Young entrepreneurs pushed by necessity and pulled by opportunity: institutional embeddedness in economy and culture

The vocational choice to be an entrepreneur is made in a social context of institutions in society, which channel, regulate, enable and constrain life, with pushes and pulls. The necessity to make a living may push the entrepreneur, or an opportunity for business may pull the entrepreneur to start. The push by necessity and pull by opportunity are exerted by institutions in society such as its economy and culture. The purpose here is to account for how young entrepreneurs' experiences of opportunity-pull and necessity-push are influenced by society's economic wealth and culture, as traditional versus secular-rational culture and as survival versus self-expression culture. A sample of 41,281 young entrepreneurs in 93 countries was surveyed in Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Analyses show that young entrepreneurs' experience of opportunity-pull rather than necessity-push is not distinctly and significantly affected by the dimension of traditional versus secular-rational culture, but is promoted by wealth in society as well as by a culture of self-expression versus survival.