nep-ent New Economics Papers
on Entrepreneurship
Issue of 2022‒04‒04
sixteen papers chosen by
Marcus Dejardin
Université de Namur

  1. Resilient entrepreneurs? Revisiting the relationship between the Big Five and self-employment By Runst, Petrik; Thomä, Jörg
  2. Better pensions for the European Union’s self-employed By Rebecca Christie; Monika Grzegorczyk; Diane Mulcahy
  3. The Firm Size-Leverage Relationship and Its Implications for Entry and Business Concentration By Satyajit Chatterjee; Burcu Eyigungor
  4. Website premia for extensive margins of international firm activities Evidence for SMEs from 34 countries By Joachim Wagner
  5. Estimating conditional treatment effects of EIB lending to SMEs in Europe By Barbera, Alessandro; Gereben, Aron; Wolski, Marcin
  6. Do various innovation linkages enhance innovation? International evidence By Goel, Rajeev K.
  7. Ownership, Governance, Management and Firm Performance: Evidence from Italian Firms By Audinga Baltrunaite; Sara Formai; Andrea Linarello; Sauro Mocetti
  8. Structural change and firm dynamics in the south of Italy By Francesco Bripi; Raffaello Bronzini; Elena Gentili; Andrea Linarello; Elisa Scarinzi
  9. EIF Private Debt Survey 2021: Private debt for SMEs - Market overview By Krämer-Eis, Helmut; Block, Jörn; Botsari, Antonia; Krause, Carlos; Gvetadze, Salome; Moritz, Alexandra; Lang, Frank; Schulze, Anna
  10. Stopgappers? The Occupational Trajectories of Men in Female-Dominated Occupations By Torre, Margarita
  11. Attrition from male dominated occupations: Variation among occupations and women By Torre, Margarita
  12. Pandemics, Business Resilience and Sustainability By Dipak Raj Pant; Stéphane Jedrzejczak
  13. Legal Weakness, Investment Risks, and Distressed Acquisitions: Evidence from Russian Regions By Adachi, Yuko; Iwasaki, Ichiro
  14. The determinants of AI innovation across European firms By Igna, Ioana; Venturini, Francesco
  15. Vers une meilleure compréhension de la transformation numérique optimisée par lâIA et de ses implications pour les PME manufacturières au Canada - Une recherche qualitative exploratoire By Amir Taherizadeh; Catherine Beaudry
  16. Girişimcilik eğiliminin girişimsel hazır bulunuşluk üzerindeki etkisinde girişimcilik eğitiminin düzenleyici rolü By 子, 鬼谷

  1. By: Runst, Petrik; Thomä, Jörg
    Abstract: Based on a trait-oriented approach, Big Five personality traits have been repeatedly shown to affect entrepreneurial action. In the last two decades, a new literature stream on the Big Five has emerged in the field of psychology that has partly moved away from a traitbased perspective towards a person-centered approach, suggesting that multiple stable combinations of traits form individual personalities. We examine the relationship between this prototyping approach and entrepreneurship. Moreover, we compare prototyping with entrepreneurial profiling, another person-oriented approach to the Big Five, which assumes that low levels of agreeableness and high levels of all other traits describe a particular entrepreneurship-prone personality. By using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we show that at least three prototypes can be identified, one of which - the resilient type - can be hypothesized to significantly increase the likelihood of entrepreneurial action. Our regression results provide evidence of a positive impact of the resilient type on the likelihood of and transitioning into self-employment but not the likelihood of exit. We also show that the prototyping approach explains individual self-employment decisions over and above what can already be explained by the profiling approach. Thus, the entrepreneurial profile tends to ignore a relatively large number of individuals who exhibit certain combinations of traits predisposing them to become entrepreneurs. In the context of entrepreneurship, profiling should therefore only be seen as a first step on the way from the usual trait-based to a person-oriented view of the Big Five.
    Keywords: Entrepreneurship,Self-employment,Big Five,Personality,Prototypes,Profiles
    JEL: D91 L26 M13
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifhwps:342021&r=
  2. By: Rebecca Christie; Monika Grzegorczyk; Diane Mulcahy
    Abstract: Self-employed workers are taking on a larger role in the European economy, particularly workers who operate as independent contractors rather than as small-business owners with their own workforce. Becoming self-employed offers flexibility and entrepreneurial potential, but can limit access to state-sponsored pension schemes. We assess the current state of pension policy across the European Union and take a more detailed look at five countries to see how independent workers are...
