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The Relationship between Search Engines and Entrepreneurship Development: A Granger-VECM Approach

Author

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  • Michael Olumekor

    (Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, 620014 Yekaterinburg, Russia)

  • Hossam Haddad

    (Accounting Department, Business Faculty, Zarqa University, Zarqa 13133, Jordan)

  • Nidal Mahmoud Al-Ramahi

    (Accounting Department, Business Faculty, Zarqa University, Zarqa 13133, Jordan)

Abstract

The decision to set-up a business as a sole proprietor—also individual entrepreneur or sole trader—is a consequential one for every nascent entrepreneur. Sole proprietorship businesses have remained the most popular business structure in many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia, and are vital to the sustainable development of countries and regions. In this research, we developed a model to investigate if increased online interest in sole proprietorships led to the creation of new sole proprietorship businesses in four regions of Russia. Search engine data were retrieved from Russia’s most popular search engine, Yandex, whereas data on newly registered individual entrepreneurship businesses were retrieved from Russia’s Federal Tax Service. Our model was comprised of a range of statistical methods, including the augmented Dickey–Fuller unit root test, the Johansen cointegration test, the Granger causality Wald test, and the vector error correction model. The results revealed a unidirectional causal relationship between search engine data and newly established individual entrepreneurship businesses. This means that interest in individual entrepreneurship, measured through search engine data, influenced the creation of new individual entrepreneurship businesses. This research provides a pioneering empirical investigation of the topic in post-Soviet states, and its main contribution includes introducing search engine data as a key tool for assessing entrepreneurial intention.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Olumekor & Hossam Haddad & Nidal Mahmoud Al-Ramahi, 2023. "The Relationship between Search Engines and Entrepreneurship Development: A Granger-VECM Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-16, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:6:p:5053-:d:1095542
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    1. Maksim Vlasov & Sergey N. Polbitsyn & Michael Olumekor & Hossam Haddad, 2023. "Exploring the Role of Socio-Cultural Factors on the Development of Human Capital in Multi-Ethnic Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-14, October.

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