Professionals from China: Entrepreneurship and social resources in a strange land

Abstract

New skilled immigrants may have a hard time getting jobs. Among other reasons, local employers may not value their foreign-earned credentials. This could prompt professional and technical immigrants to start a business instead. In this paper, we examined how educated immigrants from the People's Republic of China avoid underemployment in Canada by setting up their own businesses. We found that many immigrants brought entrepreneurial backgrounds with them. However, their entrepreneurial experience was linked to their human capital, which was dynamically related with the organizational needs of large, complex bureaucracies back home. Once in Canada, where their social resources are diminished, few could reestablish enterprises. Without these supporting relations, skilled immigrants are not prime candidates for entrepreneurship.