    Date: 2022–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bre:polcon:47748&r=
  3. By: Satyajit Chatterjee; Burcu Eyigungor
    Abstract: Larger firms (by sales or employment) have higher leverage. This pattern is explained using a model in which firms produce multiple varieties, acquire new varieties from their inventors, and borrow against the future cash flow of the firm with the option to default. A variety can die with a constant probability, implying that firms with more varieties (bigger firms) have a lower variance of sales growth and, in equilibrium, higher leverage. In this setup, a drop in the risk-free rate increases the value of an acquisition more for bigger firms because of their higher leverage: They can (and do) borrow a larger fraction of their future cash flow. The drop causes existing firms to buy more of the new varieties arriving into the economy, resulting in a lower startup rate and greater concentration of sales.
    Keywords: Startup rates; concentration; leverage; firm dynamics
    JEL: E22 E43 E44 G32 G33 G34
    Date: 2022–03–17
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:93850&r=
  4. By: Joachim Wagner (Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre)
    Abstract: This paper uses firm level data from the Flash Eurobarometer 421 survey conducted in June 2015 in 34 European countries to investigate the link between having a website and international firm activities in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). We find that firms which are present in the web do more often export, import, engage in research and development cooperation with international partners, work as subcontractors for firms from other countries, use firms in other countries as subcontractors, and perform foreign direct investments – both inside and outside the European Union. The estimated website premia are statistically highly significant after controlling for firm size, country, and sector of economic activity. Furthermore, the size of these premia can be considered to be large. Internationally active firms tend to have a website.
    Keywords: Website premia, international firm activities, Flash Eurobarometer 421
    JEL: D22 F14 F23 L25
    Date: 2022–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:410&r=
  5. By: Barbera, Alessandro; Gereben, Aron; Wolski, Marcin
    Abstract: We estimate heterogeneous treatment effects of the EIB financial support on European firms between 2008 and 2015. The relevant control groups are created with propensity score matching and the effects are estimated in a difference-in-differences framework, controlling for firm-level and country-sector-year fixed effects. We find that the positive effects of EIBsupported lending on job creation and investments were larger for smaller and younger firms. Moreover, we find evidence that longer maturities and more advantageous loan pricing are associated with larger employment and investment effects, while no larger impact is observed for larger loan volumes. Overall, the results suggest that benefits of the EIB support are rather observed on an intensive, rather than on an extensive, margin.
    Keywords: climate action and environment,economics
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:eibwps:202203&r=
  6. By: Goel, Rajeev K.
    Abstract: Whereas various drivers of the international innovative activity have been studied in the literature, our understanding of the contributions of different innovation linkages to innovation deserves more attention. Are the different innovation linkages equally complementary to research inputs in fostering innovation? This paper addresses the contributions of different innovation linkages to innovation, across two different measures of innovation. We find that a broader index of innovation linkages shows positive and significant spillovers on innovation, while joint ventures and university-industry collaborations fail to exert a significant influence. These spillovers are reinforced by the positive and expected impacts of R&D spending. In other results, greater venture capital investments boost innovation in most cases, while more FDI boosts one type of innovation output. These findings are uniquely shown to be sensitive across least- and most innovative nations when a quantile regression is employed. Implications for technology policy are discussed.
    Keywords: patents,innovation,innovation linkages,R&D,joint ventures,university-industry collaboration
    JEL: O31 O33 O38
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:2211&r=
  7. By: Audinga Baltrunaite (Bank of Italy); Sara Formai (Bank of Italy); Andrea Linarello (Bank of Italy); Sauro Mocetti (Bank of Italy)
    Abstract: We explore the role of ownership, governance and management characteristics as potential drivers of the performance gaps between firms located in the Centre and North and in the South of Italy. First, we document that southern firms are characterized by more frequent family ownership and a higher fraction of local and family directors on the board. Moreover, entrepreneurs and managers of southern firms have lower education levels and are less inclined to adopt structured managerial practices and advanced technology. Second, we examine to what extent these differences account for the performance gap between the two areas. We find that managers’ human capital explains one tenth of the difference in firm size, while family ownership accounts for one tenth of the differences in productivity. Although the analysis is purely descriptive, our findings suggest that ownership, governance and management play a significant role in explaining firm performance and account for a non-negligible fraction of the North-South divide.
