Understanding regional variation in entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial attitude in Europe

By N. Bosma, V. Schutjens. 2011

315 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Differences in entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial attitude are substantial and persistent across nations and regions. However, studies on entrepreneurship that encompass regions and countries at the same time are lacking. This paper explains both national and regional differences in entrepreneurial attitude and activity for 127 regions in 17 European countries, based on Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data. We reveal the importance of institutional factors and economic and demographic attributes to variations in regional entrepreneurial attitude and activity. Our findings point at the relevance of distinguishing between components of entrepreneurial attitudes, i.e. fear of failure in starting business, perceptions on start-up opportunities and self-assessment of personal capabilities to start a firm. We find different determinants of these components, suggesting that they reflect different aspects of entrepreneurial attitude. In explaining regional prevalence rates of phases in entrepreneurial activity (nascent, baby business, established business) we find significant contributions of entrepreneurial attitude components. Urban regions and regions with high levels of nearby start-up examples show relatively high rates of early-stage entrepreneurship. A large number of start-up procedures does not discourage early-stage entrepreneurship.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Management of Technology and Innovation, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2197e2fffbd93cff68d42221892c6ea212a823e6

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In Economics and Econometrics

In Management of Technology and Innovation

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Citations in the corpus

Country-level entrepreneurial attitudes and activity through the years: A panel data analysis using fsQCA (2020, background): “However, the roles of these SPaE have been found to be of specific relevance (directly and indirectly) to entrepreneurial activities in the form of TEA (see Beynon et al., 2016; Bosma and Schutjens, 2011).”
The Long Persistence of Regional Levels of Entrepreneurship: Germany, 1925–2005 (2014, background): “Therefore, according to the findings of WAGNER and STERNBERG (2004) and BOSMA and SCHUTJENS (2011), spatial variation with respect to entrepreneurial attitudes should be expected.”
Fear and Entrepreneurship: A Review and Research Agenda (2015, unknown): “When applied to entrepreneurship, a disposition to avoid failure is associated with the perceived risks involved in starting a business (Arenius and Minniti 2005; Bosma and Schutjens 2011; Rauch and Frese 2007).”
Understanding place-based entrepreneurship in rural Central Europe: A comparative institutional analysis (2014, background): “Successive research has suggested that these variations increase the importance of regional and local contexts for entrepreneurship (Bosma and Schutjens, 2011; Marquis and Lounsbury, 2007; Stam, 2010), while they also seem to be the outcome of sociocultural contexts rather than solely of economic…”
Formation of entrepreneurial intentions in a regional context (2013, unknown): “, Acs, Desai, and Hessels 2008; Bosma and Schutjens 2011; Mueller 2006). Davidsson (1991) argues that ‘objective’ characteristics”
The entrepreneurship research in hospitality and tourism (2019, background): “, 2008), low rates of economic growth may prevent business start-ups, which leads to higher levels of unemployment (Bosma and Schutjens, 2011).”
Regional Social Legitimacy of Entrepreneurship: Implications for Entrepreneurial Intention and Start-up Behaviour (2014, background): “…as a place-dependent (LANG et al., 2013) process of emergence (STERNBERG, 2009) and responds to the call for longitudinal and multilevel research to establish causality and uncover the mechanisms through which regional social norms influence new firm formation (BOSMA and SCHUTJENS, 2011).”
Local entrepreneurial resilience and culture: the role of social values in fostering economic recovery (2015, background): “They also tend to disregard differences found in entrepreneurial activity rates across regions (Armington and Acs, 2002; Bosma and Schutjens, 2011; Trettin and Welter, 2011), and their localities (Gould and Keeble, 1984).”
A progress review of entrepreneurship and regional development: What are the remaining gaps? (2016, background): “Therefore, policy-makers must understand the conditions, capabilities and structures of spatial contexts and consequently develop appropriate regional policies to foster local entrepreneurial intentions, attitudes and activity (Bosma & Schutjens, 2011; Sternberg, 2012).”
Entrepreneurship, innovation and regional growth: a network theory (2015, background): “Furthermore, entrepreneurship itself has a pronounced regional dimension, with differences in regional start-up rates, as well as differences in the success of start-ups and entrepreneurial attitudes, all indicating the role of the regional environment in fostering entrepreneurship (Armington and Ac”
Entrepreneurship in a Regional Context: Historical Roots, Recent Developments and Future Challenges (2014, background): “A number of empirical studies show that informal institutions differ significantly between regions (BEUGELSDIJK and NOORDERHAVEN, 2004; BEUGELSDIJK, 2007; BOSMA and SCHUTJENS, 2011; OBSCHONKA et al., 2013; WAGNER and STERNBERG, 2004).”
What makes student entrepreneurs? On the relevance (and irrelevance) of the university and the regional context for student start-ups (2016, background): “Defined in that way, scholars increasingly consider it as an important part of the environment that influences an individual’s decision to start a firm (Audretsch & Lehmann, 2005; Bosma & Schutjens, 2011; Casper, 2013; Lawton Smith & Bagchi-Sen, 2012).”