/freedom, motivational drive, and appreciation.

According to Gregory:

I think the biggest difference I've noticed is we as immigrants have, um, more context, if

you will, considering we've seen our parents go through the transition as immigrants and

have seen them oftentimes go from having something in their you know, country of origin

to then having very little, if not nothing in the country they immigrated to, which in this

case is obviously the United States.

I feel personally and through observation of my peers, um who were in a similar

situation, that gives an additional personal drive, if you will, to work hard to start, to

study hard, to try hard, and not taking anything for granted. So, um, I, I do believe that's

hard to duplicate or replicate without that life experience.

Gregory, in his interview, when asked about his entrepreneurial motivation building to

his success, his statement was aligned to community service and individual freedom even though

his testimony of achieving a higher level of financial success than he could have imagined

(Kloosterman, 2010). In Gregory’s statements, the research finds in the analysis that Gregory,

having achieved a high level of financial success, has transitioned out of the growth phase and is

now in the personal phase of the IEN model. According to Gregory:

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

122

Get to practice medicine the way I believed it to be. You know, best practice and Um, be

able to earn a comfortable living. At the time I had very little experience or knowledge to

know what that income would be like and certainly never imagined it to be what it grew

to be.

Gregory defines his immigrant entrepreneurial success in terms of personal rewards over

the data points defining a level of profitability for a firm’s success. According to Gregory:

I think #1 is kind of what it achieves. The goal of me starting the business as you asked

earlier. So, the number one measure for me was the fact that it allowed me to be

available towards or for those communities that I wanted to be available for, and for

those patients that I wanted to be able to help, part of which was Russian speaking,

considering them bilingual part of it, had to do with uh using my surgical training to

help.

Gregory met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Igor (Игорь)

Igor is an immigrant entrepreneur who has been in business for seven years and has ten

employees. Igor received a formal education in his home country with a bachelor’s degree in

engineering and electronics (Hunt, 2009, 2011). Igor migrated to the United States in his late

twenties. Igor was an entrepreneur in his home country but in a different industry from his

business in the United States. Before transitioning to an entrepreneur in the U.S., Igor spent the

first decade in the host country as a worker in the same industry as his home country. Igor

migrated to the U.S. due to opportunistic pull factors (Lee, 1966) for financial gains for him and

his family in the host country and push factors (Lee, 1966) of corruption and lower

socioeconomic conditions in his home country (Massey et al., 2008). According to Igor:

I was looking for a better life for like uh, for steady income. That's, that's the main

reason, and maybe for better life for my kids too, for like, can I get to get a career.

America is more justice here.

In his story, Igor explained that learning the language was the most challenging

intervening obstacle when asked about his acclimation to the United States. Igor, in his

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

123

testimony, explains his frustration with the lack of clarity of information before learning the host

country's language. However, in his interview, Igor did not express sojourning effects (Light,

1972; Siu, 1952) or cultural distances (Hofstede, 1983, 2001, 2011) challenges. Though Igor

states his acclimation transition to the host country was routine, after being in the host country,

he maintains strong ties to his home country and his family connections there, confirming Glazer

and Moynihan’s (1970) argument of acclimation over assimilation. In Igor’s testimony, his

perception of the host and home countries' psychic distance was low (Ambos et al., 2019;

Johanson and Vahlne, 2009). According to Igor:

Nothing big, maybe language it was, it was. It was the hardest thing for me.

I like staying informed with that, with Russia because I'm Russian. And so all my

relatives moved out from Uzbekistan as I have, I have few left over there. So, I just, uh,

more informed about what's going on in Russia. I'm Russian, I just live in Uzbekistan.

My, my family, my dad is Russian, my mom is Russian.

Igor’s story explains the cultural differences (Hofstede, 1983, 2001, 2011) and extremes

in the environments between home and host countries for him. Igor describes the host country

system as creating intervening obstacles the immigrant must overcome and views immigrants

over host country natives as resourceful, non-wasteful, non-entitled with passionate goals, non-

ritualistic, highly motivated, and having a desire for constant development. In Igor’s story, as

with all the participants, the qualities of hard work, educated, non-ritualistic, resourceful,

continual development, and motivation aligned to build the predisposing characteristics of this

cohort of successful post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs. According to Igor:

The main difference is, the main difference is a lot of people who are from here, they,

they grew up spoiled. You know, and they think their country, uh they like, that owe them

something. You know, it's like, they don't get why we don't get that spoiled, privilege.

That I'm like, you have to earn it, you have to do.

The customs and the culture is different, Absolutely different. It's in good ways and bad

ways too.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

124

Igor’s thoughts on the term invisibleness were limited in his response. However, Igor did

comment that it pairs culturally with many of the other participant's responses in this study. Igor

explains he is not one to draw attention to himself and defines himself as a ‘mellow guy,’ not

trying to draw attention to himself and following the stream (Saravathy, 2001). Given Igor’s

story and success, the researcher captured Igor’s testimony as an innate characteristic learned in

his host country upbringing that aligns with the researcher’s intuition that Invisibleness is used,

but unknown to Igor that he is using it. According to Igor:

It’s just it's hard to describe like that. I'm, I'm more mellow guy. I mean, I'm not, I'm not

trying to seek out, you know attention, like just the pulse. Well, I follow the stream you

know, not fighting the stream pretty much.

Igor goes on in his story, and when the topic of his entrepreneurial success is asked, he

explains his ability to overcome loss and keep going. Igor is forward-thinking, calculated, willing

to accept uncertainty, and absorbing higher levels of risk. Igor is satisfied with the level of

growth of the business. The researcher found that Igor is in the personal phase of the IEN model.

According to Igor:

When you, when you can take some loss and not being upset about it. That's, that's a

successful thing probably.

Igor met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Ike (Айк)

Ike is an immigrant entrepreneur who has opened and closed several businesses in the

host country. Currently, Ike has grown three successful businesses in less than ten years. Ike, like

Gregory, is the other participant in this study who migrated to the United States in their early

teenage years. Ike entered the United States at the high school level and initially had challenges

acclimating to the host country. Ike did not express sojourning effects (Light, 1972; Siu, 1952) in

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

125

his story, and his challenges were a degraded belief in the U.S. education system due to cultural

distances (Hofstede, 1983, 2001, 2011) from other immigrant Americans and the need to

capitalize on his newfound freedom in the host country financially.

Ike’s family, like Gregory’s story, migrated to the U.S. due to push factors (Lee, 1966) of

corruption, the threat of violence, and discrimination in their home country with pull factors

(Lee, 1966) of financial opportunities in the host country (Stouffer, 1940, 1960). Both Ike and

Gregory migrated to the host country at a young age, and the researcher found in testimonies that

their perceptions of the psychic distance between home and host countries were low for both

(Ambos et al., 2019; Johanson and Vahlne, 2009). Ike’s interview was the longest in this study,

as the engagement lasted over three hours. Given the length of Ike’s story being approximately

twenty pages, only a limited amount of his testimony is in this chapter. According to Ike:

You know, living in Russia or any part of the former Soviet Republic and trying to make

money. It's a dog-eat-dog world and you really have to like, hustle and outmaneuver all

the smart guys.

I still remember we came with like $200 in our pocket after selling everything, it was

crazy.

Go to the classes and try to understand a Chinese accent English while trying to

understand the chemistry class or mathematics class or any other classes where they're

not teaching you English. It was even more difficult because you had to learn a very

important subject of chemistry or biology in a language you don't understand or speak.

Ike, in his story, when asked about his acclimation to the United States, explained that his

family had a social network within an ethnic enclave (Achidi and Priem, 2011; Aldrich and

Waldinger, 1990; Hirschman, 1982; Portes and Jensen, 1987; Portes, 1984; Uzzi, 1996; Xie and

Gough, 2011; Zhang et al., 2016) inside the host country. Ike’s testimony, like Gregory, found

the principles behind the definition of acclimation over assimilation as discussed in the Northern

Model by Glazer and Moynihan (1970), where different ethnic groups coexist under one

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

126

umbrella called America. However, in Ike’s story, this Northern Model (Glazer and Moynihan,

1970) created challenges when Ike explained his integration into the host country's school

system. In his story, Ike felt his level of attained knowledge from his home country schooling

was sufficient and gave up on the American school system in what appears to be cultural

distances between immigrant groups cohabitating within his ethnic enclave in the host country

(Johanson and Vahlne, 2009; Mohl, 1985). According to Ike:

When I moved here, the high school I went to, we had a lot at that point there was a lot of

Russian immigrants, Ukrainian immigrants, Jewish immigrants moving in.

So, it’s a lot of like a little mini-Russia. Maybe right there was, but there were more

Chinese people there. My entire high school was like 80% of our high school was

Chinese. And then the rest is like white, black and the rest of Asians like Koreans and

Japanese because it was, you know, the centers was a very heavily populated Chinese

town.

Ike’s story of migrating to the host country with minimum resources to leverage

opportunities for his entrepreneurial success (Kloosterman, 2010) is exhibited by many learned

characteristics (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991) routinely seen in the immigrant entrepreneur

participants in this study. Ike’s testimony of his lived experiences in America displays learned

attributes of resiliency, motivation, higher levels of risk-taking, multitalented, perseverance,

freedom, adaptiveness, calculated, strong networks, entrepreneurial foresight, and aggressive

nature for his ability to achieve business success. These predisposing attributes in Ike’s story add

to the theoretical model trace for aiding in presenting a proposed profile for Entrepreneurial

Intelligence in their decision-making (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1990; Envick, 2014; Neck, 2018; Neck

et al., 2021). According to Ike:

I remember the bedroom was so tiny that my youngest brother had to sleep in the closet.

Business Opportunity is a huge, the United States has a lot of money. People have money.

And to get that money from people, it's basically the money is there on the table, you just

have to go grab it.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

127

In Russia if you are a hardworking man, even if you work really hard the amount of

money you were getting for it was a lot less.

Personally, I never really was bothered by racism much because I was used to it in a way

by being Armenian. In Russia for instance; because we were different and in high school

there was a thing that rhymed the word Armenian, and it rhymed with the black ass.

There was a, there was a slang, and we were called black asses.

I notice is the immigrant here in a lot of ways are bit more savvy because they've never

had it just good. The people that live in United States that Americans, a lot of Americans

they don't appreciate what they got.

People here in United States in a lot of ways, they're weaker in mentality, you know, like

small little things that happen to them in their life brings them down and in a lot of times

they won't find a way back up.

Like all these immigrants’ kind of help each other on WhatsApp, I guess. Um, there's a

little portal where they give each other advice on how to cross the border legally or what

you do when you come in and where there's a community out there. They help each other

out. Then there's like different groups on Facebook and what not. And so, you know these

people on these sites.

You know may know from our high school named Jan Koum. He was in our high school

and was a little older. He became the founder of the WhatsApp and he sold it for $19

billion. Jan was my friend's cousin. He wasn't a real supper close buddy of mine, but we

knew each other. And you know, he went into tech world with a lot of the other Eastern

European minds. They work really well for engineering and computer science. And so,

you know, all of us dropped out of high school and a lot of us went to school to learn how

to be a QA engineer at first or a programmer.

Ike provides many examples in his interview to explain how he sees immigrant

entrepreneurial success. The researcher from Ike’s testimony in the analysis finds Ike’s

continuous comments on achieving more significant financial success with his adaptive behavior

to avoid ritualistic behaviors allow him to buy and sell businesses (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1967) to

grow personal wealth. Ike consistently says that growing wealth is his priority in his statements

in the interview; therefore, Ike is in the growth phase of the IEN model. However, Ike provides

some statements to present the belief that he is beginning to diffuse into the personal phase of the

IEN model. According to Ike:

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

128

When I was 25, when I first opened my business. So, for me my goal was to live, uh live

this lifestyle that I can afford.

To be able to do whatever you want. the older I grow, my values change. You see what

changes around you, and you know things, you learn more. You realize how much certain

things cost and what you need to do. And just before dreaming about making you know,

$10,000 a month from $5,000 a month. Now you're like, well, I need to be making at least

$50,000 a month to be successful. Then I get to 50 thousand and then I need to do 100

thousand a month, you always wanna grow and I always wanna do more.

Um, sometimes I feel trapped doing the same thing over and over. I hate repetitive things,

I always wanna do something new, something cool. And so, for me to like, a lot of times

I'll open a new business just like that. You know, I'm like, hey, I could do this and say

goodbye to the old one and not think twice about it, not worry about it.

In Ike’s story, his discussion of Invisibleness within this study provides a unique

explanation from the immigrant entrepreneur’s perspective. Ike defines Invisibleness as the host

country’s environment projecting invisibility over the immigrant. Ike alludes to the early stages

that the immigrant entrepreneur desires to be visible. In his statements, Ike’s comments align

with Markowitz and Slovic's (2020) findings on immigrants navigating the interviewing obstacle

of a host country's dehumanization barriers. The research found in Ike’s story during cross-

analysis with other participants' definitions that Invisibleness takes on different meanings

between the three phases within the theoretical model provided in figure 29. In Ike’s testimony,

he explains that once an entrepreneur can secure enough money to become visible, the attention,

whether good or bad is valuable by bringing attention and new opportunities. According to Ike:

I right away think of a gardener, a Mexican that you know, comes to your nice house and

he cuts your grass. And you know it's getting done, you know, someone is doing it, but

like, you're so up above that, you don't care. You don't see them as like humans in the

way. You're just like, okay, cut my grass and get out, you know.

I love free marketing. And sometimes to make something go viral will get you a free

publicity. So, I always hunt for free publicity.

Ike met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

129

Katrina (Екатерина)

Katrina is an immigrant entrepreneur who built four successful businesses in less than ten

years in the host country. Katrina received a formal education in her home country with a

bachelor’s degree in physical training (Hunt, 2009, 2011). Katrina immigrated to the United

States in her late twenties with her American husband against her family and friends' wishes.

When Katrina first immigrated, she attempted to find work in the host country and explained that

there were many intervening obstacles in her finding employment. Katrina eventually turned to

entrepreneurial activities to succeed in the host country by leveraging her home country training

for her business development. Katrina before transitioning as an entrepreneur in the U.S., Katrina

spent the first several years of her time in the host country as a worker learning the host country's

system. Katrina, in her testimony, does talk of sojourning (Light, 1972; Siu, 1952), experiencing

racism (Haslam, 2006; Markowitz and Slovic, 2020), and projected invisibility by the host

country's environment early in her story of coming to the host country; eventually, she overcame

those by building a series of closed groups social network with home country people living in the

host country. Katrina has been able to acclimate in the host country despite viewing host country

natives as having a fakeness to them. Her ability to assimilate is highly unlikely, if impossible.

According to Katrina:

My family and friends did not want me to leave because I was a valued worker all over

there and provider. So of course, you know, they were not, they were not very happy.

You know I did not because I found immediately Russian community, Russian friends.

And that was only who I was hanging out. And so, it was no problem.

I'm a hustler, you know.

I came with a huge resume. They then look at my resume and there was a child and Youth

Services. At that place there was a woman, she says, she says Oh, you're overqualified,

we will call you back. And in my head then, when she said we will call you back means I

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

130

will call you back. Uh, but she really basically told me to, uh, you know, [get lost] but she

says her words were, we will call you back.

Regarding Invisibleness, Katrina explains her viewpoints within the context of this study

with a desire to be visible with her business and the need for additional information clarity on the

host country system. Katrina explains that with increased understanding and visibility, she can

expand into the open market to access host country natives as customers. However, in her

testimony, she discusses conversations with others in this cohort who experienced the negative

aspect of being invisible, like a second-class citizen, as Glazer and Moynihan (1970) explained

when discussing the invisible man. In this portion of Katrina’s statements, the researcher finds

Katrina in the growth phase of the IEN model. According to Katrina:

One guy told me that we always going to be when, when we're trying to do business with

Americans, we're always going to be invisible or we're always going to be you name it.

