Exploring the Relationship between Formal and Informal Institutions, Social Capital, and Entrepreneurial Activity in Developing and Developed Countries

Abstract

Most research on entrepreneurial activities and institutions focuses on identifying certain relationships between formal and informal institutions and entrepreneurship across economies. In this study, we advance entrepreneurship research by examining how social capital as a characteristic of the institutional environment affects the relationship between formal and informal institutions and entrepreneurial activities, differentially, in developing and developed economies. Supporting institutional theory and social capital theory, the results from our sample of 39 countries from 2001 to 2014, which contains over 30,000 identified individuals, indicate that social capital has a stronger influence in the relations between institutions and entrepreneurship. In developing countries, this influence is greater in the relationship between property rights, access to credit, subjective insecurity, and entrepreneurial activity. In developed countries, the greater effect of social capital is on the relationship between corruption and entrepreneurial activity.

Does institutional quality affect the level of entrepreneurial success differently across the entrepreneurship distribution?

“…On the other hand, the informal institutions represent the non-explicit norms established in a country. In other words, they are constituted by values, patterns of behavior, traditions and beliefs that shape the culture of a particular context (Escandon-Barbosa et al, 2019;North 1990). The most predominant difference between formal and informal institutions appeal to the form they are found in society.…”

Institutional Thickness and Regional Tourism Development: Lessons from Antioquia, Colombia

“…Academic literature shows that institutional thickness has been investigated according to different perspectives until now. However, efforts have been made to build empirical frameworks [21,42,43,64,65,68,69] mainly in developed countries and industrial activity contexts, gaps exist in the study of how different institutional scenarios affect regional growth and on how they contribute to this according to the type of economy [70].…”

Physical Education, Quality of Breathable Air and Their Effects on the Formation of High School Students as Sustainability in Maintaining the Lifestyle. Is the Physical Education Lesson Enough to Create Such Valences?

“…The process by which high school students (HSS) try to form their own views and ideas about all that is happening in life is a delicate, controversial, and oscillating one, relying, most of the time, on the influence exerted by "parents, teachers and age group" [6], therefore, their being endowed with different abilities, achieved by persons trained in this respect/in a professional setting, of carrying out various physical activities in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, is considered to be very important in this age period. In this regard, there are different programs of "the promotion and support of educators, individually and collectively" [7] under "the action of formal and informal institutions, social capital may provide unique insights about this important process" [8], generating innovations in their teaching and education.…”