Title: Immigrant entrepreneurs challenging conventional wisdom: the adherence to immigrant networks plays a minor role in business success

Authors: Goitom Tesfom, Clemens Lutz

Addresses: College of Business and Public Administration, Eastern Washington University, 3000 Landerholm Circle Se, Mail stop 101, Bellevue, WA, 98007, USA. ' Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Abstract: A large body of literature shows that immigrants are more entrepreneurial because they are able to use their network relationships. Allegedly, immigrant networks allow their members to access resources that are hard to get through formal channels. The findings of this study have put some nuances in this debate. In the perception of immigrant entrepreneurs, immigrant network relationships played only a minor role in their business success, i.e., in fostering the exchange of business information and resources among the Vietnamese and East African entrepreneurs in the Seattle area.

Keywords: immigrant networks; entrepreneurship; immigrant entrepreneurs; East Africans; Vietnamese; immigrants; conventional wisdom; USA; United States.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2009.024379

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2009 Vol.8 No.2, pp.241 - 258

Published online: 02 Apr 2009 *

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