You know the Chechen Republic of Chechnya. So, he says like we in America are always

going to be Chechen in Russia you know like always going to be like Second class people.

My only issue with being invisible is that inability to understand the market. And an

ability to market correctly in United States because all my marketing goes within the

Russian community, the Russian speaking communities, Ukrainians, you know,

Kazakhstan, where so it's just, you know more convenient to me.

Katrina explains her entrepreneurial goals, success, and sustaining that success by

focusing on building networks, trusting relationships, and achieving a higher purpose. In her

testimony, the researcher evaluates Katrina as still in the growth phase but transitioning from the

growth phase into the personal phase of the IEN model. In Katrina’s story, the researcher found a

consistent pattern of attributes in the other participant's statements. These attributes are strong

work ethic, resiliency, motivation, higher levels of risk-taking, multitalented, perseverance,

seeking to achieve personal freedom, calculated, strong networks, entrepreneurial foresight, and

aggressive nature with the ability to rapidly adapt in order to achieve and sustain business

success even through a black swam pandemic (Taleb, 2010). According to Katrina:

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

131

I believe that is eight or nine languages I speak.

Success to me personally as a business or owner after pandemic, it changed to me. I'm on

the target, I'm on the goal and my purpose of success is two things. The 1st is to get

financial freedom. I do not want, I don't really want, I don't need to get uh rich, I want to

be free. I want to be free of you know Finances and if I need to do something then just do

it. But in terms of success, actual success, I have a purpose to give people jobs as many

as possible. I want to feed people. It's my duty and responsibility, let's put it this way.

Success to me equals freedom for me and my group of people.

I work really hard, really hard. I work really, really, hard. I work eight days a week.

That, that's one thing, most importantly, I have a vision.

Do not listen to anybody because a lot of times people that are closest to you, they will

say to you they love you and when you hear it, when you hear I love you the way you are,

you have to run from those people because that's the most harm that people can.

Katrina met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Lisa (Елизавета)

Lisa is an immigrant entrepreneur who built a successful business in less than four years

with seventeen employees in the host country. Lisa has been in the host country for less than ten

years and has a formal education in her home country with a master’s degree in accounting

(Hunt, 2009, 2011). Lisa immigrated to the United States with her spouse in her mid-twenties.

Lisa explains in her story that when she and her spouse first immigrated, they traveled and

explored the host country to assess where the best location in the host country would be to

execute an entrepreneurial startup. Lisa, in her testimony, migrated to the host country due to

economic opportunity pull factors (Lee, 1960). Lisa has quickly assimilated into the host country

and has a positive outlook on the host country's culture and environment (Erickson, 1972). Lisa

uses a variety of social media distributed global reach networks between the host and home

country to rapidly assimilate, gain access to host country natives for support, and learn the host

country system to mitigate a series of intervening obstacles (Kloosterman, 2010; Kee, 1966). The

research has assessed Lisa as satisfying the social phase of the IEN model with her motivation

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

132

and has oriented toward the growth phase for her entrepreneurial and personal motivational

factors for achieving success. According to Lisa:

We met one guy in New York and uh, he was very friendly to us, and he helped with like

banks and bills because when we just came and we don't have a credit history, you

cannot print anything you know? So, he gives us his address to make a bank account like

so, yeah, he's helping like some things. What was really helpful and It's only one, I think

person who helps us that was enriching. He was American, and we meet him on like a

couch surfing app.

We visit uh, New York, Miami, like a few different places in Florida. We visit Nashville,

we visit Indianapolis, Chicago, so like it was a little bit more than 10 different cities.

I think only our language, it's like the biggest problem. I think it's the biggest problem

because sometimes uh, for like a faster success. You need to speak well. You need to

understand the people and people should understand you. So, I think this is the biggest

one.

Lisa’s position on Invisibleness within the context of this study does not align with the

initial research premise that this cohort is using Invisibleness as an ethnic strategy for their

entrepreneurial activities in a host country. Lisa uses many social media tools and networks to

highly market her business. In Lisa’s story, she explains that with increased visibility, there are

increases in intervening obstacles with her business (Lee, 1966). According to Lisa:

I think it sometimes better to be visible. Of course, like in good things like I do something,

but people don't know what I do, but something better to know for people what I do.

To be visible in social media it’s a good part to be visible because people talk all the time

about you, like they know you and they come to your place because the name, right. So, it

works in my situation because I came like a kind of famous because of my name because I

work with some like a famous people.

So, a lot of people know our business, but bad things also happen because some people

who jealous, they tried to do bad thing for us. Because they think it's like very easy. For

us, they try to do some bad thing. So, as I said, like both sides, I think it's works like it can

be in my situation.

In explaining her entrepreneurial goals and success, Lisa focuses on achieving profits,

customer relationships, and having quality employees. In her story, she talks about the challenges

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

133

of finding good employees and the need to work 14-hour days to achieve her goals of marketing

her brand and growing her company’s profits, employees, and customers. According to Lisa:

You own some business your business should grow, like so, you should have every year

more, more, more money than previous one. You should have more employees and your

employees should have a like more salary every year than they had before. So, like your

employees and your clients, everything should be bigger than before. If you stay at the, at

the same point for a few years, probably something wrong.

I was like a very, very inside the process and also, in my day off, I still keep working

because I just love it. So, maybe it gives me like a more, more motivation.

Lisa met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Mike 1 (Михаил)

Mike is an immigrant entrepreneur who has owned successful businesses in the host

country for 14 years. Mike attempted to immigrate once to the U.S. but was denied and

experienced ostracism in his home country. Again, Mike attempted to immigrate prior to the

collapse of the Soviet Union and was successful through a multiple-country journey before

making it to the United States. Mike, in his story, expresses several push and pull factors (Lee,

1960) associated with personal freedom in the host country and suppression experiences in his

home country for the decision to migrate with his family. Mike speaks of restricted speech,

controlled movement, the threat of retribution for noncompliance to the home country system,

and lack of opportunity as a few reasons he began as a refugee in the United States. However,

Mike has a strong positive response to his learned family values, societal group morals, and the

education system he experienced in his home country (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991). Mike's

negative response toward his home country is associated with the Communist party and the

Soviet Government. Like Gregory in his testimonies, Mike is the closest of the study’s

participants to the criteria associated with assimilating over acclimation in the host country. In

their famous works, Glazer and Moynihan (1970) discussed what is found in Mike’s testimony,

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

134

with acclimation as the Northern model and assimilation as the Southern model. According to

Mike:

No, I am an American. I am an American. Yeah, my country.

I was ready to immigrate when I was, uh, probably 10 years old because I grew up in the

family where my grandfather, my grandmother, they were repressed in 1937. I just, my

dream was to leave the Soviet Union to the United States to be in a free country.

Everything is different. There's just, just the freedom of movement. Uh, freedom of

speech. There's just, I think the most was the freedom of movement, I could do anything. I

can go anyplace I want. And you can say anything you want that was the biggest.

Mike discusses his challenges in the host country and the difference between immigrant

entrepreneurs and host country natives. Mike uses the need to ‘run’ to describe the immigrant’s

motivation and ability to learn the host country's environment and systems. Mike’s testimony on

education, live-to-work behavior, and unwavering commitments align with the literature and

other participants’ testimony in building this study’s profile of predisposing characteristics for

these post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs. A repetitive theme continues to emerge in Mike’s

statement, as others, that their primary education system in the home country was superior to the

host country. Mike has an unwavering ideological position that failure to ‘make it’ in the host

country is an unacceptable reality. The researcher finds that this cohort is highly educated and

can quickly learn the host country's language and environment. Through Mike’s testimony,

language is a powerful instrument in unlocking and gaining access to the host country’s system.

Once the immigrant like Mike entered the host country system on a path to entrepreneurship,

they rapidly maneuvered through the system using decentralized protective networks for

information clarity (Uzzi, 1996), non-ritualistic behaviors (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1967), and savvy

solid work ethic to achieve initial business creation and sustained success. According to Mike:

So, what we were learning at nine and ten grade in the high school in the Soviet Union

some people here were learning in the university.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

135

I guess language would probably be #1. I did not have any other challenges because

whatever challenge I had; I am overcoming that challenge. I was learning as fast as I

can. I was making money and everyday my son was getting bigger and bigger. So, I felt

better and better because I was learning the country, I was learning the customs, I was

learning life in this country, and I felt, uh, every day I was feeling more and more

comfortable. Well, we're all chasing the clock. Many immigrants are running, and if you

are born in this country and you're not running, it's very easy to be behind those

immigrants who is running.

We have to make it happen for us. But the real regular joe schmo United States born

here, well I think they feel that they deserve to have everything because they were born in

this country. But it's not. It doesn't work that way.

Mike’s views on the term Invisibleness within the context of this study. In Mike’s story,

he explains that he wanted to be on the ‘Stage’ early in his entry years and business creation.

Mike did not employ Invisibleness as an ethnic strategy to initial business creation but did

explain that after years of high financial success, he prefers Invisibleness. Mike’s statement

aligns with phase three of the theoretical model in Figure 27. Mike says his visibility correlates

with increased wealth creation and higher advancements. Mike provides a story about

experiencing some projected Invisibleness during his developmental years in the host country. In

Mike’s story, he does not associate a projected Invisibleness experience to host native racism,

and this experience has a connection to the host country's environmental system. In this

experience, Mike explains it only motivated him to work harder to be visible. The researcher

found Kloosterman’s (2010) theory of mixed embeddedness in Mike’s discussion on connecting

with politicians and leveraging these relationships for entrepreneurial advantages. Mike is

assessed by the researcher as having reached the top end of the growth phase of the IEN model

with the level of capital and success achieved; therefore, Mike is in the personal phase of the IEN

model, with his testimony linking his age to his level of success acceptable as achieved.

According to Mike:

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

136

As a business owner in the US, well, it's hard to say because I was always, I was not

afraid to be visible. I was always trying to step forward to be visible to be on the stage.

I said to myself few years ago that I don't want to be on stage anymore. And I don't need

any recognition anymore, but I was always trying to be visible because it was not afraid

to step forward.

[S]omebody said to me basically, if English would be your native language you deserved,

um, will be in a corner office. So, it means that probably I'm not going to be a lecturer in

the University of College and probably not going to be on TV and most likely not going to

be a politician, but my language will not stop me to become an entrepreneur start making

money.

I don't care, because with my level of money I don't care. If I can drive Bentley flying

Spur I don't care if somebody saying between themselves, he's the immigrant. Well, I'm

an immigrant driving this car and you're not immigrant driving a Honda.

Very, very good job to, to meeting and having a conversation with the President of the

United States, Barack Hussein Obama. So, I have a picture with him. I met the Chuck

Schumer and then the I know Cory Booker very well, not now. So, I used to be in, well, I

used to have a closer part. I was not part of them, but I was always, uh, somewhere in

circles. And I knew very well, Chris Christie.

Mike generally explains that success for a business is profitable and functioning. Mike

explains that a functional business provides a viable product or service consumers want and

need. Mike goes on to explain that his immigrant entrepreneurial success is associated with his

mental focus on more growth for the business, recognition, ability to adapt in periods of

uncertainty (Saravathy, 2001; Taleb, 2010), and to never be satisfied. Mike discusses the need to

be constantly involved in the business, be adaptive, and maintain high morale and clear guidance

to the workforce. According to Mike:

So, your success is you have a working business that works, and it makes profits.

Last couple years with the pandemic, it just changed a lot. But before every day I was in

the business, but at least for a few hours talking to employees. So, I was involved in a

business. Gonna be in the business making decision, discussing different things. You need

to be involved; it cannot run by itself all the time.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

137

The researcher asked Mike if he would do anything differently in the journey to

entrepreneurial success; Mike said no and shared a story to explain that some things are better

left alone. Mike’s short story is shared below in his comments. According to Mike:

You know there is a joke in Russia that the young couple finally got an apartment in

Soviet Union. Right. They got in apartments and nice room, everything. But in the middle

of the room, there is a bolt on the floor sticking up a little bit and every time there was

tripped over the bolt and at first, they put it some kind of rug so they don't trip. Then they

finally, the guy decided oh, let me take it out. So, he cut the bolt out and the apartment

downstairs, the light fixture fell down on the people.

Mike met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Mike 2 (Михаил)

Mike is a highly educated immigrant entrepreneur with a master’s degree in mechanical

engineering (Hunt, 2009, 2011) and has maintained a successful business for 14 years in the host

country. Mike was a grassroots entrepreneur in his home country since a young age. Mike

expressed some elements of sojourning (Light, 1972; Siu, 1952) in his story as he talks of

achieving success in his home country by building a home when his wife and children decided to

immigrate to the U.S. However, Mike discusses that his family fell in love with the host country

when they visited the United States (Ambosa et al., 2019) and decided to stay for the benefit of

his children and spouse. In Mike’s story, he explains the push factors of the home country’s

government, personal freedom restrictions, uncertainty, and lower socioeconomic conditions

compared to the home country’s pull factors of personal freedom and opportunities (Lee, 1966;

Stouffer, 1940, 1960) as the rational to migrate and stay in the host country with his family. In

his 35 years, Mike has fully acclimated to the host country but explains he will never be fully

assimilated as a host country native, though he desires to be one (Ajzen, 1985, 1987, 1991;

Ambosa et al., 2019). According to Mike:

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

138

Honestly, I didn't make a decision before I came to America, but during this day, let's say

like this. Well, we came just for the vacation, let's say like that, and we fall in love to

America is the first look. And we were looking for the way to stay in this country and just,

you know, be American.

I would say I wish to be American, but I understand I'm not yet American because I didn't

grow up in this country. I'm American patriot, I will fight for America. I am not Polish

anymore because like I said, the country which I left back in the 90s, they are in the past

now.

I would say I'm not yet American like. Maybe I'm. I'm not going to die as American, but

I'm not anymore Polish.

The salaries were in U.S. dollars about $30 dollars per month, of course all the prices

were like pennies so everybody inside could exist. People had government position for

reasons, first you had to have a job because it was a jail penalty for people with no job.

When asked about the definition of Invisibleness, Mike explains that his experience in the

host country was welcoming and helpful (Erickson, 1972). Mike does discuss that his home

country was the projector of negative Invisibleness onto people, whereas the host country was

utterly opposite to him (Hofstede, 1983, 2001, 2011). Mike's testimony does not contradict the

researcher's propositions on Invisibleness used as an ethnic strategy ultimately. Though Mike did

not use Invisibleness as a strategic approach, he was a beneficiary of Invisibleness by his

statements on helpfulness and ability to blend in as no threat or discrimination to natives

(Erickson, 1972). According to Mike:

So, the people accept me and my parents, especially when they came from Poland with a

visit, they were surprised, but the people are so nice to each other that they are welcome

each other. They, even if my father couldn't speak English at all, they helped him and

how they treat him as they like, like we are treating any other people in America.

When Mike talked about his entrepreneurial motivation, the definition of success, and

how he achieved and sustained success, his stories were not about increasing profits but on

reputation, delivering a superior product, and relationship building (Uzzi, 1996). Mike explains

that his ability to achieve and sustain success is due to his deep commitment, hard work ethic,

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

139

built relationships, and willingness to adapt and learn, leverage opportunities, and take risks

(Kloosterman, 2010). Mike has achieved growing success in the IEN model and is now in the

personal phase. According to Mike:

I'm not focused truly on the money, only I'm focused on the good opinion.

I was waking up at 4:00 o'clock and going to sleep at 10 o'clock, something like that. I

work long hours.

So, I have to learn. Some of the people who are doing this kind of job, sometimes they

refuse to do something, let's say, like we didn't, we never refuse to use certain technology

or certain materials. We just have to learn how to do that works.

