The DUI (learning by doing-using-interacting) mode offers a promising theoretical framework to explain why many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are successful in innovation without research and development (R&D) efforts. In this context, we argue that - because of the informal,...

Previous research has established that certain personality traits represent predictors of start-up activity. We argue that similar cognitive processes that affect entrepreneurship also play a role in firm-level innovativeness. For example, open-ness to novelty can be regarded as a key component...

The European Commission actively evaluates occupational entry restrictions in all member states. This has attracted a growing interest among scholars of the German crafts sector as it is governed by an idiosyncratic national set of rules. We estimate the effects of the deregulation of the German...

Die deutsche Handwerksordnung regelt die Unternehmensgründung in handwerklichen Berufen durch die Vorgabe verpflichtender Qualifikationsstandards. Im Jahr 2004 wurde der Marktzugang im Handwerk durch eine Novellierung der Handwerksordnung dereguliert, sodass für mehr als die Hälfte aller...

Rostam-Afschar (2014) analyzes the impact of the deregulation of the German Trade and Crafts Code of 2004 on entrepreneurial activity, using German microcensus (MC) data. He finds a positive effect on market entry and self-employment and no change in exit probabilities. As these results...

In order to better capture non-R&D based processes related to Learning by Doing, Using and Interacting (DUI) as a basis for policy advice, this paper empirically identifies DUI mode drivers of SME innovation. For the first time, a large set of conceptually derived indicators is used in a...

Based on a trait-oriented approach, Big Five personality traits have been repeatedly shown to affect entrepreneurial action. In the last two decades, a new literature stream on the Big Five has emerged in the field of psychology that has partly moved away from a traitbased perspective towards a...

This paper contributes to the new literature on the role of personality for regional innovativeness by examining whether this role varies between different types of regions. Building on regionally aggregated levels of individual Big Five personality traits, we find that only extraversion has a...

The literature has established that young firms engaged in R&D exhibit a pronounced asymmetry in their economic performance, with high premia at the upper end of the conditional growth distribution. We argue that this binary view - i.e., R&D-oriented firms versus all others - is somewhat...

Personality is a key driver of self-employment decisions. For this reason, the personality traits of entrepreneurs or business owners have been repeatedly studied in previous research. This paper extends this literature by focusing on the craft entrepreneur - as a classic form of strategic...