The Impact of the Culture and the Social Norms on the Characteristics of Entrepreneurs: The Case of East Asian Countries

Abstract

AbstractCulture and social norms play an important role in the development of each country, not only its economic development but also its human development. A country with a positive culture and social norms will contribute to economic development by supporting entrepreneurship, educating and training the personality, and promoting productive businesses. A country with a good culture will benefit all stakeholders. This paper focuses on researching and evaluating the differences in the impact of culture and social norms on the characteristics of entrepreneurs in some East Asian countries: China, South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. These are countries with similar cultural characteristics but their developments of economy and entrepreneurship are different. The research is based on 214 samples from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor—National Expert Survey—Individual Level Data in 2015. In the case of these four countries, in spite of similar culture and social norms, the results show that there are differences in the impact of culture and social norms on the characteristics of entrepreneurs. Therefore, it can be said that the culture and social norms of a country are not able to fully explain the characteristics and behaviors of entrepreneurs. The reason is due to the heterogeneity of the business environment of entrepreneurs in different countries. The results promote research about the impact of culture and social norms on entrepreneurship and the characteristics of the entrepreneurs.KeywordsCharacteristics of entrepreneurCultureSocial normsEntrepreneurshipEast Asia