IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/jecpps/v2y2008i4p285-299.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cultural determinants of entrepreneurial emergence in a typical sub‐Sahara African context

Author

Listed:
  • Nnamdi O. Madichie
  • Anayo D. Nkamnebe
  • Ellis I. Idemobi

Abstract

Purpose - With the increasing research attention given to the culture‐entrepreneurship research, the need to explore the apparently neglected cultures has continued to escalate. The Nnewi culture of Anambra State in Nigeria is a culture known for high incidence of productive entrepreneurship, but unfortunately has received limited research attention. Using this as a point of departure, this paper aims to examine the influence of cultural traits of the Nnewi people that propel entrepreneurial emergence and success. Design/methodology/approach - A survey of 30 owner‐managers (chief executives) and 236 top management staff (cutting across gender, class, age and religious lines) of select Nnewi indigenously owned firms were surveyed. Findings - Culture had a strong and positive impact on the entrepreneurial and managerial performance of the Nnewi people. The critical aspects of the Nnewi cultural traits that propel entrepreneurial zeal and managerial performance include prudence, individualism, innovativeness, trust, intimacy and openness in the workplace, submissive apprenticeship as well as perseverance. Furthermore, the results suggested that the “Afia Olu” and “Ikwu Aru” festivals celebrated yearly, are the basis for the industrious cultural attributes of Nnewi people. Originality/value - The paper lends an “African voice” to the culture‐entrepreneurship literature by providing an empirical basis for sub Saharan African (SSA) cultures to look inwards for the purposes of identifying social values, ethos, beliefs, and practices that could propel entrepreneurship development in the same manner the Nnewi community has evolved. Overall, the paper provides an update on a decade old enterprising community – Nnewi, drawing inspiration from other native communities such as the Taos Pueblo in North America and the Kibbutz communities in Israel.

Suggested Citation

  • Nnamdi O. Madichie & Anayo D. Nkamnebe & Ellis I. Idemobi, 2008. "Cultural determinants of entrepreneurial emergence in a typical sub‐Sahara African context," Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 2(4), pages 285-299, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:eme:jecpps:v:2:y:2008:i:4:p:285-299
    DOI: 10.1108/17506200810913881
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/17506200810913881/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/17506200810913881/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/17506200810913881?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dave Valliere, 2016. "Measuring Regional Variations of Entrepreneurial Intent in India," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 25(2), pages 111-128, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:jecpps:v:2:y:2008:i:4:p:285-299. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.