Cognitive effects on entrepreneurial intentions: a comparison of Chinese émigrés and their descendants with non-émigré Chinese

Cognitive characteristics of individuals have previously been established as important predictors of entrepreneurial intentions. Yet, we know little about this relationship in a transnational and ethnic entrepreneurship context. In this paper, we examine if and how émigrés differs from those individuals staying at home with regard to entrepreneurial intentions and with regard to their cognitive make-up. Also, we examine differences in the impact of cognitions of émigrés and homeland individuals respectively on their entrepreneurial intentions. We use data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor in 2012 on 3,681 adult homeland Chinese 111 adult first generation émigrés and 295 adult second generation émigrés from China. Findings suggest that second generation Chinese émigrées are less likely to have entrepreneurial intentions than Chinese staying in China. Contrary to our initial expectations, we also find that both first and second generation émigrés are less likely to have entrepreneurially oriented cognitions.