What does this research mean for the field?

In transitional China, state-mediated entrepreneurial opportunities oscillated between the social periphery and core across different reform eras, determining which social groups entered entrepreneurship and shaping enduring organizational inequality. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To examine how evolving state policies alter institutional opportunity structures and dictate which social classes enter entrepreneurship during economic transitions.

August 22, 2026Journal of Organizational SociologyOpen Access

State-Mediated Opportunities: Institutional Change and Social Origins of Entrepreneurship in Transitional China

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Authors

JGJianhua GeYanshan University FYFan YangBeijing University of Posts and Telecommunications WZWei ZhaoUniversity of California, Riverside

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Implication

Survey analysis reveals shifting state-mediated opportunity structures drive entrepreneurial entry across social classes, highlighting how institutional transitions reproduce inequality.

Key Points

To examine how evolving state policies alter institutional opportunity structures and dictate which social classes enter entrepreneurship during economic transitions.
Analyzed multi-wave national survey data spanning three transitional periods: 1980s partial reform, 1990s privatization, and 21st-century market normalization.
Tracked shifts in state institutional legitimacy, public asset privatization, and labor-market exclusions across different social strata.
Peripheral opportunities during the 1980s drew marginalized farmers into survival-oriented entrepreneurship due to a lack of institutional legitimacy for private enterprise.
State-led privatization in the 1990s shifted opportunities to core elites, allowing cadres and managers to secure lucrative entrepreneurial positions via asset conversion.
Market normalization in the 21st century pushed displaced workers into self-employment in response to status loss, reinforcing persistent organizational inequality based on social origins.

Cite This Study

Ge et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a895facca7ade938187e75a https://doi.org/10.1515/joso-2025-0047

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Implication

Survey analysis reveals shifting state-mediated opportunity structures drive entrepreneurial entry across social classes, highlighting how institutional transitions reproduce inequality.

State-Mediated Opportunities: Institutional Change and Social Origins of Entrepreneurship in Transitional China

Discussion

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Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

State-Mediated Opportunities: Institutional Change and Social Origins of Entrepreneurship in Transitional China

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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