Regional characteristics,opportunity perception and entrepreneurial activities

This article seeks to better understand the link between regional characteristics and individual entrepreneurship. We combine individual-level Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data for Western Germany with regional-level data, using multilevel analysis to test our hypotheses. We find no direct link between regional knowledge creation, the economic context and an entrepreneurial culture on the one side and individual business start-up intentions and start-up activity on the other side. However, our findings point to the importance of an indirect effect of regional characteristics as knowledge creation, the economic context and an entrepreneurial culture have an effect on the individual perception of founding opportunities, which in turn predicted start-up intentions and activity.     

京津沪外来人口迁移行为影响因素对比分析

以2008年京、津、沪、穗四大城市外来人口问卷调查资料为基础,对比分析了北京、天津和上海迁移人口的个体特征以及相对于其他省市,三座城市与迁出地在经济和社会发展差异上对外来人口迁移行为的影响,讨论了人口迁移对地区间不均衡程度的影响。无论是在个体特征方面,还是受经济和社会发展影响方面,天津和上海的迁移人口都具有较多的趋同性;北京市由于其特殊的城市功能以及拥有众多优势资源,对高素质人才具有较强的吸引力,经济和社会的发展等因素对迁移者迁移概率的影响有所不同。     

Coming out of conflict: How migrant entrepreneurs utilise human and social capital

This paper examines how human and social capital influences the entrepreneurial activity of migrant entrepreneurs, with special reference to forced migrants due to conflict. The study uses Riinvest Migrant’s Survey data collected at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009 to estimate the probability of entrepreneurial activity among Kosovan migrants. The findings demonstrate that host networking (foreign spouse and foreign language fluency) exerts a positive effect on entrepreneurial activity of migrants, while co-ethnic networking is found not to be important. We show that migration experience has a positive impact on the probability of entrepreneurship. Exposure to host country (both measured as years in migration and age) increases probability to start a business. Educational qualifications in the country of origin before migration do not have any influence on entrepreneurship, while specific business training in the country of residence has a positive impact. Contributions to scholarship on migrant entrepreneurship and policy approaches to mobilise them are discussed.     

政策资源获取对农民工返乡创业绩效的影响——基于江西调查数据

基于江西省438份返乡创业农民工调查数据,实证分析了政策资源获取对农民工返乡创业绩效的影响,结果表明:政策资源获取对农民工返乡创业绩效有重要影响,并且对初始创业的农民工影响较大,而对达到一定创业水平的农民工影响较小;年龄、文化程度、电话费支出、兄弟姐妹数、创业年数等因素对农民工返乡创业绩效有显著正影响,性别、婚姻状况的影响不大。研究还发现,与其它经营形式相比,个体户创业的农民工取得的创业绩效较低。     

个体特征、制度环境与返乡创业农民工政治联系:一项实证研究

运用江西返乡创业农民工数据,实证分析个体特征、制度环境对返乡创业农民工政治联系的影响,结果表明:基础设施和经济环境越好,返乡创业农民工政治联系的概率越小;返乡创业农民工所感知的投资环境和政府支持越好,越可能认识到政府强大的授予组织合法性的能力,其政治联系的概率越大;创业年数越长和销售网络越好,农民工政治联系的概率越大;农民工个体特征以及创业经营形式对其政治联系的影响不显著,而个体背景(如父母文化程度)能显著提高其政治联系的可能性。     

Effects of Unemployment on New Firm Formation: Micro-Level Panel Data Evidence from Finland

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive insight into the role that unemployment plays in influencing new firm formation. Panel data models and micro-level data are used to help achieve this objective. We endeavour to identify simultaneously the separate effects of personal, regional and national unemployment on new firm formation in Finland for the period 1987–1995. The results indicate considerable evidence for a positive and non-linear effect of personal unemployment on the likelihood of an individual to become an entrepreneur. The findings also indicate that the economic situation has an effect on firm formation: times of low unemployment and business prosperity favour entrepreneurship. On the other hand, the analysis gives no clear evidence of the regional unemployment situation affecting the likelihood of founding a business.     

