Schumpeter’s canonical depiction of the entrepreneur as an agent of social and economic change implies that entrepreneurs are especially sensitive to the social environment. We use an organizing framework based on institutional economics, in combination with lessons from cross-cultural psychology, to consider the social dimensions of entrepreneurship. The level and modes of entrepreneurial activity are affected by the surrounding culture and by legal rules. Entrepreneurs may partially overcome institutional deficiencies by relying on social networks that facilitate reputational bonding as a means for resource-sharing.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=824844

The Social Dimensions of Entrepreneurship

A growing number of studies on entrepreneurial motivation, intentions, and behavior include entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) as an explanatory variable. While there is broad consensus among researchers on the importance of including ESE in an intentionality model, there remain inconsistencies in the definition, dimensionality, and measurement of ESE. This study takes an important step toward refinement and standardization of ESE measurement. Within a new venture creation process framework, a multi-dimensional ESE instrument is developed and tested on a diverse sample that includes nascent entrepreneurs. Implications for entrepreneurship theory and entrepreneurship education are discussed.

/pdf/entrepreneurial-self-efficacy-refining-the-measure-15p3ah6tl6.pdf

Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy: Refining the Measure

https://isiarticles.com/bundles/Article/pre/pdf/27170.pdf

New business start-up and subsequent entry into self-employment

For the past few years, the term ‘lifestyle migration’ has been used to refer to an increasing number of people who take the decision to migrate based on their belief that there is a more fulfilling way of life available to them elsewhere. Lifestyle migration is thus a growing, disparate phenomenon, with important but little understood implications for both societies and individuals. This article outlines and explores in detail a series of mobilities that have in common relative affluence and this search for a better lifestyle. We attempt to define the limits of the term lifestyle migration, the characteristics of the lifestyle sought, and the place of this form of migration in the contemporary world. In this manner, we map the various migrations that can be considered under this broad rubric, recognising the similarities and differences in their migration trajectories. Further to this, drawing on the sociological literature on lifestyle, we provide an initial theoretical conceptualisation of this phenomenon, attempting to explain its recent escalation in various guises, and investigating the historical, sociological, and individualised conditions that inspire this migration. This article is thus the first step in defining a broader programme for the study of lifestyle migration. We contend that the study of this migration is especially important in the current era given the impact such moves have on places and people at both ends of the migratory chain.

/pdf/migration-and-the-search-for-a-better-way-of-life-a-critical-2bmxpfd0v1.pdf

Migration and the search for a better way of life: a critical exploration of lifestyle migration

Book-length study of black, Chinese, and Japanese self-employment in northern cities of the United States, 1880-1940, Self-employment is explained as a product of moral communities resulting from migration networks.

Ethnic Enterprise in America: Business and Welfare Among Chinese, Japanese and Blacks

Are self-employed workers more satisfied with their jobs compared to wage and salary workers? Using The National Survey of Families and Households: Wave I, 1987-1988, and Wave II 1992-1994 several expectations are evaluated in this article. First, self-employed persons should enjoy higher job satisfaction than others. Second, a portion of the association between job satisfaction and self-employment should be explained by higher levels of self-efficacy and by lower levels of depression among the self-employed compared to others. Third, self-employment veterans are a select group and should be different systematically from self-employment newcomers with respect to reported job satisfaction. Findings offer support for the first and second arguments above but not the third. Post-hoc analysis suggests that among the newly self-employed, the association between job satisfaction and self-employment depends on both the quantity and quality of time invested in the business. Implications of these findings and directions for further research are discussed. Introduction Entrepreneurs play an important role in the free-enterprise economic system. Much of the impetus for change, innovation, and progress in the U.S. economy will come from entrepreneurs (for example, Reynolds 1997; Light and Rosenstein 1995; Drucker 1985; Schumpeter 1934). Moreover, small firms create important new employment opportunities (Reynolds and White 1997; Light and Rosenstein 1995). Conventional wisdom suggests that the United States is increasingly a nation of entrepreneurs and self-starters. Indeed, the portion of the labor force accounted for by nonfarm self-employment, having declined steadily between 1870 and 1973, generally has been expanding since 1976 (Bregger 1996; Steinmetz and Wright 1989; Mills 1951), and this expansion is projected to continue into the near future (Silvestri 1999). Moreover, according to Gartner and Shane (1995), entrepreneurship, measured as the number of commercial firms per capita, nearly has tripled between the late 1970s and the mid 1990s and is significantly higher than at any time in the past hundred years. According to some observers, the contemporary period is the "era of the entrepreneur," in which the entrepreneur is viewed increasingly as a folk hero (Goffee and Scase 1987). Certainly not all self-employed individuals properly may be considered entrepreneurs, but self-employment and entrepreneurship are linked in the popular imagination. Evidence of public fascination with self-employment readily is available. In the United States, "being one's own boss ... is a deeply held ideal," with historical roots dating to the nation's founding (Steinmetz and Wright 1989, p. 974). Further, evidence from a cross-national survey research suggests that over 60 percent of Americans report a preference for self-employment as opposed to employment (Blanchflower, Oswald, and Stutzer 2001; Blanchflower and Oswald 1998). (1) In addition, some four percent of working-age adults may be engaged actively in starting a business at any particular time (Reynolds 1994). Moreover, results from the Entrepreneurial Research Consortium Study reported in the trade press suggest that approximately 33 percent of U.S. households "have had an intimate involvement in a new or small business" (as cited by Richman 1997). Why are individuals so positively disposed toward the prospect of starting a business? For many, more than expected financial rewards, the desire to be self-employed may be rooted in the perception that small business ownership promises greater autonomy and challenge than employment by a large bureaucratic organization (Vivarelli 1991). Indeed the notion that self-employed individuals gain greater satisfaction from their jobs than do other individuals is commonplace in both the popular press (for example, Leonard 2001; Willax 1998; Chun 1997) and in entrepreneurship textbooks (for example, Scarborough and Zimmerer 2000; Kuratko and Hodgetts 1998; Hatten 1997; Zimmerer and Scarborough 1996). …

