Received: 2025-08-20  |  Accepted: 2025-11-13  |  Published: 2025-12-30

Title

Governance and entrepreneurship: a cross-national study of business start-up intentions


Abstract

The research explores how governance quality affects business start-up intentions across 43 countries. Drawing on institutional theory, it examines how governance dimensions, compared to national income and geographic region, influence entrepreneurial intentions. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted on a sample of 43 countries using secondary data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). The regression analysis revealed that national income and regions significantly influence start-ups (R²=0.697), and governance dimensions contribute significantly to explaining start-ups (ΔR²=0.151). Among six governance dimensions (regulatory quality, government effectiveness, political stability, control of corruption, rule of law, and voice and accountability) tested, government effectiveness and regulatory quality were the most potent predictors of start-ups. These results raise questions about traditional assumptions about income-driven entrepreneurship and highlight specific institutional mechanisms that policymakers may leverage to encourage entrepreneurship. The results contribute to a more nuanced understanding of governance and entrepreneurial dynamics in a variety of economic contexts.


Keywords

entrepreneurial intentions, governance quality, institutional theory, hierarchical regression, national income, regional differences, start-up activity


JEL classifications

M13


URI

http://jssidoi.org/ird/article/225


DOI


Pages

130-144


Funding


This is an open access issue and all published articles are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Authors

Ndofirepi, Takawira Munyaradzi
University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa https://www.unisa.ac.za
Articles by this author in: CrossRef |  Google Scholar

Steyn, Renier
University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa https://www.unisa.ac.za
Articles by this author in: CrossRef |  Google Scholar

Journal title

Insights into Regional Development

Volume

7


Number

4


Issue date

December 2025


Issue DOI


ISSN

ISSN 2345-0282 (online)


Publisher

VšĮ Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, Vilnius, Lithuania

Cited

Google Scholar

Article views & downloads

HTML views: 284  |  PDF downloads: 180

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