A cross-country investigation of micro-angel investment activity: The roles of new business opportunities and institutions

Building on international business literature and institutional theory, we examine the joint roles of new business opportunity availability and key formal and informal institutions in a country for explaining the incidence of micro-angel investment activity. Micro-angel investments should increase to the extent that countries demonstrate (1) greater availability of new business opportunities, (2) more protective legal systems, and (3) stronger embeddedness of members in interrelationships. More protective legal systems and stronger embeddedness also may play moderating roles, such that they amplify the relationship between the availability of new business opportunities and the incidence of micro-angel investment activity. Finally, legal protection and embeddedness can substitute for each other, such that the effect of one becomes suppressed at higher levels of the other. Data drawn from different cross-national data sources support these hypotheses. This study is among the first to explain cross-country differences in micro-angel investment activity.     

Paths of evolution for the Chinese migrant entrepreneurship: a multiple case analysis in Italy

Chinese diaspora is one of the most important areas in the field of immigrant entrepreneurship and the Chinese case is, for absolute numbers, entrepreneurship rates and scientific attention, one of the most significant phenomena in the world and in Italy. While much of the literature on the topic focuses on ethnic networks and social ties, there is a lack of studies that acknowledge the role of business networks in the later growth of migrant entrepreneurship, when the importance of social ties within the ethnic community diminishes. This paper tries to answer the following research question: Which is the role of ethnic networks and business networks in the path of evolution of Chinese migrant entrepreneurship? Thus, the paper analyses the structure and characteristics of ethnic networks and business networks and the role of each in the growth and evolution of Chinese migrant entrepreneurship. Our research considers business networks as the main focus of analysis that may replace social ties in consolidating insidership in new business settings and in finding new opportunities. A qualitative methodology is adopted, namely a multiple case study. Five cases of individual Chinese companies settled in a specific area are presented, for which the networks in which they are involved are traced and analysed. The case analysis shows that in the evolution of Chinese migrant entrepreneurship, ethnic networks are very important in the early phases of the business, but the role of cross-cultural business networks becomes relevant for further development. Implications—managerial and for policy makers—are highlighted and discussed.     

Entrepreneurship capital and its impact on knowledge diffusion and economic performance

In this paper, we develop two hypotheses: First, regional innovation efforts have a positive impact on regional knowledge based entrepreneurial activity. Second, knowledge based entrepreneurship positively affects regional economic performance. We test these hypotheses using county level data from West Germany, employing a structural equation model to analyze the relationships between latent variables. Our empirical analysis provides evidence supporting both hypotheses. In particular, our results suggest that innovation efforts have an indirect effect on economic performance via entrepreneurship. This indirect effect is neglected in existing empirical studies focusing on the direct effect of innovation on economic performance.     

Antecedents of customer participation in business ecosystems: evidence of customers’ psychological ownership in Facebook

Customers can influence the health of business ecosystem through their participation. What are the determinants of customer participation at the business ecosystem level? This study addresses this question by proposing a research model integrating the organizational socialization of customers, customer participation, and psychological ownership. It proposes customers’ psychological ownership as an antecedent of their participation in the business ecosystem. No study to date has empirically examined customer participation in business ecosystems. This study tests the hypotheses based on online survey data from 397 Facebook users. The results show that psychological ownership is a significant determinant of customer participation in the business ecosystem via word-of-mouth (WOM) and boycott intention. The result of our study also indicates that customer socialization significantly affects customer participation in the individual firm, which in turn leads to an increased psychological ownership. This study (a) broadens the concept of customer participation by examining it via the business ecosystem lens and (b) highlights WOM and boycott activities as examples of customer participation at the business ecosystem level.     

