La légitimité sociale régionale de l'entrepreneuriat: Les conséquences pour les intentions entrepreneuriales et le comportement de démarrage

Abstract

A new understanding of the role of regional culture in the emergence of business start-up behaviour is developed. The focal construct is regional social legitimacy: the perception of the desirability and appropriateness of entrepreneurship in a region. The econometric analysis utilizes a combination of bespoke longitudinal survey data from 65 regions in Austria and Finland, and variables capturing regional socio-economic characteristics derived from official statistics. The study demonstrates that, and explains how, regional social legitimacy influences the relationships between individual entrepreneurial beliefs, intentions and start-up behaviour and how these interaction effects are conditioned by the socio-economic characteristics of the region. © 2014 Regional Studies Association.