<p>There has been a lot of comment and reaction to the presence of immigrants in South Africa, and most of it has been very negative. In light of the negative reaction, one can ask whether immigrants do in fact add any value to the well being of the host countries, given their education, experience and high involvement in small businesses. Several studies have noted that the relatively highr level of education and skills of migrants is at the same level as those of the host populations. This research is aimed at contributing to the debate of the perception that immigrants are taking up jobs that are supposed to belong to South Africans.</p>

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Diss--Fakultät für Geschichtswissenschaft--Bielefeld--Universität, 1990.

Magister Commercii - MCom / There has been a lot of comment and reaction to the presence of immigrants in South Africa, and most of it has been very negative. In light of the negative reaction, one can ask whether immigrants do in fact add any value to the well being of the host countries, given their education, experience and high involvement in small businesses. Several studies have noted that the relatively highr level of education and skills of migrants is at the same level as those of the host populations. This research is aimed at contributing to the debate of the perception that immigrants are taking up jobs that are supposed to belong to South Africans. / South Africa

While research has shown that persistence is an important predictor of entrepreneurial success, evidence also indicates that entrepreneurial persistence can lead to disastrous consequences. Therefore, it is crucial to manage entrepreneurial persistence to limit an entrepreneur’s exposure to failure and improve their likelihood of success. However, our current understanding of why entrepreneurs persist is fragmented, as the determinants of persistence have yet to be integrated in a meaningful way. As a result, our current understanding of entrepreneurial persistence lacks the clarity required to manage entrepreneurial persistence effectively. I propose that psychological ownership is a key variable that facilitates the integration of the four (psychological, project, social and structural) determinants of entrepreneurial persistence. I assert that psychological ownership can provide a psychological explanation for entrepreneurial persistence by positing that entrepreneurs persist in order to address the impairment of their self-concept that results from their venture’s failure. I then establish that psychological ownership can provide a link to project determinants by noting that psychological ownership enhances the expected utility of the course of action, which increases the likelihood of entrepreneurial persistence. Following, I articulate that collective psychological ownership can provide a social explanation for entrepreneurial persistence by arguing that a team of entrepreneurs persist to address the collective impairment of their identity that stems from receiving negative feedback. Finally, I demonstrate that psychological ownership can provide a link to structural determinants by noting that psychological ownership motivates entrepreneurs to increase their commitment to their venture following negative feedback in order to prevent investors from gaining control of their ventures. In order to test my hypotheses, I modified and extended Staw’s (1976) seminal research design on escalation of commitment to fit the entrepreneurial context and conducted mediated moderation tests on data collected from 229 entrepreneurs. The results of this study show that psychological ownership is positively related to commitment when controlling for the performance of the venture. Thus, the results indicate that psychological ownership predicts entrepreneurial persistence. In addition, the results suggest that there is tentative support for the notion that psychological ownership can link the four determinants of entrepreneurial persistence and provide a holistic explanation for why entrepreneurs persist. I conclude by highlighting the importance of psychological ownership in managing entrepreneurial persistence. I note that psychological ownership can be a useful criterion for investors to identify which entrepreneurs are likely to persist and go the extra mile to advance their entrepreneurial projects. In addition, I note that an effective measure to mitigate entrepreneurial persistence, when it is time to pull the plug on an entrepreneurial project, is to reduce an entrepreneur’s psychological ownership for their ideas or ventures. / Graduate