Mike met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Olena (Олена)

Olena is an immigrant entrepreneur who has been in business for 18 years in the host

country. Olena has a formal education in her home country with a master’s degree in accounting

(Hunt, 2009, 2011). Olena, as with most participants, felt their primary education in the home

country was better despite accolades of opportunity for the host county (Ambosa et al., 2019).

Olena immigrated to the United States with her family as a refugee before the dissolution of the

Soviet Union. Olena accomplished her desire to immigrate to the U.S. with the help of a non-

government organization (Cummings, 1980). The researcher found Olena thoroughly acclimated

to the host country with a desire to fully assimilated as a host native, as the participant Mike

explained in his testimony. Olena migrated to the host country due to economic opportunity and

personal freedom pull factors (Lee, 1960; Stouffer, 1940, 1960). According to Olena:

Because I didn't like the system. I didn't like uh, you know, living in Russia at all. And

also, you know, of course, the length of opportunities. I mean, it's a cliche, but I mean it's

the whole truth. I was never into, you know, communism, socialism and equal

distribution.

I mean, it was much better education there and very much wider kind of education than

here, here was not tunneled.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

140

I would say that America is my motherland. I mean, I know I was not born here, and I

shouldn't say it, but even before the war, I would was always thinking I'm American, who

speaks with an accent.

You know, we knew that there's no future. So, we're stuck there, and we do exactly the

same. As you know, our parents would be doing, but here, we have, you know, the sky is

the limit.

Olena was questioned on her position on Invisibleness within the context of this study.

Her response was somewhat indifferent but aligns with the initial research premise that this

cohort uses Invisibleness for their entrepreneurial activities. Olena, in her story, also explains

that she uses caution and does not expose herself when it comes to social media (Fishbein and

Ajzen, 1967). According to Olena:

I don't need to be invisible, but I don't need to be visible very, you know, like that much

either.

I prefer not to be visible. I guess that's how I answer. I prefer not to be visible when it

comes to social media.

Olena was forthcoming in her perceptions of the immigrant entrepreneur versus the host

country native. Olena sees immigrants as having perseverance and the ability to overcome

intervening obstacles with a willingness to take on challenges. Olena’s position on the immigrant

entrepreneur’s attributes is consistent with the other participants in this study. According to

Olena:

We are used to challenges and we approach them, and we try to resolve them. Usually, I

think Americans, they don't want to, they don't want to get over those challenges.

We still want to approach the challenges and get over them. So, I mean, it's still in their

blood also in in their DNA.

Olena, in her testimony, talks of her entrepreneurial goals as personal freedom and success

are linked to solid and trusting networks (Uzzi, 1996), dedicated hard work, reputation, and

providing superior services to her customers. Business growth and profit increases were not

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

141

Olena’s primary measures of success, and her main measures are reputation and trusting

relationships. The researcher finds that Olena has reached the personal phase of the IEN model.

According to Olena:

Through word of mouth and uh, again, opened the Google for my website, uh is my base.

One day I decided that's it. I don't want to be under anybody. I want to be my own boss.

My success is basically having people keep coming back, that's my success. If they

recommend somebody to me, that's my success.

Olena met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Slava (Вечеслав)

Slava is an immigrant entrepreneur who has been a business co-owner in the host country

for eight years. Slava is a high school graduate but did not attend college in his home country as

he was focused on his path as a professional-level athlete. Slava discusses his migration journey

to the host country as an easy process with some initial minor economic challenges. Slava's

reason for migrating to the host country was a pull factor (Lee, 1960) of opportunity to compete

in an American professional sports sector (Stouffer, 1940, 1960). Slava explains that his ethnic

upbringing helped his acclimation process in the host country, and the experience was positive

and welcoming by the host country's natives (Erickson, 1972). According to Salva:

I was comfortable when I get here. Only one thing was uh, the money, issue with money.

So, it's like, so we have to pay for, I mean, for nice apartment. America was expensive

compared to Russia.

I don't like talk about myself, but we play very, very well, at a very high level and so we

came here.

Slava's position on Invisibleness within the context of this study was not aligned with the

initial research premise that this cohort uses Invisibleness for their entrepreneurial activities.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

142

Slava wants to be visible and uses social media to promote his business visibility. According to

Slava:

I like to be visible, you know, because like us, uh, special like, uh, like I do like a lot of

exercise, and I have my Instagram to promote the business.

Slava, in his perceptions of the immigrant entrepreneur compared to a host country

native, explains the immigrant works harder, loves to work, and sees the financial rewards from

their work in the host country. Slava sees immigrants as having work reward traits, and this trait

makes the immigrant look at work as fun. According to Slava:

Immigrants have to work harder. Yeah, because for us, it's fun. Let's say, you get like, you

get money. Like, like I said over there you get 20 bucks. Wow, for me it's like well, it's a

lot of money. Let's say 20 in Russia I have to work for probably maybe one entire day.

And here people get 20 bucks an hour.

On his motivation, goals, and how he defines success, Slava's orientation is around

personal factors. Slava’s testimony was full of confidence, resolution, commitment, and

unwavering focus on being the best in his industry. Slava explains that to capitalize on an

opportunity for success, he has worked hard, built trusting relationships, providing superior

services, and cared for his clients (Kloosterman, 2010). Slava's critical measure of success was

his ability to grow his business’s reputation. The researcher found limited references to profits in

his definition of success, as profitability is inherent over other requirements for successful

entrepreneurs. The research found that Slava is measuring success in the social and personal

phases of the IEN model. In Slava’s interview, he did reference a need to grow the business and

increase profits in the past few years, but it came across as a natural occurrence and not a key

measure of success.

According to Slava:

Me personally, we build a reputation and care for our kids. I'm the best and they will

come because they see how we work.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

143

More clients to make more money. Grow the business. It's more people, like now we have

over 200 clients and lots of different people.

So, definitely my goal was building reputation through hard work and caring to teach the

kids.

When people see how hard we work, how we skate, how we talk to kids, how we teach

them and how they get results. When they come on our reputation and provide good

training.

Salva met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Valentina (Валентина)

Valentina is an immigrant entrepreneur who built several businesses in the host country

over the past 12 years. Valentina has a master’s degree in business from her home country and a

doctor’s degree in the host country (Hunt, 2009, 2011). Valentina’s family immigrated to the

U.S. several years before her journey to the host country. Valentina, in her story, discusses a

series of immigration process challenges, sojourning effects (Light, 1972; Siu, 1952), and several

intervening obstacles (Lee, 1966) with her foreignness (Johanson and Vahlne, 2009), and the

cultural distances (Hofstede, 1983, 2001, 2011) between the host and home countries on her path

to entrepreneurial success. When asked Valentina why she chose to migrate from her home to the

host country, she talked of the pull factors of better opportunities (Lee, 1966; Stouffer, 1940,

1960). During her interview testimony, Valentina discusses many intervening opportunities

(Stouffer, 1940, 1960), support factors of family and friends (Sanders and Nee, 1996), helping

with subsistence needs, and the ability to assimilate by gaining host country system knowledge

and environmental understanding. Valentina explained that she could mitigate sojourning

consequences and assimilate in the host country by building social and business networks (Uzzi,

1996). Like Katrina’s story, Valentina circumvented their sojourning feeling and lack of host

country system and cultural knowledge by building their network instead of finding and

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

144

penetrating existing networks. These positive activities in Valentina’s immigrant entrepreneurial

story allowed her to match opportunities with her resources within the host country for success

(Kloosterman, 2010). According to Valentina:

The big picture I was seeking for a better, uh, career opportunity. So, the opportunities

there were very limited. I felt like I reached the sky there. Uh, that's the main reason.

Huge, huge issues. It's uh, it wasn't an easy journey for me at all.

I just simply felt like I'm I don't belong. I don't, and I'm not needed here. I couldn't, umm,

couldn't really understand a lot of things. So just the cultural thing. it was challenging to

me, especially back then. I didn't understand why people are so distant from people.

I was constantly looking for somebody who is like me, who speaks Russian. And um, I

was going to the Facebook pages or some, uh, meet up places, see where the people like

me, where are they and what are they doing? So that was that was one of the biggest

differences that everybody spoke different language.

I was like in the limbo and couldn't do much, I felt terrible, and I couldn't really get any

support from any Americans; and we open Russian group which just reach 100,000

members on Facebook. It is one of the largest Russian speaking group and he's an

American.

When exploring the topic of Invisibleness, the researcher found Valentina experienced a

perceived (Ambosa et al., 2019) and physical experience of projected negative Invisibleness by

the host country's environment and system (Glazer and Moynihan, 1970). Valentina’s story

discusses two stages of her life for Invisibleness. In these two stages of Valentina’s life, she

associates them with her home and host country experiences. In both instances, Valentina desired

visibility but received rejection and Invisibleness from the home and host countries due to racism

in the home country (Mohl, 1985) and system challenges in the host. However, in Valentina’s

testimony, she contributes these experiences as catalysts for her entrepreneurial successes.

Valentina’s story provides consistent resiliency attributes, increasing risk tolerance, motivation,

environmental adaptiveness (Saravathy, 2001), strong work ethic, and ability to build

relationships and networks (Uzzi, 1996). In Valentina’s story, the researcher found that the

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

145

proposed proposition of Invisibleness used as an ethnic strategy does not occur at the earlier

stage of the immigrant entrepreneur’s business development. The researcher found that

Invisibleness takes on a different form in the stages of the entrepreneurial immigrant’s successes.

The research finds that Valentina has transitioned from the subsistence phase through the social

and growth phases and is currently in the personal phase of the IEN model for motivational

success achievement. According to Valentina:

I have like 2 basically stages of my experience here in America. Was one before and that

was painful because I want to be visible because I was visible all my life and I was a

person with the capital letter. So, I could resolve so much just by making a call by asking

someone, and here I was like pretty much nothing, and that was that was hurtful at that

specific point of my life.

I remember when you're walking on the street and the kids or adults even say some stupid

comments like oh like Russian chicks or whatever. You know, like something really

hurtful. I never, I never heard anything here like that you know, one time just American

lady told me she wasn't happy because of whatever service I should, uh, she received. She

just called me white trash, but I think it's not because I'm a foreigner. So alright, so it's

yeah, I feel like it was a good comment because I thought to myself, finally I probably

belong because that's what they believe.

I would love to be invisible as and as of right now, I manage my businesses, the people I

work with. I think contributed so much for them to be independent, um and capable to

resolve things without asking for my help. So, I want to be left in peace. I want to be

invisible. I don't want nobody complain uh, asking for the manager's contact details and

uh, reach out to me. So, I see it as a positive and as a negative for sure.

Valentina discussed her viewpoints on entrepreneurial motivation, startup challenges,

business goals, and how she defined success. Valentina asserted she did not have goals initially

and was just looking at an opportunity and trying not to make a mistake. Valentina transitioned

the interview testimonies to explain that building processes and establishing a system for the

business to increase growth and profits without her constant oversight is the focus. For

Valentina’s challenges, she explained the importance of time management, making intelligent

decisions when selecting employees, and establishing best business practices. For the topic of

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

146

success, Valentina defined success from a personal level. Valentina associates success with

financial and personal freedom and functioning systems. When asked about sustaining her

success, Valentina focused on five factors. These five factors are building lasting relationships

within a strong network, minimizing mistakes, adapting and advancing a functional system with

policies and procedures, creating system artifacts like an employee’s handbook, and making

intelligent decisions on employee selections. Valentina concluded her interview by stating that

there is no magic and entrepreneurial success is through hard work. Valentina stated that

immigrant entrepreneurs must seek self-help in the host country and not rely solely on their

attributes (Cummings, 1980). According to Valentina:

I just make a step further to see where it takes me and that was a not mistake and it

worked out great.

I wanted to make a better system to cover bigger scope of work and get more money and

have money keep coming, and then, until the point where we couldn't handle that.

The biggest challenge because time management, you know, like when I started, it was

like nonstop.

My personal goals, yes, there's three of them, time, freedom, money, but with freedom, I

think like my third thing, that’s um, absence of emergencies or urgent presence is needed.

It's kind of time freedom, you know? So, I wanna see that, everything I put in this

company really works in the system.

A must is to ensure the system works and is constantly adapted and improved, but from

the beginning.

Behind any entrepreneurial success in the United States is a lot of hard work. So, they

have to be ready for that, there is no magic.

Valentina met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Violet (Виолета)

Violet is an immigrant entrepreneur who has been a business co-owner for 25 years in the

host country. Violet has a bachelor’s degree in her home country and a technical degree in the

host country (Hunt, 2009, 2011). Violet and her family migrated with the help of a church

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

147

organization to the United States due to economic collapse, the threat of violence, and a civil war

push factors (Lee, 1966) in the home country. Violet, in her story, discussed many sojourning

effects (Light, 1972; Siu, 1952) in the early years of her time in the host country. Violet

eventually acclimated to the host country, and the sojourning feelings dissipated when she was

reunited with her family and learned the language and system of the host country. Violet

explained to the researcher that she had to overcome many intervening obstacles due to cultural

distances (Hofstede, 1983, 2001, 2011) and her perceptions of the psychic distance (Ambos et

al., 2019; Johanson and Vahlne, 2009) between the host and home countries. According to

Violet:

Sadly, there's still a war between those two people, so this was the reason for us to move

because it wasn't safe to stay in Azerbaijan anymore for Armenian people.

Not like anything about America, just feel sorry to move, feel sad and mad to move

because everything is different, languages and everything and no family.

We came to this country as a refugee, and our sponsor was the Lutheran Church.

I was crying. I wanted to go back home. But it was only from the beginning, now

remembering that it's making me laugh, but before, Hmm. Yeah. Was crying. Yeah. I want

to go back home because you know I miss my parents, I miss my life, my, you know, my

home, everything.

Violet was asked about her position on Invisibleness within the context of this study and

had a difficult time answering the question. In analyzing Violet’s comments, the research finds

she was invisible in the country, not by her choice in the early phases of the migration and

establishment journey. The Invisibleness slowly faded once she could link with a post-Soviet

sponsor and establish the business. Therefore, Invisibleness was a host country system, and

Violet felt cultural distance in her early years as an immigrant in the host country. Violet

explains that the host country's natives were supportive, and her views are only positive.

According to Violet:

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

148

I really don't know how to answer this question. You know, we establish this business in

this country, and I will tell you just, you know, we knew someone who was like here

before we came to this country, and we just found his guys. He was also a Russian

speaking guy.

I only have, like a good memory. Even you know, when we came to this country in 1992,

everybody were like, very, very nice. So, I could only say like you know, good words

about like all American people.

Violet provided testimony on motivation, the business goals, and how she defines

success. Violet explained that her initial motivation and goals for starting the business were

personal freedom, providing a superior product or service, and increased wealth security. Violet

testified to her position on success, focusing on profits, system knowledge, hard work, building

vital, loyal customers and networks, and gaining more personal freedom to spend time with

family. The researcher found that Violet is in the personal phase of the IEN model. According to

Violet:

You know, like to do like good job, I mean, and of course, you know, financially, become

much better. That everybody wants to do whatever.

Um to be the owner of your business because this is your business, and you are the boss.

There is more money financially and you don't depend on anyone like, you know. Because

you're working for yourself. Plus, you're doing whatever you love to do.

If your hard-working person, if you're honest and your personality is good, and if you're

not lazy, I mean, this is more successful for the business. um, honest not to be lazy. And if

you are a hard-working person.

To start their own business, it depends on the kind of business, but get the right people

who have the right information to help you in the system.

