Can the government enhance the happiness of entrepreneurs?: evidence from China

Abstract

As China’s economy enters a new normal, economic growth shifts from factor investment to innovation. The quality of government needs to be improved to create a good environment for the development of innovation and entrepreneurship. This paper uses the CGSS data to empirically study the impact of government quality on the happiness of entrepreneurs. Research shows that the improvement of government quality can significantly improve the self-rated happiness of entrepreneurs, but these three dimensions have different effects, and only the public goods supply index has a significant impact. According to the analysis by region and city level, the government quality has a significant impact on the happiness of entrepreneurs in the less-developed non-eastern and non-provincial cities, but insignificant in the eastern and provincial cities.

Keywords:

• Government quality
• happiness of entrepreneurs
• efficiency of government
• provision of public goods
• protection of property rights

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71832012) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Southwestern University of Finance & Economics (SWUFE), 2019, financially supported this research.

Notes

1 iiMedia Research. Thematic Research Report of the Entrepreneurship Environment in China's New Economy. https://www.iimedia.cn/c400/61277.html

2 Government Governance, Investment Environment and Harmonious Society: Improving the China – Governance, investment climate, and harmonious society: competitiveness enhancement for 120 cities in China (World Bank 2007).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Li Xiong

Li Xiong is an associate professor of management at Southwestern University of Finance & Economics in China, where he teaches courses on Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship. He has published research articles in The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Emerging Markets Finance & Trade and others international journals.

Tingting Wu

Tingting Wu is a Master Candidate at Southwestern University of Finance & Economics in China, her research interests are Entrepreneurship, Operation and management of multinational corporations.

Yulan Li

Yulan Li is a Master Candidate at Southwestern University of Finance & Economics in China, her research interests are Entrepreneurship, Family Business Strategy.

Hao Chen

Hao Chen is an assistant researcher at Southwestern University of Finance & Economics in China, his research interests are Entrepreneurship and Education.