Who Values the Status of the Entrepreneur?

Handbook of Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ed David Audretsch), Edward Elgar, 2011

19 Pages Posted: 19 Jun 2009 Last revised: 5 Aug 2015

See all articles by Mirjam van Praag

Mirjam van Praag

University of Amsterdam - Department of Economics; Copenhagen Business School; Tinbergen Institute; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: June 19, 2009

Abstract

Parker and Van Praag (2009) showed, based on theory, that the group status of the profession ‘entrepreneurship’ shapes people’s occupational preferences and thus their choice behavior. The current study focuses on the determinants and consequences of the group status of a profession, entrepreneurship in particular. If the group status of entrepreneurship is related to individual choice behavior, it is policy relevant to better understand this relationship and the determinants of the status of the entrepreneur. For reasons outlined in the introduction, this study focuses on (800) students in the Netherlands. We find that the status of occupations is mostly determined by the required level of education, the income level to be expected and respect. Furthermore, our results imply that entrepreneurship is associated with hard work, high incomes, but little power and education. Moreover, we find evidence that individual characteristics, such as entrepreneurship experience, vary systematically with the perceived status of occupations, thereby contributing ammunition to a fundamental discussion in the literature. Finally, we find a strong association between the perceived status of the entrepreneur and the estimated likelihood and willingness to become an entrepreneur.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, self-employment, occupational choice, occupational status, group status, peer group effects

JEL Classification: J22, J24, L26, M13, M59

Suggested Citation

van Praag, Mirjam and van Praag, Mirjam, Who Values the Status of the Entrepreneur? (June 19, 2009). Handbook of Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ed David Audretsch), Edward Elgar, 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1422506 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1422506

Mirjam Van Praag (Contact Author)

University of Amsterdam - Department of Economics ( email )

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Copenhagen Business School ( email )

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Tinbergen Institute

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Amsterdam
Netherlands

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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