人力资本与进城农民工职业选择的实证研究

为适应中国劳动力供求形势新变化,促进社会和谐发展,迫切需要提高进城农民工的职业层次。教育、培训、迁移等人力资本因素是影响进城农民工职业选择的重要因素。使用多元logit模型进行了实证分析。受教育程度越高、接受过培训、在城市工作的年限越长的进城农民工,其从事具有更高社会声望职业的可能性就越大,这些职业有诸如办事人员和生产操作人员、专业技术人员和单位负责人等。提出了加强进城农民工人力资本投资的政策建议。     

Why Do Gen Y Students Study Abroad? Individual Growth and the Intent to Study Abroad

We propose that Generation Y college students’ motivations to study abroad are rooted in the desire for individual growth, which, combined with other motivation factors—gender, parents’ educational level, prior international experience, age, and household income—drives the intent to study abroad. The study samples juniors and seniors in business majors, thereby attempting to shorten the temporal distance between study abroad intent and action. A significant number of students declare intent to study abroad as freshmen, yet fail to act on those intentions when the opportunity presents itself a year or two later. Results showed that the desire for individual growth was significantly and positively related to Gen Y business students’ intention to study abroad. Students’ prior experience visiting foreign countries and younger age positively moderated the effect of the desire for individual growth on intent to study abroad. The time lag between intent and action, and the fact that study abroad is a high involvement activity creates promotional challenges on how to best promote study abroad to Gen Y students. The article suggests practical implications and suggests how schools might increase study abroad participation among Gen Y college students.     

Why does the effect of new business formation differ across regions?

We investigate regional differences in the effect of new business formation on employment growth in West Germany. We find an inverse U-shaped relationship between the level of start-up activity and employment change. The main variables that shape the employment effects of new businesses in a region are population density, the share of medium-skilled workers, the amount of innovation activities as measured by the proportion of research and development (R&D) employees, and an entrepreneurial character of the regional technological regime. In contrast, a high share of small-business employment has a negative influence on the employment effect of start-ups. Other indicators for education, innovation activity, and labor productivity do not prove to be statistically significant.     

The migrant wife: The worst of all worlds

This study reanalyses data on migrants to Alberta, collected by Statistics Canada in a 1980 Labour Force Survey. The findings indicate that migrant men are gainers and migrant women, particularly migrant wives are the losers from such movement, even during a period of relative economic prosperity in the Province. Women's occupational status tends to improve with time spent in the new labour force. However there is a failure to return to occupational statuses enjoyed before the move. This means, first, that male and female workers are more sex-differentiated after the move than before it; second, that migrant women, especially wives, enjoy fewer occupational returns on their educational investment than migrant men; third, that the balance of economic contribution, and possibly therefore influence, within a migrant household is shifted towards greater male dominance by the move.It is to be emphasized that each of these findings is to be regarded as tentative pending the completion of further analyses on this and three related data sets. In particular the analysis of household level data will be critical in assessing any hypotheses about family power before and after the move. Loma Marsden is Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. Her most important publication is: The Fragile Federation: Social Change in Canada(with E. B. Harvey), (McGraw Hill Ryerson, 1979). Lorne Tepperman is Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. His most important publications include Social Mobility in Canada(1975); Crime Control: The Urge Toward Authority(1977); The Roots of Disunity(1979), with David Bell.     

The Ethiopian Immigrant Business Enclave in the United States: Perceptions of Residents,Consumers, and Entrepreneurs

This study investigates the Ethiopian immigrant urban business enclave and its infrastructure, aesthetics, and quality of life. These immigrants are revitalizing urban areas, and examining the perceptual differences among stakeholders in these neighborhoods is salient. Economic development literature suggests that stakeholders share a common vision in order for revitalization efforts to be successful. Surveys were administered in an urban area to statistically test hypotheses that stakeholder groups have different perceptions. The analysis of variance technique (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data. Results indicate that stakeholders differ in their perceptions of the business climate and quality of life.     

