Factors influencing senior entrepreneurship in Chile. A GEM perspective

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this research is to identify which are the internal factors that lead senior (+55 years) to entrepreneurship in Chile and its comparison with a selected group of Latin American countries. Methodology: To achieve the previous goal, the analysis is based on the Adult Population Survey of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) of 2016 and uses a logistic regression model applying different variables on the TEA (Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity). Results: The research shows that occupation, level of education, age, knowledge of other entrepreneurs and the entrepreneur’s confidence in their own skills are key variables. Limitations: These study does not consider the external perspective, which reflects how the environment influences entrepreneurial intentions. Practical implications: Based on these results, governments can better understand what factors they should consider when configuring policies to support entrepreneurial activity in this demographic sector. Furthermore, this work contributes to the development of knowledge about senior entrepreneurship in the country and to the identification of best practices to be used in other countries.

Senior entrepreneurship in Latin America: evaluation and support from entrepreneurship ecosystems approach

“…First, entrepreneurial attitudes (ATT) are factors that could have a major positive relationship with senior entrepreneurs, generating higher levels of senior entrepreneurial ventures. This is in line with what other authors suggest about individual attitudes (Leporati et al, 2021;Coduras et al, 2018) as having access to better social capital, a higher level of education to recognize opportunities in the market, cultural support and perceiving having the skills to be an entrepreneur seem to be relevant individual attitudes and perceptions. Regarding the institutional level, our findings are in line with other authors (Guerrero and Urbano, 2017a;Khanna and Palepu, 2006;Júnior et al, 2016;Stam and Bosma, 2015) who support that the higher level of corruption or lack of economic freedom or quality of education are important barriers to develop entrepreneurial activity in developing countries.…”

“…Senior entrepreneurs are affected by internal and external factors (Leporati et al, 2021). The former includes sociodemographic variables (occupation, income, education or gender) or their attitudes and perceptions.…”

“…This model helps to answer which factors from the context are related to the probability of being a senior entrepreneur by opportunity. Other studies follow a similar methodology (Holienka et al, 2016;Torres-Marín et al, 2020;Amor os et al, 2023), but our model differs in the use of variables from the GEDI as context/institutional variables that encourage entrepreneurial activity for seniors in Latin America. Running three models helps to avoid the multicollinearity identified when running a model with the three subindexes included.…”

Drivers of growth expectations in Latin American rural contexts

“…These could be lifestyle entrepreneurs (e.g. retirees returning to rural areas to become entrepreneurs) or so-called elderpreneurs – also known as senior entrepreneurs or third-age entrepreneurs (Kautonen et al , 2014; Leporati et al , 2020). Because HGE dynamics in rural areas are unique, public policies should specifically target purpose-driven entrepreneurial education.…”

The institutional approach in entrepreneurship research in Latin America.

“…In the case of Chile, it has been ranked highly in the entrepreneurship quality index in Latin America. Amorós & Abarca (2015) and Leporati et al (2020) highlight Chile's position in this index. Additionally, Silva et al (2021) emphasize the importance of university-industry collaboration as a key factor in fostering entrepreneurship in the country.…”