Essays in Comparative International Entrepreneurship Research

There is a broad consensus among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners that socio-cultural conditions influence entrepreneurship profoundly. A rapidly growing, rich, and multidisciplinary literature in comparative international entrepreneurship research has highlighted the importance of socio-cultural conditions in explaining the substantial and persistent variation in entrepreneurship rates around the world. However, the underlying mechanisms through which socio-cultural conditions influence entrepreneurship have remained elusive because of analytical challenges and conflicting findings. To advance this ongoing discussion, this dissertation introduces fresh perspectives that guide theorizing and testing on how socio-cultural conditions influence entrepreneurship. First, the distinct literatures on entrepreneurial process and comparative entrepreneurship research are synthesized against a background of societal social capital theory. Conceptualizing entrepreneurship as a dynamic and regionally embedded multi-staged process, it is shown that regional social capital has a profound yet changing influence over the course of the new venture creation process. Second, combining insights from cross-cultural theory and cultural transmission theory, durability, portability, and intergenerational transmission are articulated as mechanisms that link past cultural conditions in one locality to current entrepreneurial activity in another locality. Studying second-generation immigrants of distinct ancestries, it is shown that (country-of-ancestry) cultural effects can be isolated and influence entrepreneurship in a likely causal way. Third, the conceptual differences are outlined between three perspectives that link culture and entrepreneurship: the aggregate traits, legitimacy, and social support perspectives. Isolating the aggregate traits perspective from the other two perspectives and contextual conditions, it is shown that culture influences entrepreneurship through its effect on individuals’ values

The role of regional social capital changes over the course of the entrepreneurial process

The entrepreneurial process does not take place in a vacuum but is deeply embedded in its context, such as where a would-be entrepreneur lives. Johannes Kleinhempel, Sjoerd Beugelsdijk, and Mariko J. Klasing analyse how socio-cultural conditions shape entrepreneurship, emphasising the critical importance of regional social capital and the changing role of contextual conditions over the course of the entrepreneurial process

Cultural Roots of Entrepreneurship:Evidence from Second-Generation Immigrants

Does national culture influence entrepreneurship? Given that entrepreneurship and the economic, formal institutional, and cultural characteristics of nations are deeply intertwined and co-vary, it is difficult to isolate the effect of culture on entrepreneurship. In this study, we examine the self-employment choices of second-generation immigrants who were born, educated, and currently live in one country, but were raised by parents stemming from another country. We argue that entrepreneurship is influenced by durable, portable, and intergenerationally transmitted cultural imprints such that second-generation immigrants are more likely to become entrepreneurs if their parents originate from countries characterized by a strong entrepreneurial culture. Our multilevel analysis of two independent samples—65,323 second-generation immigrants of 52 different ancestries who were born, were raised, and live in the United States and 4,165 second-generation immigrants of 31 ancestries in Europe—shows that entrepreneurial culture is positively associated with the likelihood that individuals are entrepreneurs. Our results are robust to alternative non-cultural explanations, such as differences in resource holdings, labor market discrimination, and direct parent-child linkages. Overall, our study highlights the durability, portability, and intergenerational transmission of entrepreneurial culture as well as the profound impact of national culture on entrepreneurship

Cultural Roots of Entrepreneurship

Does national culture influence entrepreneurship? Given that entrepreneurship and the economic, formal institutional, and cultural characteristics of nations are deeply intertwined and co-vary, it is difficult to isolate the effect of culture on entrepreneurship. In this study, we examine the self-employment choices of second-generation immigrants who were born, educated, and currently live in one country, but were raised by parents stemming from another country. We argue that entrepreneurship is influenced by durable, portable, and intergenerationally transmitted cultural imprints such that second-generation immigrants are more likely to become entrepreneurs if their parents originate from countries characterized by a strong entrepreneurial culture. Our multilevel analysis of two independent samples –65,323 second-generation immigrants of 52 different ancestries who were born, raised, and live in the United States and 4,165 second-generation immigrants of 31 ancestries in Europe– shows that entrepreneurial culture is positively associated with the likelihood that individuals are entrepreneurs. Our results are robust to alternative non-cultural explanations, such as differences in resource holdings, labor market discrimination, and direct parent-child linkages. Overall, our study highlights the durability, portability, and intergenerational transmission of entrepreneurial culture as well as the profound impact of national culture on entrepreneurship

Realizing expectations?

Comparative international entrepreneurship research has often used measures of high-growth expectations entrepreneurship to proxy for the construct of high-impact entrepreneurship. We revisit this practice by assessing the cross-country association between high-growth expectations and realized high-impact entrepreneurship to speak to construct measurement fit. We find that expectations are not a good proxy for realizations; they are associated with different determinants and outcomes, respectively. We go on to introduce the notion of entrepreneurial projection bias to gauge the misfit between expectations and realizations. Conditioning on entrepreneurial projection bias partially restores the association between realized high-impact entrepreneurship and its determinants (or outcomes) when realizations are proxied using expectations. Furthermore, we show that opportunity-motivated entrepreneurship also does not proxy well for high-impact entrepreneurship. Our analysis brings into question current survey-based approaches to measuring high-impact entrepreneurship and existing rankings of countries’ entrepreneurial performance, with important implications for entrepreneurship theory and policy

Realizing expectations? High-growth expectations and realized high-impact entrepreneurship across countries: construct measurement matters

Comparative international entrepreneurship research has often used measures of high-growth expectations entrepreneurship to proxy for the construct of high-impact entrepreneurship. We revisit this practice by assessing the cross-country association between high-growth expectations and realized high-impact entrepreneurship to speak to construct measurement fit. We find that expectations are not a good proxy for realizations; they are associated with different determinants and outcomes, respectively. We go on to introduce the idea of entrepreneurial projection bias to gauge the misfit between expectations and realizations. Conditioning on entrepreneurial projection bias partially restores the association between realized high-impact entrepreneurship and its determinants (or outcomes) when realizations are proxied using expectations. Furthermore, we show that opportunity-motivated entrepreneurship also does not proxy well for high-impact entrepreneurship. Our analysis brings into question current survey-based approaches to measuring high-impact entrepreneurship and existing rankings of countries’ entrepreneurial performance, with important implications for entrepreneurship theory and policy