The Effect of Human Capital Determinants on Sustainable Entrepreneurship Across Economies

This work examines the effects of human capital determinants, i.e. experience and education, on the sustainability orientation of entrepreneurs. Cross-sectional data from the GEM 2009 APS is used to help determine the sign of this effect for a sample of 48 countries. The results of this work support the notion that both experience and levels of education are positively correlated to sustainability orientation. Education does not seem to follow an upward trend where more is better, as having a secondary degree has a larger positive effect than having a post secondary degree. Furthermore, using interaction terms for the stage of economic development of a country, I find that the effect of enjoying some secondary education in efficiency-driven economies is larger than in factor-driven economies. The effect of having a secondary degree is larger in factor-driven economies than in innovation-driven economies. Finally, experience is negatively correlated to sustainability orientation in factor-driven economies, while the relationship is positive for innovation-driven economies.