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Entrepreneurs are portrayed as salient drivers of regional development and for a number of years nascent entrepreneurs have been studied in a large number of countries as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project and the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics. Scholars have devoted much effort to investigating factors that determine how individuals engage in entrepreneurial activities, with most of the discussion limited to business start-ups. However, since this type of project does not follow identical nascent entrepreneurs over time, limited knowledge exists about their development and whether they stay in this nascent phase for a long time. In practice, it is common for entrepreneurs to run a business and at the same time work in wage work, so-called combining entrepreneurs. In Sweden, almost half of all business owners combine wage work with a business. However, not all combining entrepreneurs will eventually decide to leave the wage work and invest fully in the business. Consequently, much research has focused on the first step of entering entrepreneurship full time, but less has focused on the second step, the transition from the combining phase to full-time self-employment. The aim of this thesis is therefore to contribute to the theory of entrepreneurship by gaining a deeper understanding of combining entrepreneurs and their motives and intentions.   In the context of combining entrepreneurs, the theory of identity, resources and choice overload has been used to examine how entrepreneurs’ age (when starting the business), entrepreneurial tenure (the length of engagement in the side-business), hours spent (weekly involvement in the side-business), involvement in entrepreneurial teams (leading the business with one or more partners) and involvement in networks (business networks) influence their passion for engaging in entrepreneurship while sustaining wage work. Different categories of combining entrepreneurs and their intentions have also been examined.   A survey was administered to 1457 entrepreneurs within the creative sector in two counties in Sweden (Gävleborgs County and Jämtlands County). Since there were no separate mailing lists to only combining entrepreneurs, the survey was sent to all entrepreneurs within the chosen industry and counties. The total response rate was 33.5 percent and of them 57.6 percent combined, yielding 262 combining entrepreneurs who answered the questionnaire. The survey was then followed up with eight focus group interviews and two single interviews to validate the answers from the questionnaire.   The results indicate three types of combining entrepreneurs: nascent – with the intention to leave the combining phase for a transition into full-time self-employment, lifestyle – with the intention to stay in the combining phase, and occasional – with the intention to leave the combining phase for full-time wage work and close down the business. Transitioning fully to self-employment increases with the individual’s age. Also, a positive interactive effect exists with involvement in entrepreneurial networks. The results also indicate that the ability to work with something one is passionate about is the top motive for combining wage work with a side-business. Passion is also more likely to be the main motive behind the combining form among individuals who are older at business start-up, but passion is less likely to be the main motive behind the combining form among individuals who spend more time on the business. The longer the individual has had the side-business, the less likely passion is the main motive behind the combining form, and passion is less likely to be the main motive among those who are part of an entrepreneurial team. / <p>Avhandlingen baseras på fem delarbeten, tre var opublicerade vid tidpunkten för disputationen, två länkas här.</p>

Entrepreneurs are portrayed as salient drivers of regional development and for a number of years nascent entrepreneurs have been studied in a large number of countries as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project and the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics. Scholars have devoted much effort to investigating factors that determine how individuals engage in entrepreneurial activities, with most of the discussion limited to business start-ups. However, since this type of project does not follow identical nascent entrepreneurs over time, limited knowledge exists about their development and whether they stay in this nascent phase for a long time. In practice, it is common for entrepreneurs to run a business and at the same time work in wage work, so-called combining entrepreneurs. In Sweden, almost half of all business owners combine wage work with a business. However, not all combining entrepreneurs will eventually decide to leave the wage work and invest fully in the business. Consequently, much research has focused on the first step of entering entrepreneurship full time, but less has focused on the second step, the transition from the combining phase to full-time self-employment. The aim of this thesis is therefore to contribute to the theory of entrepreneurship by gaining a deeper understanding of combining entrepreneurs and their motives and intentions.   In the context of combining entrepreneurs, the theory of identity, resources and choice overload has been used to examine how entrepreneurs’ age (when starting the business), entrepreneurial tenure (the length of engagement in the side-business), hours spent (weekly involvement in the side-business), involvement in entrepreneurial teams (leading the business with one or more partners) and involvement in networks (business networks) influence their passion for engaging in entrepreneurship while sustaining wage work. Different categories of combining entrepreneurs and their intentions have also been examined.   A survey was administered to 1457 entrepreneurs within the creative sector in two counties in Sweden (Gävleborgs County and Jämtlands County). Since there were no separate mailing lists to only combining entrepreneurs, the survey was sent to all entrepreneurs within the chosen industry and counties. The total response rate was 33.5 percent and of them 57.6 percent combined, yielding 262 combining entrepreneurs who answered the questionnaire. The survey was then followed up with eight focus group interviews and two single interviews to validate the answers from the questionnaire.   The results indicate three types of combining entrepreneurs: nascent – with the intention to leave the combining phase for a transition into full-time self-employment, lifestyle – with the intention to stay in the combining phase, and occasional – with the intention to leave the combining phase for full-time wage work and close down the business. Transitioning fully to self-employment increases with the individual’s age. Also, a positive interactive effect exists with involvement in entrepreneurial networks. The results also indicate that the ability to work with something one is passionate about is the top motive for combining wage work with a side-business. Passion is also more likely to be the main motive behind the combining form among individuals who are older at business start-up, but passion is less likely to be the main motive behind the combining form among individuals who spend more time on the business. The longer the individual has had the side-business, the less likely passion is the main motive behind the combining form, and passion is less likely to be the main motive among those who are part of an entrepreneurial team.

