Entrepreneurship has been widely
adopted as a policy to support migrants,
yet the focus on its economic benefits has
overshadowed its socio-cultural impacts.
This dissertation, drawing on
acculturation theory and social identity
theory, explores the effects of being an
entrepreneur on the identity
reconstruction of post-2019 Hong Kong
(HK) migrants in the UK. While existing
literature often portrays identity as a
static concept that founders draw upon
to shape their ventures, this study argues
that there is a reciprocal relationship
between entrepreneurship and identity.
Through semi-structured interviews with
12 HK migrant entrepreneurs and
participant observation at three cultural
festivals, it is found that while their
ventures are influenced by multiple
identities, including whether they
identify more as Hongkongers or British,
entrepreneurship also serves as a
sociocultural learning process for
migrants to construct their new identity.
This occurs typically through three
mechanisms: (i) relationship building, (ii)
emotional attachment and (iii) customer
feedback. Additionally, the findings
suggest that entrepreneurship empowers
migrants to enact their agency and mitigate acculturative stress, eventually
improving their overall well-being. This
study contributes to the fields of
entrepreneurship and migrant studies in
three key ways: first, it emphasises the
reciprocal nature of the relationship
between entrepreneurship and migrant
identity construction; second, it broadens
the understanding of migrant
entrepreneurship by focusing on its
socio-cultural, not just economic,
outcomes; and third, it provides empirical
evidence of how post-2019 HK migrants
redefine their identity through
entrepreneurship, offering valuable
insights for future research on migrant
entrepreneurship and the evolving
identity of the HK diaspora.
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