Title: Perceptions of the institutional environment and entrepreneurial intentions in a small peripheral country

Authors: Athanasios Hadjimanolis

Addresses: Department of Management and Marketing, School of Business Administration, European University Cyprus, 6 Diogenes Street, 2404 Engomi, Nicosia, Cyprus

Abstract: The paper investigates the intentions of people in a peripheral small country (Cyprus) to start a new business in relation to their perceptions of the various dimensions of the institutional environment in their country (normative, cognitive, and regulatory) and the extent of its favourability for an entrepreneurial start-up. It has used the well-known instrument of Busenitz et al. (2000) to measure the Cyprus entrepreneurial institutional profile as perceived by potential entrepreneurs and a suitable scale for their entrepreneurial intentions. It also considers socio-demographic factors, entrepreneurial family experience and self-efficacy for an entrepreneurial career. It was found that entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial family background are positively associated with entrepreneurial intention. Regarding the institutional environment, only its cognitive dimension is significantly associated with the entrepreneurial intention. The association contrary to expectations is negative.

Keywords: Cyprus; country profiles; entrepreneurship; environment; entrepreneurial intentions; institutions; perceptions; self-efficacy; start-ups; institutional environment; small countries; socio-demographic factors; family background; cognitive dimension.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2016.075680

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016 Vol.28 No.1, pp.20 - 35

Received: 23 Dec 2014
Accepted: 11 Jun 2015
Published online: 31 Mar 2016 *

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