Mixed embeddedness : Does it really explain immigrant enterprise in Western Australia (WA)?

Kloosterman, van der Leun and Rath assert they conceptualised the “mixed embeddedness” hypothesis to overcome the shortcomings characteristic of earlier theoretical models of immigrant business enterprise. This article assesses the relevance of this theoretical perspective to explaining immigrant entrepreneurship in a specific host setting with reference to research that spans a number of economic periods and includes both genders and a number of generations. It is argued that, while the “mixed embeddedness” explanation gives a more comprehensive explanation than previous models, it nonetheless fails to explain the wide‐ranging inter‐ethnic variation in entrepreneurial concentration observed among immigrant groups around the world. It contends that the reasons for this are the model’s lack of historical perspective and focus on the lower end of the market. It also demonstrates how the study of immigrant enterprise is advanced by incorporating the agency of individuals into the explanatory process.