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About

  • About us

    • About
    • Contact us

  • Media

    • News archive

  • Cooperations

    • Eli F. Heckscher Lectures

Research

  • Areas

    • Labour Market Research
    • Competitiveness Research
    • Climate and Environmental Research

  • Ongoing research

    • Working Paper Series
  • People

    • Publications

    • Publications

      • Publications

    Mobility and Entrepreneurship: Evaluating the Scope of Knowledge-Based Theories of Entrepreneurship

    PublicationArticle (with peer review)
    Arbetskraftens rörlighet, Entreprenörskap, Företagandets villkor, Karl Wennberg, Lars Frederiksen

    Abstract

    Knowledge-based theories of entrepreneurship infer transfer of knowledge from the effect of labor mobility on entrepreneurial entry. Yet, simple selection or situational mechanisms that do not imply knowledge transfer may influence entrepreneurial entry in similar ways. We argue that the extent to which such alternative mechanisms operate, labor mobility predicts entry but not subsequent performance for entrepreneurs. Analyses of matched employee–employer data from Sweden suggest that high rates of geographical and industry mobility increase individuals’ likelihood of entrepreneurial entry but have no effects on their entrepreneurial performance. This indicates that the relationship between labor mobility and entrepreneurial entry do not necessarily imply knowledge transfer.

    Related content: Working paper No. 266

    Fredriksen, L., Wennberg, K. & Balachandran, C. (2016). Mobility and Entrepreneurship: Evaluating the Scope of Knowledge-Based Theories of Entrepreneurship.Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 40(2), 359-380. DOI: 10.1111/etap.12223

    Details

    Author

    Fredriksen, L., Wennberg, K. & Balachandran, C.

    Publication year

    2016

    Published in

    Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice

    Related

    Karl Wennberg
    Professor

    +46705105366

    karl.wennberg@ratio.se

    Similar content

    Qualitative Comparative Analysis in Entrepreneurship Research
    Article (with peer review)Publication
    Rönkkö, M., Maula, M., Wennberg, K.
    Download
    Publication year

    2025

    Published in

    Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (ETP)

    Abstract

    Configurational research has great promise in entrepreneurship. There are few universal laws or relationships that hold under all circumstances. More often, optimal entrepreneurial outcomes are contingent on many factors. Consequently, configurational analysis using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) has become increasingly popular. However, methodological research in sociology and political science has raised concerns about possible false positive findings produced by this method. In this editorial, we explore the potential and the common pitfalls of QCA in entrepreneurship research, as well as guidelines for its use.

    Seeking opportunity or socio-economic status? Housing and school choice in Sweden
    Article (with peer review)Publication
    Andersson, F. W., Mutgan, S., Norgren, A., & Wennberg, K.
    Publication year

    2025

    Published in

    Urban Studies, 62(2), 367-386.

    Abstract

    Residential choices and school choices are intimately connected in school systems where school admission relies on proximity rules. In countries with universal school choice systems, however, it remains an open question whether families’ residential mobility is tied to the choice of their children’s school, and with what consequences. Using administrative data on all children approaching primary-school age in Sweden, we study to what extent families’ financial and socio-economic background affects mobility between neighbourhoods and the characteristics of schools chosen by moving families. Our findings show that families do utilise the housing market as an instrument for school choice over the year preceding their firstborn child starting school. However, while families who move do ‘climb the social ladder’ by moving to neighbourhoods with more households of higher socio-economic status, their chosen schools do not appear to be of higher academic quality compared to those their children would otherwise have attended.

    Read the article here.

    Does local government corruption inhibit entrepreneurship?
    Article (with peer review)Publication
    Wittberg, E., Erlingsson, G. Ó., Wennberg, K.
    Download
    Publication year

    2024

    Published in

    Small Business Economics, 62(2), 775-806

    Abstract

    The dominant ‘sand in the wheels’ view holds that entrepreneurship is strongly inhibited by corruption. Challenging this, the ‘grease the wheels’ view maintains that corruption might increase entrepreneurship in highly regulated economies. We extend the basic predictions of these theories by examining entrepreneurs’ start-up decisions, as well as their location choices, in a seemingly low-corruption environment: Swedish municipalities. Combining a validated index of corruption perceptions in local government with population data on new entrepreneurs, nested logit models reveal that even in a low-corruption setting such as Sweden, perceptions of corruption can deter latent entrepreneurs. We also find that a minority of entrepreneurs relocate from their home municipalities to establish their start-ups elsewhere. Surprisingly and contrary to expectations, these relocating entrepreneurs often relocate from relatively low-corruption municipalities to others that are more corrupt. Implications for future research and public policy are discussed.

    Selected publication

    Absolute income mobility and the effect of parent generation inequality: An extended decomposition approach
    Liss, E., Korpi, M., & Wennberg, K.

    Selected publication

    No evidence of counteracting policy effects on European solar power invention and diffusion
    Grafström, J., & Poudineh, R.
    Show more