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Abstract
International migrant entrepreneurship in China has expanded and grown. Yet, studies on this phenomenon in China have been limited. We aim to contribute to this literature by exploring international migrant entrepreneurship for various categories of international migrants in a single setting and suggesting a more comprehensive picture of migrant entrepreneurship in China. We rely on the transnationalism framework and conduct various regression analyses using our unique dataset—Survey of Foreigner Residents in China (SFRC) from 2018-2019 to study both factors in China and factors from migrants’ home country, as well as the interactions between these two types of factors, in determining migrants’ likelihood of being an entrepreneur. Our results suggest that social networks and language skills in China, the ownership of the assets in migrants’ home country, and the economy and culture of their home country can significantly shape migrants’ likelihood to become an entrepreneur. These findings show the major role of factors from migrants’ home country, highlighting the importance of using the transnationalism framework to study migrant entrepreneurship. We also find evidence of only a few interaction effects between factors in China and factors from migrants’ home country, suggesting that they are weakly dependent on each other in influencing migrant entrepreneurship in China.
RÉSUMÉ
L’esprit d’entreprise des migrants internationaux en Chine s’est étendu et développé. Pourtant les études sur ce phénomène en Chine ont été limitées. Notre objectif est de contribuer à cette littérature en explorant l’esprit d’entreprise des migrants internationaux pour diverses catégories dans cette population dans un cadre unique et en suggérant un portrait plus complet de l’entrepreneuriat chez les migrants en Chine. Nous nous appuyons sur le cadre d’un transnationalisme et réalisons diverses analyses de régression à l’aide de notre ensemble de données unique – Enquête sur les résidents étrangers en Chine (SFRC) conduite en 2018-2019 – pour étudier à la fois les facteurs en Chine et les facteurs dans les pays d’origine des migrants, ainsi que les interactions entre ces deux types de facteurs, dans la détermination de la probabilité pour les migrants de devenir des entrepreneurs. Nos résultats suggèrent que les réseaux sociaux et les compétences linguistiques en Chine, la possession des actifs dans les pays d’origine et l’économie et la culture dans ces mêmes pays peuvent influencer de manière significative la probabilité que les migrants deviennent entrepreneurs. Ces résultats montrent le rôle majeur des facteurs liés aux pays d’origine, soulignant combien il est important d’utiliser le cadre du transnationalisme pour étudier l’entrepreneuriat chez les migrants. Nous trouvons également des preuves de seulement quelques effets d’interaction entre les facteurs en Chine et les facteurs dans les pays d’origine, ce qui suggère qu’ils sont faiblement dépendants les uns des autres pour influencer l’entrepreneuriat des migrants en Chine.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 According to the latest analysis by Liang (Citation2019), at this point in time, cities that host international migrants, can be divided into two categories: “self-sustained cities” (e.g., Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai) and “initial cities” (e.g., Hangzhou, Xi’an). “Self-sustained cities” refer to traditional migrant-receiving cities which can sustain the number of migrants over time, while “initial cities” refer to new cities where more and more international migrants arrive for new and different reasons.
2 While English is not the host country’s language, it is an important language skill. On the one hand, English could help talk with Chinese people to operate a business in China. On the other hand, given the large demand for English teachers, migrants with high English skills may be more likely to be self-employed or become an entrepreneur through English teaching.
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Notes on contributors
Zhenxiang Chen
Zhenxiang Chen, Ph.D. in Sociology, is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Sociology at McGill University. His research focuses on social stratification, mobility, and inequality of migrants, with an emphasis on life course and social psychology.
Xiaoguang Fan
Xiaoguang Fan, Ph.D. in Sociology, is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Zhejiang University. His current works focus on entrepreneurs, wealth distribution and international migration in China.