Senior Entrepreneurship in European Context: Key Determinants of Entrepreneurial Activity

This paper examines the determinants of total early stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) within European countries and the different effect of these determinants on general population and senior cohort (aged 50+) in Eastern and Western Europe. We exploit the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) dataset spanning years 2001 2012 to address this issue. We examined both standard individual characteristics and indicators of social capital, and entrepreneurial potential (based on entrepreneurial skills, perception of opportunities and fear of failure). Using a multi-level logistic regression, we also analyzed impact of specific characteristics of entrepreneurial environment. The results show that negative perception of skills and opportunities significantly lowers the probability to be involved in TEA. We also find that cultural norms, government programs and good banking services have a positive impact on TEA.