Overcoming the mobility bias in transnational entrepreneurship

Abstract

The current article contributes to the debates on immobility in migration studies. More specifically, it aims to show and challenge mobility bias in transnational entrepreneurship; the relevant scholarship appears to overconcentrate on immigrants as major driving forces of cross-border business relations while ignoring the contributions of nonmigrant populations. Based on the qualitative data collected from Central Asian migrant entrepreneurs in Russia, this research dispels the myth about the inertness of nonmigrants by demonstrating their utmost importance in establishing and sustaining transnational enterprises. Therefore, transnational entrepreneurship should be regarded as the result of joint efforts of both mobile and sedentary actors. The presented evidence suggests that mobility and immobility are integrally intertwined and mutually constitutive. This study calls for a more balanced and nuanced vision of how transnationalism occurs.