Immigrant and Native Entrepreneurs’ Sources of Financing for Startup: With a Moderating Effect of Wealth in the Country

Entrepreneurs usually require financing for starting their businesses. Their primary source may be personal savings, family and friends’ funds, or loans from banks and other financial institutions. Immigrant and native entrepreneurs may differ in their sources of financing, and their differences in sources may depend on their societal context. The research questions are, how does an entrepreneur’s migration status -immigrant versus native-influence primary source of financing, and how is this influence moderated by wealth of the country? Data are a sample of 14,369 immigrant and native owner-managers of starting businesses in 29 countries, surveyed in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, and analyzed by hierarchical mixed models. Analyses reveal that immigrant and native entrepreneurs similarly frequently have their personal savings and family as the primary source of funding. Native entrepreneurs, more often than immigrant entrepreneurs, have banks and other financial institutions as the primary source of funding. Immigrants, more often than native entrepreneurs, have friends and yet other sources as the primary source of funding. These effects of migration status upon source of financing, however, are moderated by the national context, in that wealth of the country boosts the immigrants’ use of friends and other sources of financing.