| Participant observations (ON) |
| The first author conducted observation as a participant (Denzin and Lincoln, 2017) on a 20-week “Start your own business” enterprise program aimed at immigrant nascent entrepreneurs (total of 60 h). The course covered all necessary parts of starting a business with emphasis on local-specific formal and informal rules of business conduct. Detailed notes were taken at each session of the course, particularly regarding the content and interaction between the participants and trainers. Observational notes and reflections were recorded after each session and used to gather detail on individuals' backgrounds, interactions and progress (160 pages in total of notes and reflections |
| Qualitative interviewing (INT) |
| 16 interviews consisting of two rounds of semi-structured interviews. The themes for interviews were developed from emerging concepts stemming from observations, informal communication and concepts from literature. The first set of interviews took place 3 months after the completion of the enterprise program (5/6 participants with an exception of Lietus and 2 course instructors) and the second round (all 6 participants) five months later, a gap that allowed for the participants' entrepreneurial and cross-cultural journeys to evolve. Each interview lasted between 50–165 min. Emerging concepts and themes were verified with the participants during both interviews. Data was used to gather in-depth understanding of participants' backgrounds and their start-up and cross-cultural adaptation experiences. (48 pages of interview notes in total) |
| Ongoing informal communication (IC) |
| Informal discussions were conducted with each participant throughout the data generation period to “observe” participants experiences in a more informal way and to build trust. These interactions included informal personal group meetings (2), individual informal meetings (3), conversations before and after the enterprise program classes, telephone calls and text messages (154), electronic communication (200 emails and 26 Skype conversations). Summary notes of informal communication and written informal communication were analysed through NVivo gaining further insights into each participant's character, positive and negative experiences over time. This data further refined emerging concepts |