1,011 research outputs found
Entrepreneurial Culture, Regional Innovativeness and Economic Growth
This paper presents the results of an empirical study on the relationship between entrepreneurial culture, regional rates of innovation and regional economic growth. Recent literature mainly in regional science and economic geography has emphasized the role of an entrepreneurial culture in explaining the economic success of regions. Most of these contributions are however conceptual or case-based. Building on Leibenstein’s view of the entrepreneur as the ‘input completer’ and the Austrian school in which entrepreneurial activity is attributed a central role I hypothesize that regions which can be characterized as having an entrepreneurial culture are more innovative and grow faster. I use a standard economic growth model and test this hypothesis on a sample of 54 European regions. The results confirm the importance of an entrepreneurial culture. Keywords: entrepreneurship, culture, innovation, regional economic growth JEL code: Z1, R11
Entrepreneurial attitude and economic growth; a cross-section of 54 regions
Over the past ten years the concept of regional clustering has gained much popularity in business, government, and the academic world. In regional economics, much attention has been devoted to explain the economic success of certain regions all around the world. Theoretical concepts like industrial districts, regional innovation systems and the learning region link the geographical concentration of firms and regional institutions to the innovativeness of these firms. Terms like 'regional innovative capacity' (Lawson and Lorenz, 1999), 'enterprise culture' (Amin and Tomaney, 1991), 'entrepreneurial ability' (Kangaharju, 2000), 'entrepreneurial human capital' (Georgellis and Wall, 2000) and 'regional cultures of innovation' (Thomas, 2000) are frequently used in the literature on regional clusters. In general, it is argued that local social conditions play an important role in the genesis and assimilation of innovation and its transformation into economic growth. More specific, entrepreneurial skills are seen as the soft factors that contribute to a regional culture that facilitates the success of regional clusters and regional economies in general.In this paper we test if certain societal characteristics are related to regional economic growth. In specific, we test if regions that can be characterised as 'entrepreneurial', experience faster economic growth than regions that score lower on entrepreneurial characteristics. Despite the growing literature in the field of economic geography and regional economics in which the role of entrepreneurial skills is stressed, to our knowledge nobody has explicated the values that make up this entrepreneurial capital. It is in most cases a black box, which is commonly referred to, but never explicated. Using a unique data-set on norms and values in 54 European regions, we distinguish values that characterise entrepreneurs, which enables us to construct a regional aggregate that reflects the average score on entrepreneurial attitude of the populations in these 54 European regions. The paper is divided in two parts. First, we study entrepreneurs and compare their personality characteristics with those of wage and salary-earners. Based on a sample of 18,418 individuals we find that entrepreneurs differ in several ways. The next step consists of aggregating these characteristics for 54 regions in Europe. By using principal components analysis, we construct a measure of entrepreneurial capital for each region. Based on standard growth theory we test if regions that have more entrepreneurial capital experience faster economic growth in the period 1950-1998. The added value of the paper is twofold. First, we show that entrepreneurs differ from the wage and salary-earners in several ways. Entrepreneurship requires aptitudes that are only present in a small portion of a population. Second, we study 54 regions in Europe and show that regions scoring higher on these entrepreneurial characteristics experience faster economic growth, conditional on factors like human capital, investment ratio and spatial auto-correlation. By unravelling the soft factors influencing economic growth we open the black box of regional culture. There are regional differences in entrepreneurial attitude, and a relatively high score on entrepreneurial characteristics is correlated with a relatively high rate of regional economic growth.
Social capital and regional economic growth
We study a cross-section of 54 European regions in the period 1950-1998. The central question is whether social capital, in the form of generalized trust and associational activity, is related to regional differences in economic growth. Based on extensive robustness tests, we present evidence that social capital measured as associational activity is positively related to growth differentials in European regions. Hence, our results suggest that Putnam’s (1993) thesis on social capital in Italian regions can be generalized. Our analysis also suggests that it is not only the mere existence of network relationships that stimulates regional economic growth, but also the level of actual involvement in these relationships.
