Factors Influencing Entrepreneurial Entry: Early-Stage Entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic

The paper deals with early entrepreneurial activity of individuals. It is focused both on entrepreneurs owning and managing a young firm and on nascent entrepreneurs who do steps towards launching a new venture. Demographic, socioeconomic, psychological and other factors influencing early entrepreneurial activity were analyzed based on data gathered from representative samples of adult population in the Czech Republic in 2006 (n = 2 001) and 2011 (n = 2 005). Unlike some earlier work on the subject, binary choice models were used in order to quantify the ceteris paribus effects of individual factors. Results showed that, ceteris paribus, men, people with higher entrepreneurial self-efficacy and people who know somebody else, who has launched a new business recently, more often involved in early entrepreneurial activity. The probability of such involvement grew, depending on the utilized model, till 36 to 46 years of age and decreased onwards. For both the phase of nascent entrepreneurship and that of start-up management, entrepreneurial status in society and the level of education were insignificant. Region and fear of failure played a larger role in nascent entrepreneurship, while gender and household income were significant factors related to the next phase of launching and managing a new business. Gender inequality related to start-up early management in between 2006 and 2011 increased. Overall, the study (1) shows robust findings concerning entrepreneurial entry in the Czech Republic, (2) differentiates between factors influencing nascent entrepreneurs and start-up owner-managers, and (3) provides policy recommendations for mitigating the negative role of entrepreneurial activity inhibiting factors.

Keywords: nascent entrepreneurs, start-up owner-managers, new ventures, binary choice models, entrepreneurial self-efficacy