Culture, Nation, and Entrepreneurial Strategic Orientations : Implications for an Emerging Economy

Since most researchers use the terms “culture” and “nation” interchangeably, the majority of empirical cross-cultural studies aiming to isolate the role of culture tend to be cross-national studies that are confounded with the influence of the national environment. This study employs a hybrid, quasi-experimental design to investigate whether the cultural or national effects have a stronger influence on entrepreneurs’ perception of the environment and their strategic orientations. Specifically, I draw on three samples of entrepreneurs from two cultures and two countries, namely, mainland Chinese, Chinese Americans, and Caucasian Americans. Such a quasi-experimental design allows us to better isolate the role of culture, and find that, compared with the cultural effect, the national effect is more influential. In light of China’s emerging economy in which entrepreneurship figures prominently, these findings point to the importance of institution-building efforts which foster a more entrepreneur-friendly national environment