Acculturation and Ethnic Hybridism in Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Received literature describes ethnic firms as founded to meet the needs of an ethnic community and use peculiar configurations of human and social capital drawing on ethnic resources. According to some authors, this is due to the “acculturation lag” that characterizes immigrant entrepreneurs retaining traditional values from the heritage culture. Recent evidence however shows that immigrant firms are undergoing significant changes in their organizational structures, such as the incorporation of native or non-co-ethnic partners or employees (i.e., firm ethnic hybridism). This study analyzes whether these changes are accompanied by different entrepreneurs’ acculturation patterns. A unique set of primary data about 130 first-generation immigrant entrepreneurs in Italy is used to shed some new light on this topic and suggest avenues for future research.