Entrepreneurship and the social integration of new minorities: Iranian hospitality entrepreneurs in Scotland

The purpose of this paper is to look at perspectives of new minority entrepreneurs towards entrepreneurship, either as a facilitator or as a barrier to the integration of minorities. The research objective is to explore the role of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship in the integration process...

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Main Authors: Pechlaner, Harald, Lee, T., Crotts, J., Mostajer Haghighi, A., Lynch, P.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/34991
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author Pechlaner, Harald
Lee, T.
Crotts, J.
Mostajer Haghighi, A.
Lynch, P.
author_facet Pechlaner, Harald
Lee, T.
Crotts, J.
Mostajer Haghighi, A.
Lynch, P.
author_sort Pechlaner, Harald
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The purpose of this paper is to look at perspectives of new minority entrepreneurs towards entrepreneurship, either as a facilitator or as a barrier to the integration of minorities. The research objective is to explore the role of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship in the integration process of new minorities. It is attempted to explore the perspectives of new minority entrepreneurs about the concept of integration, the possibility of integration through self-employment in hospitality and the relationship between entrepreneurship and integration. This research adopts a subjective perspective and a social constructionist approach to understand what the new minorities perceive as their reality. An in-depth qualitative methodology is adopted for this research as it tries to understand inductively the phenomenon of hospitality entrepreneurship and ethnic minority integration. The findings suggest hospitality entrepreneurship can act both as a facilitator and as a barrier to integration of the new minorities. Although it facilitates economic integration of the new minorities into the host society by providing wealth for them, at the same time it acts as a barrier to their social and cultural integration. It was revealed that ultimate integration is not possible because of high cultural differences between the host and their original cultures. The paper proposes that integration is a continuum rather than a predefined point to achieve. Integration happens between two extreme points of complete isolation of migrants to their complete assimilation. The respondents of this research did not locate themselves in either ends of this continuum. © 2012, MCB UP Limited
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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last_indexed 2025-11-14T08:39:24Z
publishDate 2012
publisher Emerald Group Publishing Limited
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-349912017-09-13T15:28:01Z Entrepreneurship and the social integration of new minorities: Iranian hospitality entrepreneurs in Scotland Pechlaner, Harald Lee, T. Crotts, J. Mostajer Haghighi, A. Lynch, P. The purpose of this paper is to look at perspectives of new minority entrepreneurs towards entrepreneurship, either as a facilitator or as a barrier to the integration of minorities. The research objective is to explore the role of hospitality and tourism entrepreneurship in the integration process of new minorities. It is attempted to explore the perspectives of new minority entrepreneurs about the concept of integration, the possibility of integration through self-employment in hospitality and the relationship between entrepreneurship and integration. This research adopts a subjective perspective and a social constructionist approach to understand what the new minorities perceive as their reality. An in-depth qualitative methodology is adopted for this research as it tries to understand inductively the phenomenon of hospitality entrepreneurship and ethnic minority integration. The findings suggest hospitality entrepreneurship can act both as a facilitator and as a barrier to integration of the new minorities. Although it facilitates economic integration of the new minorities into the host society by providing wealth for them, at the same time it acts as a barrier to their social and cultural integration. It was revealed that ultimate integration is not possible because of high cultural differences between the host and their original cultures. The paper proposes that integration is a continuum rather than a predefined point to achieve. Integration happens between two extreme points of complete isolation of migrants to their complete assimilation. The respondents of this research did not locate themselves in either ends of this continuum. © 2012, MCB UP Limited 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/34991 10.1108/16605371211216323 Emerald Group Publishing Limited restricted
spellingShingle Pechlaner, Harald
Lee, T.
Crotts, J.
Mostajer Haghighi, A.
Lynch, P.
Entrepreneurship and the social integration of new minorities: Iranian hospitality entrepreneurs in Scotland
title Entrepreneurship and the social integration of new minorities: Iranian hospitality entrepreneurs in Scotland
title_full Entrepreneurship and the social integration of new minorities: Iranian hospitality entrepreneurs in Scotland
title_fullStr Entrepreneurship and the social integration of new minorities: Iranian hospitality entrepreneurs in Scotland
title_full_unstemmed Entrepreneurship and the social integration of new minorities: Iranian hospitality entrepreneurs in Scotland
title_short Entrepreneurship and the social integration of new minorities: Iranian hospitality entrepreneurs in Scotland
title_sort entrepreneurship and the social integration of new minorities: iranian hospitality entrepreneurs in scotland
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/34991