Post-industrialization and social inclusion: Elite access to high-performing entrepreneurship in Vietnam

TY - JOUR

T1 - Post-industrialization and social inclusion: Elite access to high-performing entrepreneurship in Vietnam

AU - Klingler-Vidra, Robyn

AU - Chalmers, Adam

AU - Tran, Ba-Linh

PY - 2025/3/19

Y1 - 2025/3/19

N2 - This article examines how post-industrialization impacts social inclusion by analyzing whether high-performing entrepreneurship enables wealth generation or perpetuates inequalities. We integrate and extend entrepreneurship and sociology of (transnational) education scholarship to investigate how socio-economic background affects the likelihood of entrepreneurs building high-growth, digital businesses. Specifically, we address whether Vietnam’s transition from industrialization (1986) to post-industrialization (since 2009) broadens entrepreneurial opportunities or concentrates them among the country’s (upper) middle class. Our findings reveal digital entrepreneurs are five times more likely to have tertiary education from costly destinations like the US, UK, or Australia, and three times more likely to have worked in English-speaking countries, than the entrepreneurs who built physically-oriented businesses during the industrialization era. These findings suggest that the advance of Vietnam’s digital economy reinforces socio-economic divides, as digital entrepreneurship opportunities increasingly depend on access to (upper) middle class backgrounds that can afford elite transnational education.

AB - This article examines how post-industrialization impacts social inclusion by analyzing whether high-performing entrepreneurship enables wealth generation or perpetuates inequalities. We integrate and extend entrepreneurship and sociology of (transnational) education scholarship to investigate how socio-economic background affects the likelihood of entrepreneurs building high-growth, digital businesses. Specifically, we address whether Vietnam’s transition from industrialization (1986) to post-industrialization (since 2009) broadens entrepreneurial opportunities or concentrates them among the country’s (upper) middle class. Our findings reveal digital entrepreneurs are five times more likely to have tertiary education from costly destinations like the US, UK, or Australia, and three times more likely to have worked in English-speaking countries, than the entrepreneurs who built physically-oriented businesses during the industrialization era. These findings suggest that the advance of Vietnam’s digital economy reinforces socio-economic divides, as digital entrepreneurship opportunities increasingly depend on access to (upper) middle class backgrounds that can afford elite transnational education.

UR - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10245294251328075

M3 - Article

SN - 1024-5294

JO - COMPETITION AND CHANGE

JF - COMPETITION AND CHANGE

ER -