IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eurman/v42y2024i2p173-185.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Resilience on an emotional rollercoaster: Refugee entrepreneurship under adversity

Author

Listed:
  • Yeshi, Tenzin
  • Harima, Aki
  • Freiling, Jörg

Abstract

The political turmoil, civil war, economic crisis, and breakdown of the political systems in the Middle East and many African countries led to the global refugee crisis in 2015. Since then, policymakers and academics have recognized the entrepreneurial potential of refugees. Compared to migrants, due to forced displacement, refugees face significant adversities, such as psychological trauma and substantial institutional barriers. Consequently, refugee entrepreneurs need to develop and maintain a high degree of resilience to pursue an entrepreneurial path despite adversities. However, previous studies have treated resilience as a mere personal trait of refugees, neglecting its multi-layered, dynamic aspect. Against this background, this study examines how refugee entrepreneurs' resilience emerges and develops, and it analyzes the factors that influence the maintenance of their resilience. Based on 52 interviews with refugee entrepreneurs in Germany, this study finds that the fragile, unstable nature of refugees' resilience depends on various factors at the individual, relational, and institutional levels during venture development. Based on the findings, we theorize the dynamic process view of refugee entrepreneurs’ resilience.

Suggested Citation

  • Yeshi, Tenzin & Harima, Aki & Freiling, Jörg, 2024. "Resilience on an emotional rollercoaster: Refugee entrepreneurship under adversity," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 173-185.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:42:y:2024:i:2:p:173-185
    DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2022.12.009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026323732200175X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.emj.2022.12.009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:42:y:2024:i:2:p:173-185. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/115/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.