Au Brésil, aujourd’hui, il existe une importante population d’origine libanaise dont São Paulo est le centre de ralliement principal. Forte de plusieurs millions d’individus, cette population s’est constituée par vagues successives dont les premières remontent au dernier quart du 19ème siècle. Elle a connu un notable succès entrepreneurial dont une conséquence majeure a été un phénomène peu commun, dans une population d’immigrants, de mobilité sociale ascendante. C’est ainsi qu’après avoir été à leurs débuts pour l’essentiel des mascates (colporteurs), ces immigrants sont parvenus, ultérieurement, à accéder à l’entrepreneuriat, principalement commercial. Et aujourd’hui, on voit ses membres se déployer, horizontalement, dans tous les domaines d’activité ou presque et, verticalement, escalader les échelles de la société jusqu’aux plus hautes sphères économiques, sociales et même politiques. C’est cette mobilité des immigrants et de leurs descendants, sur les deux plans horizontal et vertical qui constitue l’objet d’étude de cette thèse. L’objectif est, d’un côté, de retracer les parcours ayant sous-tendu le phénomène en question et, de l’autre, de repérer les causes qui l’ont rendu possible. S’agissant des causes, elles s’avèrent avoir tenu à des facteurs internes à la collectivité des immigrants libanais et à une conjoncture historique favorable. Cette dernière fut la résultante des grandes mutations économiques et sociales dont le Brésil a été le théâtre dans la période en vue. Quant aux parcours, ce furent ceux conduisant, après une transitoire situation de « minorité intermédiaire », à une intégration des Libanais dans la société d’accueil. Il s’agit d’une intégration « à la brésilienne », qui leur a permis de ne pas renoncer à leur libanité en tant qu’identité propre, mais de la conserver en la réinterprétant comme identité libano-brésilienne. / A large segment of the Brazilian population today is of Lebanese origin. These people are concentrated mainly in the economic hub of São Paulo. Comprising of several million individuals, this population was formed by successive waves of immigrants; the first dating back to the last quarter of the 19th century. Unusual in an immigrant population, this group has experienced remarkable entrepreneurial success, and consequentially a sociological phenomenon of outstanding upward social mobility has occurred within its ranks. Hence, although initially a population of mascates (hawkers), they subsequently managed to branch out into predominately commercial entrepreneurship. Today its members are deployed, horizontally, in almost all fields of economic activity and, vertically, have climbed the ladder into the highest spheres of economic, social and even political life. This thesis studies the issue of the upward social mobility of these immigrants and their descendants on both the horizontal and vertical levels. The aim of the study, on the one hand, was to trace the pattern underpinning the phenomenon in question, and on the other, to clarify the causes which made it possible. The findings of the study shed light on the causes relating to the specific personal characteristics of those concerned, coming into play in a historical window of opportunity. The latter, for its part, was the result of major economic and social changes, Brazil was encountering in the period under review. Following a transient self-structuring form of an 'intermediate minority', the ensuing pattern led to the perfect integration of these concerned into the host society adopting a model peculiar to Brazil, and as such, this population did not renounce their specific “Lebaneseness” as a component of their own identity. While the Brazilian syncretic model of integration allowed them to uphold, and maintain the specificity of their identity, it equally enabled them to redefine and reinterpret the same.