Why Innovations Are Not Enough: Cultural Boundaries of Creative Destruction

This paper analyses market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation as cultural preconditions for sustained economic growth through the mechanism of creative destruction. The theoretical framework builds on the Schumpeterian tradition and endogenous growth theory, complemented by cultural models of economic behaviour. Using data from the European Social Survey (ESS), the study constructs a Market Orientation Index and an Entrepreneurial Orientation Index. The results demonstrate that entrepreneurial values are not always accompanied by social legitimacy of market competition and inequality. Bulgaria emerges as a hybrid case characterised by relatively high entrepreneurial orientation but low market orientation. The findings highlight the crucial role of cultural and institutional factors in enabling or constraining creative destruction and contribute to a better understanding of the cultural foundations of innovation-driven growth.