Sustainable entrepreneurship and its determinants. The case of selected Central Eastern European Countries: From the global financial crisis to the COVID-19 pandemic

Sustainable entrepreneurship (SE) is a complex and topical research problem. This article assesses the impact of selected determinants on SE in five Central Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania) from 2008 to 2021. Contextual factors, such as macroeconomic stabilization, access to finance, knowledge creation, entrepreneurial capabilities, legal regulations, and environmental index, are analyzed. The article's original contribution to knowledge consists in the construction of an SE indicator and an assessment of the external factors that affect it in the individual countries under investigation. The Correlation Coefficient, Ordinary Least Squares, and the Vector Auto-Regression (VAR) models all demonstrate that external factors significantly impact SE. Moreover, these models show that the relationships between the explained and explanatory variables differ in strength and direction. The results confirm the necessity of coordinating entrepreneurship development policy (EDP) with macroeconomic, financial, and environmental policy. It is essential to use effective economic support tools and have the EU apply more pressure on countries that emit harmful substances.