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In today’s digital era, there is universal acceptance among researchers, policymakers and society as a whole (Elia, Margherita, & Passiante, 2020; Sahut, Luca, & Frédéric, 2019) of the significance of digital entrepreneurship (DE) to socioeconomic development. DE has advanced to a state where it is an entirely new area of research enquiry within the interdisciplinary field of entrepreneurship (Nambisan, 2017) as studied through information systems (Du & Li, 2018), economics (Richter, Kraus, Brem, Durst, & Giselbrecht, 2017), management, innovation (Nambisan, 2017), policy, education (Li, Liu, Zhang, & Li, 2017), strategy, and sociology, in conjunction with other entrepreneurship disciplines (Zaheer, Breyer, & Dumay, 2019). The role of DE for Chinese immigrant communities is significant for new business creation and for enhancing the efficiency and competitiveness of established businesses. In particular, cross-border e-commerce platforms act as a bridge between the entrepreneurial ecosystems of the host and home countries and encourage transnational entrepreneurship (Duan, Kotey, & Sandhu, 2020).
DE has been defined within various disciplinary contexts, including internet entrepreneurship, cyber entrepreneurship (Elia et al., 2020), information and communication technologies (ICT) entrepreneurship (Bogdanowicz, 2015), and entrepreneurship in other IT areas (Steininger, 2019). These definitions have been used unrestrictedly by scholars, as DE has expanded beyond national borders. In certain instances, self-made definitions are provided to get the message across to the target audiences. The present study is broad, and examines the motivations of transnational digital entrepreneurs, the strategies they adopt and the outcomes they achieve. It combines the definitions of DE from two theorists: Sahut et al. (2019), “the process of entrepreneurial creation of digital value through the use of various socio-technical digital enablers to support the effective acquisition, processing, distribution, and consumption of digital information” (Sahut et al., 2019, p.11); and Davidson and Vaast (2010), “new venture opportunities presented by new media and internet technologies” (Davidson & Vaast, 2010, p.2978).” The study focuses on Chinese immigrants living in New Zealand (NZ) and Australia, who become digital entrepreneurs and transact through Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms.
Transnational entrepreneurship (TE) has become a major research stream in the immigrant entrepreneurship (IE) field in the last two decades (Portes, Haller, & Guarnizo, 2002), following growing international migration, globalisation and development of international trade. Research has shown that immigrants contribute significantly to the economy of their host countries, including Australia and NZ (Zhang, 2013; Collins, 2002). A widely accepted view of transnational entrepreneurs is “social actors who enact networks, ideas, information, and practices for the purpose of seeking business opportunities or maintaining businesses within dual social fields, which in turn force them to engage in varied strategies of action to promote their entrepreneurial activities” (Drori, Honig, & Wright, 2009, p.1001). According to Yeung (2002, p.37), transnational entrepreneurs are “capable of bearing risks in terms of capital investment and taking strategic initiatives to establish, integrate, and sustain foreign operations based on the skills of the immigrants”. An agreed viewpoint is that TE involves migrants only (Drori et al., 2009; Harima & Baron, 2020). These entrepreneurs are the focus of this study. Their trans-border activities based on digital technology (i.e., cross-border e-commerce platforms) are defined as transnational digital entrepreneurship (TDE), and the people involved are transnational digital entrepreneurs (TDEs).