Value patterns of entrepreneurs in Europe: does the legacy of the transition still matter?

Abstract

The article examines the values of individual entrepreneurs in the European context. From among the various available value theories, it applies Shalom H. Schwartz’s framework of Basic Human Values. Schwartz distinguishes 10 values that are dynamically interrelated with each other along several shared dimensions. Two main dimensions (self-centered and collective) and four categories (openness to change, self-enhancement, conservation, self-transcendence) of values can thus be distinguished. The empirical part of the study starts with a cluster analysis to differentiate entrepreneurial groups according to the relative importance of self-centered values, before turning to values with collective connotations in order to draw more comprehensive profiles of the identified clusters. One of the main findings of this study is that more than two-thirds of Eastern European entrepreneurs cannot be characterized by normatively framed entrepreneurial value preferences—they are actually entrepreneurs without entrepreneurship.