The regulatory environment for migrant and women entrepreneurs
| Published date | 01 April 2023 |
| Author | Sibel Ozasir‐Kacar,Caroline Essers |
| Date | 01 April 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12958 |
International Migration. 2023;61:107–122.
|
107
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
INTRODUCTION
Guided by neoliberal economic tenets, both governmental and non- governmental organizations foster entrepre-
neurship, incl uding among migrants an d women, to increase employ ment and economic develop ment (Ram et al.,
2017; Ribeiro- Soriano & Galindo- Martin, 2012; Solano et al ., 2019). Gover nments lean on m igrant and women
entrepreneurship for employment opportunities (Powell, 2008), gender equality (Achtenhagen & Welter, 200 3),
migrant integra tion (Constant et al., 2 007) and soc ial mobility (Rath & Klo osterman, 2000; Zhou, 2004). The y also
Received: 15 Febr uary 2021
|
Revised: 30 Sept ember 2021
|
Accepted: 4 Decem ber 2021
DOI: 10.1111/imig.12958
SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE
The regulatory environment for migrant and
women entrepreneurs
Sibel Ozasir- Kacar | Caroline Essers
This is an open ac cess article und er the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri butio n- NonCo mmerc ial- NoDerivs License, which
permits us e and distributio n in any medium, provid ed the original wor k is properly cited , the use is non- commercial and no
modifications or adaptations are made.
© 2021 The Author s. International Migration published by John Wil ey & Sons Ltd on behalf of In ternational Org anization for
Migration.
Departm ent of Business Admin istration,
Nijmegen Sch ool of Management, R adboud
University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Correspondence
Sibel Ozasir- Kacar, Department of
Business Administration, Nijmegen School
of Management, Radboud University,
Heyendaalse weg 141, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen,
The Netherlands.
Email: sibel.ozasirkacar@ru.nl
Abstract
This study explo res the impact of the un derlying assump-
tions in the regulator y environments of t wo national con-
texts, Turkey and the Nethe rlands, on the entrepre neurship
of Turkish women. It us es discour ses on gender, ethnic-
ity and entrepre neurship. The result s indicate that the se
regulatory environments are immersed with male gender-
ing ideology and g ive a secondary posi tion to women and
migrant entrepren eurs. Accordingly, women and mig rant
entrepreneurs a re confined by the suppor t provided to
them by both governmental and non- governmental or-
ganizations. Turkish women ent repreneurs are res tricted
in networking; a ccess to institutions; an d funding by the
programmes, initiatives or regulations that their enter-
prises receive suppo rt from. This stu dy contributes to ex-
isting literature on m igrant and women entre preneurship
by discursively analysing underlying assumptions regarding
these groups in two d ifferent national contexts.
108
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OZASIR- KACAR And ESSERS
promote migrant entrepreneurship to increase the entrepreneurial potential and global attractiveness of cities or
regions through policies (Desiderio, 2 014, p. 1). This co mmon assumption that entrep reneurship benefit s all, and
thus should be p romoted by policies does not a lways hold (Ahl & Nelson, 201 5; Verduijn & Essers, 2 013). Studies
have questione d the support on entrep reneurship by pointing o ut its negative effec ts on individuals, f amilies and
society, such as fin ancial hardship (Shane, 2008), di fficulties with work– life balance (K irkwood & Tootell, 2008),
impairment on family well- being (Jennings et al., 2013) an d focus only on economic de velopment to the detrim ent
of social developm ent (Rindova et al., 200 9). These findings l ead to question whet her these policy su pport benefit
or possibly harm migrant and women entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship policy is a relatively understudied area of research in women's entrepreneurship (Foss et al.,
2019), and it s relationship wi th migrant women e ntrepreneur s is even more unexplo red (Link & Strong , 2016).
Some recent studies have focused on policy implications regarding finance (Scott & Hussain, 2019) or emotio nal
citizenry in po licy encounters as far as both ge nder and ethnicity are con cerned (Webster, 2020). However, nor-
mative approac hes to understanding polic y impact fail to capture the li mitations placed on migrant and w omen
entrepreneurship, such as gender discrimination, work– family conflict (Wang, 2019), difficulty in raising capital,
lack of infrastr ucture, econ omic and politic al environment s and lack of training and educat ion especially in d e-
veloping countr ies (Panda, 2018) but also in d eveloped countries. Th is can be exemplified in the U nited Kingdom
by the fact that s uitable evidence support ing policy formulation is limi ted, despite the rhetoric that is of ten the
case. This is mos tly because entre preneurial policy i s based on political r ather than economic r ationale (Smallbone
& Do, 2020). Thus , more explicit attention ne eds to be given to the underlyin g assumptions in entrepreneu rship
policies regarding migrant and women entrepreneurs to gain a deeper understanding on the entrepreneurship
policies. Studies on migrant entrepreneurship also emphasize the need for policy development for migrant women
entrepreneu rs and the import ance of acknowledgin g the family nature of many m igrant enterprise s (Collins, 2003,
p. 148).
As a res ponse to the Special Is sue's call for a focus on p olicies an d initiat ives to supp ort migr ant entrep reneur-
ship (Ram et al., fort hcoming), this study explor es the underlying assumpt ions shaped by the discourses on g en-
der, ethnicity and e ntrepreneurship in the cu rrent regulatory environ ments in two national contex ts, Turkey and
the Nether lands, intra- nationally an d in comparison. This study is or iginal as it takes a critical polic y approach. It
discursively analyses the processes revolving policy design and implementation rather than the policies, because
we contend that the se policies are not designe d and implemented objec tively based solely on e conomic rationale
(Arshed et al ., 2019; Smallbo ne & Welter, 2020). Also, we have a broader scop e for entrepreneursh ip policy, as we
frame it as the reg ulatory environment consis ting of the sets of rules, reg ulations, practices, t axes, programmes,
policy inter ventions and initiatives from gove rnmental and non- governmen tal actors. We ask, “How do the reg-
ulatory environments in Turkey and the Netherlands influence Turkish women entrepreneurs and their entre-
preneurship through underlying assumptions related to discourses on gender, ethnicity and entrepreneurship in
these two nati onal contexts?” T he answer to this qu estion is impor tant as it demon strates how the re gulatory
environments based on the underlying assumptions enable or hinder women and migrant entrepreneurs in their
entr eprene urial pr actice s and expe rience s. It also hi ghligh ts contex tual va riation s and simi laritie s regard ing entr e-
preneurship p olicy in two different na tional contexts. This an alysis can shed light on what th ese regulatory envi-
ronments ultimately provide to these entrepreneurs and whether they indeed deliver social and financial value.
In our analy sis, we were inspired by the insights provid ed by discursive ins titutionalism (Schmid t, 2008). As a
response to the s tatic and overly determini stic nature of institutions p ortrayed by historica l institutionalism, dis-
cursive institutionalism considers interactions among ac tors through several discourses. Discursive interactions
connect the ac tors who generate and com municate rules, regula tions and policies (polic ymakers, represent atives
and government of ficials) to those who are influence d by these policies (in this case mi grant and women entre-
preneurs) within given institutional contexts (where and when these policies are designed, communicated and
implemented) based on discourses on gender, ethnicity and entrepreneurship (how and why these policies are
designed, communicated and implemented).
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