Social Capital and Regional Economic Growth
We study a cross-section of 54 European regions in the period 1950-1998.The central question is whether social capital, in the form of generalized trust and associational activity, is related to regional differences in economic growth. Based on extensive robustness tests, we present evidence that Fukuyama's (1995) argument on trust does not hold and that Putnam's (1993) thesis on group membership in Italian regions can be generalized.Our analysis suggests that it is not only the mere existence of network relationships that stimulates regional economic growth, but also the level of actual involvement in these relationships.networks;regional development;social capital;trust
Toward a Unified Europe? Explaining Cultural Differences by Economic Development, Cultural Heritage and Historical Shocks
Economic development is linked with systematic changes in basic values, but cultural change is path dependent.This is known as Inglehart's thesis.In this paper we build on his thesis and try to explain value differences across European regions.This is relevant as it fits in the ongoing discussion of a 'Europe of the regions'.We find confirmation of Inglehart's thesis.New however, is our finding that historical shocks like the collapse of the Soviet Union marking the 'end of history' can influence this path dependent process.Moreover, we illustrate that convergence of values into a 'single European value landscape' takes a very long period, if it would occur anyway.European integration;culture;development;history
Entrepreneurial Culture as Determinant of Nascent Entrepreneurship
This paper develops indicators for entrepreneurial culture and investigates their effect on the rate of nascent entrepreneurship. We choose three measures from the World Value Survey. These include two desired job characteristics, i.e. the opportunity to use initiative and the possibility to achieve something, as well as an indicator of internal locus of control as our indicators for entrepreneurial culture. Controlling for economic, institutional and demographic determinants of nascent entrepreneurship we find a positive and significant relationship between entrepreneurial culture and nascent entrepreneurship.
Trade, Trust and Institutions
To investigate the relation between trust and formal institutions, we analyze bilateral trade patterns in a sample of 16 European countries between 1996-2009. Trust in trading partners has a significant positive effect on bilateral trade. However, our results suggest that trust and formal institutions are substitutes, as the positive effect of trust on trade is conditional on the quality of formal institutions. When the institutional quality of the importing country increases, the effect of trust on trade decreases, and eventually becomes insignificant. The decline in the effect of trust on trade is less when the exporting country’s institutional quality improves.trust, international trade, institutional quality
Organizational Culture and Network Embeddedness
A question that has been neglected in network research is where differences in network embeddedness come from.The network literature reveals that there are three key characteristics of embedded relationships: trust, open communication, and joint problem solving.On the basis of the sparse empirical studies of factors leading to network embeddedness, we identify organizational culture as a potentially important organizational-level factor.Building on empirical organizational culture studies we select ten dimensions of organizational culture that for theoretical and/or empirical reasons can be linked to network embeddedness, and formulate propositions concerning their effects.corporate culture;networks
Organizational Culture and Relationship Skills
While both the strategic management and the network literature recognize the importance of inter-firm relationships for explaining competitive advantage, the question why firms differ in their ability to benefit from these relationships is rarely addressed.This paper aims to begin to fill this gap in the literature. We argue that organizational culture is an important factor influencing the relationship skills of a firm, defined as a firm s ability to manage its ties with other firms, whether these are customers, suppliers, or service providers. We assume relationship skills to be especially relevant for the formation and maintenance of close and durable transaction ties.We test our model on a dataset of 127 Dutch inter-firm relations and find general support.Specifically, we find that firms with organizational cultures characterized by an orientation towards stability and predictability, a positive orientation towards innovation, and not characterized by a strong focus on immediate results, score high on relationship skills.Relationship skills, in turn, are found to have a positive influence on the outcomes of inter-firm relationships in terms of learning, achieving innovations and gaining new contacts, but not in terms of immediate (financial) results.corporate culture;interorganizational relations;networks;strategic management;stability;alliance;Netherlands
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