From Center to Periphery and Back Again: A Systematic Literature Review of Refugee Entrepreneurship

Sibylle Heilbrunn and Rosa Lisa Iannone
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Sibylle Heilbrunn: School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Emek Hayarden, Zemach M. P. 15132, Israel
Rosa Lisa Iannone: Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, University of Luxembourg, L-4366 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 18, 1-39

Abstract: This paper presents a qualitative, systematic literature review of refugee entrepreneurship research that has been published in academic outlets, up to 2018. We synthesize the contributions to the field, providing a state of the art, so as to elucidate our current understandings of the phenomenon and highlight gaps that will help enhance our future approaches and knowledge. The empirical analysis reveals a fast emerging, eclectic field, with research from a wide range of disciplines, produced by the ‘academic center’, largely in the ‘academic periphery’. Publication numbers have been on the rise, especially in the last ten years, yet, there is very little mutual acknowledgement and discussions arising between researchers, as revealed by a bibliometric analysis. A content analysis shows three main waves of publications based on countries of origin, countries of residence, and migration timeframes. The vast majority of publications take on an exploratory approach to research, with diverse theoretical framings from an array of disciplines, and the thematic clusters reveal how researchers are attempting to tease out the distinctiveness of refugee entrepreneurs from other, closely related entrepreneurship groups.

Keywords: refugee entrepreneurship; literature review; academic center and periphery; migration; country of origin; country of residence; bibliometric analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:18:p:7658-:d:414522

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