Navigating Cultural Divides via Identity Work: Bulgarian Migrant Entrepreneurs’ Tactics in the UK

ABSTRACT The changing geopolitical landscapes and increased migration flow across the world call for a fresh perspective on the sociocultural and economic integration of migrants in their new ‘homes’ and ‘communities’. In this qualitative process study, we provide insight into the identity work dynamics that underlie interfirm cooperation in the new business context. We see a sample of Bulgarian migrant entrepreneurs as knowledge boundary spanners who employ identity work tactics for the development of shared norms and values that facilitate knowledge exchange between their home culture and the UK host culture context. This study suggests that knowledge boundary spanning is enabled by a temporal identity work process, characterized by a series of inward and outward identity work tactics. The interplay between inward and outward identity work tactics occurs over phases of identifying identity differences, adopting identity cues, and finally, realizing hybrid identity. This article contributes to the identity work and migrant entrepreneurship literature by exploring the underlying mechanisms for realizing knowledge boundary spanning by migrant entrepreneurs. 摘要 国际地缘政治的持续变化和移民流动的增加要求学者对移民在他们的“新家和社区”进行社会文化和经济的融合提出新的视角。本文通过质性过程研究，对在崭新的商业环境中公司间合作的身份动态提出了新见解。我们发现，比利时在英国的移民创业者，如同知识边界跨越者一样，通过身份工作的策略来建立共享的规范和价值观来增进母文化和当地文化之间的知识交换。这种身份工作有一个时间过程，包含一系列的向内和向外身份的调整。而且这种内外身份调整包括了从对于身份差异的识别，到采纳身份的线索，到最后实现身份的混合。本文揭示了移民创业者实现知识边界跨越的潜在机制，对身份工作和移民创业文献做出了贡献。