Regional influences on the prevalence of family versus non-family start-ups

We integrate insights from family business and organizational ecology into the entrepreneurship field by constructing a theoretical framework that explains how the regional context impacts family and non-family start-ups in differing ways. Regional count data models based on a rich longitudinal dataset reveal that while economic factors such as population size and growth in regions are primarily associated with the number of non-family start-ups, factors related to regional embeddedness, such as pre-existing small family businesses as well as favorable community attitudes toward small businesses, are more strongly associated with the number of family start-ups. Our research provides support for the notion that ‘the regional context’ is an important yet under-theorized area for research on venture creation and family business.

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Bird, M. & Wennberg, K. (2014). Regional influences on the prevalence of family versus non-family start-ups.Journal of Business Venturing, 29(3), 421-436. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2013.06.004