Greenland continues to undergo decolonization, the ultimate political ambition being a ‘self-sustaining economy’ and political independence from Denmark. Drawing on a recent survey in combination with ethnographic fieldwork, this paper explores the connection between political independence and entrepreneurial activities in Greenland. While entrepreneurs are increasingly expected to play a central role in fostering economic change, we are curious about what motivates them, and especially whether their motivations are related to the struggle for national independence. While entrepreneurship generally seems primarily motivated by a desire for personal autonomy, entrepreneurship in the context of an Indigenous island community seems driven by certain communal values, such as supporting the local community, cultural pride, family, and place. Our research supports the notion that entrepreneurship is motivated by non-pecuniary values, and we find entrepreneurship to result from a mesh of intertwined motivations. While we were unable to identify a direct link between the ambition for national autonomy and entrepreneurship, the paper contributes to the understanding of entrepreneurship as an instrument for decolonization drawing on a range of empirical cases and a multi-disciplinary approach.

中文翻译：

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土著岛屿企业家精神的动机：格陵兰岛的企业家和行为经济学

格陵兰继续进行非殖民化，最终的政治野心是“自给自足的经济”和脱离丹麦的政治独立。结合最近的一项结合人种学田野调查的调查，本文探索了格陵兰岛政治独立性与企业家活动之间的联系。人们越来越期望企业家在促进经济变革中发挥中心作用，但我们对激励他们的动机感到好奇，尤其是他们的动机是否与争取民族独立的斗争有关。一般而言，企业家精神主要是出于对个人自治的渴望，而在土著岛屿社区的背景下，企业家精神似乎受到某些社区价值观的驱动，例如支持当地社区，文化自豪感，家庭和地方。我们的研究支持企业家精神是由非金钱价值驱动的观点，并且我们发现企业家精神是由相互交织的动机产生的。虽然我们无法确定民族自治的雄心和企业家精神之间的直接联系，但本文有助于借鉴一系列经验案例和多学科方法，将企业家精神理解为非殖民化工具。