Violet met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Evgenia (Евгения)

Evgenia is an immigrant entrepreneur who has owned a business for 12 years in the host

country, has a bachelor’s degree from her home country, and has achieved a degree in the host

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

149

country (Hunt, 2009, 2011). Evgenia speaks four languages and built several successful

businesses with a national customer base in the host country. Evgenia has started businesses in

three states in the United States. In her testimony, Evgenia explains she did not experience any

sojourning effects (Light, 1972; Siu, 1952) in her immigration process but did not want to

assimilate as a host native. Evgenia, in her testimony, explained that her family and an extensive

network of host country post-Soviet friends living in the host country assisted in the assimilating

process (Erickson, 1972; Sanders and Nee, 1996; Uzzi, 1996;). Evgenia discusses the intervening

obstacles (Lee, 1966) for her were initial language challenges, learning the host country system,

cultural differences (Hofstede, 1983, 2001, 2011) with host natives, and building Russian-

speaking social networks (Uzzi, 1996). According to Evgenia:

Learning the language and the way things work in America.

I finish high school and my two colleges, I have my degree in jurisprudence from

university.

I really do not make any real friends with Americans, they are different, not racist but not

like my culture, you know, our jokes, music, food, movies, and many things they don’t

understand.

I am thinking I am American by passport, but Russian by culture.

The system is very, very different in America. It has a lot of bureaucracy. I do not know if

it’s hard for us immigrants or hard for everyone. Us immigrants know how to find a way

to get where we want to go and make money.

Evgenia was asked to explain her view on the topic of Invisibleness within the context of

this study. Evgenia explains that she uses social media platforms to promote her business

through Russian-speaking networks (Cummings, 1980; Uzzi, 1996; Xie and Gough, 2011), and

these platforms assisted greatly in expanding her customer reach within the post-Soviet cohort.

However, when the researcher asked about these social media networks, Evgenia explained that

her initial networks aligned with her home country, but she expanded a few years ago to

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

150

Americans (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Aldrich et al., 1985). Evgenia explained that she was

intentionally invisible or visible to host natives as either exotic, incompetent, or noncapable

because of her accent and style (Haslam, 2006; Markowitz and Slovic, 2020). Evgenia started

her early success, becoming visible to post-Soviet people living in the host country (Aldrich and

Waldinger, 1990; Aldrich et al., 1985; Xie and Gough, 2011). Evgenia explained a desire to be

more visible in the early development of her business but did not choose to become more visible

in the open market (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990) until she understood the host system and her

business profits grew to a need for expansion outside of her post-Soviet consumers. The

researcher found that Evgenia desired to be visible but kept her business visibility within the

cohort until business growth required expansion to host natives. According to Evgenia:

I think I cannot say for sure. I can’t say I had negative on me but people here think you

have an accent you are slow in the head.

People do not want to give you a good job, they think us Russian immigrants from a

country with dirt on the floor and bears in the streets.

Um, maybe I did use invisibleness. I did not want to promote myself big when I started. I

didn't want to expand my business because I was learning so much, I was building

clients, learning the language, the business system, you know.

If you are not visible when you get big business, you will not be successful, you will not

have a business for long. So, yes, I like to be visible, and it helps a lot with my business.

Evgenia was questioned about the differences between immigrant entrepreneurs and host

country natives. Evgenia discussed that immigrant has many talents, stronger mentally, are

willing to take risks, are adventurous, know the value of making money, and can build networks

and focus on how to build more wealth, while natives waste their time focusing things they

cannot change, like politics (Hofstede, 1983, 2001, 2011). Like the other participant’s testimony,

Evgenia sees work as fun, given the reward gains for her work in the host country over the home

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

151

country by using her resources to capitalize on opportunities (Klooster, 2010). According to

Evgenia:

You have freedom to work hard and get large success. They do not understand

government can become horrible like my life under the Soviets. My grandfather went to

the gulag for owning a pig, government takes everything, not give. I never got to know my

grandfather because he died in the gulag for trying to feed his family.

Evgenia was asked about her motivation, goals, and how she defines success. Evgenia

discussed that her goal is a high reputation and personal freedom associated with individual

choices and wealth security. Evgenia discusses her goals to grow the business into an industry

leader by expanding her strong reputation. When Evgenia asked how she could make her

business successful, she stated that she provides the best products and services, has partnerships

(Cummings, 1980), and works harder than others. In sustaining her initial success, Evgenia said

she continues to modify her business model, focuses on growing customers and profits, keeping

talented workers, intelligent supply chains, and adapting. Evgenia’s testimony is focused on

business growth and more profits; the researcher finds Evgenia is in the growth phase of the IEN

model. According to Evgenia:

I am not letting someone have power in my life, I mean my money, my opportunity in the

hands of someone else. I want to make more. I want more freedom.

Make more money, grow your business by being the best and um, have a strong

reputation. You have more freedom of time because your system works without you

controlling everything. Success happens through hard, hard work. You have to continue

to learn, change, and make yourself better or people will go somewhere else.

Hard work, hard work must be fun, learn more, and learn more and more.

Evgenia met all the required criteria as a participant in this study.

Coding Method

As referenced earlier, the researcher used NVivo 14.1.7.1 software tool version for Mac

in the coding process. For each interview, the researcher uploaded the verified transcripts of the

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

152

interviews generated in Microsoft Word into the NVivo program before executing the coding

activity. The researcher uploaded the interviews using the NVivo software tool and ran an auto-

coding function to capture keywords for building an inductive approach codebook. The

researcher executed line-by-line coding while cross-referencing copious notes and memos from

each participant interview to build the inductive codebook. The codebook framework was built

after five interviews were coded due to the large amount of raw data captured for each of the

eighteen interviews. Using the line-by-line coding method, it took the researcher over a month to

code over three hundred pages of raw data. The researcher then conducted a second coding

process by grouping all participants' responses to each of the forty-six questions into single

documents. The researcher conducted a second line-by-line coding to cross-examine the code

results for overlap and consistency for the construction of 15 categories alignment and

development of 8 themes in the thematic framework. Figure 27 captures the researcher's thematic

framework for the results provide in this Chapter.

Peak Tags and Categories

The data analysis captured 9,315 codes in NVivo from the raw data in the eighteen

participant interviews. From the 9,315 total codes emerged 167 peak tags that developed 15

interactional categories called parent codes aggregated from the 167 peak tags NVivo calls child

codes inductively made from the direct references. For example, the category for the definition

of Success was derived from eleven child codes (i.e., financial, personal freedom, system

execution, reputation, legacy, and others). Moreover, the study's participants are initially from a

home country who migrated into a host country; therefore, the researcher did not subcategorize

home and host for culture and environment. For home and host cultures and environments, both

areas are broken out for set categories inductively built. The 15 categories building the thematic

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

153

framework are acclimation, home country culture, host country culture, education, home country

environment, host country environment, IEN factors, Immigrant profile, intervening obstacles,

intervening opportunities, Invisibleness, Networks, the definition of Success, initial Success, and

Sustainable Success. The researcher's peak tags and categories are in Figure 24 of this study.

Figure 24: Coding Categories

Acclimation

In the eighteen interviews, the category acclimation received 498 aggregated coding tags

from child codes. The research found varying acclimation challenges in participants' migration

onto entrepreneurial Success in the host country. The researcher proposed in Chapter 1 that

immigrants of all ethnicities cannot migrate from home to a host country and assimilate after a

reasonable time. The researcher believed the United States, as a host country, comprises many

diverse groups of immigrants coexisting in one system. The study found that all eighteen

participants operating their businesses in six states had not assimilated to the host country even

after ten to thirty-plus years of living there. Of the eighteen participants, fifteen were naturalized

citizens, with the remaining three getting citizenship. Testimony captured from the participants'

interviews in the coding process supported the term acclimation over assimilation. Consequently,

Catergories

100+ 200+ 300+ 400+ >500

Acclimation 498

Home Country Culture 257

Host Country Culture 108

Education 147

Home Country Environment 143

Host Country Environment 496

IEN Factors 147

Immigrant Profile 1213

Intervening Obstacles 201

Intervening Opportunities 149

Invisbleness 113

Networks 217

Success Definition 188

Intitial Success 645

Sustainable Success 127

Number of Tags

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

154

the term assimilation in the study is underprovided for immigrants in achieving the title

'American,' as Glazer and Moynihan (1970) argued. This study used Glazer’s 'and Moynihan's

(1970) argument of a northern model using acclimation as the accepted position over a southern

model demanding assimilation. To restate from Chapter 1, the definitions of assimilation and

acclimation for this study are as follows:

Acclimation: The belief that an immigrant or group of immigrants of different ethnicity

and cultural heritages adapt to their interacting environment or situation in a host

country; The ability to coexist without the host country's natives perceiving them

as an outgroup.

Assimilation: The belief that an immigrant or group of immigrants of different ethnicity

and cultural heritages conform to the host country's traditions, language, and

cultural norms.

Home Country Culture

The category Home Country Culture received 257 aggregated coding tags from child

codes in the eighteen interviews. The research found 154 negative attitude code tags and 103

positive code tags for the home country's culture. Leveraging Hofstede's (2011) six dimensions,

the participant's negative attitudes towards their home country's culture were the high-power

distance, economic uncertainty, and normative repression. On the positive side, the highest tags

were collectivism and masculinity. Hofstede (2011) Cultural Dimensions Model provided the

researcher with criteria for measuring the participant's stance toward their home country's

culture. The eighteen participants' testimonies aligned with Hofstede's (2011) belief that culture

results from a 'collective programing' of an individual's mind. This collective programming

(Hofstede, 2011) by the group influences the development of the individual's predisposing

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

155

characteristics. Hofstede's (2011) six dimensions scale between a home and host country are

found to act as intervening obstacles. The intervening obstacles for this study's participants were

language differences, new and diverse cultural norms, limited initial social networks, a sense of

invisibility, and systematic discrimination.

Host Country Culture

The category Host Country Culture received 108 aggregated coding tags from child codes

in the eighteen interviews. The research found 74 negative attitude code tags and 34 positive

code tags for the home country's culture. In the study, the researcher found no evidence of host

country natives collectively discriminating against these participants. The only testimonies of

discrimination in the host country were of other ethnic immigrant groups and selected

individuals. Fishbein and Ajzen's (1967) theory of Reasoned Action and Ajzen's (1985) theory of

Planned Behavior were used in the researcher's analysis and interpretation process of the data in

the research. Fishbein and Ajzen's (1967) explained that an individual's behaviors originate from

their pre-existing attitudes and behavioral purposes. Ajzen's (1985) theory of Planned Behavior

expanded on his previous works by clarifying that individuals decide to perform a particular

behavior if they sense they will accomplish a chosen outcome from the behavior. Therefore, the

higher negative over positive responses for the host country's culture identified in the

participants' testimonies are connected to the positive perceptions of participants on their cultural

upbringing in the home country. The home and host country's cultural separation provided

noteworthy coding tags that exhibited a split on the Hofstede (2011) cultural distance scale. The

immigrant entrepreneurial participants direct reporting found the participants execute Perceived

Behavioral Controls (PCB) to accomplish a reasoned action of attaining wealth security for their

desired individual freedom. The participants provide abundant accolades for the host country’s

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

156

opportunities it offers but are quick to degrade the host native culture and behaviors by calling

the natives entitled, lazy, and mentally weak. The study agrees with Awotoye and Singh (2018)

on Ajzen's (1985) theory that a person's behaviors are grounded in their intentions, and these

intentions are predicated by the participant's attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral

control (PBC). The study uncovered five participants having a level of sojourning (Siu, 1952)

during their acclimation process in the host country. The study found that all the participants

retained some level of their group's culture, and several participants provided testimonies that

they did not initially consider the host country an enduring residency. Likewise, Aldrich and

Waldinger's (1990) argument of intervening obstacles associated with common entrepreneurial

challenges related to establishing a business, interethnic competition, and rivalry over resources

and customers is supported in the research findings.

Education

The category Education received 147 aggregated coding tags from child codes in the

eighteen interviews. Of the cohort of participants, fifteen attained a bachelor's degree, and 10 had

a master's or doctor's degree from their home country. This cohort of participants was formally

educated, with fifteen participants having attained additional educational training in the host

country. The study supports Hunt's (2011) findings that immigrants who arrive in the host

country with college degrees have a statistically significant 1.2 percentage point advantage over

natives. However, the research findings moderately differ from Hunt's (2011) findings on a

correlation between entrepreneurial Success in niche markets and the immigrant’s knowledge

associated with their host country's formal educational training. Of the eighteen participants,

only seven aligned with Hunt's (2011) argument. In the study, eleven participants' rationale for

not leveraging their explicit knowledge and formal degree was their discontentment with that

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

157

field of work and learning. Unfortunately, the researcher did not capture actual earnings from the

participants but was able to attain business cash flow information. All participants had over one

million dollars in cash flows for their businesses. This finding supports Hunt's (2011) assertion

that naturalized immigrants outperform natives in wage earnings. The study discovered the

extreme challenges for gaining reciprocity of home country educational degrees in the host

country. The study found that the host country system offers some sense of ethnocentrism toward

immigrant academic degrees. Many participants abandoned their pursuit of education transfer in

the host country due to intervening obstacles (Lee, 1966) associated with the host country

accepting their academic degrees and executing entrepreneurial behaviors shortly after.

Home Country Environment

The Home Country Environment category received 143 aggregated coding tags from

child codes in the eighteen interviews. The research found 90 negative attitude code tags and 53

positive code tags for the home country environment. Of the 53 positive code tags, all positive

statements came from the seven Russian participants. The researcher cautions that current affairs,

with a war occurring between Russia and Ukraine at the time of the study, may inadvertently

offset the data accuracy in this study for this area. However, of the negative tags from direct

references, government, lack of speech freedom, restriction of individual opportunities, system

benefitting a selected few, economic uncertainty, limitation of movement, and corruption were

the highest.

Host Country Environment

The category Host Country Environment received 496 aggregated coding tags from child

codes in the eighteen interviews. The research found 155 negative attitude code tags and 341

positive code tags for the home country environment. The overwhelming majority of testimonies

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

158

were positive for the host country's environment. The pull factors (Lee, 1966) of economic

opportunism, lower levels of corruption, and freedom of speech and movement were the highest

tags from direct references. The negative direct references were associated with host natives

understanding their English, lack of system understanding, limited initial networks, and

bureaucracy. Several participants expressed a strong desire to be host natives but stated they

never would, even though they are naturalized citizens living in the host country for thirty years.

Some participants explained a miscalculation of the perceived psychic distance between the host

and the home country (Ambosa et al., 2019). The psychic distance described by Johanson and

Vahlne (1977) explains as a measure of impediments to the flow of information between ethnic

groups. The researchers found evidence that economic systems, lack of a common language,

country-specific international experience, and cultural differences increased the psychic distance

perceptions of an immigrant (Ambosa et al., 2019). The study found that a distributed ethnic

network using social media tools mitigated the intervening obstacles in the host country and

supported these immigrants in their initial business startup and Success before expanding into an

open market to capture host natives as customers (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990).

Immigrant Entrepreneurial Needs (IEN) Factors

In the eighteen interviews, the category IEN Factors received 147 aggregated coding tags

from child codes. The model's breakdown of code tags for the four IEN phases is Subsistence at

33, Social at 35, Growth at 41, and Personal at 38. As outlined in chapter two, the researcher

developed the IEN framework to capture data for defining post-Soviet Immigrant

Entrepreneurial Success. The IEN framework consists of four factors linked to the immigrant

entrepreneurial transition periods, from the mobile and establishment phase to the sustained

success phase. Outside the individual motivation level, each factor's priority level experiences

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

159

influence by exogenous forces the researcher labeled intervening obstacles (Lee, 1966) and

intervening opportunities (Stouffer, 1940, 1960) as the immigrant entrepreneur transitions

through the phases in their entrepreneurial life cycle. During the research, the researcher

discovered an error in the initial model from the direct testimonies of the participants. The

researcher found that the IEN framework’s phases' sequential structure was out of transitory

configuration with the participants' actual path from migration through business establishment

onto sustained entrepreneurial success in their life cycle.

