Title: International high-technology entrepreneurs: hybrid identities and entrepreneurial activities

Authors: Banu Ozkazanc-Pan; Susan Clark Muntean

Addresses: College of Management, University of Massachusetts, 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA ' Department of Management & Accountancy, 117 Owen Hall, One University Heights, Asheville, NC 28804, USA

Abstract: International entrepreneurs operating in the context of globalisation provide an opportunity for scholars to study and better understand the entrepreneurial process under dynamic conditions. Borrowing from Bhabha's postcolonial lens, we offer hybrid identities as a new way to conceptualise entrepreneurial selves under conditions of globalisation as, hitherto, the approaches to the study of international entrepreneurs have relied on static concepts of self and culture emanating from Western philosophical traditions. We believe our framework can be used to understand the novel ways in which international entrepreneurs understand themselves and others, conduct their businesses, and make sense of the 'rules of the game' in the ever-changing socio-cultural and institutional contexts in which they are situated. Qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with international entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and Turkey illuminate this phenomenon and the usefulness of the hybrid identity concept, specifically, and postcolonial theoretical framework, more broadly, to research in international business and entrepreneurship.

Keywords: international entrepreneurs; hybrid identities; postcolonial lens; entrepreneurial ecosystems; global context; high technology; high tech entrepreneurs; entrepreneurship; globalisation; Silicon Valley; USA; United States; Turkey.

DOI: 10.1504/JIBED.2016.074021

Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 2016 Vol.9 No.1, pp.23 - 40

Published online: 03 Jan 2016 *

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