A Proposal for a Standard With Innovation Management System

Entrepreneurial Attitudes and Perceptions in a Cross-
Country Setting: Evidence From GEM Data
Paula Odete Fernandes 1,4 , João Ferreira 2,4 and Cristina Fernandes 3,4
1
Department of Economics and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Bragança
(IPB), Bragança, Portugal
2
Department of Management and Economics, University of Beira Interior (UBI),
Pólo IV – Edifício Ernesto Cruz, Covilhã, Portugal
3
Polytechnic Institute of Bragança and Instituto Superior de Línguas e
Administração de Leiria (ISLA), Pólo IV – Edifício Ernesto Cruz, Covilhã,
Portugal
4
NECE-UBI (R&D Centre funded by the Multiannual Funding Programme of
R&D Centres of FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology,
Ministry of Education and Science)
pof@ipb.pt
jjmf@ubi.pt
kristina.fernandes81@gmail.com
Abstract: In the late 20 th century, entrepreneurship re-emerged as a key outline item of economic policy makers
across Europe, both for some nations as well as for European Union as a whole. Reasonable economic growth
joined with constantly high levels of unemployment encouraged expectations of entrepreneurship’s potential as a
source of job creation and economic growth. In spite of this growing interest, an inclusive theoretical and
empirical research is needed. This paper aims to identify groups of countries that share similar patterns regarding
the characteristics of entrepreneurial attitudes and perceptions. For this objective, it was selected 54 countries
from the 2009 GEM survey, and a k-means cluster analysis technique was used. The results show three clusters
with different entrepreneurial attitudes among the countries - high, medium and low entrepreneurial attitudes and
perceptions.
Keywords: GEM, entrepreneurial attitudes, entrepreneurial perceptions, cluster analysis, K-means
1. Introduction
The entrepreneurial activity, as well as all the factors that are behind its existence, and its influence
on economic development have been studied in the literature (Birley 1985, Kirchoff & Phillips 1988;
Storey, 1994). According to Schumpeter (1934), entrepreneurs are individuals who have a duty to
drive the achievement of new combinations of resources and the entrepreneurial function is to identify
and realize new possibilities in the economic area. Thus it is increasingly recognized the growing
importance of entrepreneurship to professional careers (Hisrich et al., 2007). Choosing to be an
entrepreneur is seen as an adaptive behavior training taking into account the various challenges,
occupational hazards, but also the opportunities that come with the great economic change,
technological and social societies face (Audretsch, 2007; Mahbubani, 2008). In the late 20 th century,
entrepreneurship re-emerged as a key outline item of economic policy makers across Europe, both
for some nations as well as for European Union as a whole (Brock & Evans, 1989; Carree & Thurik,
2002). Reasonable economic growth joined with constantly high levels of unemployment encouraged
expectations of entrepreneurship’s potential as a source of job creation and economic growth (Acs,
1992; Audretsch & Thurik, 2000).
In spite of this growing interest, an inclusive theoretical and empirical research is needed (Wennekers
et al., 2002). Several empirical contributions based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)
research project demonstrate that variations in economic growth rates can be clarified by differing
rates of entrepreneurship (Reynolds et al., 1999; Zacharakis et al., 2000). Therefore, the creation of
new firms may contribute to the economic performance of countries since entrepreneurial activities
introduce innovation, competition and increase rivalry (Audretsch & Keilbach, 2004; Wong et al.,
2005). For entrepreneurial activity to happen in a country or region, both opportunities for
entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial abilities need to be present. The quantity and quality of
perceived opportunities and capabilities may be strengthened by national conditions such as
economic growth, population growth, culture, and national entrepreneurship policy. However, the
impact of the entrepreneurial efforts on economic growth varies not only between countries at
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