Purpose: The past decade has shown a remarkable growth in entrepreneurship among immigrants in Greece, while their contribution to Greek society is still clouded by issues of social integration, crime, exclusion, racism and discrimination. The purpose of this paper is to empirically identify the motivations that are responsible for migrant entrepreneurship in the case of Greece. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use the principal component factor analysis technique in order to investigate common factors that might explain underlying beliefs about the perceived variables. The research questionnaire includes open-ended and closed questions to collect the necessary information in order to provide insights into a variety of critical factors which determine the start and existence of ethnic firms. Findings: It is found that the intention to become an entrepreneur depends on family survival needs, immigrant community ties, personality features or traits and market infrastructure and general conditions of the Greek economy. Originality/value: The findings of this study provide important insights into the perceived and actual motivations encountered by immigrant entrepreneurs in Greece and allow for implications to be made to both owners and government policies. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Greece immigrants Motivation (psychology) Migrant entrepreneurship Entrepreneurialism factor analysis

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