Purpose:
This study provides a novel evaluation and comparison of the conditions for Total Entrpreneurial Activity (TEA) and Entrepreneurial Intention (EI) across 59 Sub Saharan African regions in seven countries.
Design/methodology/approach:
The analysis employs fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. The data set derives from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2013) survey data, covering 2012, using five condition variables, measuring regional-level entrepreneurial attitudes and perceptions, as well as education level, considered against TEA and EI.
Findings:
This novel regional contribution identifies the diversity between African countries and regions within countries in terms of entrepreneurial actvities and the drivers of it, with several distinct groups identified.
Research limitations/implications:
Related to the availability of data at national and regional level, the analysis is limited to regions in seven African countries, for a single year. This highlights a need for future research encompassing a greater number of countries and regions in the African context, and also multi-year studies that can track these issues longitudinally.
Practical implications:
The study informs knowledge and practice regarding both actual and intended entrepreneurial behaviour across African regions, of relevance to policymakers.
Social implications:
Through examination of the different combinations of condition variables, across causal recipes, it provides an understanding of variations in the often socio-cultural drivers of entrepreneurial activity between individual regions, groups of regions, and countries, for both TEA and EI.
Originality/value:
Existing research utilising GEM data is largely focused on global comparisons between countries, rather than regions within countries, or analysis in other geographic contexts such as South America, with very little analysis in Africa or regional specific contexts.
