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Creativity and security as a cultural recipe for entrepreneurship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2020

Tomasz Mickiewicz Open the ORCID record for Tomasz Mickiewicz [Opens in a new window]  and
Anneli Kaasa Open the ORCID record for Anneli Kaasa [Opens in a new window]
Tomasz Mickiewicz*
Affiliation:
Aston Business School, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Anneli Kaasa
Affiliation:
School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu, Narva mnt 18, 51009 Tartu, Estonia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: t.mickiewicz@aston.ac.uk
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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.

Keywords

EntrepreneurshipValuesCultureCreativitySecurityGlobal Entrepreneurship Monitor

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 18 , Special Issue 1: Institutions and Culture in Economic Contexts , February 2022 , pp. 119 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © Millennium Economics Ltd 2020

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