AbstractsSociology

Spatial Context Matters: The Diversity of Paths to Entrepreneurship Access Rural Area, Middle-Range City, and Metropolitan Area

by Jing Zhou




Institution: The Ohio State University
Department: Sociology
Degree: MA
Year: 2002
Keywords: Sociology
Record ID: 1726736
Full text PDF: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1403105021


Abstract

The common practice in entrepreneurship research is to examine individual characteristics that influence people to embark on entrepreneurial careers without regard to spatial contexts. Guided by sociological embeddedness perspective, this study explores the diversity of paths to entrepreneurship across rural area, middle-range city, and metropolitan area. Individual’s self-employment entry is thus viewed as a process shaped by the personal traits of potential entrepreneurs, interacting with the conditions of incubator region. Empirical results show that different individual factors account for self- employment entry in different regions, indicating the need for separate theoretical models. Furthermore, many determinants of business start-up are found to have varying impact on self-employment entry across region types.