Socio-Spatial Culture and Entrepreneurship: Some Theoretical and Empirical Observations

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is increasingly acknowledged as an important factor underlying uneven economic geographies. Similarly, spatial patterns of entrepreneurship are increasingly considered to relate to the nature of the culture present within particular places. However, the nature of these relationships remains relatively unexplored, and this study addresses some of the gaps through both a theoretical and an empirical examination of the association between sociospatial culture and entrepreneurship. It develops the notion of community culture, and drawing on an analysis of data from localities in Great Britain, it finds that a range of dimensions of sociospatial community culture relating to social cohesion, collective action, and social rules are significantly associated with local entrepreneurial activity. Generally, localities in more economically developed regions are found to display more individualistic and diverse cultures. It is concluded that the findings represent a significant challenge for policy making in less developed localities and regions, which generally have sociospatial cultures high in communal and collective values but low rates of entrepreneurship.

Key words:

• sociospatial culture
• community culture
• institutions
• entrepreneurship
• localities
• regions

Notes

¹ In order to ensure that the measures were consistent with the cultural components they were capturing, and the other measures included in the same components, it was necessary to utilize the inverse of some measures. For example, school absenteeism is more a reflection of lack of engagement with education and work, while measures of educational attainment would be the opposite. All Appendix tables are available online.

² See Appendix B online for details.