Trust in entrepreneurship
Migrants often face a series of serious challenges to set up and manage entrepreneurial activities in several sectors in hosting countries. These challenges are usually caused by reduced host-country human capital resources, lack of knowledge of the operating systems of local labour markets and of specific local business regulations, and restricted access to local business networks. Apart from the above-mentioned difficulties, related to governmental regulations and legislation, barriers due to multidimensional reasons or interpersonal distance have also great impact on personal and professional life of migrant entrepreneurs.
The most common challenges for immigrant business owners are the lack of language skills and cultural knowledge, as well as the distrust of locals. People tend to trust others because they have experienced their trustworthiness. Emotions related with trust and included in this term, include companionship, friendship, love, agreement, relaxation, and comfort. Trust becomes relevant when people become dependent on and vulnerable to the actions and decisions of others (McEvily et al., 2003).
One of the basic and most challenging characteristics of every possible entrepreneurial activity is trust among entrepreneur and his/ her audience. Trust is rarely related to an objective, such as a product or service. Conversely, it can be built when a person interacts with the customer and other partners in the business. Trust functions as a lens for interpreting behaviour and as a basis for a person’s decisions making. In the entrepreneurial framework, trust is a cornerstone for the development of every entrepreneurial activity.
Trust is a common challenge for every entrepreneur who tries to establish his/ her business, let alone in respect to migrant entrepreneurs. Migrant entrepreneurs must very often deal with suspicion of the local consumers. Cultural differences or lack of knowledge creates great gaps between immigrant entrepreneurs and local people.
The challenging situation with trust is that an immigrant entrepreneur cannot force customers to believe the trustworthy character of his/ her organization. Every interaction is an opportunity to build relationships and nurture trust. Therefore, trust relationships are vital to the conduct of their business. Some basic level of trust is a major factor just to have employment contracts, or to engage local audience related to your business. The level of trust in business relationships—either external, e.g., in sales or advisory part, or internal, e.g., regarding functionality of services—is a great determinant of success than anything else, including content excellence.
