Examination the relationship between economic integration of migrants and immigrant entrepreneurship

The world's population sees 3% as migrants. This figure has increased in recent years with events in the Middle East. It is known that approximately 240 million people have migrated to countries with different geographies, cultures, and languages. There are reasons for people to migrate from their countries to other countries. The primary reason is the safety of life. Due to political, economic, social, and legal problems, people leave their places of residence and are influenced by the cultures of the places they go. They also convey their own cultures through various channels. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the economic integration of migrants and migrant entrepreneurship. Another sub-objective of the study is the development of a scale for the economic integration of migrants. One of the sub-objectives of the study is to examine the differences between demographic groups regarding migrants' perceptions of economic integration and entrepreneurship. In this context, the universe of the study consists of migrants living in Istanbul. In this study, where the convenience sampling method is used, 347 data were collected with the survey technique. In the study where relational screening model from quantitative methods is used, frequency, factor, correlation, regression, and difference analyses were applied to the collected data. According to the findings of the frequency analysis, it was concluded that there are more male participants, 85% of the participants are high school and university graduates, most of them are married, the majority are workers, and the duration of stay in Turkey is between 7-9 years. According to the factor analysis findings, five dimensions related to the economic integration of migrants have emerged. These dimensions are the perception of the welfare state, compliance with laws, income status, setting up a business, and job opportunities. Three dimensions have emerged regarding migrant entrepreneurship. These dimensions are risk-taking, proactiveness, and innovativeness. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the effect of migrants' economic integration on migrant entrepreneurship. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that compliance with laws, income status, setting up a business, and job opportunities have an effect on migrant entrepreneurship. As a result of the difference analyses, it was concluded that there are significant differences between demographic groups regarding perceptions of migrants' economic integration and migrant entrepreneurship.