The data revealed that the correct process of evolution is Subsistence –> Social –>

Growth –> Personal. The research data analysis finds the personal phase of the IEN model as the

highest level of Success accomplished for the participants. The participants continually described

to the researcher that there is a need to attain economic wealth security. When wealth security is

realized, the participants report a level of success sustainment as they perceive true personal

freedom. The participants described personal freedom as increasing their ability to spend more

time with family, vacation travel, and not focus on the business. The personal phase is the

highest level of business success for the participants. The updated IEN framework is seen below

in Figure 25.

Figure 25: Update to the IEN Framework

Social

Growth

Personal

Subsistence

Intervening

Opportunities

Intervening

Obstacles

Immigrant Entrepreneurial Needs Model

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

160

To restate from Chapter 2, the IEN model was developed from the underpinning

theoretical principles in the theory of human motivation by Maslow (1943). Maslow's (1943)

theory explains that individuals are motivated by a need to fulfill their immediate lower-level

survival needs before becoming motivated to transition to the next higher level of individual

needs (Maslow, 1943). The IEN model with a set standard for each participant's firm having

reached a breakeven point or profitability and maintaining business continuity for three years

defines immigrant entrepreneurial Success.

Immigrant Profile

The Immigrant Profile category received the most significant coding tags in the codebook. The

immigrant profile category received 1,213 aggregated coding tags from child codes in the

eighteen interviews. The immigrant profile was the most extensive data of all categories. The

immigrant profile consists of a series of traits that comprise the independent variable influence

on the dependent variable of Success in the research model. The research found 913 positive and

300 negative code tags for the immigrant profile. Of the negative tags, language challenges,

understanding the host system, and misperceptions of the psychic distances between home and

host were the principal intervening obstacles (Lee, 1966) associated with the Immigrant's profile.

Of the 913 tags making up the Immigrant profile category, the following factors are:

• Care of Family

• Highly Motivated

• Formally Educated

• Ability to Absorb Above Normal Levels of Risk

• Hard Work is Viewed as Fun

• High Self-Esteem

• Calculated

• Adaptive / Nonstop Learning

• Ability to Rapidly Build Networks

• Ability to Accumulate Wealth

• Strong Need to Start New Adventures

• Process Development

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

161

The researcher captured the top 12 coding tags from the eighteen participant's direct

reporting to develop the profile for the predisposing characteristics of the post-Soviet immigrant

entrepreneur seen in Figure 30.

Intervening Obstacles

The category Intervening Obstacles received 201 aggregated coding tags from child

codes in the eighteen interviews. The researcher used Lee's (1966) works on the migration theory

to examine the various intervening obstacles these post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs

encounter with interacting culture and environment on their way to entrepreneurial Success in

the host country for this study. To restate, Lee (1966) explains, "No matter how short or how

long, how easy or how difficult, every act of migration involves an origin, a destination, and an

intervening set of obstacles" (p. 49). The research discovered from the direct testimony of the

study's participants the following intervening obstacles in priority order:

• Lack of System Understanding – Rules

• Language

• Lack of Support Networks

• Economic Conditions / Higher Cost of Living

• Time Management

• Certification Acceptance Barriers

• Access to Capital

Intervening Opportunities

The category Intervening Opportunities received 149 aggregated coding tags from child

codes in the eighteen interviews. The researcher leveraged Stouffer's (1960) theory on

intervening opportunities for examining the various intervening opportunities these post-Soviet

immigrant entrepreneurs encountered within the interacting culture and environment that assisted

them in achieving entrepreneurial success in the host country for this study. To restate, Stouffer

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

162

(1940, 1960) explains in his law, "The number of persons going a given distance is directly

proportional to the number of opportunities at that distance and inversely proportional to the

number of intervening opportunities." The research discovered from the direct testimony of the

study's participants the following intervening opportunities in priority order:

• Ability to Build or Leverage Ethnic Networks in the Host Country

• Ability to Learn System Quickly

• Increased Market Opportunities

• Ability to Rapidly Navigate Host County System Once Language is Learned

• Financial Rewards

• Ability to Accumulate Wealth

• Reduced Competition

Invisibleness

The category Invisibleness received 113 aggregated coding tags from child codes in the

eighteen interviews. The researcher began this study with a theoretical belief that post-Soviet

immigrant entrepreneurs were achieving entrepreneurial success over host country natives by

having the ability to use invisibleness within the host country. Not only were these immigrants

using invisibleness, they were also leveraging decentralized protected markets through tribal

social media networks as part of their ethnic strategy for business success. For the study,

invisibleness was defined as the ability of an individual or group to conceal their ethnic,

language, and cultural differences from a host country's native majority to melt into the native

populace unnoticed. The researcher's rationale for this theoretical belief was that the use of

'immigrant invisibleness' seems plausible in periods of anti-immigrant sentiment, a war in eastern

Europe, and dehumanization of immigrants (Markowitz and Slovic, 2020) like the United States

is experiencing in 2023. The literature search identified research findings for certain groups of

immigrants from particular geographical regions having the ability of invisibleness as a

concealment advantage among host country's natives over other ethnic groups to achieve rapid

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

163

acclimatization and entrepreneurial success in the United States among the racial majority

(Erickson,1972; Glazer and Moynihan, 1970; Glazer et al., 1975, Leinonen, 2012). However, the

data found different results. The data revealed that the participants strongly desired to be visible

in phases one and two of the updated theoretical model. The participants in direct reporting

explained the host country system projecting invisibleness onto them against their wishes in

phases one and two, as shown in Figure 29. Of the 113 tags, 76 were associated with the host

country system projecting invisibility on the immigrant entrepreneur at entry and business

establishment. The participants reported using invisibleness as a business strategy once they

achieved high financial success. Therefore, the study found invisibleness in the context of this

study did not apply until phase three of the theoretical model in Figure 29.

Networks

In the eighteen interviews, the category Networks received 217 aggregated coding tags from

child codes. The researcher discovered four areas of networks from the direct testimony of the

study's participants. The following four areas in priority order for the coding tags are:

• Word of Mouth

• Home Country Networks for Information Share

• Home to Host Country Networks for Information Share

• Host Country Networks for Information Share

The researcher found that the participants' testimonies aligned with the literature. All

participants leveraged some information-shared networks at the home-country localized level

and home-to-host-country distributed networks for opportunism to negate liabilities (Das et al.,

2017; Savino, 2014; Saxenian, 2000). Once the immigrants had migrated to the host country, two

resurfacing themes were found; the lack of information clarity on the host country system, and a

host country social network were consistent in many of the participants' responses. However,

once these immigrants penetrated the host country, they rapidly leverage their structural

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

164

embeddedness to seek out or develop protected tribal social media networks (Uzzi, 1996) and

overcome the lack of information on the host system as an intervening obstacle (Lee, 1966)

while going unnoticed to host country natives in their entrepreneurial endeavors. The researcher

initially believed that post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs intentionally used an unrecognized

decentralized protective network to natives for planning and employing a series of ethnic

strategies to mitigate various intervening obstacles (Lee, 1966). In the researcher's initial

premise, the participants should report on their activities of taking advantage of opportunities by

utilizing invisibleness, tribal social capital for access to co-ethnic resources, and tribal networks

(Sanders and Nee, 1996; Vinogradov and Jergensen, 2017) for their business startups for

entrepreneurial success over natives. The findings are partially true to that initial statement.

The liability in the statement is that the study found the participants did exercise this

process; however, the participants truly desired to be visible, not invisible, in phases one and two

of the theoretical model in Figure 29 for their business development. The participants reported

that the host system projected invisibleness because the immigrant lacked system and language

knowledge. Therefore, the participants explained that if they understood the host country's

system and language at the onset, they would not have leveraged exclusively ethnic networks

and markets in the host country in their initial entrepreneurial activities. Participants reported a

strong desire to access a host native network early in their lifecycle to understand better the host

country markets, native consumer preferences, and the ability to promote their business to

natives early in the development phase. The study found that immigrant entrepreneurs were

required to use tribal social capital, ethnic resources, and structural embeddedness (Kloosterman,

2010) within a decentralized protective market and networks for their initial business success due

to intervening obstacles reported in the study (Lee, 1966).

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

165

Definition of Success

The category Definition of Success received 188 aggregated coding tags from child codes in the

eighteen interviews. As stated in the IEN factors section, Success for this study is a hybrid

definition of the IEN model related to the immigrant entrepreneur life cycle phases and their firm

having maintained breakeven or profits for over three years. Of the 188 aggerated code tags

developing the success definition category, the researcher found the following top tag factors in

priority order from the participants' direct reporting.

• Personal Freedom

• Reputation

• Financial

• Growth

• Ability to Persevere

• System Execution

• Trust

• Legitimacy

• Legacy

Immigrant entrepreneurial success is a consolidation of participant data findings in the

Immigrant Entrepreneurial Needs (IEN) framework’s four phases connected to a set standard for

each of the participant's firms having reached breakeven or profitability while maintaining

business continuity for three-plus years. It is the entry and exit criteria for each phase the

immigrant entrepreneur explains as they transition through the mobile and establishment phase

into the growth and sustainment phase.

Initial Success Factors

Initial Success received 645 aggregated coding tags from child codes in the eighteen

interviews. The participants' direct reporting on their worldview of initial entrepreneurial success

influenced the phases of the IEN model for the immigrant entrepreneur. Of the 645 aggerated

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

166

code tags developing the initial success findings, the following tops tag factors in priority order

from the participants' direct reporting are:

• Motivation (Received 200 tags)

• Resilient

• Ability to Take Higher Levels of Risk

• Adaptation – Keep Changing

• Legitimacy

• Strong Networks

• Trusting Relationships

• Process Development

• Achieve Information Clarity

• Calculated Risk

Sustainable Success

In the eighteen interviews, Sustainable Success received 127 aggregated coding tags from

child codes. From the participants' direct reporting, the factors behind this category are:

• Smart Decision Marking

• Maintain Motivation / Drive

• Strong Processes

• Adaptation

• Continued Personal Development

• Smart Employee Selections

• Maintaining Cash Flows

• Calculated Risk

• Love What You Do

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

167

Revised Research Model

Figure 26: Research Model

Thematic Framework

The thematic framework in Figure 27 was inductively developed from the coding process

of over 300 pages of raw data. Figure 27 eight themes were developed from the fifteen categories

built from over1200 coding tags in the data analysis process using the NVivo software tool. This

section sequentially discusses each of the eight themes research findings in detail.

Figure 27: Thematic Framework

Post Soviet

Immigrant

Entrepreneur

Predisposing

Characteristics

/Attributes

Post Soviet

Immigrant

Entrepreneur

Success in the U.S.

Intervening Obstacles

Intervening Opportunities

Cultural Distance

Perceived Psychic Distance

Independent Variable

Dependent Variable

Moderating Variables

Mediating Variables

Perceived Risk Level

Perceived Work –Reward Relationship

Relationship between Independent and Dependent

Strength Relationship between Independent and Dependent

Host Country Environment

Distributed Lines of

Communication

Education

Industry Knowledge

Theme # Description

1 How facilitators and barriers affect post-Soviet Immigrants when establishing a business in the United States

2 How disparate opportunities and barriers in entrepreneurship activities for post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs compare to host country natives

3 How the post-Soviet Immigrant Entrepreneurs view Invisibleness

4 How post-Soviet Immigrant Entrepreneur considered initial success

5 How post-Soviet Immigrant Entrepreneurs predisposingtraits contribute to sustainable business success

6 How post-Soviet Immigrant Entrepreneurs Predisposing traits contribute to constructs of Invisibleness as an ethnic strategy

7 How modern networking tools like Social Media support immigrant entrepreneurship activities in the U.S.

8 How networking factors contribute to continued post-Soviet Immigrant Entrepreneurial Success

Thematic Framework

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

168

Theme 1: How facilitators and barriers affect post-Soviet Immigrants when establishing a

business in the United States.

For the thematic framework, theme one's facilitators and barriers are the findings for

immigrant entrepreneurs' predisposing traits profile and intervening obstacles (Lee, 1966)

encountered in their lifecycle to entrepreneurial success. The following tagged codes built the

facilitators, barriers, and opportunities during the inductive analysis of the research's raw data.

Intervening Obstacles (Barriers):

• Direct subsistence needs require access to established tribal networks in the host

country.

• Host country language challenges.

• Lack of system knowledge of the host country.

• Access to capital from the host country system.

• Initial networks are limited.

• New diverse culture – "born again."

• System discrimination – not racial – caste system type discrimination.

• Invisibleness project by system.

Facilitators (Predisposing Traits):

• Family is priority.

• Ethical & morals instruction (elderly, women, and no bragging about self).

• Networks built on tribal trust.

• Hard work is good.

• Desire for freedom

• Ability to build trusting networks.

• Language and cultural skills.

• Deliberate and risk-taking.

• Adaptiveness.

• Resilient.

• Be multitalented.

• The desire for adventurism (desire for new challenges).

Intervening Opportunities:

• Open access to the system for all.

• Lower corruption.

• Market access/ industry is diverse as it provides more choices for entry.

• Native competition is viewed as less competitive.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

169

• The wealth opportunity of the host provides greater rewards (i.e., monetary).

• The scale of industries in larger.

• Ability to leverage networks from local to global.

• Access to open and closed groups of employees and supply chains.

• Ability to rapidly insert into the system without system-created constraints (debt &

time).

The predisposing profile (i.e., facilitators) discovered in the study allowed an immigrant

entrepreneur to rapidly circumvent host country obstacles while sequestering opportunities using

their predisposing traits. The study found that a 'hustle' mentality, 'calculated' risk-taking, work-

reward enthusiasm, and access to decentralized ethnic networks for information clarity allowed

the immigrant entrepreneur to establish startup businesses quickly. Moreover, obstacles like

system discrimination, projected indivisibleness, lack of access to bank leverage, limited native

networks, and scarcity of education reciprocity can be offset by immigrant entrepreneurs. The

immigrant entrepreneur offsets obstacles by leveraging their home country's formal education,

environmental skills training, and predisposing traits to use the host country's scale and diversity

of their market opportunities to employ entrepreneurial activities. The findings discovered that

the barriers are low for immigrant entrepreneurs and opportunities high in the host country.

Theme 2: How opportunities and barriers in entrepreneurship activities for post-Soviet

immigrant entrepreneurs compare to host country natives.

In the research findings, the participants offered minimal testimony of direct challenges,

including discrimination due to interactions with host country natives. Most of the direct

reporting from the participants provided a perspective of host country natives as friendly,

helpful, and welcoming. Several participants expressed some discrimination, but these instances

resulted from other outside ethnic immigrant groups or social interactions with select coworkers.

The participants expressed host country language and system challenges creating some

discrimination challenges, but not natives. The coding process found that the system

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

170

discriminates from the perspectives of the participants. The system discrimination concerns

bureaucracy and lack of credit history for access to housing, vehicle loans, bank accounts, and

startup capital.

Additionally, the participants reported that education transfer requirements were too

burdensome and time-consuming. In the coding analysis, the category of native profile received

98 aggregated tags. Of the 98 tags, 77 tags are perceived by the participants as natives having a

disadvantage compared to the immigrant, and 21 tags for natives having an advantage over the

participants. The participants viewed natives’ advantages as language knowledge, cultural

assimilation, system knowledge and experience, and ability to operate in the system without

inadvertent discrimination. For the native disadvantages, the participants repeatedly viewed

natives as comfortable, risk-averse, entitled, and having a low work ethic. Therefore, the study

found that once able to learn the host country's language, immigrant entrepreneurs can decode

and use the host system to their advantage. Once language and system knowledge are attained,

immigrant entrepreneurs’ predisposing traits, prior formal education, and skill training are

leveraged to rapidly employ entrepreneurial activities over natives to capitalize on business

opportunities (i.e., 149 aggregated coding tags) for entrepreneurial success. The study found

from direct reporting that immigrant entrepreneurs are highly motivated, talented, and have a

"Run" mentality for catching up in the host country as they do not speak the language,

understand the system, or know the culture. The study found that the participants' importance of

learning the host language is a strategic factor for learning the host system to achieve

entrepreneurial success. Once the immigrant learns the host language (i.e., Redevelopment

Phase), the immigrant entrepreneurs insert themselves into the system by exploitation of their

home country's skill training and access to decentralized tribal networks while using an almost

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

171

innate desire for individual freedom. Once the immigrant enters the host system, they navigate

for market opportunities much faster (i.e., Run) than the natives, who should have the advantages

over them.

