Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

1-2020

Abstract

Increasingly, studies of entrepreneurship and migration have examined the role of immigrant entrepreneurs in revitalising and diversifying the economy of the host society. Further, recent transnational skilled entrepreneurs have been understood as being much more mobile in building international networks and collaborations between their home and host societies. These studies have tended to focus on the technically oriented entrepreneurs and to produce a single grand narrative about a particular migrant group that transfers knowledge and becomes a technical pioneer in their home society. This article scrutinises a group of first-generation Korean American female transnational entrepreneurs (FTEs) living in Silicon Valley and builds a nuanced understanding about the diversity and complexity of being transnational entrepreneurs. Through a multi-layered qualitative approach, the study illustrates that three major mechanisms are at play: 1) the ecosystem of Silicon Valley; 2) the dynamics of gender and ethnicity; and 3) the adoption to live in a transnational social field. These mechanisms shape the motivations, experiences, and performances of Korean American FTEs. This article reveals the contesting ways in which these three mechanisms work simultaneously with each other.

Keywords

Female transnational entrepreneurs, minority entrepreneurship, transnational entrepreneurship, South Korea, Silicon Valley, transnational social field

Discipline

Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Publication

Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies

Volume

6

Issue

1

First Page

67

Last Page

83

ISSN

2393-9575

Identifier

10.1177/2393957519881925

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/2393957519881925

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