Researching African entrepreneurship in the UK, Prof.Sonny Nwankwo, Prof.Nnamdi Madichie, Prof.Frances Ekwulugo
University of East London
United Kingdom
Professor Nnamdi Madichie
University of Sharja
The United Arab Emirates
Professor Frances Ekwulugo
University of Westminster
United Kingdom
Abstract: This chapter discusses some methodological difficulties the UK’s African entrepreneurs face and the strategies that may be applied to overcome the constraints. Situated within the interpretive research paradigm, idiosyncratic sampling procedures were systematically applied to select a useful/reflective sample. To achieve a higher level of data purification and reliability, non-Black Africans were screened out of the sample. To control for errors/biases, a ‘control group’ was created and used throughout the pre-fieldwork, data collection and analyses stages of the research – in a discovery-oriented way. There is a general lack of appreciation of the spatial and temporal contexts of African entrepreneurship in the UK. Efforts at researching the phenomenon using normative approaches have been fuzzy and fraught with complications. This chapter heightens the need for pragmatism and reflexivity in research ethnic entrepreneurship. Adherence to established conventions is useful but may not be adequate in all cases to uncover and communicate the object under study. The research protocol described in this chapter needs to be replicated in order to improve its richness. Many researchers in this particular area of inquiry grapple with poorly understood problems largely due to their single reality methodological orientations. Those seeking to enter the field may sometimes find themselves going outside the ‘regulated path’ of inquiry. The chapter identifies a lacuna that need to be addressed in order to advance ethnic entrepreneurship research and offers practical help in researching a theme on which ‘so little’ is known.
Citations: Nwankwo, S., Madichie, N. and Ekwulugo, F. (2011): Researching African entrepreneurship in the UK. In Nwanko, S. and Ahmed, A. (Eds.). In African Entrepreneurship in Global Context: Enterprise Solutions to Sustainable Development, Vol. 2, pp. 61-74. WASD: Brighton, United Kingdom.