Self-Employment and Job Satisfaction: Investigating the Role of Self-Efficacy, Depression, and Seniority

Mighty like a river : the black church and social reform

Most studies of retirement migration in the United States focus at the national level, and there is comparatively little information about the retirees who cross international borders in their search for new homes. Retirement migrants are unusual in that many select destinations in less-developed countries, contrary to the general pattern of migration from poor to rich countries in search of jobs, higher incomes and a better standard of life. This study has examined the reasons for retirement migration from the United States (US) to the Lake Chapala area of the Mexican state of Jalisco. A non-random sample of 211 US retirees was surveyed using a self-completion, semi-structured questionnaire that included items about the decision to move to Mexico, the quality of life at the destination, cultural adaptation, and aspects of personal identity, financial security and health-care. Four major reasons for migrating to Mexico were identified: financial circumstances, the natural environment, a sense of community and friendship, and a better quality of life. While the migrations contradict much taken-for-granted and popular knowledge about migration patterns around the world, they have important implications for the ways of life, social relationships and welfare of the most recent cohort of older people. More in-depth multidisciplinary studies are needed to increase understanding of this evolving phenomenon.

United States' international retirement migration: the reasons for retiring to the environs of Lake Chapala, Mexico

Objectives. The goal of this article was to test a series of established predictors of the hazard of moving for persons primarily in their 50s and 60s. We tested demographic covariates, resources, travel experience, and community and person ties using a prospective design. Methods. We employed data from the Health and Retirement Study, 1994 to 2002, based on a representative sample of households containing at least one member aged 51 to 61 in 1992. We employed measures available in the Health and Retirement Study to construct a series of Cox proportional hazards models that examined the causes of non-local moves. Results. Community and person ties emerged as important predictors of non-local moves. Discussion. Travel experience, when measured by regular vacationing and second homes, may increase community ties to a destination. The life-course model must be modified in its explanation of the importance of community and person ties, and of life transitions, as motivators of migration.

Predictors of Non-Local Moves Among Older Adults: A Prospective Study

Purpose: This brief report takes a look at the preliminary estimates of the number and proportion of migrants over the age of 60 who moved to and from states between 1995 and 2000 and compares these estimates with those who made the same kind of move one decade earlier. Design and Methods: The 2000 census 1-in-100 public-use microdata sample, released in the summer of 2003, and the 1 -in-20 sample from the 1990 census, were compared in this analysis. Point estimates of 100% were created for the inflows and outflows for the top 10 states in these two census decades. Net migration was also considered. Results: The total estimated number of older interstate migrants increased to over 2 million during the 1995-2000 migration period. Florida declined slightly in its position as the dominant destination for a second decade, indicating a downward trend for the first time. Arizona becamethesecond largest receiving state, next to Florida, and California approached New York's dominance as a migration origin, or sending, state. Nevada entered the top ranking retirement states for the first time. Implications : Long-term migration dynamics of the older population may reflect perceived shifts in quality of life in destination states. Nonetheless, the next two decades will see a substantial rise in the number of older migrants.

Don E. Bradley

Papers

Self-Employment and Job Satisfaction: Investigating the Role of Self-Efficacy, Depression, and Seniority

Mighty like a river : the black church and social reform

United States' international retirement migration: the reasons for retiring to the environs of Lake Chapala, Mexico

Predictors of Non-Local Moves Among Older Adults: A Prospective Study

A First Look at Retirement Migration Trends in 2000