Regional Social Legitimacy of Entrepreneurship: Implications for Entrepreneurial Intention and Start-up Behaviour

K<sc>ibler</sc> E., K<sc>autonen</sc> T. and F<sc>ink</sc> M. Regional social legitimacy of entrepreneurship: implications for entrepreneurial intention and start-up behaviour, <italic>Regional Studies</italic>. A new understanding of the role of regional culture in the emergence of business start-up behaviour is developed. The focal construct is regional social legitimacy: the perception of the desirability and appropriateness of entrepreneurship in a region. The econometric analysis utilizes a combination of bespoke longitudinal survey data from 65 regions in Austria and Finland, and variables capturing regional socio-economic characteristics derived from official statistics. The study demonstrates that, and explains how, regional social legitimacy influences the relationships between individual entrepreneurial beliefs, intentions and start-up behaviour and how these interaction effects are conditioned by the socio-economic characteristics of the region.