I would like to thank my Professors at Hannam University to help me find the

participated in this study were more likely to take calculated risks and when 
they were asked they defined their work as the meaning of their life in Korea. 
This stance is supported by the existing literature that empasizes that risk 
aversion is barrier to entrepreneurship, (Kan & Tsai, 2006; Van Praag &
Cramer, 2001) and specifically for immigrant entrepreneurs due to their 
extraordinary circumstances.
However, 2 participants confirmed that they are high risk takers 
because they believe that risk taking leads to bigger opportunities. This can 
also be supported by (Chrysostome & Arcand, 2009) encourage the risk 
taking amongst immigrant business owners in order to reach out to every 
possible business opportunity that can be exploited. Consequently, low risk 
aversion is critical for the survival of necessity immigrant entrepreneurs. 
(Koh, 1996) support the idea that ambiguity and risk taking makes 
entrepreneurs more creative and increase their tolerance for uncertain 
situations. Consistent with literature, our participants who fall under the 
category of low risk aversion are also of the same view about risk taking in 
their businesses. Risk taking personality trait is somehow related to intuition 
as described by (Carland Jr, Carland, & Carland III, 1995). He advocates the 
concept that entrepreneurs are more intuitive than rational thinkers which 
means they tend to look at situations in terms of holism than sequential 
reasoning. The findings of this research supoort this concept because those 
entrepreneurs who are low risk takers they defined themselves as 
micromanagers while on the other hand those 2 entrepreneurs who defined 
themselves high risk takers were more into the idea of looking at a bigger 
picture. 

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74 
5.9 Commitment
Commitment which is often denoted as devotion as well which means putting 
genuine hard work on the part of organization (Ingersoll et al., 2000). The 
results show that 4 out 5 participants in this studdy called themselves fully 
devoted to their business. (Wu et al., 2004) state that affective commitment 
refers to the sense of attachment and a feeling of belonging to the 
organization. Consistent with the literature, we have found affective in our 
entrepreneurs who participated in this study. In contrary to this, one 
entrepreneur referred as Case 3 called himself not fully committed and he 
explained that he never prioritized his business over his personal life. 
Similarly, this concept has been discussed in immigrant entrepreneurship 
literatures that describes this as sacrifice. The term sacrifice means poorly 
paid labors, shortage of time for family and friends, eagerness to continue 
challenging work and long operational hours (Chrysostome & Arcand, 2009). 
 
5.10 Implications of the Study 
Every study has 2 types of implications: theoretical and practical implications. 
One of the important factors influencing the necessity immigrant 
entrepreneurship in Korea is proficiency in Korean language. This aspect is 
not included in the model proposed by (Chrysostome & Arcand, 2009) which 
possibly gap the difference between the use of language in various countries 
that have a specific national language other than English. The model was 
originally created to study survival factors for immigrant entrepreneurs in 
Canada, where it can be assumed that most of the immigrant entrepreneurs 
don
’
t face communication barrier due to the basic ability of understanding 
English language that they might have before arrival in Canada. On the other 
hand, Korean language is not widely studied around the world which lead to 
the misconception among foreigners that having English speaking ability can 

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75 
help their businesses in Korea. The immigrants in Canada are trying to 
penetrate in multicultural and multilingual society. In Korea, the first 
generation immigrant entrepreneurs are trying to penetrate a monoculture 
and monolingual society where the need of Korean language is significant to 
the survival of immigrant businesses who have to face communication 
barriers.
Furthermore, this research has also shed light in the lack of 
counseling programs for immigrant entrepreneurs that can help them 
overcome their obstacles. By counseling programs, the findings show that 
immigrants struggle to get mentorship for their businesses and also lack the 
support by government to understand the taxation and legal system of Korea 
which is far different than that back in their home countries. So counseling 
programs can be added as well in a theoretical model to determine the 
survival of immigrant businesses. Similarly, Rotating Credit Associations and 
their role in immigrant entrepreneurship is also of great importance which 
can be added in the theoretical model. There is no such formal body exists 
for immigrant entrepreneurs and that makes it hard for them to overcome the 
low cash flow. As a result, it is feasible to say that the aforementioned 
theoretical implications found in this Master
’
s Thesis can work as significant 
factors to be taken into account while studying survival immigrant 
entrepreneurship. 
The implications of any research imply the applicable use of the 
results, and this Master Thesis also delivers practical implications based on 
the results. From practical perspective, the findings of this research can 
work as a set of guidelines and insights of various experiences of immigrant 
entrepreneurs for those who are aiming to start their business in Korea.
This research can also work as a guideline for government to take into 
account the critical factors or challenges which are pushing immigrant 

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entrepreneurs not to consider Korea as one of the destinations of settling 
down. This includes the concerns raised by the restaurant businesses such 
as lack of communication in languages other than Korean, lack of counseling 
programs and formal loans for small business owners trying to make a life in 
Korea. This also includes the scarcity of channels available for immigrant 
entrepreneurs to turn to for legal advices in English language.
The findings of this research can help immigrant entrepreneurs to 
determine the possible challenges they can face in Korea and also the 
preparation needed on their part to overcome the obstacles. They can also 
use this research as a guideline for improvement and a set of expectations 
for survival immigrant entrepreneurs. This research also highlights the 
survival factors that can determine the survival of immigrant entrepreneurs 
businesses in Korea. 
Moreover, this research can also help policy makers to keep in mind the 
challenges and hindrances of immigrant entrepreneurs coming to Korea. 
They can design the policies which are more favorable for immigrant 
entrepreneurs to make Korea a destination for business investments like 
other successful business destinations of the world.