Family characteristics and entrepreneurship among immigrants in the Netherlands:

This study analyses the family characteristics of entrepreneurs among immigrants. This study discusses first what entrepreneurship is with its functions and determinants. Next, it describes differences between entrepreneurship in the total population and entrepreneurship among immigrants. A historical overview is given of recent immigration streams in the Netherlands. The empirical analyses of this study focus on the association of marital status and children with entrepreneurship (compared to all other possible occupations) among immigrants in general. The differences between the associations of marital status and children with entrepreneurship among first- and second generation immigrants are also researched separately. The analyses are based on a sample of 1,557 immigrants living in the Netherlands that participated in the Immigrant Panel of the LISS Database. The empirical analyses show no significant associations of marriage and divorce with entrepreneurship among immigrants and among first- and second-generation immigrants separately. No significant evidence is found for having children in the household, having young children (in the age 0-6 years) and children older than 18 years being associated with entrepreneurship among immigrants or among first- and second-generation immigrants separately. This study further discusses possible explanations for the absence of significant results.