Theme 3: How the post-Soviet Immigrant Entrepreneur View Invisibleness.

Theme three of the study explored the initial proposition that invisibleness is employed as

an ethnic strategy for entrepreneurial success in a host country. The researcher in this approach

inductively discovered from the participant’s worldview in testimonies that invisibleness is

active in various ways during the immigrant entrepreneur's life cycle. The research found that

post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs’ desire was to be visible and not invisible in their

developmental and business establishment phases (i.e., Phase I and II). The participants

perceived invisibleness as being projected onto them by the host country system, but not by the

host natives. The study found that the participants’ view on host system's initial invisibleness as

an intervening obstacle, not an opportunity. The projection of invisibleness by the system created

barriers for these participants to a wide range of needs, including access to housing, proper

education and employment, ability to open a bank account, secure vehicle loans, working capital,

and more. The study uncovered immigrant entrepreneurs in their initial business development

and mitigated the intervening obstacle of host system invisibleness by leveraging ethnic

networks for customers, suppliers, and employees. This access to ethnic networks and markets

does present a level of influence on the participants' ability to achieve initial entrepreneurial

success. In the participants' direct reporting, they explained an effort executed to work toward

being visible in their life cycle phase to promote their business and growth. However, the study

found that once the immigrant's business was established and initial success and growth of the

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

172

business were attained in the host system, the immigrant entrepreneurs then transitioned from a

desire to be visible to be invisible, as depicted in phase III of the theoretical model.

Furthermore, the study discovered that this post-Soviet immigrant cohort culturally does

not support self-promotion oneself (i.e., to boast/over-exposure) and is highly discouraged. The

individual did not highlight his/her talents for fear of bragging, but did promote the business as

superior over native businesses. When immigrant entrepreneurs achieve growth success on the

IEN scale, they employ new strategies and a desire to be invisible from the business and the

system.

Theme 4: How the post-Soviet Immigrant entrepreneurs consider initial Success.

There are four (4) milestones of Success found in the IEN model: The study defines

Success using the combination of the IEN model and the firm having executed operations for

three or more years with breakeven or profit margins. All participants' businesses met the

qualifications for years and profitability. Therefore, each phase criteria of the IEN model for

success was leveraged with the participants' direct reporting on initial success factors to track the

transitions of immigrant entrepreneurs through their motivational phases to capture the three

milestones for initial success. The research discovered entrance and exit criteria for transition

through each phase, and personal motivation serving as the catalyst for entrepreneurial phase

transitions. The study found 147 aggregated codes for the IEN category, with each phase of the

IEN model receiving the following: Subsistence – 33; Social – 35; Growth – 41; Personal – 38.

The growth phase (i.e., business growth and profit growth) received the most significant number

of tags from direct reporting. The research then overlapped the 645 aggregated code tags and

groupings, building the category for initial entrepreneurial success factors with the IEN code

findings. The researcher aligned the IEN and initial success codes from the direct reporting to

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

173

discover four milestones using entrance and exit criteria for establishing immigrant

entrepreneurs' initial success in each phase of the IEN model.

The research discovered that post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs believe initial success

for the overarching achievement of entrepreneurial success occurred in the following three

milestones:

• Personal Redevelopment Achieved

• Business Profitability Attained

• Operating in the Open Markets

Phase I: Movement and Host Country Establishment

IEN Phase: Subsistence

Entry: Migration to Host

Exit: Personal Redevelopment (Milestone 1) (Initial Success)

Initial Success Factors:

• Motivation.

• Resilient.

• Take Risk.

• Adaptation – Assimilation.

• Network access for information clarity.

Phase IIA: Personal Development and Business Establishment

IEN Phase: Social

Entry: Business Creation

Exit: Business Profitability Attained (Milestone 2) (Initial Success)

Initial Success Factors:

• Motivation.

• Resilient.

• Enhancing networks.

• Trusting relationship build.

• Process development.

• Calculated risk.

Phase IIB: Business Execution

IEN Phase: Growth

Entry: Protected Market Transition

Exit: Operating in the Open Markets (Milestone 3) (Initial Success)

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

174

Initial Success Factors:

• Motivation.

• Ability to take higher levels of risk.

• Adaptation – keep changing.

• Legitimacy established.

• Strong networks in place.

• Process enhancements.

• Achieved information clarity.

Phase III: Business Adaptation and Sustainment

IEN Phase: Growth and Personal

Entry: Adaptation

Exit: Success Sustained (Milestone 4) (Sustained Success)

Milestone 4 is not associated with initial success; rather, it is sustained success. The

immigrant entrepreneur in Phase III of the theoretical model and the personal phase of the IEN

model views sustained success as personal freedom. Success is sustained once the immigrant

entrepreneur achieves his/her personal freedom. Personal freedom is found to have the following

definition: having achieved wealth security with the ability to maximize time away from the firm

to spend with family.

Theme 5: How post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs’ predisposing traits contribute to

sustainable business success.

From the direct reporting, Sustainable Success received 127 aggregated coding tags from

child codes. The research received 1,213 aggregated coding tags from the data to analyze the

immigrant profile category. The immigrant profile findings developed the predisposing traits

from 913 positive and 300 negative code tags for the immigrant profile. The predisposing traits

and Sustained Success factors behind these two categories are:

Predisposing traits for the immigrant entrepreneur were:

• Take care of family.

• Highly motivated.

• Formally educated.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

175

• Higher risk levels to U.S. natives perceived as lower.

• Hard work is viewed as fun (work more for rewards).

• Confident –high self-esteem.

• Calculated.

• Focus on process development.

• Adaptive – nonstop learning.

• Ability to build networks.

• Ability to accumulate capital.

• Desire to try new things.

Immigrant entrepreneur continued business success factors:

• Smart decision marking.

• Maintain motivation / drive.

• Strong processes.

• Adaptation.

• Continued personal development.

• Smart employee selections.

• Maintaining cash flows.

• Calculated risk.

• Love what you do.

Figure 28 illustrates the linkages between the research findings on the immigrants’

predisposing traits and sustained success factors.

Figure 28: Predisposing Traits and Sustained Success Linkages

•Take Care of Family

•Highly Motivated

•Formally Educated

•Higher Risk Level Tolerance

•Hard Work is Viewed as Fun (Work

more for Rewards)

•Confident –High Self Esteem

•Calculated /Focus on Process

Development

•Adaptive –Nonstop Learning

•Ability to Build Networks

•Ability to Accumulate Capital

•Desire to Try New Things

qSmart Decision Marking

qMaintain Motivation / Drive

qStrong Processes

qAdaptation

qContinued Personal Development

qSmart Employee Selections

qMaintaining Cash Flows

qCalculated Risk

qLove What You Do

Sustained Business Success Factors Immigrant Entrepreneur Predisposing traits

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

176

Theme 6: How post-Soviet Immigrant Entrepreneurs' Predisposing factors contribute to

constructs of invisibleness as an ethnic strategy.

In the coding process and analysis of the data findings for theme 6, the researcher

discovered the researcher's premise on invisibleness as a phenomenon associated with the

immigrant entrepreneur's success by leveraging their predisposing traits was misaligned with the

findings. The research found that immigrants employed invisibleness at stages of their

entrepreneurial lifecycle, which makes invisibleness a component of the immigrants’

entrepreneurial activities. The research revealed that the participants did express a desire for

invisibleness in the later stage of Phase III of their business success and the personal phase of the

IEN model. However, in Phases I & II, the immigrant entrepreneur did not employ invisibleness

as an ethnic strategy; they had to overcome invisibleness as an intervening obstacle (Lee, 1966).

These post-Soviet entrepreneurs desired to be visible in their entrepreneurial activities, but the

host country system created a level of invisibleness for them in Phases I and II of Figure 29.

Immigrant entrepreneurs reported a requirement to use protective ethnic markets and networks to

initially establish a business and accumulate wealth until they had become visible to the host

system for open market expansion.

Furthermore, the researcher discovered that the higher the density of ethnic groups in a

set region within the host country, the more invisible the immigrant was inclined to become

(North Model) due to the various ethnic groups living in their host country area. This post-Soviet

immigrant cohort’s perspective on invisibleness was more attributed to their home country's

culture that developed their predisposing traits, not to any ethnic strategy employed by them in

the host country. Three of the eighteen respondents (16 percent) did use invisibleness as an

ethnic strategy. One possible explanation from the findings is that these participants were

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

177

initially operating their business outside the host system until they accumulated enough capital to

enter the business in the host system.

Theme 7: How modern networking tools like social media support immigrant

entrepreneurship activities in the U.S.

For theme seven, networks received 217 aggregated coding tags. Four areas of networks

from the direct testimony of the study's participants were discovered:

• Word of mouth.

• Home country networks for information share.

• Home to host country networks for information share.

• Host country networks for information share.

The top network tag found by direct reporting was word of mouth. However, in the

participants’ testimony, word of mouth also included the use of social media tools. All the

participants in their direct reporting leveraged some information-shared networks using social

media tools at the home-country localized level and home-to-host-country distributed networks

to achieve information clarity and opportunism to mitigate liabilities (Das et al., 2017; Savino,

2014; Saxenian, 2000). The topic of networks was critical to the immigrants' life cycle

development and growth for their entrepreneurial success. The use of social media was not only

aligned with business promotion, but the modern networking social media tools were used to

exchange information and attain "Information Clarity" to employ their ethnic strategies for

gaining access to customers, employees, and suppliers for business success. The participants’

initial business establishment and early success relied on the use of new decentralized protective

tribal networks created with the use of social media tools.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

178

Theme 8: How networking factors contribute to continued post-Soviet Immigrant

Entrepreneurial Success.

In theme eight, Phases I and II networks in Figure 29 helped the immigrants overcome

intervening obstacles like host system invisibility. Participants revealed that the host system

created barriers like education transfer challenges, lack of employment opportunities in using

their formal education, and access to capital and native customers. Immigrant entrepreneurs used

their ethnic networks to build relationships and establish businesses. Once the immigrant

entrepreneurs successfully achieved a profitable business, they expanded their business exposure

by building or engaging open market networks as an incentive to expand their entrepreneurial

activities to the open market. This supports the theory that the ethnic decentralized protective

network is critical to Phases I & II initial business success, and the expansion of open market

networks can assist the immigrant entrepreneur in sustaining success in the host system open

markets.

Update to the Theoretical Model

The preliminary theoretical model provided in earlier chapters necessitated revisioning

after the raw data was captured and analyzed in the coding process. The researcher discovered

invisibleness was prevalent, but different in two distinct stages of the immigrant entrepreneurial

lifecycle. The results of the researcher revealed the initial assumptions of two phases divided into

initial and sustained success was inaccurate. The research findings discovered three phases

containing three initial success milestones with one sustained success linked to the term personal

freedom. The model in Figure 30 was updated to provide a holistic illustration of the research

results described in the 8 themes of thematic framework.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

179

Figure 29: Restructured Theoretical Model

Theoretical Argument for Entrepreneurial Intelligence

The research was derived from the literature on immigrant entrepreneurship to

inductively examine why immigrant entrepreneurs are outpacing host country natives in

entrepreneurial success. The researcher initially offered the idea that certain immigrant groups

have an invisibility associated with them when they migrate to a host country. It was initially

theorized that the immigrant capitalized on the idea of invisibleness as an ethnic strategy to

establish businesses to achieve entrepreneurial success rapidly. The rationale behind this belief

came from the literature findings on other studies of invisibleness because certain ethnic groups

are not perceived as a threat to the significant demographic of natives. As such, the immigrants

Home Country

Societal

Influences on

Groups

Home Country Groups

Influences on

Individuals Predisposing

Factor Influencers

ORIGIN

Eastern Bloc

Immigrant

Entrepreneur’s

Predisposing

Attributes

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7

Migration

Establishment &

Access into Ethic Enclave

Personal redevelopment

Business Establishment

Success Sustainment

Phase I:

Movement & Host

Country Establishment

Phase II:

Personal development &

Business Establishment

Phase III:

Business Adaptation &

Sustainment

Protected Market Transition

Entry in the Open Markets

+++

Decentralized Protected Market Establishment &

Expansion

(Social Networks)

ETHNIC STRATEGY EMPLOYMENT STRATEGIC EMPLOYMENT CHANGE

RQ 1 RQ 2

INDIVIDUAL

AT ORIGIN

PERCEIVED

PSYCHIC

DISTANCE WITH

HOST COUNTRY

ENVIRONMENT

Desire to be Visible

(-) INVISIBLENESS Desire to be

INVISIBLENESS (+)

Host Country Environment

Business Profitability

Attained

STEP 4.1 STEP 5.1 STEP 6.1

Adaptation Phase

Host Country Culture

Maintaining Decentralized Protected &

Establishing Open Market Expansion

(Social Networks)

DESTINATION

Home Country Environment

Home Country Culture

+Intervening Opportunities

Intervening Obstacles

Success Milestones

IEN Transitions

Interactive

Legend

Cultural Distance

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

180

can ‘blend in’ to the host country's environment unnoticed. However, the study found that

invisibleness is a factor in the immigrant entrepreneur’s lifecycle of success but not a developed

ethnic strategy in the host country. During the study on the post-Soviet cohort of immigrant

entrepreneurs in the United States, it was discovered that a profile emerged for these participants.

The eighteen participants operated their businesses in different markets and states in the United

States.

Moreover, each of the study’s participants did not interact with each other or have

business relationships. Yet, through the conduct of the research and linkage to the literature, an

emerging profile for all these successful entrepreneurial participants was discovered. The

researcher explored more literature on the topic of the Entrepreneurial Mindset (Goldman, 2007;

Neck, 2018; Neck et al., 2021; Somers, 2022) and Entrepreneurial Intelligence (EI) (Envick,

2014; Neck, 2018). The literature on the Entrepreneurial Mindset is more established than the

information search on Entrepreneurial Intelligence. In discovering more information concerning

EI, researcher Gartner (1988) stated that researchers have not agreed on a profile for EI. The

topic of EI is novel, innovative, and requires more examination. This study found a set profile

built from a cohort of eighteen post-Soviet successful immigrant entrepreneurial participants.

Figure 30 offers a starting point for defining EI with nine characteristics in this research. The

importance of this theoretical position in this study has significant impacts on lending

institutions, venture capitalists (VC), and the development of regulations and policies for

governmental programs. This research calls on the academic research community to expand this

research on Entrepreneurial Intelligence.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

181

Figure 30: Aggregated Research Findings

Summary

In summary, chapter four provided the findings of this study's theoretical offering. This

chapter's presentation explained the data collection, analysis process, participants' testimonies

with connection to the body of literature, research findings, conceptual model updates, and a

theoretical offering. It concludes with an initial call for future research studies to define

Entrepreneurial Intelligence (EI).

Post Soviet

Immigrant Entrepreneur

Predisposing

Characteristics/Attributes

Home Country Societal

(Environment & Culture)

Influences on Groups

•Corruption –Federal, State & Local

•Strong Educational System (STEM)

•Highly Talented –Multiskilled Workforce

•Restricted Opportunities

•Restricted Speech and Mobility

•Socialist Economy

•Communist Governmental System

•Collectivism Influenced by Government

•Select Few Have Opportunities

•Lower Economic Conditions / Unstable

Economic Conditions

•Threat of Violence and/or Death if going

outside the System

Home Country

Groups

Influences on

Individuals

Predisposing

Factor

Influencers

•Family is Priority

•Ethical & Morals

Instruction (Elderly,

Women, and No Bragging

on Self)

•Networks built on Trust

•Hard Work is Good

•Desire for Freedom

•Ability to Build Trusting

Networks

•Language and Cultural

Skills

•Deliberate and Risk Taking

•Adaptiveness

•Resilient

•Be Multitalented

•Desire for Adventurism

(Desire for New

Challenges)

•Take Care of Family

•Highly Motivated

•Formally Educated

•Higher Risk Levels to U.S.

