Diverse experiences of university education and entrepreneurship of native-born and immigrants in Canada

Purpose To understand the relationship between studying abroad, receiving STEM education, completing master’s or doctoral education and the likelihood of becoming entrepreneurs among immigrant and native-born university graduates. Design/methodology/approach Statistical analysis of the 2016 Canadian Public Use Micro Data. Findings Despite the small differences between native-born and immigrant populations in the percentages of entrepreneurs, there are considerable differences in the location of study, STEM education and completion of master’s or doctoral education. Multivariate analysis suggests that since a higher percentage of immigrants are educated abroad, the significant difference in the percentage of each group who are entrepreneurs is narrowed, because education abroad is positively related to the likelihood of entrepreneurship. Originality/value We simultaneously compare the relationship between studying abroad, receiving STEM education and completing master’s or doctoral training and the likelihood of becoming entrepreneurs for immigrant and native-born university graduates.