    Keywords: ownership, family firms, corporate governance, managerial practices, human capital, firm size, productivity, technology
    JEL: G30 L20 M10
    Date: 2022–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_678_22&r=
  8. By: Francesco Bripi (Bank of Italy); Raffaello Bronzini (Bank of Italy); Elena Gentili (Bank of Italy); Andrea Linarello (Bank of Italy); Elisa Scarinzi (Bank of Italy)
    Abstract: In this paper, we study the structural change in the Centre-North and the South of Italy, focusing on its implications for productivity dynamics and its microeconomic determinants. We document three main results. First, between 2001 and 2018 the deindustrialization process involved both parts of Italy, but in the South it started after the financial crisis and was more pronounced. In the southern regions, the employment shares in low knowledge-intensive services increased more than in the Centre-North, whereas those in the high knowledge-intensive services increased less. Second, structural changes slowed down productivity growth in the Centre-North, but had no role in the fall of productivity registered in the South. Finally, in the Centre-North employment growth has been driven by the net creation of jobs among incumbents and larger firms. In contrast, employment dynamics in the southern regions largely reflected the process of firms entering and exiting the market, in particular in less knowledge-intensive service sectors, and in young and smaller enterprises.
    Keywords: structural change, firm dynamics, North-South gap, productivity growth, shift-share analysis
    JEL: R00 R11 L16 O41 O47
    Date: 2022–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_676_22&r=
  9. By: Krämer-Eis, Helmut; Block, Jörn; Botsari, Antonia; Krause, Carlos; Gvetadze, Salome; Moritz, Alexandra; Lang, Frank; Schulze, Anna
    Abstract: Against the background of the need for alternative and additional financing channels for SMEs in Europe, this paper analyses the market segment of debt funds. It provides a market overview and comprehensive insight into the results of the EIF Private Debt Survey, a new study that provides unique perspective and helps to increase the transparency of the market to the public. Finally, the paper presents the EIF's action plan to address market weaknesses in the European private debt market.
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:eifwps:202279&r=
  10. By: Torre, Margarita
    Abstract: This study examines the determinants of men's exit from female-dominated occupations. Using census data and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data set, the author analyzes the job history of men employed in the United States between 1979 and 2006. Supporting the theoretical model, evidence indicates a group of stopgappersmen entering female-dominated occupations and leaving soon after their entry, thereby contributing to the perpetuation of segregation in female settings. By identifying the stopgapper occupational trajectory, this article contributes to the development of a comprehensive theory accounting for the way structural inequality is reproduced.
    Date: 2022–02–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:ea8x3&r=
  11. By: Torre, Margarita
    Abstract: Women in male-dominated occupations remain at a considerable risk of attrition. This study examines both the consequences of being an occupational minority and the effect of occupational attributes on women’s exit from male-dominated occupations. Drawing on prior theories and empirical studies, I argue that women in high-status occupations are better prepared than women in low-status occupations to overcome obstacles derived from their minority status. Using the Current Population Survey data set and the Occupational Information Network database, this study reveals that a greater proportion of males in an occupation increases the probability of exit from low-status occupations, once we account for relevant individual and occupational attributes. Conversely, women employed in high-status occupations are less likely to leave strongly male-dominated occupations. These findings underscore that women’s attrition from male-dominated occupations cannot be adequately explained without considering differences among women at the moment of hiring.
    Date: 2022–02–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:uvh2a&r=
  12. By: Dipak Raj Pant; Stéphane Jedrzejczak
    Abstract: The issues related to the resilience of small and medium enterprises are key to understanding how disruptions and contextual constraints provoked by the Covid-19 pandemic’s have impacted the lives and livelihoods of small entrepreneurs and their partners along local supply chains and markets. The capacity of SMEs to resist, adapt and take advantage of external environmental changes is key to the sustainability of local economic processes. This report provides an overview about the resilience and vulnerabilities of SMEs engaged in the production and trade of wine of a specific area in north-western Italy during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020-2021 in the villages and small towns of the Alpine foothills and pre-Alpine lowlands in northern Piedmont. The research combined field survey, documentary analysis, and stakeholder consultations to shed light on present uncertainties for the wine business community and context. The perspectives gained in the field lead to a critical re-thinking on existing business and development models useful to elaborate new plausible and sustainable scenarios (alternative images of future) about the Nebbiolo business community. For policy makers, this understanding is useful to steer the local development process towards sustainability, to broader issues surrounding business continuity, resilience, and sustainable local development.