Natives Perceived as Lower

•Hard Work is Viewed as Fun

(Work more for Rewards)

•Confident –High Self Esteem

•Calculated

•Focus on Process Development

•Adaptive –Nonstop Learning

•Ability to Build Networks

•Ability to Accumulate Capital

•Desire to Try New Things

Social

Growth

Personal

Subsistence

Intervening

Opportunities

Intervening

Obstacles

Host Country Culture Factor

Host Country Environment

Post Soviet

Immigrant

Entrepreneurial

Successes in U.S.

Entrepreneurial Intelligence

•Language Challenges

•Lack of System Knowledge

•Access to Capital

•Initial Networks are Limited

•New Diverse Culture

•System Discrimination

•Invisibleness

•Open Access to System of All

•Lower Corruption

•Market Access/ Industry is

Diverse as Provides more Choices

for Entry

•Natives Competition is Less

•Wealth Opportunity of Host

Provides Greater Rewards

•Scale of Industries in Larger

•Ability to leverage Networks from

regional to National to Global

•Access to Open and Closed

Employees and Supply Chains

•Ability to Rapidly Insert into

System without System Created

Constraints (Debt & Time)

Immigrant Entrepreneurial Needs Model

•Perception of Risk Tolerance Level is Above Natives

•Ability to Strategically Observe an Ecosystem / Enhanced Foresight for

Advantageous Positioning for Success

•Motivation to Succeed Linked to Family Survival / Unwilling to Accept Less

•Desire for True Individual Freedom (Wealth Security and Personal Time For Legacy

& Family)

•Live to Work, Not Work to Live

•Deliberate and Calculated Planner

•Resourcefulness / Adaptive

•Ability to Use System for Advantages

•Ability to leverage Decentralized Protective Networks / Knowledge Share

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

182

Chapter 5

Discussion, Implications, Recommendations

Overview

The purpose of this research was to explore a phenomenon occurring where immigrant

entrepreneurs enter and remain to outpace American natives two to one in business startups

while achieving over 25 percent of all new business startups (Awotoye and Singh, 2018; Vandor

and Franke, 2016). The researcher designed and executed a qualitative approach using grounded

theory to inductively determine if the 'Invisibleness' of post-Soviet immigrants in a host country

(i.e., United States) is a moderating variable used as an ethnic strategy for initial and sustained

entrepreneurial success. The study focused on defining success from the participants' worldview

by developing an Immigrant Entrepreneurial Needs (IEN) model to determine how the

participants report initial and sustained success through their motivational lifecycle. Moreover,

the study examined what and how the participants' predisposing characteristics and decentralized

protective markets and networks influence the immigrant's initial and sustainable success in the

host country. The two research questions comprised three sub-questions to segment and guide

the research. The two research questions were divided into initial and sustainable success phases

for theory development. During the research analysis, the study discovered three entrepreneurial

lifecycle phases instead of two and a selectivity away from invisibleness as a theory toward

developing an Entrepreneurial Intelligence profile argument for achieving and sustaining

business success in the host country. The findings of this research call on the academic

community and future scholars to proliferate the argument of Entrepreneurial Intelligence and

develop works beyond the argument of the Entrepreneurial Mindset (Envick, 2014; Gartner,

1988; Goldman, 2007; Neck, 2018, 2021). This researcher calls on future students to provide

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

183

supplementary works from this research for a novel term called Entrepreneurial Intelligence

(Envick, 2014; Neck 2018, 2021).

Organization of the Remainder of the Chapter

The remainder of this chapter is sequentially provided as follows: the research

contributions, discussion and implications, research models facilitating the assemblage of the

data and its analysis, recommendations, research limitations, and a call for future research.

Chapter 5 concludes with the researcher's reflection on the study.

Contribution of the Study

The researcher collected data from eighteen post-Soviet participants in five different

states in the United States operating in ten different market segments of the economy. Over 300

pages of data were collected to increase understanding of immigrant entrepreneurial success and

sustainment of success leading to the development of a theoretical alteration from invisibleness

to Entrepreneurial Intelligence (EI). The research found invisibility linkages to the participants’

predisposing characteristics and contributing to immigrant entrepreneurial success. In the

research findings, invisibility was an obstacle in the initial phases of immigrant entrepreneurial

success.

The research began by conducting an extensive literature review on entrepreneurship,

strategy, immigration, ethnicity, human factors, and other literary works for the inductive

development of the research theory. The research literature review expanded by examining past

research findings on push and pull factors facilitating the migration of individuals and groups

from home to host countries and the associated intervening obstacles (Lee, 1966) and

opportunities (Stouffer, 1960) immigrants encounter navigating the host country environment,

culture, and system for initial business development and success. The study’s literature findings

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

184

oriented the researcher to explore past studies to establish criteria including a framework for

defining immigrant entrepreneurial success from the individual entrepreneur's perspective. The

researcher searched and investigated the literature on the topics of human behavior (Ajzen, 1967,

1985,1991; Lewin, 1936), ethnic enclaves (Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Portes, 1981, 1984),

social networks (Das et al., 2017; Savino, 2014; Saxenian, 2000; Uzzi, 1996), middleman theory

(Aldrich and Waldinger, 1990; Awotoye and Singh, 2018; Bonachich, 1973; Wingfield and

Taylor, 2016), sojourning (Light, 1972; Siu, 1952), mixed embeddedness (Kloosterman et al.,

1999; Kloosterman, 2010; Kloosterman et al., 2016) advantages of socioeconomic, institutional,

and cultural dynamics, and many other works for the development of study's theoretical

proposal.

The study used a cohort of post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs to understand how

immigrants achieve and sustain business success in the host country. During the research data

collection and analysis, the researcher realized a standard profile for predisposing characteristics

emerged from the study participants' testimonies as the influencing factors on initial and

sustained success in the host country. The study findings suggest that the home country's societal

influences on the group that influences the individual provide a set profile of predisposing traits.

Following migrating to a host country, the predisposing traits interact with the host country

environment and culture, influencing the determination of immigrant entrepreneurial behavior.

The works of Hofstede (1983, 1985, 2011) on his six dimensions model that argued culture is the

result of collective programming on the individual's mind assisted the researcher in

understanding the post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurial participant's worldview on how they

engage intervening obstacles (Lee, 1966) and leverage opportunities (Stouffer, 1960) in the host

country against the cultural distance between home and host cultures.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

185

Furthermore, research on psychic distance (Ambosa et al., 2019; Johanson and Vahlne,

2009), Lewin's (1936, 1951) behavior equation, and Ajzen's (1985, 1987, 1991) theories of

planned behavior and reasoned action aided the interpretations of the findings for 'predisposing

factors' for the post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneur's human capital (Aldrich and Waldinger,

1990; Hirschman, 1982). The combination of past literature findings aided in developing the

research theory for interpreting the raw data through the coding process for facilitating the

formation of the immigrant entrepreneur’s predisposing traits profile that led to the researcher's

argument that an Entrepreneurial Intelligence profile can be found in the study's findings. The

immigrant entrepreneur’s predisposing characteristics are critical factors determining

entrepreneurial success. The entrepreneur's predisposing traits profile allows an individual to use

their instinctive predisposing traits to navigate host country obstacles by employing planned

behavioral controls (Ajzen,1985, 1987, 1991) and mixed embeddedness (Kloosterman, 2010) to

leverage entrepreneurial opportunities against host country natives for entrepreneurial initial and

sustained success.

The research suggests that post-Soviet participants are discovered to have a consistent

profile for their predisposing traits and a shared worldview for how to engage and interpret

obstacles and opportunities in their achievement of entrepreneurial success (i.e., Personal

Freedom) in a host country. The study contributes to the academic repository for future scholars

by initiating an argument for an Entrepreneurial Intelligence profile that can prognosticate

entrepreneurial success.

The researcher identified five significant contributions from this study. First, the research

provides the academic repository with a study to fill the deficiency in studies on the ethnic group

of post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs in the United States. Second, the study provides a

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

186

foundation for building a stable profile of predisposing traits for successful immigrant

entrepreneurs while calling for additional research on a novel idea called Entrepreneurial

Intelligence (EI). Third, the findings suggest that Entrepreneurial Intelligence exists outside the

discussions and studies on the Entrepreneurial Mindset, a challenge to the academic consensus

(Envick, 2014; Gartner, 1988; Goldman, 2007; Neck, 2018, 2021). If other researchers can

expand this research and confirm a set profile for Entrepreneurial Intelligence for investors, the

question to ask future business students is: are business plans, financial classes on the importance

of Net Present Value (NPV) analyses, and the numerous strategic approaches truthfully

applicable in determining return on investment decisions for investors and success of the

entrepreneur? Fourth, the research supports Glazer and Moynihan's (1970) northern model

argument to accept acclimation over assimilation. Of the eighteen participants, none was found

to have achieved assimilation in the host country. The definition of acclimation was found

consistent in data for explaining the dynamic host country environment of group relationships

immigrants face when they enter and sustain themselves in the United States. The research study

contributes to Glazer’s and Moynihan's (1970) argument that assimilation is unachievable and

that the northern model as a means for ethnic groups to acclimate together to coexist peacefully

is consistent. Finally, the impact of having a settled Entrepreneurial Intelligence profile and

being accepted by the research community can significantly enhance national immigration

policies and small business lending for immigrants striving to create new businesses in the

United States. If additional research on EI is executed, it can critically support the contemporary

goals of policymakers for investment measures on urban redevelopment and equity enhancement

in the United States.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

187

Discussion and Implications

In the literature review captured in Chapter 2, the Lewin (1936) equation on behavior and

Ajzen (1967, 1985,1991) theories of planned behavior and reasoned action were used to frame

and assess the data captured from the participants of the study in the shaping of what constitutes

'predisposing factors' for an immigrant entrepreneur's human capital (Aldrich and Waldinger,

1990; Hirschman, 1982).

Lewin's (1936) concept was derived from adapting the Gestalt principles to show that

people are a system of systems. It was Lewin's (1936, 1951) work on developing a behavior

equation that explains Behavior (B) is equal to the function (f) of personal traits (P) and one's

environment (E). The research built the personal traits profile (f), home country, and employed in

the host country environment (E) to examine if invisibleness was a behavior attribute. Lewin

(1936, 1951) explained that the relationship between an individual's attributes, environment, and

behavior was leveraged to examine connections to the participants' entrepreneurial success.

Lewin's (1936, 1951) equation assisted the research in understanding the post-Soviet immigrant

entrepreneurs' characteristics and the host country environment's obstacles and opportunity

influence in understanding the immigrants' entrepreneurial behavior. It was determined that

invisibleness is a behavioral factor later in the immigrant entrepreneurial lifecycle.

The study discovered that the immigrant entrepreneur desires to be visible in the host

country. However, invisibleness is projected onto the immigrant, and the host environmental

system drives the immigrant entrepreneur to engage their (P) personal traits and tribal networks

in the (E) host environment for executing an entrepreneurial behavior. Furthermore, to assist in

the theoretical development from the data findings in the study, the researcher used Ajzen and

Fishbein's (1967) theory called Reasoned Action and Ajzen's (1985, 1991) theory on individual

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

188

Perceived Behavioral Controls (PCB) to expand the variable of predisposing traits influence on

the dependent variable of entrepreneurial success in the interpretation of the data for these post-

Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs. The study supports Ajzen's (1985, 1991) and Lewin's (1936,

1951) research by linking their theories to the finding for immigrant entrepreneurial success. The

study found that the system of the host environment interacting with the immigrant's personal

traits derived a behavioral outcome leading to entrepreneurial success (Lewin 1936, 1951).

The participant's testimonies and analysis of the data through the coding process

discovered that post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs' PCBs originated from their perceptions of

the level of difficulty and risk in the host country for executing their behavioral activities for

entrepreneurial employment in the host country. Therefore, considering Lee's (1966) work and

overlaying Ajzen's (1967) theory of planned behavior, the participants were found to execute a

set behavior under Lewin's (1951) equation after migrating from their origin (i.e., U.S.S.R

Controlled territories) to a destination (i.e., United States) for rapidly learning the host country

language and system. Ajzen's (1967, 1985) theoretical concept of PCB is shown in Chapter 2 in

the individual rings of the literature taxonomy in Figure 6.

Though the researcher's initial theoretical proposition on invisibleness was found to have

limited validation on this study's cohort data findings, what emerged was a consistent profile of

predisposing traits and controlled behavioral executions using Lee's (1966) model for intervening

obstacles (Lee, 1966) and opportunities (Stouffer, 1940, 1060) to build an Entrepreneurial

Intelligence theoretical proposition. The study agrees with Ajzen's (1985) theory that a person's

behaviors are predicted by their intentions, and intentions are predicted by one's attitude,

subjective norms, and PBC. Chapter 4 explains Ajzen's (1985) theoretical findings on the

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

189

participant's attitudes are captured as an individual's assessment (i.e., positive or negative) of

their planned behavior when encountering the host country's culture, environment, and system.

The participants, through direct reporting, explained subjective norms concurred by the

social group's interpretation displaying a consistent chosen behavior as acceptable. The post-

Soviet immigrants executed a perceived behavioral control (PBC) for opportunities against host

natives who were perceived as mentally weak, lazy, and entitled, even though the participants

reported their interactions with natives were friendly and supportive. The participants'

testimonies gave the researcher an understanding of the immigrant entrepreneurs' perceived

difficulty level (i.e., obstacles) as low in executing their behavioral activity once they could learn

the host country's language and system. The study finds that the participants' intention (i.e.,

assessment of the host system) is a mediator of the effects of attitude and subjective norms on

behavior for their goals to achieve personal freedom (i.e., wealthy security) (Ajzen,1985;

Awotoye and Singh, 2018; Kautonen et al., 2015).

This study also found that the level of risk tolerance is abnormal to host country natives.

The researcher explored whether the host societal factors associated with this post-Soviet

cohort's experiences created an interpretation of their chosen behavior based on their societal

past in the home country. The cohort's chosen behavior was influenced by the participants'

previous restrictions under a Soviet regime and system that greatly limited opportunistic pursuits

in the home country. The study found that the home country system experiences provided an

'entrepreneurial drive' and development of a closed and decentralized tribal network (Uzzi, 1996)

within a northern model environment (Glazer and Moynihan, 1970) in the host country created

the conditions of entrepreneurial activities by the participants. The tribal decentralized network

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

190

provided the participants access to information clarity for entry into the host country system for

rapid entrepreneurial success.

The cohort of post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs in this study was found to have a mix

of push and pull factors (Lee, 1966) leading to entrepreneurial activities in the host country.

Whether the immigrant entrepreneur decided based on push or pull factors (Lee, 1966) to

migrate, their possession of tacit knowledge (Hunt, 2009; Snow, 1959) and developed

predisposing traits for higher risk-taking, love to work ideology, and the ability to adapt in the

host country (Sarasvathy, 2001) provided an entrepreneurial advantage over host country natives.

The study found that immigrant entrepreneurs innately contain a developed Entrepreneurial

Intelligence profile allowing them to circumvent host country's intervening obstacles and

capitalize on opportunities in their goal of what they deem as true personal freedom.

