Systematic review of immigrant entrepreneurship literature: previous findings and ways forward

Abstract

peer reviewedImmigrant entrepreneurship is an important socio-economic phenomenon today. Many studies have been developed in academic arenas of different disciplines. This paper aims to present a systematic review of academic literature related to immigrant entrepreneurship. In doing so, two questions are addressed: what has been done in international immigrant entrepreneurship research? and what are the trends that marked this phenomenon in research arenas? For this purpose, 45 articles published in academic journals are examined based on their (a) objectives, (b) theoretical frameworks and (c) methodologies. This paper provides evidence that most papers on immigrant entrepreneurship have focused on the reality of the USA, followed by Europe and Oceania. Furthermore, the review has identified the individual level of analysis and the deductive perspective as a common trend. There is a shortage in theory-building and qualitative studies in this field of knowledge. On the basis of the review, several gaps in the literature are identified that need to be filled in future research in order to enlarge the scientific knowledge on immigrant entrepreneurship