Is Culture a Moderator of Entrepreneurship Motivation? A Comparative Study of Romania and Iceland

Abstract

The purpose of our study is to identify the linkage between national culture and the entrepreneurial intent for a specific demographic group. Thus, we set out to identify the differences induced by cultural context on the entrepreneurial intent of business administration bachelor students, from Romania and Iceland. The study is focused on underlining the motivations that can determine students to start their own businesses and analysing the extent to which the entrepreneurial motivations have cultural determinations (the classic model Hofstede dimensions). The method employed was a questionnaire-based survey, carried-out in both targeted countries. The independent sample t-test was used to identify the significant differences between the two groups of students. Based on the Hofstede`s societal culture model (1980), the research calculates an indicator called cultural distance for four cultural dimensions: individualism/collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity/femininity, in order to highlight national cultural influence on the entrepreneurial process. The results indicate that there are significant differences between Romanian and Icelandic students; however, these differences are not explained by the cultural distance calculated for the two groups.

Keywords

• entrepreneurial intention
• cultural variables
• Hofstede’s model
• Romania – Iceland cultural distance.