    Date: 2022–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:liu:liucec:2022-12&r=
  13. By: Adachi, Yuko; Iwasaki, Ichiro
    Abstract: This paper traces the survival status of 93,260 Russian business firms in the period of 2007–2019 and empirically examines the determinants of the acquisition of financially distressed companies (i.e., distressed acquisitions). We found that, of 93,260 firms, 50,743 failed in management, and among these distressed firms, 10,110 were rescued by acquisition during the observation period. Our empirical results indicate that, in Russian regions, the weakness of the legal system tends to increase the probability of distressed acquisitions, while other socioeconomic risks negatively affect it. These tendencies are common in most industries and regions. It is also revealed that, in the most developed area, monotown enterprises are more likely to be bailed out by acquisition after management failure than other firms, but it is not always true for the whole nation.
    Keywords: legal weakness, investment risk, financial distress, distressed acquisitions, Russia
    JEL: C35 D02 D22 E02 G34 K20 L22
    Date: 2022–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:rrcwps:98&r=
  14. By: Igna, Ioana (CIRCLE, Lund University); Venturini, Francesco (University of Perugia)
    Abstract: Using patent data for a panel sample of European companies between 1995 and 2016 we explore whether the innovative success in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is related to earlier firms’ research in the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and identify which company characteristics and external factors shape this performance. We show that AI innovation has been developed by the most prolific firms in the field of ICT, presents strong dynamic returns (learning effects), and benefits from complementaries with knowledge developed in network and communication technologies, high-speed computing and data analysis, and more recently in cognition and imaging. AI patent productivity increases with the scale of research but is lower in presence of narrow and mature technological competencies of the firm. AI innovating companies are found to benefit from spillovers associated with innovations developed in the field of ICT by the business sector; this effect, however, is confined to frontier firms. Our findings suggest that, with the take-off of the new technology, the technological lead of top AI innovators has increased mainly due to the accumulation of internal competencies and the expanding knowledge base. These trends help explain the concentration process of the world’s data market.
    Keywords: AI; ICT; patenting; European firms
    JEL: O31 O32 O34
    Date: 2022–03–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2022_003&r=
  15. By: Amir Taherizadeh; Catherine Beaudry
    Abstract: This report presents the main results of the qualitative and exploratory study aimed at explaining how artificial intelligence (AI), as general-purpose technology (GPT), impacts firm-level productivity and employment. Analyzing primary and secondary data sources (including 27 interviews, reports, and panel discussions), we first develop the maturity spectrum of AI adoption and classify small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that integrate AI into their work processes into four archetypes: The Wishful, The Achievers, The Leaders, and The Visionaries. By characterizing each archetype, we highlight nuances of changes that need to take place for a firm to further progress to the next stage of AI adoption. Second, we identify and explain seven barriers that are associated with the pervasive integration of AI among SMEs in manufacturing industries. Third, in three distinct case studies, we explore three AI projects conducted by Quebec-based AI-focused firms to show how machine learning (ML) integration into products and work processes can act as a productivity enhancer and identify its impact on firm-level employment. Overall, our results suggest that successful AI integration requires a firm-level digital transformation which we illustrate as a continuum. In the early stages of adoption (including firms in The Wishful and The Achievers classes) where AI adoption is project-centric, firms’ employment tends to increase in parallel with productivity gains. The much-needed upskilling of the existing workforce also occurs at the same time. Further, as firms integrate AI on an enterprise-wide scale (The Leaders and The Visionaries) and increase the level of their innovation activities, firm-level job losses are experienced in parallel to productivity gains. Next, we introduce indirect indicators of AI pervasiveness as more realistic measures to evaluate the rate of AI adoption by SMEs in a fluid stage. Finally, we propose four recommendations that have implications for researchers, practitioners as well as policymakers. To quote this document Taherizadeh, A. and Beaudry C. (2021). Vers une meilleure compréhension de la transformation numérique optimisée par l’IA et de ses