Cultural barriers to developing migrant entrepreneurship in Russia

Abstract

The article is aimed at identifying the barriers to successful development of entrepreneurial activity of migrants from Central Asia in Russia. Conclusions made in the article are based on the results of the survey carried out among Ekaterinburg (the Sverdlovsk Region, Russia) citizens (N 485) by means of the standardized interviewing of migrants from Central Asia (N 231) in 2017; on the data of quality interviews with Ekaterinburg citizens (N 33) and with migrants of foreign ethnicities (N 19). In the article, the authors analyze the cultural barriers related to the stereotypes of perception, language differences, ethnical culture, different values, civilizational peculiarities of countries sending and receiving migrants. All of them are important for the success of migrant entrepreneurship under the conditions of a Russian big city. The authors prove that alongside with economic, political and legal barriers, such factors as the insufficient knowledge of the Russian language demonstrated by migrants, different cultural norms and values for migrants and local citizens, including the confessional difference, have a significant impact on the willingness and possibility of migrants to develop business in Russia.