A Mixed Methods Study of Environmental Determinants of Entrepreneurship

Abstract

It wasn’t until the 1960s that academic interest emerged to explore the relationship between organizations, such as entrepreneurial firms, and their respective natural environments (Starik & Marcus, 2000). Although the study of entrepreneurship and environmental conditions is a more recent scholarly focus, it continues to gain attention in academic research (Meek et al., 2010). Despite an increasing amount of highquality research throughout the past decade, environmental conditions remain largely underappreciated in management theory (Whiteman & Cooper, 2011). This study complements prior research by exploring the theories surrounding entrepreneurship and environmental conditions. In addition, this study advances the cumulative body of research by analyzing the multilevel determinants of entrepreneurship across environments. Using a mixed methods approach consisting of interviews and cross-sectional data, the results provide a descriptive illustration of the relationship between entrepreneurship and environmental conditions. The qualitative and quantitative findings offer novel insight to help answer the following research question: In what ways do environments influence entrepreneurship?