Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Post-Socialist Countries of the European Union: Motives and Patterns of Entrepreneurship of Post-Soviet Immigrants in Hungary

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between migration, entrepreneurship, and foreign direct investments by focusing on entrepreneurial activities of post-Soviet (im)migrants in Hungary in periods between 1991 and 2016. Post-Soviet migrants are in focus because between 1956 and 1989 the Soviet Union coercively kept Hungary in the Socialist bloc. Based on surveys and in-depth interviews, this paper reveals that there are considerable differences in patterns of entrepreneurship among post-Soviet immigrant entrepreneurs depending mostly on time of their arrival to Hungary. Similarly, motives for entrepreneurship among the first-wave migrants combine negative factors in the former Soviet Union with positive factors encountered in Hungary, while factors in Hungary recognized as positive by most post-Soviets prevail in motives for later waves of post-Soviet migration and entrepreneurship in Hungary. The paper also demonstrates that many relatively small investments have been conducted since 2000 by citizens of post-Soviet countries to Hungary. Some of them are transforming into an entrepreneurial activity, serving also as a basis for immigration to Hungary. Key words:  immigrant entrepreneurship; Post-Soviet immigrants; Hungary; foreign direct investment (FDI); post-socialist Europe