Identity and entrepreneurship do school peers sha

Authors: Oliver Falck Stephan Heblich Elke Luedemann

Publish Date: 2010/07/10

Volume: 39, Issue: 1, Pages: 39-59

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Abstract

We incorporate the concept of social identity into entrepreneurship and analyze the determinants of having entrepreneurial intentions We argue that an entrepreneurial identity results from an individual’s socialization This could be parental influence but as argued in this paper also peer influence Based on Programme for International Student Assessment PISA 2006 data in which students report their entrepreneurial intentions at the age of 15 we find that having an entrepreneurial peer group has a positive effect on an individual’s entrepreneurial intentions We find that the strength of the peer effect in a country is moderated by prevailing values namely individualismWe are grateful to David Audretsch Lee Flemming Oliver Kirchkamp Adam Lederer Mirjam van Praag Simon Parker Olav Sorenson and Ludger Wößmann for helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript We also thank the conference participants at the Spring 2009 Meeting of Young Economists in Istanbul the International Institute of Public Finance IIPF 2009 conference in Capetown and the 2009 Conference of the German Economic Association Verein fuer Socialpolitik in Magdeburg for many helpful comments Daniel Erdsiek provided capable research assistance Oliver Falck is indebted to the Program on Education Policy and Governance PEPG Kennedy School of Governance Harvard University and in particular to Paul Peterson and Edward Glaeser for their hospitality during the research visit that allowed work on this research and to the Fritz Thyssen Foundation for partial funding of the research visit Stephan Heblich received funding for the research leading to these results from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007–2013 under Grant No 216813

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