Historical Roots of Entrepreneurial Culture and Innovation Activity

Michael Fritsch will present his recent work on entrepreneurial culture and tradition, to examine how entrepreneurial culture relates to observed level of self-employment and innovation activity.

There is a research gap with respect to understanding the role of entrepreneurial culture and tradition for actual start-up behaviour. We combine historical self-employment data (entrepreneurial tradition) with a psychological measure for entrepreneurial attitudes (entrepreneurial culture). The results reveal a positive relationship between the historical level of self-employment in a region and the presence of people with an entrepreneurial personality structure today. Our measure for a regional culture of entrepreneurship is positively related not only to the level of new business formation but also the amount of innovation activity.

Michael is professor of Economics and Chair of Business Dynamics, Innovation and Economic Change at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena in Germany. He is also an Associate Editor of Regional Studies and Small Business Economics.