The Attitudinal Climate for Entrepreneurial Activity

Successful entrepreneurial activity is a major source of job creation and a vital part of a healthy market economy. This article examines the attitudes that, taken collectively within a region, may contribute to a climate that is conducive to and supportive of this activity. Four different components that characterize these attitudes are identified—the willingness to take risks and accept the possibility of failure, the perceived difficulty of starting new firms, the importance and respect accorded to new and small firms and their owners, and the socialization children are likely to receive from their parents. These attitudinal components are related to measures of the structure and performance of the respondent's local economy and to individual factors. The most important finding is that pro-entrepreneurial attitudes are lower among individuals working in large organizations and among those who live in areas dominated by large organizations regardless of the size of their own employer. Other measures of the local economy, such as past success in creating new businesses, were not associated with differences in attitudes. Attitudes also are related to individual attributes such as age and income.