The rapid growth of the live streaming economy in China has created new opportunities for online entrepreneurship, particularly among ethnic minority group (EMG) users. This paper aims to examine the motivations driving Chinese EMGs to engage in online entrepreneurship through video streaming technology.
By synthesising the existing literature, this paper highlights the unique cultural, economic and social factors that influence their online entrepreneurial behaviours. The research model is designed according to the capability-opportunity-motivation-behaviour (COM-B) model and the sociocultural atmosphere.
Through the variance-based structural equation modelling (SEM) and partial least squares (PLS) path modelling, the findings suggest that EMGs are motivated by a combination of opportunities, capability and their sociocultural atmosphere. The importance-performance map analysis (IPMA) is conducted and sociocultural cohesion is found to have significantly higher importance and performance for EMGs’ online entrepreneurship motivation.
The extended COM-B model contributes to the growing body of research on online entrepreneurship and provides insights into the intersection of ethnicity, technology and economy in China.
