Title: Multiculturalism and entrepreneurial expansion

Authors: Maher Al Sayah; Charbel Salloum; Quentin Lefebvre; Laura Salloum; Diala Kabbara

Addresses: USEK Business School, P.O. Box 446, Jounieh, Lebanon ' Métis Lab, EM Normandie Business School, 20 Quai Frissard, 76600 Le Havre, France ' Paris 2 Panthéon Assas University, 1 Rue Guy de la Brosse, 75005 Paris, France ' Talence, France ' Management Department, Pavia University, Pavie, Italy

Abstract: The social environment plays an important role in forming an individual's ex-ante entrepreneurial experience. Living in a socially diverse environment compels people to be more open toward other communities and their practices. This study is based on revealing the correlation between the fast and multinational Lebanese entrepreneurial expansion and Lebanese social diversity, where cognitive cultural intelligence represents an important part of the ex-ante entrepreneurial experiences. A linear regression was established to analyse the following four topics: the correlation between cognitive cultural identity and adaptation capabilities and business flexibility; the correlation between cognitive cultural identity and the perception of new opportunities; the correlation between cognitive cultural identity and lower entrepreneurial costs; and the link between cognitive cultural identity and faster application accomplishment. The latter revelations are evaluated based on the Lebanese foreign expansion influenced by the country's extremely diverse social environment. An adapted form of the endogenous growth theory was introduced to fit into the study's approach toward the topic in question.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; cognitive cultural intelligence; endogenous growth; social identity; diversity; Lebanon.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2023.133487

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2023 Vol.50 No.2, pp.175 - 193

Received: 26 Jul 2019
Accepted: 22 Jul 2020
Published online: 18 Sep 2023 *

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