The role of entrepreneurship, innovation, and urbanity-diversity on growth, unemployment, and income: US state-level evidence and an fsQCA elucidation

The purpose of this study is to consider the differing roles played by combinations of dimensions of entrepreneurship, innovation and geography (here - urbanity-diversity) on United States (US) state level growth, unemployment and income. Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) forms the primary methodology to investigate these potential roles. One important developmental feature of the analysis is the use of a novel fuzzy membership score creation process, undertaken to calibrate the considered condition and outcome variables. Moreover, fuzzy cluster analyses are undertaken, using the fuzzy c-means technique, on sets of constituent variables to produce sets of clusters interpretable to the relevant condition and outcome variables. A series of fsQCA investigations are undertaken across the different outcome variables of growth, unemployment and income. The main results of the study are that high growth entrepreneurship and innovation are key to economic growth but may require additional (though differing) supporting entrepreneurial activities and processes depending on the economic geography of the State. With regards to unemployment, it is Main Street Entrepreneurship that was consistently present for absence of unemployment causal-recipes and its absence in four of the five high unemployment causal-recipes, the absence of Urbanity-diversity was consistently shown in absence of unemployment causal-recipes and its present in three of the five high unemployment complex causal-recipes. For income, the presence of Innovation in all the high income causal-recipes and its absence in three of the four absence of income causal-recipes, Urbanity-diversity present in two of the three high income causal-recipes, and absent in three of the four absence of income causal-recipes. Overall, the results of the study suggest that for non urban-diverse states, the presence of Innovation, Growth Entrepreneurship and Main Street, and relative absence of start-up activity is of relevance in supporting positive growth, unemployment and income outcomes. For more urban-diverse states however, this combination of factors is less effective in generating positive outcomes across all three variables, suggesting trade-offs needing to be considered in these more complex economies. This study contributes to the theory of entrepreneurship and innovation by offering new insights into how different combinations of entrepreneurship, innovation and the urbanity-diversity affect growth, unemployment and income levels across different US states, consequently informing entreprenurship policy practice in terms of which policies work most effectively in which conditions. The novel applied and technical developments demonstrated in the study offer novel implementations on this area of research

Growth and innovation of SMEs in local enterprise partnerships regions: A configurational analysis using fsQCA

Local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) were introduced by the UK government in 2010 to promote local economic development. There is, however, a minimal pre-LEP baseline analysis concerning aspirations of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in LEP geographies. Employing Federation of Small Businesses 2010 data gathered before LEP policy activities began. This study examines growth and innovation intention of SMEs in LEP-defined areas. The analysis demonstrates how key internal SME strategic focus areas of staffing levels, training investment, research and development and online presence support their growth and innovation intentions. Results from fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis demonstrate that SMEs’ growth and innovation intentions and strategic areas that drive these intentions differ substantially between LEP-defined regions. This study contributes to knowledge providing baseline data outlining objectives and strategic foci of SMEs in different LEP areas, allowing LEPs to effectively evaluate programmes aligned with the requirements of their SMEs, potentially informing future policymaking

A tale of two universities: graduates perceived value of entrepreneurship education

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate career impact of entrepreneurship education (EE) considering evidence drawn from a quantitative study of alumni within two UK higher education institutions (HEIs) from a retrospective perspective. The findings inform the value of the EE experience and its impact on both self-employability and wider employability career choices. This study will be of relevance to both enterprise support agencies and government policy makers. This research study considers evidence drawn from an online quantitative survey of EE within two UK HEIs. The survey evaluated a range of issues including course design, programme satisfaction, impact, career outcomes and respondents demographics. Over 80 respondents completed the survey in full which was analysed using a range of bivariate techniques. The evidence suggested here indicates that EE programmes provide value both in terms of helping to enable business start-ups and also in supporting other career paths, through the enterprising knowledge and skill sets graduates acquire during their specialised studies. This study contributes to the literature by recognising and measuring these contributions. For example, this study enables discernment between different EE course components and their value for different career outcomes. The study recognises the limitations of this survey data in terms of the size of the sample, number of HEIs evaluated and its point in time design. The HEI sector must evaluate its practices and measure the effectiveness of its graduates in terms of achieving sustainable business start-up. In course design, the evidence suggested that students value both the enterprising and entrepreneurial skills and knowledge components and discern value between them in their later careers. The findings suggest that EE graduates typically experience portfolio careers with multiple occupations in different sectors and roles within both employment and self-employment. Thus it is important that EE programme design includes both enterprising and entrepreneurial components to meet the future requirements of their graduates postgraduation. This study contributes new evidence regarding the value of EE in UK HEIs. This evidence should inform course design and policy makers regarding the value of EE in creating self-employment and creating enterprising employees