Polish Entrepreneurs in Glasgow and Entrepreneurial Opportunity Structure

Purpose
To develop a modelised representation of the concept of opportunity structures for Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurs (EMEs) in Glasgow, Scotland, that incorporates the different demand and supply side dimensions influencing entrepreneurial activity.

Design/methodology/approach
An appropriate qualitative research design was implemented in order to capture and understand the influence of contextual dimensions on entrepreneurial behaviour of Polish EMEs in Glasgow. As part of the abductive and reflective process of the research, 21 semi-structure interviews were carried out in with Polish EMEs who are sole-owners of businesses.

Findings
By contextualising ethnic minority entrepreneurship, the paper reveals the crucial and ambivalent role played by the community (for resource mobilisation and as the primary market) and by Polish EMEs' perception of the opportunity structure, on their entrepreneurial behaviour. Moreover, it highlights the importance of the household as a contextual dimension on entrepreneurial decision-making among those Polish entrepreneurs in Glasgow.

Practical implications
Provides a comprehensive and operational model of opportunity structure for EMEs which can be used an operational tool for both scholars in the field as well as by policy makers. The proposed model constitutes a framework for analysing the influence of different contextual dimensions on EMEs' entrepreneurial behaviour.

Originality/value
The contribution is the provision of an original tool to enable further systematic comparative approaches while conducting research on EMEs across different communities and localities.