Impact of Cultural and Social Norms on Entrepreneurship in the EU: Cross-Country Evidence based on GEM Survey Results

The links between culture and entrepreneurship are still not sufficiently well-established or explored. They started just a half of a century ago, even though the links between culture and capitalism are much older (more than 100 years old). Culture is one of the main determinants for the various entrepreneurial activities undertaken in different countries, nevertheless, it needs further exploring to yield a wider understanding of the role of the social aspects of entrepreneurship. This paper is rooted in the field of international entrepreneurship, a branch of which deals with the comparative perspective of entrepreneurship across countries and cultures. The main objective of the paper is to explore the impact of cultural and social norms on entrepreneurship in the EU countries on the basis of the GEM data of the recent report of 2013. The results prove that the national entrepreneurial culture has a positive impact on entrepreneurship.