The success of migrant entrepreneurship as a strategy for integrating migrants into the host country’s market depends on their inclusion in the host country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. This paper aims to explore the collaborative experience between Ukrainian entrepreneurs, both migrants operating in Poland and non-migrants based in Ukraine, and their Polish business partners.
Using a qualitative method, the research draws on data collected through focus groups and in-depth interviews with three key respondent groups: Ukrainian migrant entrepreneurs in Poland, Polish entrepreneurs collaborating with Ukrainian migrant entrepreneurs and Ukrainian entrepreneurs in Ukraine collaborating with Polish businesses. Adopting a multifaceted perspective, the study examines how the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion unfold in cross-border and migrant entrepreneurship.
The findings reveal diverse drivers of collaboration within the host-country entrepreneurial ecosystem, enabling the development of a multidimensional model of integration that includes culture-driven, market-driven, diaspora-driven, development-driven and society-driven factors. Integration mechanisms form interconnected systems in which the strongest effects arise from the synergy of different motivations, emphasising mechanisms that facilitate or hinder the economic and social inclusion of migrant entrepreneurs.
The paper contributes to the literature by offering a multi-perspective analysis of migrant, home-country and host-country entrepreneurs and by developing a multidimensional framework of integration drivers within the context of a new destination country. The findings extend existing research by showing how integration emerges from multiple ecosystem drivers and offering nuanced insights for policies aimed at supporting migrant integration and fostering economic cooperation between Poland and Ukraine.
