María Villares-Varela
Biographic Data
| ID | 101525 |
|---|---|
| NAME | María Villares-Varela |
| GIVEN NAMES | María |
| FAMILY NAME | Villares-Varela |
| SIGNATURE | VILLARES-VARELA M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Southampton |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0137-7104 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 217 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Market-based resistance: How Migrant Social Enterprises Navigate Hostile Institutional Environments
Contesting the boundaries of marianismo and entrepreneurial identity: Meanings of motherhood amongst Latin American migrant women entrepreneurs
Purpose To critically analyse how Latin American migrant women entrepreneurs living in Ireland and the UK negotiate their entrepreneurial and motherhood identities in transnational settings. The paper explores (1) how motherhood influences the choices of becoming entrepreneurs; (2) how women reconcile the social imaginaries of motherhood from their country of origin in the new contexts of settlement; and (3) the impact of these transformations on…
What happens to refugee-origin entrepreneurs? Combining mixed embeddedness and strategy perspectives in a longitudinal study
Whilst it is acknowledged that refugees are more likely to select into self-employment due to discrimination and labour market exclusion, we know little about how their ventures perform over time. To address this gap, we draw upon qualitative longitudinal evidence gathered in 2010 and 2018 in the UK to explore the outcomes of their ventures and what strategies they have put in place. We argue that the trajectories of refugee-owned businesses are …
Thwarted or Facilitated? The Entrepreneurial Aspirations and Capabilities of New Migrants in the UK
This article draws on biographical interviews with migrants to assess their aspirations and capabilities to become entrepreneurs. By augmenting mixed embeddedness emphasis on contextual factors with Sen's capabilities framework, we contribute to extant sociological debates on the interaction of structure and agency, the conceptualisation of aspirations, the non-pecuniary aspects of entrepreneurship and the role of institutions in neoliberal Brita…
Religion, Migration and Business: Faith, Work And Entrepreneurialism in the UK
Diversity, economic development and new migrant entrepreneurs
How do migrant entrepreneurs contribute to economic development? The growing attention to the contribution that migrants make tends to be skewed towards their economic role. Drawing on interviews with 49 new migrant business owners and 60 workers in the West Midlands, UK, we argue that benefits of diversity should be explored beyond the economic dividend. We engage with key theoretical developments in the fields of migrant entrepreneurship and di…
International Migration: Trends, Determinants, and Policy Effects
This paper synthesizes insights from new global data on the effectiveness of migration policies. It investigates the complex links between migration policies and migration trends to disentangle policy effects from structural migration determinants. The analysis challenges two central assumptions underpinning the popular idea that migration restrictions have failed to curb migration. First, post-WWII global migration levels have not accelerated, b…
Ethnic entrepreneurship and the question of agency: The Role of Different Forms of Capital, and the Relevance of Social Class
The literature on ethnic entrepreneurship has focused on structural factors, group characteristics or a combination of both when explaining the entry and/or success of different ethnic groups in/to self-employment. While the active involvement of individuals has often been noted, agency has been under-theorised, and frequently conflated with what are considered as ‘cultural’ factors. This article explores the question of agency in ethnic entrepre…
The Role of Migration Policies in the Attraction and Retention of International Talent: The Case of Indian Researchers
Governments are increasingly implementing policies aimed at attracting or retaining highly skilled migrants. While a growing number of studies examine the effectiveness of these efforts, the actual mechanisms through which migration policies may operate have not been questioned. Drawing on an aspirations-capability framework for mobility, this article explores the role of migration policies in the geographic mobility decisions of researchers, a h…
The Global Evolution of Travel Visa Regimes
Drawing on the new DEMIG VISA database which covers global bilateral travel regulations from 1973 to 2013, this paper explores patterns and trends in international travel visa regimes. The analysis challenge the idea of a growing global mobility divide between ‘North’ and ‘South’, yielding a more complex image reflecting the multi-polar and multi-layered nature of international relations. While predominantly European and North American OECD count…
Bricolage as Survival, Growth and Transformation: The Role of Patch-Working in the Social Agency of Migrant Entrepreneurs
This article examines the patch-working strategies of migrant entrepreneurs as a form of social agency. 'Patch-working' - the reliance on supplementary forms of income to support business activity - is often seen as a means of cushioning the financial vulnerability of small firms. However, the mechanisms and forms that patch-working takes tend to be overlooked. Evidence from 42 West Midlands' firms shows that, despite the highly constrained opera…
Injecting reality into the migrant entrepreneurship agenda
