The Role of Culture in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: An Investigation for European Regions

Promotion of new entrepreneurial activity has been increasingly visible in many economies across the globe and is currently being shaped by an emerging literature on entrepreneurial ecosystems (see e.g. Stam 2015). In this paper we argue that within the regional entrepreneurship ecosystems approaches, entrepreneurship culture should be seen as one of the essential elements: we propose that regional entrepreneurship culture represents the glue that links the elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. However, entrepreneurial culture includes many facets and there is there is to date limited empirical research on how different dimensions of entrepreneurial culture (e.g. how individuals perceive and deal with opportunities, risk attitudes, status of successful entrepreneurs, media coverage etc.) connect to entrepreneurial outcomes. This paper brings together the literature on entrepreneurial culture and entrepreneurial ecosystems and comes up with regional indicators for entrepreneurship culture in European regions by combining data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the European Value Survey and the Eurobarometer Surveys on entrepreneurship. Supported by our results we argue – without being able to infer causal relationships - that entrepreneurship culture can be seen both as one of the key elements of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, as well as an essential feature that ensures optimal connections between other elements of a regional entrepreneurial ecosystem.