An investigation into the opportunity recognition process of immigrant entrepreneurs in Finland

Abstract

Immigrant Entrepreneurship has been a considerably important topic in entrepreneurship research. The significance of the area of immigrant entrepreneurship as a research area is more prominent in those countries, where there has been a remarkable growth in the population of immigrants. This study concentrates on understanding the process of opportunity recognition of immigrants in Finnish context. The study aims to comprehend how immigrant entrepreneurs in Finland, recognize entrepreneurial opportunities. Qualitative research approach was applied in this study. In order to answer the research objectives in depth, the researcher conducted semistructured online interviews with entrepreneurs with immigrant background in Finland.The interview questions were prepared based on the suggested theoretical framework adapted from previous literature on entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. The data collected from the interviews was used for the later analysis.Results of the study prove that prior knowledge and experience of immigrant entrepreneurs plays an exceptional role in the opportunity recognition process of immigrant entrepreneurs, followed by the factors such as personality traits, social networks, environmental factors and systematic search. Entrepreneurial alertness on the other hand, is identified as the least influential factor in the opportunity recognition process of immigrant entrepreneurs. Moreover, this research discusses the findings together with an in-depth descriptions of the factors affecting the opportunity recognition, followed by limitations of the study and suggestions for further research.