International migrants show a high tendency to become entrepreneurs in many countries. This has often been attributed to discrimination, ethnic networks and sociodemographic differences.

But, couldn’t the more entrepreneurial personality of voluntary migrants be the result of self-selection?

Peter Vandor, co-founder of the Social Entrepreneurship Center at Vienna’s University of Business and Economics has been researching the relationship between migration and entrepreneurship in the past years. In his recent analysis, he examined intentions, preparatory actions and long-term actions of skilled migrants and non-migrants.

The results confirm that voluntary migrants can build on unique resources that include an entrepreneurial personality with a higher willingness to take risks and to some extent a greater need for achievement.

About the Publication:

Vandor, Peter (2021) Are voluntary international migrants self-selected for entrepreneurship? An analysis of entrepreneurial personality traits. Journal of World Business, 56 (2). p. 101142. ISSN 1090-9516

Download the paper: https://epub.wu.ac.at/7974/