Immigrant entrepreneurs’ dual embeddedness in home- and host-cultures: cultural arbitrage in form of bicultural capital promoting business growth expectations

Purpose Immigrants moving from their home country to a host country are often considered disadvantaged with a liability due to their foreignness. However, dual embeddedness in two cultures may enable them to perceive entrepreneurial opportunities arising from the differences between these cultures, potentially recognizing more opportunities than those seen by natives in the host country, thus turning foreignness into an asset. This prompts the question of whether the experiences of immigrant entrepreneurs in two cultures create a form of bicultural capital that they utilize for cultural arbitrage, enabling them to recognize opportunities and foster growth in their businesses. Design/methodology/approach A globally representative sample of 56,728 entrepreneurs, including 4,989 immigrants, reported on their pursuits of growth for the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. An immigrant’s bicultural capital is indicated by the cultural distance between their home country and host country, as estimated from the World Values Survey. Findings Bicultural capital is shown to foster growth expectations, as immigrants with extensive bicultural capital tend to have particularly high growth expectations, and these immigrants strive for greater growth than natives. However, institutional discrimination diminishes immigrants’ growth expectations. Originality/value The findings contribute to accounting for cultural arbitrage in entrepreneurship, specifically based on immigrant entrepreneurs’ bicultural capital and benefitting performance-related endeavors.