Local Institutional Profile and the Antecedents of Entrepreneurial Intention

Abstract

Abstract We investigate the effects of the local institutional profile on the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention. First, we advance a conceptual model based on the theory of planned behavior and on institutional theory. In our model, local government policies, regional shared social knowledge and local value systems affect cognition of individuals with regard to entrepreneurial intention. We then test our model using structural equation modeling (SEM) based on a survey of 2150 respondents in Brazil. The country is particularly interesting for the analysis since it presents a continental dimension, being formed by five regions with different geographic, economic, and social characteristics. Our regression models corroborate our hypotheses. Perceived behavior control is a function of both the local cognitive dimension and the local regulatory dimension. The personal attitude is determined by all the local institutional dimensions (cognitive, regulatory, and normative dimensions). Subjective norms, in turn, are a function of the local normative dimension. This effect is interesting because it points to regional variability in the way individuals appreciate entrepreneurial activity and how this translates into a statistically significant difference in entrepreneurial intention among the country’s regions.