Institutional context for entrepreneurship in emerging economies: a nine-country comparison of university students’ perceptions

In this study, we compare and contrast the perceptions of the institutional environment for entrepreneurship among university students in nine emerging economies across three global regions: Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, and Russia), Asia (China, India, and the Republic of Korea), and Latin America (Brazil and Mexico). The student perceptions are measured employing a survey instrument developed by Busenitz et al. (2000) for industrialized countries, and validated in the context of emerging markets by Manolova et al. (2008). Our results indicate that the institutional environments are perceived as overall unfavorable to new firm formation in all the three global regions as well as the nine constituent countries. However, the institutional milieus vary along different dimensions. The reasons for such variances could be traced to differences in the respective legal systems, cognitive structures, and normative traditions across regions and countries. Consequently, the institutional environments present different opportunities and challenges to university students who consider an entrepreneurial career. We discuss the theoretical, managerial, and public policy implications of our findings.