Does Social Legitimacy Matter in an Indian’s Decision to Start a New Venture?

Abstract

This study aims to explain the determinants of entrepreneurship among Indian individuals. The researchers have examined the role of social (legitimacy) and personal (personality, competency and financial resources) factors related to an individual’s new venture creation in India. This study utilises the data set of 3,403 Indian respondents from the latest available individual-level data collected by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Binary logistic regression has been employed to test the study’s proposed hypotheses. The results indicate that constructs related to financial resources, entrepreneurial personality and entrepreneurial competencies significantly predict the individual’s decision to start a new venture. However, in contrast to many previous studies, factors related to social legitimacy (social status and professional attraction) were not significant in determining the start-up decision. Policy implications have been discussed.