The impact of state legitimacy on entrepreneurial activity

The purpose of this research is to analyze the influence of the state legitimacy on of the different countries’ entrepreneurial activity’s development, the opportunities’ perception and the entrepreneurship’s motivations. This paper is set into the research field which analyze how the institutional environment influence entrepreneurship in different countries. Research framework has been built based on the Institutional Theory. To develop the model we use a set of data extracted from the European Social Survey and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor about 28 European countries and we analyze them through Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling. Results show that state’s legitimacy influences the level of entrepreneurship in the different countries and the perception of the entrepreneurial opportunities and chances. Besides, the research shows that, in the scenario of the most legitimated countries, entrepreneurial activities is related to the need of self-employment. Based on the Institutional Theory, this research provide relevant contributions in the research field about entrepreneurship and countries’ institutions. From a practical point of view, the research shows ideas on how policymakers can improve entrepreneurial activity managing state legitimacy. Furthermore, the results provide new contributions in the research on the influence of the institutional context on the states entrepreneurial activity, providing an analysis and a comparison of the differences between countries, based on institutional theory.