Entrepreneurship and ethnic economy employment among Chinese and Vietnamese residents of Warsaw
| Published date | 01 April 2022 |
| Author | Aliaksei Bashko |
| Date | 01 April 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12873 |
International Migration. 2022;60:177–192.
|
177
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
Received: 15 Jun e 2020
|
Revised: 4 March 20 21
|
Accepted: 22 Apri l 2021
DOI: 10 .1111/imig .12873
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Entrepreneurship and ethnic economy
employment among Chinese and Vietnamese
residents of Warsaw
Aliaksei Bashko
© 2021 The Author s. Internationa l Migration © 2021 IOM
Faculty of Econo mic Sciences/ Cent re of
Migration Res earch, Universi ty of Warsaw,
Warsaw, Poland
Correspondence
Aliaksei Ba shko, Faculty of Econom ic
Sciences/ Cen tre of Migration Rese arch,
Universit y of Warsaw, Pasteura 7, room
205, Warsaw 02- 093, Poland.
Emails: aliakseibashko@gmail.com;
abashko@wne.uw.edu.pl
Funding Information
Narodowe Cent rum Nauki: 2014/14/E/
HS4/00387.
ABSTRACT
Immigrant- run businesses are playing an increasingly im-
portant role in the Polish economy. This paper focuses
on th e patterns of entrepreneur ship and ethnic economy
employment among Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants
residing in the Warsaw metropolitan area (WMA). It uses
microdata from a survey of Vietnamese and Chinese re si-
dents of the WMA and employs lo gistic regression analy-
sis in order to asse ss the factors that affec t the odds of
entrepreneurship and ethnic economy employment among
them. Sub sequently, the paper analyses the impact of en-
trepreneurshi p and ethnic economy employment on the
earnings of Vietnamese and Chin ese citizens living in the
WMA. Empirical analysis d emonstrates that Vietnamese
and Chines e immigrants are not pushed to b ecome entre-
preneurs by an oppor tunity structu re that blocks alterna-
tive options and enjoy signif icantly higher in comes tha n
native- born Polish citizens. The ethnic economy become s
a temp orary adjust ment mechanism for new ly arrived
migrants but is not lucrative for longer- term residents of
these two origins .
KEYWORDS
migrant entrepreneurship, Chinese migrants, Vietnamese
migrants, economic integration
178
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BASHKO
INTRODUCTION
Immigrant entrepreneurial activity plays a crucial role in the integration of newcomers and the economic devel-
opment of the host society. Immigrants are over- represented among entrepreneurs and new business founders
in many high- income countries a cross the world (Aliaga- Isla & Rialp, 2013; Fairlie & Lofstrom, 2015; OECD, 2018;
Ohlsson, Broome & Bevelander, 2012). I mmigrants and immigrant b usinesses contr ibute to innov ation, job c re-
ation and economic g rowth, produce knowledge s pillovers that stimulate busi ness activit y and fome nt creative
destruct ion processes t hat generate econo mic progress (Fairli e, 2008; Fairlie & Chatterji, 2013; Hammarstedt &
Miao, 2020; Kerr & Li ncoln, 2010; Li et al., 2017).
The relationship between immigrant entrepreneurship and migrants’ economic integration depends on the
type of ent repreneurial activity in which the y are involved. On th e other hand, patterns of imm igrant ent re-
preneurial activity are inf luenced by 1) the structure of oppor tunities th at exist in the host soc iety (Ald rich &
Waldinger, 1990; Clark & Drinkwater, 2010; Constant and Zimmerman , 2006) a nd 2) the interaction of the ex-
isting opp ortunity st ructure with t he human capit al (along with other types of capital) pos sessed by immigr ants
(Kloosterma n, Rath and van der Leun, 1999; Ra m, Jones & Villares- Varela, 2016; Klooste rman & Rath, 2018).
Poland is a countr y with a small but rapidly grow ing immigrant population (OF F, 2020a). The numb er of immi-
grant entr epreneurs is a lso on the ris e (ZUS, 2019a; ZUS 2020a). Chinese and Vietnamese citizens demonst rate
significant ly higher rates of entrepreneur ship (ZUS, 2020b) than other major immigrant gr oups residing in t he
WMA (e.g. Ukrainian immigrants). This paper aims to understand the role of entrepreneurship and ethnic econo-
mies in the eco nomic lives of Ch inese and Viet names e immig rants in the WMA and how th is role ch anges depend -
ing on the d uration of residen ce, age at arrival, education and oth er factors. Suc h an understand ing is extremely
important , as prevalent mo dels or types of immigrant entrep reneurship (ethnic economy employer, mainst ream-
economy employer, self- employment without employees) can serve as indicators of the economic integration
of certa in immigrant gr oups as well as the relative openness of t he host societ y. This articl e focuses of t wo key
aspects of immigrant economic integration: the achievement of certain middle- class income thresholds (defined in
relation to the median incomes of the native- b orn) and participation in the mainstream part s of the economy (as an
employer or as an employee). For example, a significant income premium for immigrant entrepreneurs or ordinary
immigrant workers employed in the ethnic economy indicates a relatively low economic integration of immigrants
and/or a lack of comparable opportunities in the mainst ream economy ( Wilson & Porte s, 1980). The in ability of
immigrants to realise their full potential lea ds to lower incomes and a lesser contribution to the host economy.
The prese nce of such integr ation challenges s ignals the need for policy inter ventions that e liminate institutio nal
barriers and e xpand the scope of oppor tunities available to imm igrants in the mainstr eam economy.
Additionally, this ar ticle intends to contr ibute to our unders tanding of the pat terns of immigrant ent repre-
neurship a nd ethnic economy employment in c ountries with sh orter migration histories, like Po land. It also a ims
to assess these patter ns as indicators of the economic integration (or the lack the reof) of Chinese and Vietnamese
residents of th e WMA.
The above- mentioned goa ls can also be translated in to the following research qu estions:
1. What is the impac t of entrepreneursh ip and participat ion in the ethnic e conomy on the probab ility of
Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants in the WMA achieving upper- middle (or higher) incomes?
2. Which factors affect the odds of entre preneurship and ethnic economy participation among Vietnam ese and
Chinese reside nts in the WMA?
3. Do the patterns of employment and entrepreneurship among Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants in the WMA
indicate their g radual integration into the Po lish economy?
The pape r uses microdat a from the Centre of Migrat ion Research (CM R) survey of Chinese and V ietnamese
residents of t he WMA (CMR, 2017) and employs logistic regression analysis in order to a ssess the impact of
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