Cultural Insights to Justice: A Theoretical Perspective Through a Subjective Lens

Distributive, procedural, and interactional justice are constructs that are increasingly being recognized as important factors that affect individual perceptions in the workplace environment. This paper presents a theoretical perspective that suggests that justice is perceived through a subjective lens that consists of individualized beliefs and proposes that cultural attributes and demographic characteristics play an integral part in determining the perception of justice. The distinctions between these three constructs are presented in context with the core beliefs of individual employees – affected by a multitude of perceptual and demographic factors that we briefly identify herein. Based on the theoretical perspective, an instrument that measures the constructs of justice as perceived by individuals was developed. With a focus on justice within the business setting, hypotheses about attitudes related to justice were tested. Survey results confirm that the three constructs of justice are distinct but correlated. Significant differences were found in the perceptions of African-American respondents with regard to procedural justice. Although the empirical findings do not support all the hypotheses, this research highlights the need for further development of measures to assess the perception of justice in business settings and at an applied level, underscores the importance of recognizing cultural attributes and demographic characteristics in understanding how justice is perceived.     

城市包容性与劳动力的创业选择——基于流动人口的微观视角

随着户籍制度的渐进式改革,中国逐渐释放了人口红利,促进了经济增长。在新的发展理念下,城市包容性,特别是提高对流动人口的包容性将成为引领经济发展的新动力。本文利用2016年中国流动人口动态监测调查数据,从流动人口享受与本地居民同等公共服务和社会保障的程度来度量城市包容性,探究城市包容性对流动人口创业的作用。结果显示,城市包容性有助于促进流动人口创业,更高的城市包容性对创业层次有正向影响,而城市外部环境条件和劳动力个体的异质性对城市包容性影响创业决策有不同的调节效应。这些发现为我国城市制度改革和促进流动人口创业提供了重要的政策启示。     

A theoretical grounding and test of the GEM model

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor model combines insights on the allocation of effort into entrepreneurship at the national (adult working-age population) level with literature in the Austrian tradition. The model suggests that the relationship between national-level new business activity and the institutional environment, or Entrepreneurial Framework Conditions, is mediated by opportunity perception and the perception of start-up skills in the population. We provide a theory-grounded examination of this model and test the effect of one EFC, education and training for entrepreneurship, on the allocation of effort into new business activity. We find that in high-income countries, opportunity perception mediates fully the relationship between the level of post-secondary entrepreneurship education and training in a country and its rate of new business activity, including high-growth expectation new business activity. The mediating effect of skills perception is weaker. This result accords with the Kirznerian concept of alertness to opportunity stimulating action.

Democracy,Veto Players and the Depth of Regional Integration

We examine how domestic political factors influence the type of regional integration arrangement (RIA) that states enter. States can pursue at least five types of RIA, in order of their depth of policy integration: preferential trade agreements, free trade areas, customs unions, common markets and economic unions. We argue that a country's regime type and the number of institutional ‘veto players’ strongly affect the type of arrangement that states choose. Democracies are more likely to form an RIA than other states, a tendency that becomes more pronounced as the proposed level of integration in an arrangement rises. However, all democracies are not the same. As the number of veto players rises, the likelihood of a democracy entering an RIA declines. Furthermore, veto players are expected to have a larger effect on the odds of a democracy forming an RIA, the greater is the extent of integration that the arrangement aims to achieve. A series of statistical tests, based on analysis of all pairs of countries from 1950 to 2000, support our arguments.     

Analytics in empirical/archival financial accounting research

In this article, we describe various analytics in empirical/archival financial accounting research. We focus the discussion on research questions that are central to accounting research, analytics used to test hypotheses, and evidence. We also describe voice and text analysis, which is generating interesting new datasets and hypothesis tests, offering promising potential for future studies. Our study seeks to (1) inform business professionals about state-of-the-art analytics in accounting research and (2) trigger academics to pursue creative new research opportunities.