The research study aligned with the literature that an immigrant's behavior is predicted by

his/her intention, and intentions are in search of entrepreneurial success linked to the ideology of

personal freedom. The participants' intentions in this study were predicted by their attitudes,

tribal subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control in the host country (Awotoye and

Singh, 2018). These post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs' PBC permitted them to handle higher

stress levels than U.S. natives (Awotoye and Singh, 2018). The study also concurred with

Awotoye and Singh (2018) that proposed resilience is a moderating variable between stress and

entrepreneurial intentions for immigrant entrepreneurs, all within the backdrop of PBC (Awotoye

and Singh, 2018).

In the study, the average age of migration for the participants was 22.8 years old, and 83

percent had a bachelor's degree or higher from their home country. The research found that 78

percent received no subsistence support in the host country from a government or non-

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

191

government organization; however, 100 percent used Russian-speaking distributed protective

social media networks to achieve information clarity on business and personal needs in the host

country. As explained earlier, the linkage of predisposing characteristics influencing immigrant

entrepreneurial success was confirmed. However, the researcher was challenged to define initial

and sustained success based on the theoretical position that invisibility was the moderating

variable. The research concludes that invisibleness was not a moderating variable for immigrant

entrepreneurial success, but did serve as a mediating variable.

Models, Theories, and Propositions

As previously explained, the researcher leveraged multiple models and theories to

develop this theoretical research study. The study leveraged eleven major models, theories, and

propositions for the theoretical development and findings presented in this study. Therefore,

within the context of this research, the researcher examined the literature and used studies

approaching the topic of visa type at the entry for an immigrant's projected success in a host

country. The past literature revealed propositions arguing a correlation between visa type at

entry, education, and the predictors for entrepreneurship traits of the immigrant (Hunt, 2011;

Kerr and Kerr, 2016). Though some of the participants aligned with the literature, the study

found a divergence from other findings as 61 percent of the participants attained access to the

host country by claiming asylum, whereas 22 percent accessed through marriage and 16 percent

through other types of visas. All the participants in this study have achieved a high level of

financial success (i.e., earnings in the millions of dollars), with 44 percent having owned

businesses for over eleven years in the host country.

The study used a hybrid criterion for determining immigrant entrepreneurial success. The

hybrid development for determining entrepreneurial success for immigrants used an Immigrant

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

192

Entrepreneurial Needs (IEN) model sequential structured with four developmental phases to

interpret the data findings on the participants' path from migration through business

establishment onto sustained entrepreneurial success. The IEN model design in this study was

developed from the theoretical principles in the theory of human motivation by Maslow (1943),

who explained that individuals are motivated by a need to fulfill their immediate lower-level

survival needs before becoming motivated to transition to the next higher level of individual

needs. The IEN model derived four phases to determine success from the participants'

testimonies inductively. The IEN data revealed that the correct process of evolution is

Subsistence –> Social –> Growth –> Personal. The study found the personal phase as the highest

level of success for the immigrant entrepreneur. The personal phase is where the individual

entrepreneur perceives they have attained economic wealth security for personal freedom. The

IEN model is presented again in Figure 31.

Figure 31: IEN Model

The researcher used two conceptual models by Glazer and Moynihan (1970), called

Northern and Southern, to define and assess the data on the assimilation and acclimation of the

immigrant in the host country. Glazer’s and Moynihan's (1970) northern model over the southern

model was confirmed in this study's testimonies of the post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs. The

Social

Growth

Personal

Subsistence

Intervening

Opportunities

Intervening

Obstacles

Immigrant Entrepreneurial Needs Model

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

193

term assimilation is challenged for replacement with acclimation. As previously discussed,

Lewin's (1951) equation for behavior. Lewin's (1951) is mathematically shown as B=f (P, E). In

the equation, Behavior (B) is equal to the function (f) of personal traits (P) and one's environment

(E). the research built on Lewin's (1951) work by using Ajzen and Fishbein's (1967) theory of

Reasoned Action and Ajzen's (1985, 1991) additional works for the theory of individual

Perceived Behavioral Controls (PCB) for developing the immigrant entrepreneur's predisposing

traits profile. Ajzen's model on Perceived Behavioral Controls (PCB) is provided in Figure 32.

Figure 32: Ajzen's model on Perceived Behavioral Controls (1991)

The work of Lee (1966) on the theory of migration model was a foundational building

block of this research. Lee's (1966) theory, with Stouffer's (1960) work, provided the researcher

with research support on push and pull migration factors and intervening obstacles and

opportunities associated with the area of destination individuals of ethnic groups migrating to

countries like the United States of America. Lee's (1966) theoretical model from Chapter 2 is

provided in Figure 33.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

194

Figure 33: Everett Lee’s Theory of Migration (1966)

The last primary model and theoretical works are Hofstede's (1983, 1985, 2011) cultural

Dimensions Model and Cultural Distance work. Hofstede’s conceptual six dimensions model

argues a variance between one cultural group differences using six dimensions to provide the

model for expanding his work on cultural distance (CD). Hofstede (1983, 1985, 2001, 2011)

developed the cultural dimensions model as shown in Figure 34 by providing six dimensions to

explain Cultural Distance as the difference between two cultural groups' norms and values

(Hofstede, 2001).

Figure 34: Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Model

Recommendations

Findings from this study suggest that Entrepreneurial Intelligence exists. The researcher

examined a group of individuals who migrated from a restrictive socialist totalitarian home

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

195

country to an open capitalist democratic republic host country. All the research participants were

entrepreneurs within the host country who achieved rapid and sustained entrepreneurial success.

In the search for academic works on Entrepreneurial Intelligence, the researcher found a

recorded lecture from the scholar Heidi Neck (2018) on the topic. Neck (2018) first explained

entrepreneurship as the practice and mindset. In her lecture, Neck (2018) continued using

Goldman’s (2007) work on strategic thinking to explain the entrepreneurial mindset as the

courage to act on opportunities under varying conditions of unknowingness. The post-Soviet

participants of this study were found to align with Neck’s (2018, 2021) and Goldman's (2007)

works, as shown throughout Chapters 4 and later in this chapter as and shown in Figure 30. Neck

(2018) then explained her position on Emotional Intelligence as the ability to acquire and apply

knowledge and skills. In Neck’s (2018, 2021) lecture and works, the term Entrepreneurial

Intelligence was tied to the Entrepreneurial Mindset. Neck (2018, 2021) discusses three building

blocks for entrepreneurial intelligence: mindset, opportunity, and connection.

According to Neck, mindset is the practice of curiosity, the ability to look beyond. The

mindset definition by Neck (2018) was found in the study and captured visually in Figure 30

under the list of predisposing attributes and entrepreneurial intelligence. The practice of curiosity

(Neck, 2018) was captured in this research study as the desire to try new things, the ability to use

the system for advantages, and adaptation with continuous learning.

The second building block of Neck’s (2018) argument is opportunity, as she defined as

the entrepreneur’s focus on their need before solutions. Neck (2018, 2021) expands on the

opportunity category by explaining that the entrepreneur creates something people did not know

they needed before they needed it in four steps. Neck’s (2018, 2021) four steps are called (1)

found, (2) search, (3) create, and (4) design. The research study found Neck’s (2018) opportunity

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

196

category by capturing it in Figure 30 as the ability to observe an ecosystem strategically and

enhanced foresight for advantageous positioning for entrepreneurial success.

The last of Neck’s (2018, 2021) categories is called connection, defined as the

entrepreneur being connected to themselves and others. Neck (2018, 2021) expands on the

connection by explaining it as entrepreneurs know their purpose and what they are trying to do.

The category connection for Neck is consistent with the IEN model phases and the associated

findings for initial and sustained success. The research study sees Neck’s (2018, 2021)

connection category criteria as a desire for true individual freedom in Figure 30. Neck (2018,

2021) and Goldman (2007) are supported in this study.

The researcher Envick (2014), citing the early development of the entrepreneur works by

Mill (1848) and Schumpeter (1934), provides a model for the concept development of

Entrepreneurial Intelligence. Envick (2014), in the model, uses the three primary categories

labeled as (1) cognitive qualities, (2) psychological state, and (3) action steps. Envick’s (2014)

three primary categories are provided in Figure 35, and the eleven psychological traits are in

Figure 35. Envick’s (2014) Entrepreneurial Intelligence conceptual model is presented below in

Figure 36.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

197

Figure 35: Envick’s Three Primary Traits Categories (2014)

Figure 36: Entrepreneurial Intelligence Model

This research found all of Envick’s (2014) psychological traits and two of the three

primary categories in the conceptual model for Entrepreneurial Intelligence. In the inductive

approach looking for invisibility’s linkage between the immigrant’s predisposing attributes and

immigrant entrepreneurial success in a host country, the researcher discovered an argument for

1. Desire for Independence

2. Tolerance for Uncertainty

3. Internal Focus on Control

4. Need For Power

5. Personal Value orientation

6. Self Confidence

7. Aggressiveness

8. Creativity

9. Growth Orientation

10. Self Esteem

11. Masculine Attributes

1. Ambition

2. Work Ethnic

3. Continuous Learning

4. Innovation

5. Using People as Assets

6. Taking Information Risks

7. Integrity

8. Resiliency

1. To engage systematic & logical

approach

2. Generating a Business Idea&

Competitive Advantage

3. Conducting an ideo-merit survey

4. Completing a feasibility analysis

5. Development of business plan

Cognitive Qualities

1. Passion

2. Vision

3. Courage

Psychological States

Action Steps

Psychological Traits

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

198

Entrepreneurial Intelligence. The research findings in this study support Envick’s conceptual

model minus the arguments for the action steps. This research found no evidence for steps three,

four, and five in the data of Envick’s (2014) action steps conceptual model. Of the eighteen

participants in this study, not one conducted the conventional business development process of

conducting a feasibility analysis and business plan, typically taught in business school. This

researcher found that steps three through five in Envick’s (2014) model have little to no value in

determining initial and sustained entrepreneurial success.

Moreover, Envick’s (2014) research does provide eleven psychological traits profile but

contends that researchers have not agreed on a consistent pattern of traits for Entrepreneurial

Intelligence by citing Gartner (1988). As seen in Figure 30, this research found each of the

eleven psychological traits in Figure 35 of Envick’s (2014) research. The research refutes

Gartner’s (1988) and Envick’s (2014) process argument over psychological traits for developing

a set profile for defining entrepreneurial intelligence. The research argues that Entrepreneurial

Intelligence is linked back to the predisposing attribute of these post-Soviet immigrant

entrepreneurs. The research suggests that removing the emphasis on business plans and other

academic processes will not have an impact on an individual's entrepreneurial success. On the

other hand, the research does support the individual's predisposing attributes as more critical to

defining the outcome of success than any business process or artifact, such as a business plan.

The researcher concludes by arguing why immigrants are outpacing host country natives in

entrepreneurial startups. The success of the 18 participants was directly linked to their host

country's development of predisposing characteristics with the enhancement of decentralized

protected networks for rapid information exchange.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

199

Entrepreneurial Intelligence is a novel term with limited research in this area, and I call

on current and future scholars to test and consider the findings of this research to provide

additional clarity and definition to the burgeoning field and the related field of entrepreneurial

mindset (Envick, 2014; Gartner, 1988; Goldman, 2007; Neck 2018, 2021).

Limitations

There were several limitations encountered in the design and execution of this research,

but only the major ones will be addressed here. The first was the dearth of literature and

published research on the topic itself. The Eastern European, former Eastern Bloc/Soviet Union

in particular, demographic in immigrant entrepreneur research has been understudied. At the

same time, the researcher was able to identify and interview a significant number of successful

post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs as research participants. The second limitation was the

sheer logistics involved in researching such large geographic areas, both at home and host

countries; also language, various Slavic dialects, and other cultural factors that presented

difficulties in communications. A subset of this was the recent conflict between Russia and

Ukraine that may have introduced bias. The third and probably most significant was limited time.

This was an ambitious topic that deserved more time to delve more deeply. The practical

constraints of a working adult learner/researcher to conduct sufficient field work in a matter of

months vs. years limited the potential outcomes. At the same time, the research that was

accomplished has sufficiently addressed the research questions and the hope is that it has started

the ball rolling down a fertile path for future research. For example, a full-bodied quantitative

analysis building off this qualitative research would enhance and extend the findings in this

theoretical study.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

200

Future Research

As stated previously, future research is required to expand the argument that

Entrepreneurial Intelligence exists. After the data analysis, the researcher searched for any works

on Entrepreneurial Intelligence for cross-referencing this research’s findings for a set profile.

The researcher discovered the works of Envick (2014) and Neck (2018, 2021), and the research

findings were found to overlap these two researchers’ efforts. The research discovered the need

for future research on the reciprocity of immigrants’ education when migrating and establishing

in the United States. The research found that many participants discussed the system as broken

and nearly unattainable. Numerous immigrants entering the United States have diverse tacit

knowledge in STEM. Unfortunately, the United States system is not allowing industries to

consume and leverage these highly skilled workers. The third area of research for a future

researcher is the value and emphasis placed on business plans. All eighteen participants achieved

high levels of financial success in their entrepreneurial activities. However, no one used or

placed value in developing a business plan or associated artifacts like a three-year pro forma

financial forecast. This research suggests that traditional business plans were not as important to

the eighteen participants as what would be normally expected. Lastly, the researcher found no

systematic discrimination or racism by host natives against immigrants. The research found that

the participants viewed the system, not people, as discriminatory. A future investigation would

be warranted to determine whether the system is challenging based on socioeconomic status, not

origin of birth or an individual’s phenotypical traits.

Researcher’s Reflections

I began this research believing post-Soviet immigrants could enter the United States

going unnoticed because their phenotypical traits allowed them to blend in with host country

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

201

natives. I believed this allowed the post-Soviet immigrants to employ entrepreneurial activities

relatively easily because natives did not see them as a threat. However, what I discovered is that

the system created invisibility for the immigrant through lack of credit history, inability to access

bank leverage, limited to no reciprocity of their formal educational training, and other reported

challenges. The immigrants desired to be visible in earlier phases of business creation and

development. Once success was attained and sustained, the immigrant entrepreneur desired to be

invisible from the system that initially projected invisibility on them before success. The findings

led me to ask more questions.

It was during this period of the research that the idea and novel term, Entrepreneurial

Intelligence emerged and seemed to capture the theoretical concepts and constructs of the themes

drawn from the 18 participants’ lived experiences shared in the personal interviews.

Additionally, the findings through the research process revealed a consistent list of developed

predisposing attributes that connected to the end state profile for an individual who possesses

entrepreneurial intelligence. Taken another step, it is possible to make the connection between

the predisposing profile of traits developed by these post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs in their

home countries and the determinants of entrepreneurial success as discovered in the course of

this research. And by extension, the predisposing attributes are in alignment with a more

complete definition of Entrepreneurial Intelligence. Figure 37 is offered as a conceptual model of

immigrant entrepreneurial intelligence for continued research consideration. The call for more

research to validate, refute, and/or refine the proposed conceptual model for immigrant

entrepreneurial intelligence could have merit in increasing our understanding – and ultimately,

practice – of immigrant entrepreneurship.

Dissertation Study of Immigrant Entrepreneurship

202

Figure 37: Immigrant Entrepreneurial Intelligence Conceptual Model

Source: The Author

Home Country

Initial

Development

Host Country

Redevelopment

Personal

Freedom

Attainment

Societal

Influence of

Groups

Group Influence

of Individuals

Development of Individuals

Predisposing Traits =

(Entrepreneurial Intelligence Creation)

IEN

Subsistence

Phase

Push & Pull Migration Factors

IEN

Social

Phase

Redevelopment &

Tribal Network Access

for Information Clarity

Initial

Success

Business Establishment

Immigrant Entrepreneurial Intelligence

Conceptual Model

Open Market

Transition

IEN

Personal

Phase

Adaptation

Personal Freedom

& Factors

Sustained Success

IEN

Growth

Phase

Connection

Intervening Obstacles & Opportunities

Stages of Entrepreneurial Success_ A Qualitative Study of Post-So-16-217

Students also viewed