Na quarta-feira, dia 17 de setembro, entre as 13h00 e as 14h00, tem lugar a segunda sessão deste ano letivo dos ISEG Research Seminars, com Sandra Portocarrero (London School of Economics), que irá apresentar o paper “Entrepreneurship as an Opportunity To Gain Dignity: Insights into Undocumented Entrepreneurship in California“.
Os Seminários ISEG Research terão lugar semanalmente, às quartas-feiras, no Anfiteatro 4 do Edifício Quelhas (4.º piso), contando com a participação de docentes do ISEG, bem como de outras instituições de ensino nacionais e internacionais.
Entrada livre.
Abstract
We examine how the quest for dignity motivates undocumented immigrants to pursue entrepreneurship. Drawing from 50 in-depth interviews with undocumented entrepreneurs and leaders from an immigrants right organization in California, we explore the social and economic motivations behind entrepreneurial entry among this marginalized population.
Our findings reveal that undocumented immigrants’ primary motivation for entrepreneurship stems from their desire to restore dignity in a society that actively alienates them due to their legal status. Participants experienced discrimination and exploitation not only from broader society but also from employers of their same ethnic background, creating an “ethnic cage” that stratifies members of the same ethnic group based on legal status and economic resources. We explain how entrepreneurship is conceptualized as an opportunity to gain dignity, and describe how individuals recognize entrepreneurship as a means to reclaim their inherent worth. In our study, organizations supporting undocumented populations played a crucial role in this quest for dignity, facilitating the transition from informal employment to formal business ownership, with many undocumented participants subsequently employing U.S. citizens. Our findings contributes to entrepreneurship literature by theorizing entrepreneurship as an opportunity to gain dignity, extending frameworks on social mobility and addressing elite bias in entrepreneurship research by centering experiences of highly marginalized entrepreneurs.