Beyond Red Tape and Fools: Institutional Theory in Entrepreneurship Research, 1992-2014

Cross-Country Determinants of Early-Stage Necessity and Opportunity-Motivated Entrepreneurship: Accounting for Model Uncertainty

“…However, as we discussed early on in the paper, empirical findings have been far from consistent, creating doubts about the robustness of previously established relationships (Bjørnskov and Foss ; Su, Zhai, and Karlsson ; Terjesen, Hessels, and Li ; Thai and Turkina ). One possible explanation for this empirical heterogeneity is model uncertainty, and several independent reviews of the literature recognize that such heterogeneity has led to limited insights into the mechanisms that drive entrepreneurship (Bjørnskov and Foss ; Su, Zhai, and Karlsson ; Terjesen, Hessels, and Li ). Despite the tacit acknowledgment of the problem of model uncertainty, which is manifested by additional regression results with alternative specifications that scholars often report, traditional econometrics to a great extent has failed to exploit this systematic problem with applied empirical research.…”

“…Previous studies have linked entrepreneurship to a number of important factors, including economic development (Audretsch and Acs ; Audretsch, Keilbach, and Lehmann ; Baumol and Strom ), cultural values (Tiessen ; Welter ), formal institutions (Bjørnskov and Foss ; Kreft and Sobel ; McMullen, Bagby, and Palich ; Nyström ), and even post‐materialistic values (Uhlaner and Thurik ) and role models (Bosma et al ). Despite this breadth of research, however, cross‐country empirical studies have so far provided less‐than‐complete insights into the mechanisms driving entrepreneurship (Bjørnskov and Foss ; Su, Zhai, and Karlsson ; Terjesen, Hessels, and Li ). A major issue in this literature has been that of model uncertainty—that is, the use of a wide variety of explanatory variables has produced inconsistent empirical findings (Terjesen, Hessels, and Li ).…”

Developing entrepreneurship in Africa: investigating critical resource challenges

“…Therefore, emerging economies such as the African economy offer interesting contexts to study the effect of environment on entrepreneurship development. Institutional theory has become a lens through which numerous researchers have accounted for environmental influences on entrepreneurship, particularly in studies that relate to start-ups (Su et al, 2016). Naude (2010, p. 1) intimated that a country's institutional framework -the "rules of the game" -is important for understanding entrepreneurship growth.…”

Logics, Leaders, Lab Coats: A Multi‐Level Study on How Institutional Logics are Linked to Entrepreneurial Intentions in Academia

“…Our study showcases how models of entrepreneurship that link macro‐level institutions to micro‐level individual intentions and activities can be enriched by acknowledging and integrating meso‐level social structures and related processes (Kim et al, ). In this way, our study may inspire future entrepreneurship research informed by institutional theory (Su et al, ). For instance, Audretsch et al (), have delineated how religious logics can help to explain the likelihood of individuals becoming self‐employed.…”

“…Institutional theory features prominently in entrepreneurship research in general (Su et al, 2017) and in research on academic entrepreneurship (Fini and Toschi, 2016) in particular. Until now, research in this domain has predominantly been focused on tracing entrepreneurial activities back to differences in institutional environments at the societal, field, population or organizational levels of analysis (Bruton et al, 2010;Su et al, 2017;Tolbert et al, 2011). While this research has generated valuable insights, our knowledge of the pathways that link higher-level institutions to the individual-level intentions that eventually generate entrepreneurial activities is still sparse (Kim et al, 2016).…”