Qualitative survey on Ukrainian entrepreneurs in Kraków (2018)

Qualitative survey with 32 Ukrainian entrepreneurs conducted in Kraków, Poland (2018) A semi-structured interview protocol (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) was developed in February 2018, featuring 45 questions designed to explore migrants’ entrepreneurial activities in the host country. Interviews prompted respondents to reconstruct their entrepreneurial trajectories retrospectively, enabling us to map shifts, layering, or abandonment of logics across time. Topics included the role of family and friends, prior entrepreneurial experience, educational background, integration, perceived obstacles, support needs, and the ethnic composition of partners and clients. To ensure clarity and comprehensibility, the protocol was pre-tested with a manager not included in the sample (Yin, 2009) and refined based on feedback (Van Teijlingen et al., 2021). The interviews (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007) took place between April and August 2018, several years before Russia's full-scale intervention in Ukraine, among Ukrainian entrepreneurs residing in Poland. The participants included retail kiosks, IT outsourcing teams, B2B suppliers, and cross-border staffing agencies. We applied two main criteria for interviewee selection: participants had to be of Ukrainian origin (i.e., foreign-born) and have ongoing or recent entrepreneurial experience in Kraków, the second-largest Polish metropolitan area in southern Poland. We have cooperated with the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce (PUCC), a transnational business organization that connects entrepreneurs in Poland and Ukraine. The reason for choosing PUCC as a partner was guided by its experience in providing support for EI for Ukrainians willing to open a business in Poland. The data collection was conducted using the snowballing method (Goodman, 1961), and PUCC provided the initial seeds; the remaining respondents were reached through the recommendations of previous interviewees. The choice of Kraków was primarily guided by the large Ukrainian diaspora presence in the city, as well as its relative geographical proximity. Kraków is linked to Medyka on the Polish-Ukrainian border via a highway, allowing for a 3-hour border crossing. To complement our data, a few interviews were conducted with individuals operating outside of Kraków, either permanently or temporarily, but with connections to the city through the PUCC. The majority of the interviews were conducted offline, during face-to-face meetings with the interviewees. Some others were done using video online communicators (Skype). Each interview lasted between 45 minutes and 120 minutes and was conducted online via Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated from Italian into English (Bryman & Bell, 2022; Seidman, 2013). When clarification was needed, follow-up questions were sent via email or phone. We ceased data collection once we reached theoretical saturation (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Interviews were conducted by two research assistants, whose work was supervised by one member of the original research team, who was involved in the first interviews and provided guidance and feedback throughout the process. Many respondents spoke Polish quite well, but there were also others who were not fluent in the host country's language. For that reason, one of the research assistants interviewed the entrepreneurs in Polish, while the other one interviewed them in Russian or Ukrainian. The choice of language for the interview was made by respondents, and then the research assistant was sent to conduct the interview. The interviews had been recorded, transcribed, and then translated into English. In this process, the transcriptions had been checked for language consistency by the research team.2018年于波兰克拉科夫开展的、针对32名乌克兰创业者的质性调研。 2018年2月，研究团队制定了半结构化访谈提纲（semi-structured interview protocol），包含45个问题，旨在探讨移民在东道国的创业活动。访谈引导受访者回溯性地重构其创业轨迹，使研究团队得以绘制不同时期内创业逻辑的转变、分层或放弃脉络。调研主题涵盖亲友角色、既往创业经历、教育背景、社会融入情况、感知到的发展障碍、支持需求，以及合作伙伴与客户的族裔构成。为确保提纲清晰易懂，研究团队于样本外选取一名管理者对提纲进行预测试（Yin, 2009），并根据反馈对提纲进行修订（Van Teijlingen et al., 2021）。 本次访谈（Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007）于2018年4月至8月间开展，时值俄罗斯全面干预乌克兰数年前，受访对象为定居波兰的乌克兰创业者。受访企业涵盖零售摊位、IT外包团队、B2B供应商及跨境人力资源中介机构。研究团队选取受访者遵循两项核心标准：其一，受访者需为乌克兰裔（即境外出生）；其二，需在波兰南部波兰第二大都市圈克拉科夫拥有当前或近期的创业经历。研究团队与波乌商会（Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, PUCC）开展合作，该组织为连接波兰与乌克兰创业者的跨国商业机构。选择PUCC作为合作方的原因在于其长期为有意在波兰创业的乌克兰人提供创业支持服务。本次数据收集采用滚雪球抽样法（snowballing method, Goodman, 1961），由PUCC提供初始受访种子名单，其余受访者通过前期受访者的推荐获得联系。 选择克拉科夫作为调研地点的主要原因在于该市拥有庞大的乌克兰侨民群体，且地理位置相对便捷。克拉科夫通过高速公路与波乌边境的梅迪卡相连，边境通关仅需3小时。为补充调研数据，研究团队还对部分常驻或临时居住于克拉科夫以外、但通过PUCC与该市产生联系的创业者开展了访谈。 大部分访谈为线下面对面访谈，其余部分通过视频通讯工具（Skype）开展。所有访谈时长介于45分钟至120分钟之间，线上访谈通过Google Meet或Microsoft Teams进行。所有访谈均进行录音、转录，并从意大利语翻译为英语（Bryman & Bell, 2022; Seidman, 2013）。当需要进一步澄清时，研究团队通过电子邮件或电话发送跟进问题。当达到理论饱和（theoretical saturation, Strauss & Corbin, 1998）时，研究团队停止数据收集。本次访谈由两名研究助理开展，其工作由原研究团队中的一名成员进行监督，该成员参与了首轮访谈，并在整个过程中提供指导与反馈。许多受访者的波兰语水平较好，但也有部分受访者不熟练掌握东道国语言。因此，一名研究助理使用波兰语开展访谈，另一名则使用俄语或乌克兰语。访谈语言由受访者自主选择，随后安排对应研究助理进行访谈。所有访谈均完成录音、转录，并翻译为英语。在此过程中，研究团队对转录文本的语言一致性进行了核查。