Pathway to Entrepreneurship for Recent Chinese Immigrants in the United States

Miao David Chunyu, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY)

Studies on causes of immigrant entrepreneurship traditionally focused on the contexts of reception in the destination society. Advancement of the scholarship can significantly benefit from making linkages with the conditions in immigrants’ country of origin and their migration process, but research in this direction has been limited due to lack of relevant data. This study seeks to contribute to this line of research by taking advantage of a recently available dataset from the China International Migration Project and conducting a case study on the Chinese immigrants’ business formation in the United States. The findings suggest that Chinese immigrants’ pre-migration entrepreneurial background can significantly enhance their chances of becoming business owners in the U.S. However, the steep migration costs and undocumented status, which is often associated with these immigrants’ illicit entry into the U.S., tend to hinder their transition into entrepreneurship. Other findings are consistent with existing literature.