Data_Entrepreneurship Learning Model

This file contains qualitative research data derived from in-depth interviews with eighteen former Indonesian migrant workers who have successfully transitioned into independent entrepreneurs after returning home. The data represent firsthand narratives that capture the participants’ lived experiences before migration, during employment abroad, and throughout the process of establishing small businesses in their local contexts.

The interviews explore how entrepreneurial intentions were formed prior to departure, how overseas work was consciously used as a learning space, and how skills, knowledge, and discipline were gradually accumulated beyond financial savings. Participants describe migration not merely as a means of earning income, but as an intentional investment period for acquiring technical competence, market awareness, and managerial insight that could later be applied in self-employment.

The data also highlight the central role of family relationships in shaping entrepreneurial outcomes. Informants explain how trust, role-sharing, and negotiated agreements within the household influenced savings management, risk-taking decisions, and business continuity. Family members frequently acted as partners, caretakers, or informal managers rather than passive recipients of remittances.

In addition, the interviews reveal iterative and context-based learning processes. Participants relied heavily on trial-and-error experimentation, peer networks among fellow former migrant workers, and informal knowledge sources such as community groups and digital platforms. Access to capital emerged as a hybrid strategy, combining personal savings, soft family loans, social networks, and non-financial resources such as land, labor, and trust.

Overall, this qualitative interview dataset provides rich empirical material for analyzing migrant entrepreneurship, experiential learning, family-based economic strategies, and alternative pathways to business formation. It is intended for academic analysis, thematic coding, and theory development, offering grounded insights into entrepreneurship as a survival-oriented and socially embedded process rather than a purely individual or opportunity-driven choice.