Institutional change and entrepreneurship:The impact of incremental change, change due to conflict, and social change captured by migration.

Abstract

This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between institutional change and entrepreneurship development while maintaining across countries perspective. The focus of each chapter is to examine institutional change from a distinct perspective across the following three dimensions: (1) change that occurs incrementally over time, (2) discontinuous change that occurs due to conflict (revolutions, wars etc.), and finally, (3) social change as captured by migration. Following the introductory chapter, in the second one, an institutional perspective is used to investigate the ways in which change in formal political institutions influences change in Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) rates, utilising a large panel of 77 countries. This chapter stresses that changes in political institutions play an essential role as factors in the development of entrepreneurship (TEA). Additionally, this chapter also extends research in comparative entrepreneurship that hitherto has largely overlooked the issue of stability of political institutions even though this can be a key source of (or a constraint on) entrepreneurial behaviour. Chapter 3 examines how host country institutional environments influence intentions and motivations of immigrants about self-employment and their growth intentions with respect to their new ventures. Consistent with this, in this chapter, the focus is on macro level institutional factors that influence immigrant entrepreneurship activity compared to nonimmigrants in recipient countries. In its policy conclusions, the chapter also contributes to the economic growth debate through recommending targeted policies that aim to attract immigrant entrepreneurial efforts and enhance the economic dynamism. Finally, in chapter 4, seeks to understand how radical institutional change affects entrepreneurship. The empirical counterpart is related to the Arab Spring revolutions, and how those influenced decisions to start a business in three distinct Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region countries. This chapter contributes to the existing literature by exploring how radical institutional change after conflict (revolutions, war, and uprisings) both directly and in conjunction with the personal characteristics of individuals influence entrepreneurial activity.