The Business Creation Process and Latin American Entrepreneurs

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is considered fundamental to economic development since entrepreneurs generate their own economic benefit and indirectly promote employment, boost innovation, and attract human and financial resources and investment in infrastructure to the territory, among other benefits. Latin America has very high rates of entrepreneurship, so to deepen our knowledge of the factors that influence entrepreneurship, it is necessary to investigate the region. This article tests various theories of factors (self-efficacy, fear of failure, perception of opportunity, and socialization) that determine the decision to become an entrepreneur, using a quantitative methodology with a representative sample of 27,341 Latin American individuals (including 4,416 entrepreneurs). The results partially support these factors and show that Latin American entrepreneurs differ from the profile indicated in previous literature. In addition, results seem to indicate that the level of development of a country determines the strength with which the factors studied influence entrepreneurship.