Transnational Entrepreneurship: Toward a unifying theoretical framework

This paper seeks to develop a unifying analytical framework to advance the study of Transnational Entrepreneurship (TE), which refers to the processes of creating and growing new business ventures across national boundaries by social actors. We first examine relevant research literatures and theoretical perspectives and identify the limitations of each in analyzing the process of TE. We then introduce a new theoretical lens for studying TE that is grounded in the theory of practice and the concept of "habitus", which refers to aspects of culture that are anchored in the body of daily practices of individuals, groups, societies, and nations. Our proposed analytical framework views TE as a social realm of immigrants who operate in a complex, cross-national habitus, consisting of dual cultural, institutional and economic features from which actors can formulate their entrepreneurial strategies of action. We show how this framework integrates perspectives that focus on actors' motivation and behavior, cultural values and norms, institutional fields, political meaning and consequences, and social capital and network formation. We conclude by developing theoretical propositions and recommendations for future research.