This chapter argues that the generally uncritical celebration of migrant entrepreneurship has been part and parcel of a broader neoliberal paradigm, described by one leading economist as 'the dominant economic view since the 1980s'. It also highlights how this growth in the volume of migrant firms did not run in parallel to their quality, showing historical continuities in relation to the features of these new businesses, such as their distributi…
From the informal economy to the meaning of informality: Developing theory on firms and their workers
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess ways in which informality can be understood and reviews an emerging area of management scholarship. The origins and nature of informality are discussed with the aid of two different theoretical tools: “workplace sociology” (WS) and “mixed embeddedness” (ME). Design/methodology/approach The analysis is grounded in empirical material reflecting different aspects of informality mainly within the ethnic …
Negotiating class, femininity and career: Latin American migrant women entrepreneurs in Spain
This article analyses how the gendered and classed positions of migrant women explain the meanings of becoming an entrepreneur and the role of their spouses in their occupational trajectories. Using a translocational positionality approach, the article challenges the claim that women escape patriarchal domination by establishing their own businesses. The narratives of 35 Latin American women entrepreneurs in Spain reveal that becoming an entrepre…
Not helping out: Classed Strategies of the (Non) Contribution of Children in Immigrant Family Businesses
This article analyses the role of immigrant entrepreneurs' class positions in understanding the participation of children in business activities. Immigrant entrepreneurship scholarship has highlighted how the participation of children depends on relations of reciprocity as well as on the lack of opportunities in paid employment. I argue that the (non) contribution of children has to do with the social mobility strategies that migrant families put…
Gracias al negocio o a pesar del negocio: La intersección entre familia y empresa para los emprendedores inmigrantes en Galicia
Aquest article analitza, de manera comparativa, les estratègies de participació de la família a l’empresa a través de les narracions d’emprenedors immigrants estrangers i retornats a Galícia. La intersecció entre el negoci i la família és un element central en el marc de la literatura sobre empresariat immigrant, de manera que els conceptes «empresa familiar» i «empresa immigrant» es presenten com a sinònims. Les diferents investigacions en aques…
International Migration: Trends, Determinants, and Policy Effects
This paper synthesizes insights from new global data on the effectiveness of migration policies. It investigates the complex links between migration policies and migration trends to disentangle policy effects from structural migration determinants. The analysis challenges two central assumptions underpinning the popular idea that migration restrictions have failed to curb migration. First, post-WWII global migration levels have not accelerated, b…
The Global Evolution of Travel Visa Regimes
Drawing on the new DEMIG VISA database which covers global bilateral travel regulations from 1973 to 2013, this paper explores patterns and trends in international travel visa regimes. The analysis challenge the idea of a growing global mobility divide between ‘North’ and ‘South’, yielding a more complex image reflecting the multi-polar and multi-layered nature of international relations. While predominantly European and North American OECD count…
Negotiating class, femininity and career: Latin American migrant women entrepreneurs in Spain
This article analyses how the gendered and classed positions of migrant women explain the meanings of becoming an entrepreneur and the role of their spouses in their occupational trajectories. Using a translocational positionality approach, the article challenges the claim that women escape patriarchal domination by establishing their own businesses. The narratives of 35 Latin American women entrepreneurs in Spain reveal that becoming an entrepre…
Bricolage as Survival, Growth and Transformation: The Role of Patch-Working in the Social Agency of Migrant Entrepreneurs
This article examines the patch-working strategies of migrant entrepreneurs as a form of social agency. 'Patch-working' - the reliance on supplementary forms of income to support business activity - is often seen as a means of cushioning the financial vulnerability of small firms. However, the mechanisms and forms that patch-working takes tend to be overlooked. Evidence from 42 West Midlands' firms shows that, despite the highly constrained opera…
Ethnic entrepreneurship and the question of agency: The Role of Different Forms of Capital, and the Relevance of Social Class
The literature on ethnic entrepreneurship has focused on structural factors, group characteristics or a combination of both when explaining the entry and/or success of different ethnic groups in/to self-employment. While the active involvement of individuals has often been noted, agency has been under-theorised, and frequently conflated with what are considered as ‘cultural’ factors. This article explores the question of agency in ethnic entrepre…
Diversity, economic development and new migrant entrepreneurs
