Creativity and security as a cultural recipe for entrepreneurship

Abstract

We posit that societal cultural values of creativity and security are associated with the likelihood that a person will engage in a business start-up. Creativity supports the opportunity identification and security the opportunity exploitation aspects of entrepreneurship. In contrast, both emphasis on performance and acceptance of risk-taking may not play the role that is typically assumed. To verify our hypotheses we construct a multilevel dataset, combining Global Entrepreneurship Monitor individual-level data with country-level data from the World Values Survey. We use a multilevel logit model to address the hierarchical structure of our data. We found that odds of start-up engagement are higher if people in a society value security, yet also appreciate thinking up new ideas and being creative. Our results support McCloskey's distinction between aristocratic and bourgeois values, and John and Storr's proposition that different cultural traits support different aspects of entrepreneurship.

The consequences of short‐term institutional change in the rule of law for entrepreneurship

“…In turn, it does not include the dimension of individual rights beyond the right to property (Møller & Skaaning, 2012; Skaaning, 2010). In our view, protection of other human rights including personal security is part of rule of law, and impacts entrepreneurship (Mickiewicz & Kaasa, 2020). Nevertheless, given the popularity of the World Bank measure of rule of law, we run tests using it as an alternative.…”

“…In particular, a deterioration in the rule of law means that individuals can be less certain about the returns of their investments, as monetary returns may be appropriated by corrupt officials, and courts are more biased no longer guaranteeing fair outcomes. Moreover, diminished personal security that comes with more arbitrary government will also have an impact on entrepreneurs (Mickiewicz & Kaasa, 2020). Institutional improvements on the other hand refer to institutional change that leads to fairer and more inclusive institutions (Rothstein, 2013).…”

Introduction to the special issue on institutions and culture in economic contexts

“…Looking at within countries variability in family types under the same de jure institutional national setting could shed some further light on the intertwined relationship culture-institutions. Mickiewicz and Kaasa (2021) venture into the role of culture and institutions within the literature of entrepreneurship. They look at specific societal values expressing individuals' creativity and security as cultural/environmental drivers of what is called 'nascent entrepreneur'.…”

“…In this respect, this special issue devotes particular attention to the role of cultural aspects relative to economic and institutional outcomes (Mickiewicz and Kaasa, 2021;Moellman and Tarabar, 2021), individuals and social attitudes towards rent-seeking behaviours, corruption, tax evasion, and institutional trust, among others (Amini et al, 2021;Andriani et al, 2021;Kaasa and Andriani, 2021), and to the interplay between specific cultural traits and the evolution of institutional frameworks such as family systems and state formation (Benati and Guerriero, 2021;Gutmann and Voigt, 2021). Part of the special issue has also been devoted to commemorating Geert Hofstede, pioneer in the study of culture and institutional aspects (Sent and Kroese, 2021) as well as the review of Joel Mokyr's book 'A Culture of Growth' (Hodgson, 2021) and subsequent response of Joel Mokyr to this book review (Mokyr, 2021).…”

A theory-driven model of the spin-off creation process: A Social Information Processing perspective

“…Concerning opportunity identification, we used as keywords 'opportunity recognition' OR 'opportunity identification', building on the assumption that it is a stable construct in entrepreneurship (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000;Short, Ketchen, Shook & Duane Ireland, 2010). Moreover, opportunity identification is a concept that may comprise both opportunity discovery and opportunity creation (Mickiewicz & Kaasa, 2020).…”