Thirty years of entrepreneurship research published in top journals: analysis of citations, co-citations and themes

Abstract

Differences in entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial attitude are substantial and persistent across nations and regions. However, studies on entrepre- neurship that encompass regions and countries at the same time are lacking. This paper explains both national and regional differences in entrepreneurial attitude and activity for 127 regions in 17 European countries, based on Global Entrepreneurship Moni- tor (GEM) data. We reveal the importance of institutional factors and economic and demographic attributes to variations in regional entrepreneurial attitude and activity. Our findings point at the relevance of distinguishing between components of entre- preneurial attitudes, i.e. fear of failure in starting business, perceptions on start-up opportunities and self-assessment of personal capabilities to start a firm.We find dif- ferent determinants of these components, suggesting that they reflect different aspects of entrepreneurial attitude. In explaining regional prevalence rates of phases in entre- preneurial activity (nascent, baby business, established business) we find significant contributions of entrepreneurial attitude components. Urban regions and regions with high levels of nearby start-up examples showrelatively high rates of early-stage entre- preneurship. A large number of start-up procedures does not discourage early-stage entrepreneurship.