Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on New Trends in Management, Business and Economics
Year: 2023
DOI:
[PDF]
With A Little Help of My Friends – The Role of Social Ties in Refugee Necessity Entrepreneurship
Tine Lehmann
ABSTRACT:
Harima and Freudenberg (2020) demonstrate that often refugee entrepreneurship in Germany is based on necessity entrepreneurship, as access to their original profession is blocked. Furthermore, Gericke, et al. (2018), demonstrate the importance of different types of social capital (friends and family) for access to the labor market. We wondered whether the role of social capital is equally important for refugee entrepreneurship and if so, which kind of social capital, or whether it is based on third party support such as NGOs or governmental institutions.
With narrative interviewees we demonstrate the importance of social capital for refugee entrepreneurs. Interestingly, it is mainly not social capital from their home countries, but horizontal bridging social capital (friends from the host country). However, the people referred to as “friends” by our interviewees often turn out to be leading activists from NGOs that support refugee entrepreneurship.
Our research sheds light on the specifics of social capital ties of refugee entrepreneurs and shows that “help from friends” is, in reality, NGO support. By exploring the characteristics of social capital in this context, we aim to contribute to an understanding of the factors and motivations underlying refugee entrepreneurship in Germany.
keywords: Refugee Labor Market Integration, Refugee Entrepreneurship, Social Capital