Entrepreneurial pursuits in the Caribbean diaspora: networks and their mixed effects

Thomas Schøtt

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 2018, vol. 30, issue 9-10, 1069-1090

Abstract: Domestic Caribbean entrepreneurs are embedded in their home-society. Diasporic entrepreneurs have a dual embeddedness in home-society and in host-society, with networks spanning both societies, which may give them comparative advantages in innovation, exporting and growth. Enterprising is traditionally a livelihood in the Caribbean, which is carried into the diaspora and sustained by dense ties between host- and home-societies. The empirical contribution is a three-way comparison between the Caribbean diaspora, the domestic Caribbeans and diasporans from other world regions. It uses a representative sample of adults living in, or originating from, the Caribbean. Diasporans are found to often become entrepreneurs by a pull of opportunity, whereas domestics are more likely to experience a push of necessity. Diasporans, more than domestics, are networking in the transnational sphere and in the sphere of business operations. This networking promotes outcomes such as innovation, exporting and growth expectations, in contrast to negative effects from networking in the private sphere. Policies may enhance benefits of diasporic entrepreneurship for Caribbean society.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08985626.2018.1515825 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:entreg:v:30:y:2018:i:9-10:p:1069-1090

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/TEPN20

DOI: 10.1080/08985626.2018.1515825

Access Statistics for this article

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development is currently edited by Professor Alistair Anderson

More articles in Entrepreneurship & Regional Development from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().