Cultural differences and entrepreneurial behaviour: an intra-country cross-cultural analysis in Cape Verde

Abstract

Two recent research trends give rise to the current work: the need to extend the conclusions reached in entrepreneurship studies to other cultural contexts, particularly important given the interest in stimulating the creation of firms in recently industrialised and less developed countries; and the need to go beyond the axiom ‘nation=culture’ in favour of the multiple cultures perspective. With these antecedents, we present the current work, which aims to answer two research questions: (1) are the cultural values associated in the literature with venture creation generalisable to different cultural contexts? (2) are there intra-cultural differences in a country generating differences in the entrepreneurial behaviour of its population? Thus, this work contributes to extending knowledge about entrepreneurship and international cross-cultural management by taking the novel approach of studying the cultural values and the decision to create a venture from the intra-cultural differences perspective. A sample of 448 individuals, obtained in the Republic of Cape Verde and analysed in six territories within this country, allows us to confirm the existence of cultural differences in individualism between regions of the Republic of Cape Verde, as well as their capacity to explain entrepreneurial behaviour in these regions.

Keywords:

• national culture
• intra-cultural variation
• entrepreneurship
• Cape Verde.

Notes

Notes

1. Information (in Portuguese) about the educational level of the Cape Verdean population can be found on the website of the Cape Verde National Institute of Statistics (www.ine.cv) in Estatísticas da Educação.

2. Individuals in the age range 15–65 years who are seeking employment or working over the total population in that age range.

3. Concelho: form of administrative division of the Cape Verde national territory. Equivalent to a municipality.

4. Information (in Portuguese) about the economic development in each Cape Verdean concelho can be found on the websites of Instituto das Comunidades (www.ic.cv/municipios.html) and the Cape Verde National Institute of Statistics (www.ine.cv) in Inquérito às Despesas e Receitas Familiares.

5. By work, we mean self-employment as well as wage work.