While immigrant entrepreneurship has gained widespread interest globally, the scholarship remains disproportionately focused on developed economies, resulting in a critical research lacuna vis-à-vis emerging and developing contexts. This thesis attempts to rectify this imbalance by conducting an in-depth qualitative inquiry into immigrant entrepreneurship within the Mexican setting—a nation with a promising entrepreneurial ecosystem and increasing rates of international migration. Such contexts have thus far mainly been overseen within the existing scholarly discourse of the field. Motivated by the gaps in existing research, the core objective of this study is to offer a comprehensive conceptualisation and characterisation of immigrant entrepreneurship in developing nations, thereby enriching the understanding of the phenomenon in a broader socio-economic landscape. The research goes beyond traditional narratives that often restrict immigrant entrepreneurs in a negative or marginalised discourse. It argues for a nuanced reconceptualisation that acknowledges immigrant entrepreneurs as potent agents for societal, economic, and policy advancements.
The study, therefore, proposes a novel analytical framework—termed the Intersectional Embeddedness Framework—that synergistically integrates the theories of mixed embeddedness and intersectionality. This approach enables a robust, multi-layered analysis spanning micro, meso, and macro-level determinants, thus providing a nuanced understanding of the variables shaping immigrant entrepreneurial activities. Challenging conventional wisdom, the findings refute that immigrant entrepreneurship predominantly results from developed economic contexts. Instead, the research unveils how the unique contextual characteristics of less developed settings, exemplified by Mexico, engender a differentiated opportunity structure for entrepreneurial endeavours.
Crucially, incorporating an intersectional lens into the framework indicates a paradigmatic shift in understanding immigrant entrepreneurship. It underscores that these entrepreneurial activities are not simply dictated by economic necessity or opportunity. Instead, they are substantially mediated by a confluence of individual attributes, encompassing but not restricted to factors such as gender, ethnicity, and social class. This intersectional perspective amplifies the layers of complexity and provides a transformative lens through which the entrepreneurial engagements of immigrants can be more accurately conceptualised.
This research thereby contributes a critical nuance to the discourse, revealing that the entrepreneurial actions of immigrants are far from being isolated phenomena; they are intricately entwined with and significantly shaped by a complex web of structural determinants. Intriguingly, in the context of developing countries where macro and meso determinants might be weaker, the research underscores the heightened relevance of micro-level factors in shaping entrepreneurial opportunities. This micro-level, enriched by intersectional complexities such as gender, ethnicity, and social class, is a robust counterbalance to the weaker macro and meso influences, thereby emerging as a potent catalyst for opportunity creation in entrepreneurial landscapes. These determinants at the micro-level can encompass diverse elements, including individual competencies, educational achievements, and an intricate web of personal and professional networks. Such a reconceptualisation holds profound implications for policy debates, suggesting that formulating more productive and inclusive entrepreneurial policies can be significantly enhanced by recognising immigrant entrepreneurship's complexity and intersectional embeddedness.
In summary, this research's emphasis on a less developed context and introduction an intersectional analytical lens constitutes more than mere academic refinements; it represent urgent imperatives for scholarly inquiry and policy formulation. A significant deficiency marks the prevailing literature and existing policy frameworks: they do not adequately capture the multifaceted, individual-centric dynamics that are increasingly pivotal in shaping entrepreneurial opportunities in less developed settings. By failing to do so, they risk perpetuating both analytical blind spots and practical policy inadequacies. Consequently, this study acts as a catalyst for a substantive paradigmatic shift.
