Under What Context Do Regulations Explain Cross-National Differences in Productive Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Increasing the pace of opportunity entrepreneurship has gained priority in policy debates globally, and despite significant investment in resources, the outcomes are disappointing. We use an institutional theory framework to examine whether culture is the missing link in our understanding of the factors that explain the growth in opportunity entrepreneurship across nations. Based on data from sixty-two nations, our analyses indicates that the autonomy-embeddedness and egalitarianism-hierarchy dimensions of culture play a significant role in moderating the effect of regulatory burden on the growth of opportunity over necessity entrepreneurship across nations. We discuss our findings and suggest implications for public policy.