How do migrant entrepreneurs contribute to economic development? The growing attention to the contribution that migrants make tends to be skewed towards their economic role. Drawing on interviews with 49 new migrant business owners and 60 workers in the West Midlands, UK, we argue that benefits of diversity should be explored beyond the economic dividend. We engage with key theoretical developments in the fields of migrant entrepreneurship and di…
The Role of Migration Policies in the Attraction and Retention of International Talent: The Case of Indian Researchers
Governments are increasingly implementing policies aimed at attracting or retaining highly skilled migrants. While a growing number of studies examine the effectiveness of these efforts, the actual mechanisms through which migration policies may operate have not been questioned. Drawing on an aspirations-capability framework for mobility, this article explores the role of migration policies in the geographic mobility decisions of researchers, a h…
Thwarted or Facilitated? The Entrepreneurial Aspirations and Capabilities of New Migrants in the UK
This article draws on biographical interviews with migrants to assess their aspirations and capabilities to become entrepreneurs. By augmenting mixed embeddedness emphasis on contextual factors with Sen's capabilities framework, we contribute to extant sociological debates on the interaction of structure and agency, the conceptualisation of aspirations, the non-pecuniary aspects of entrepreneurship and the role of institutions in neoliberal Brita…
From the informal economy to the meaning of informality: Developing theory on firms and their workers
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess ways in which informality can be understood and reviews an emerging area of management scholarship. The origins and nature of informality are discussed with the aid of two different theoretical tools: “workplace sociology” (WS) and “mixed embeddedness” (ME). Design/methodology/approach The analysis is grounded in empirical material reflecting different aspects of informality mainly within the ethnic …
Not helping out: Classed Strategies of the (Non) Contribution of Children in Immigrant Family Businesses
This article analyses the role of immigrant entrepreneurs' class positions in understanding the participation of children in business activities. Immigrant entrepreneurship scholarship has highlighted how the participation of children depends on relations of reciprocity as well as on the lack of opportunities in paid employment. I argue that the (non) contribution of children has to do with the social mobility strategies that migrant families put…
Gracias al negocio o a pesar del negocio: La intersección entre familia y empresa para los emprendedores inmigrantes en Galicia
Aquest article analitza, de manera comparativa, les estratègies de participació de la família a l’empresa a través de les narracions d’emprenedors immigrants estrangers i retornats a Galícia. La intersecció entre el negoci i la família és un element central en el marc de la literatura sobre empresariat immigrant, de manera que els conceptes «empresa familiar» i «empresa immigrant» es presenten com a sinònims. Les diferents investigacions en aques…
Gracias al negocio o a pesar del negocio: La intersección entre familia y empresa para los emprendedores inmigrantes en Galicia
Aquest article analitza, de manera comparativa, les estratègies de participació de la família a l’empresa a través de les narracions d’emprenedors immigrants estrangers i retornats a Galícia. La intersecció entre el negoci i la família és un element central en el marc de la literatura sobre empresariat immigrant, de manera que els conceptes «empresa familiar» i «empresa immigrant» es presenten com a sinònims. Les diferents investigacions en aques…
Injecting reality into the migrant entrepreneurship agenda
This chapter argues that the generally uncritical celebration of migrant entrepreneurship has been part and parcel of a broader neoliberal paradigm, described by one leading economist as 'the dominant economic view since the 1980s'. It also highlights how this growth in the volume of migrant firms did not run in parallel to their quality, showing historical continuities in relation to the features of these new businesses, such as their distributi…
From the informal economy to the meaning of informality: Developing theory on firms and their workers
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess ways in which informality can be understood and reviews an emerging area of management scholarship. The origins and nature of informality are discussed with the aid of two different theoretical tools: “workplace sociology” (WS) and “mixed embeddedness” (ME). Design/methodology/approach The analysis is grounded in empirical material reflecting different aspects of informality mainly within the ethnic …
Negotiating class, femininity and career: Latin American migrant women entrepreneurs in Spain
This article analyses how the gendered and classed positions of migrant women explain the meanings of becoming an entrepreneur and the role of their spouses in their occupational trajectories. Using a translocational positionality approach, the article challenges the claim that women escape patriarchal domination by establishing their own businesses. The narratives of 35 Latin American women entrepreneurs in Spain reveal that becoming an entrepre…
Not helping out: Classed Strategies of the (Non) Contribution of Children in Immigrant Family Businesses
This article analyses the role of immigrant entrepreneurs' class positions in understanding the participation of children in business activities. Immigrant entrepreneurship scholarship has highlighted how the participation of children depends on relations of reciprocity as well as on the lack of opportunities in paid employment. I argue that the (non) contribution of children has to do with the social mobility strategies that migrant families put…
