Residential Segregation Influences on the Likelihood of Ethnic Self–Employment

Geographic and environmental influences on economic action have a long history in managerial research. This paper develops and estimates a model of the potential of a broad set of U.S. racial minority groups to enter self–employment based on individual–level, household–level, and metropolitan area–level factors. The model allows for an analysis of two distinct residential segregation processes on self–employment likelihood. Results indicate that clustering by race has group–specific influences, increasing the likelihood of self–employment for some groups and diminishing for others. Higher levels of racial exposure raise the likelihood of entrepreneurial careers for all groups, but especially for Blacks.