Entrepreneurial well-being (EWB) of expatriate entrepreneurs: self and world

Abstract

Applicability to the ISBE conference theme – Sustainable Growth in Unexpected Places - Transnational entrepreneurial experiences show that life situations and the emotions embedded in those processes are the reflection of the self’s seeking relatedness to the world. These narratives demonstrated what EWB is in a real-life international context and how EWB evolved through the self’s engaging with others and the broader world.

Aim – Adopting an interpretive lens to explore the expatriate entrepreneurs' EWB, this paper aims to develop a conceptual framework of the EWB process.

Methodology – This study adopts an interpretivist approach of abductive reasoning following an iterative process of analysis of the literature and the data from 50 in-depth interviews with expatriate entrepreneurs in China.

Contribution - This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of human nature and the world through the theoretical lens of the Entrepreneurial well-being of expatriate entrepreneurs. It provides the core conceptualization process of human aspiration to create, live and enjoy via the updated globally dominant business system.

Implications for policy - From EWB's perspective, understanding expatriate entrepreneurship as a global phenomenon may promote a more innovative, creative, and sustainable entrepreneurial environment which will inevitably benefit the local economy of the host country.

Implications for practice -This research shows that an entrepreneurial career serves an empowering role for expatriate entrepreneurs to negotiate social and self-identities by achieving higher EWB. The EWB process reveals how international talents can fully exploit their cultural capital and human capital that is developed in developed economies but gets commercialised and fulfilled in the context of developing economies.