Individual and institutional drivers of entrepreneurial intention from a cross-country perspective

The unemployment problem remains one of the biggest obstacles to economic development. Stimulating entrepreneurial intention might reduce countries’ concerns about this unemployment issue. However, because individuals living in different countries have distinct characteristics and face different institutional factors when doing business, these characteristics and factors can yield different entrepreneurial outcomes. In this regard, this paper aims to find country-level differences in the impacts of individual and institutional factors on entrepreneurial intention. While individual factors, namely, access to internal and external finance and innovation orientation, are based on Resource-based View-related abilities, institutional factors, namely, political, economic, and legal environments, are constructs of Institutional Theory. In line with the selected aim, this study examines 1367 entrepreneurs working for companies in four European countries. Moreover, this paper uses the Ordinal Logistic Regression Test for research analyses and for testing assumptions. The results indicate that international differences exist only in the impact of individual factors on entrepreneurial intention. These results are explained by the individualism/collectivism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance dimensions, which indicate cultural differences. This paper also suggests policy implications, especially for the regional and global development of entrepreneurial activities and for expanding awareness among prospective and existing entrepreneurs of various entrepreneurial practices across countries.