The Global Evolution of Travel Visa Regimes
Drawing on the new DEMIG VISA database which covers global bilateral travel regulations from 1973 to 2013, this paper explores patterns and trends in international travel visa regimes. The analysis challenge the idea of a growing global mobility divide between ‘North’ and ‘South’, yielding a more complex image reflecting the multi-polar and multi-layered nature of international relations. While predominantly European and North American OECD count…
Bricolage as Survival, Growth and Transformation: The Role of Patch-Working in the Social Agency of Migrant Entrepreneurs
This article examines the patch-working strategies of migrant entrepreneurs as a form of social agency. 'Patch-working' - the reliance on supplementary forms of income to support business activity - is often seen as a means of cushioning the financial vulnerability of small firms. However, the mechanisms and forms that patch-working takes tend to be overlooked. Evidence from 42 West Midlands' firms shows that, despite the highly constrained opera…
Diversity, economic development and new migrant entrepreneurs
How do migrant entrepreneurs contribute to economic development? The growing attention to the contribution that migrants make tends to be skewed towards their economic role. Drawing on interviews with 49 new migrant business owners and 60 workers in the West Midlands, UK, we argue that benefits of diversity should be explored beyond the economic dividend. We engage with key theoretical developments in the fields of migrant entrepreneurship and di…
International Migration: Trends, Determinants, and Policy Effects
This paper synthesizes insights from new global data on the effectiveness of migration policies. It investigates the complex links between migration policies and migration trends to disentangle policy effects from structural migration determinants. The analysis challenges two central assumptions underpinning the popular idea that migration restrictions have failed to curb migration. First, post-WWII global migration levels have not accelerated, b…
Ethnic entrepreneurship and the question of agency: The Role of Different Forms of Capital, and the Relevance of Social Class
The literature on ethnic entrepreneurship has focused on structural factors, group characteristics or a combination of both when explaining the entry and/or success of different ethnic groups in/to self-employment. While the active involvement of individuals has often been noted, agency has been under-theorised, and frequently conflated with what are considered as ‘cultural’ factors. This article explores the question of agency in ethnic entrepre…
The Role of Migration Policies in the Attraction and Retention of International Talent: The Case of Indian Researchers
Governments are increasingly implementing policies aimed at attracting or retaining highly skilled migrants. While a growing number of studies examine the effectiveness of these efforts, the actual mechanisms through which migration policies may operate have not been questioned. Drawing on an aspirations-capability framework for mobility, this article explores the role of migration policies in the geographic mobility decisions of researchers, a h…
Religion, Migration and Business: Faith, Work And Entrepreneurialism in the UK
What happens to refugee-origin entrepreneurs? Combining mixed embeddedness and strategy perspectives in a longitudinal study
Whilst it is acknowledged that refugees are more likely to select into self-employment due to discrimination and labour market exclusion, we know little about how their ventures perform over time. To address this gap, we draw upon qualitative longitudinal evidence gathered in 2010 and 2018 in the UK to explore the outcomes of their ventures and what strategies they have put in place. We argue that the trajectories of refugee-owned businesses are …
Thwarted or Facilitated? The Entrepreneurial Aspirations and Capabilities of New Migrants in the UK
This article draws on biographical interviews with migrants to assess their aspirations and capabilities to become entrepreneurs. By augmenting mixed embeddedness emphasis on contextual factors with Sen's capabilities framework, we contribute to extant sociological debates on the interaction of structure and agency, the conceptualisation of aspirations, the non-pecuniary aspects of entrepreneurship and the role of institutions in neoliberal Brita…
Contesting the boundaries of marianismo and entrepreneurial identity: Meanings of motherhood amongst Latin American migrant women entrepreneurs
Purpose To critically analyse how Latin American migrant women entrepreneurs living in Ireland and the UK negotiate their entrepreneurial and motherhood identities in transnational settings. The paper explores (1) how motherhood influences the choices of becoming entrepreneurs; (2) how women reconcile the social imaginaries of motherhood from their country of origin in the new contexts of settlement; and (3) the impact of these transformations on…
Market-based resistance: How Migrant Social Enterprises Navigate Hostile Institutional Environments
Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences (11 works) · Political science (11 works) · Economics (8 works) · Social science (8 works) · Entrepreneurship (7 works) · Migration and Labor Dynamics (7 works) · Economic growth (6 works) · Business (5 works)