implications pour les PME manufacturières au Canada - Une recherche qualitative exploratoire (2022RP-04, CIRANO). https://doi.org/10.54932/JDXB2231 Ce rapport présente les principaux résultats d’une étude qualitative exploratoire visant à examiner l’impact de l’intelligence artificielle (IA), en tant que technologie à usage général (TUG) sur la productivité et l’emploi à l’échelle de l’entreprise. À la suite de l’analyse de sources de données primaires et secondaires (comprenant 27 entretiens, rapports et discussions de groupe), nous établissons d’abord une échelle de maturité de l’adoption de l’IA et un classement des petites et moyennes entreprises (PME) qui intègrent l’IA dans leurs processus de travail en quatre archétypes : l’Aspirant, le Fonceur, le Leader et le Visionnaire. Nous définissons chaque archétype de façon à mettre en évidence les changements particuliers à opérer pour qu’une entreprise puisse passer à l’étape suivante de l’adoption de l’IA. Deuxièmement, nous définissons et examinons sept obstacles à l’adoption généralisée de l’IA par les PME manufacturières. Troisièmement, à l’aide de trois études de cas, nous explorons trois projets d’IA menés par des entreprises québécoises axées sur l’IA afin de montrer, d’une part, l’apport de l’intégration de l’apprentissage automatique (AA) aux produits et aux processus de travail sur le plan de la productivité des entreprises, et d’autre part son effet sur leurs effectifs. Dans l’ensemble, les résultats de notre étude suggèrent que la réussite de l’intégration de l’IA nécessite une transformation numérique au niveau de l’entreprise, que nous présentons comme un continuum. Dans les premières étapes, où l’adoption de l’IA se fait autour de projets (en particulier pour les entreprises des catégories Aspirant et Fonceur), les effectifs des entreprises ont tendance à augmenter parallèlement aux gains de productivité en même temps que le perfectionnement indispensable des compétences de la main-d’œuvre existante. En outre, lorsque l’IA est déployée à l’échelle de l’entreprise (chez les Leaders et les Visionnaires) et que cette dernière rehausse le niveau de ses activités d’innovation, on enregistre plutôt des pertes d’emploi parallèlement aux gains de productivité. Par la suite, nous introduisons des indicateurs indirects de l’omniprésence de l’IA, car nous estimons qu’il s’agit de mesures plus réalistes pour évaluer le taux d’adoption de l’IA par les PME en phase fluide. Enfin, nous proposons quatre recommandations qui ont des implications pour les chercheurs, les praticiens et les responsables politiques. Pour citer ce document Taherizadeh, A. et Beaudry C. (2021). Vers une meilleure compréhension de la transformation numérique optimisée par l’IA et de ses implications pour les PME manufacturières au Canada - Une recherche qualitative exploratoire (2022RP-04, CIRANO). https://doi.org/10.54932/JDXB2231
    Keywords: Artificial intelligence,Digital transformation,General Purpose Technology,Employment,Machine learning,Productivity,Manufacturing,Technological Innovation, Intelligence artificielle,Transformation numérique,Technologies à usage général,Emploi,Apprentissage automatique,Productivité,Secteur manufacturier,Innovation technologique
    JEL: C80 D20 L60 M50 O10
    Date: 2022–03–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirpro:2022rp-04&r=
  16. By: 子, 鬼谷
    Abstract: The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between entrepreneurial inclination (tendency) and entrepreneurial readiness (ER), and the moderating role of the entrepreneurship education in this relationship. As a result of the literature review examined in this context, research hypotheses were developed and a theoretical model was put forward. The research was conducted on 365 students who received entrepreneurship education at Aksaray and Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University. The data of the research were gathered with convenience sampling method by using online and face-to-face survey technique. The data collected were tested by regression analysis using appropriate statistical package programs. According to the results of the research, it was found that the entrepreneurial inclinations of the participants had a significant effect on their entrepreneurial readiness and that entrepreneurship education played a moderator role in this effect. In the study, it is found that the entrepreneurial inclination did not affect the learning orientation of the dimensions of the ER; it is concluded that the entrepreneurial inclination negatively affects the perceived attractiveness and work passion dimensions of the dimensions of ER. In addition, it is determined that entrepreneurship education did not have the moderating role in the effect of entrepreneurial inclination on learning orientation dimension, but entrepreneurship education has a moderator role in the effect of perceived attractiveness and work passion.
    Date: 2021–08–31
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:6rekq&r=

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