The translation of latent into actual entrepreneurship: the impact of GE

Abstract This study seeks to answer two questions: Is latent entrepreneurship a predictor of entrepreneurial activity? Does Gender Egalitarianism affect the translation of latent into actual entrepreneurship? We developed a quantitative analysis based on a regression with unbalanced panel data covering the 2002–2020 period across 42 countries. We employed data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor to investigate latent entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activity. We considered values lagged by three years for latent entrepreneurship and actual data for entrepreneurial activity. We took cultural data from the GLOBE Project to measure Gender Egalitarianism across countries and used both “as is” (Gender Egalitarianism Practices) and “should be” (Gender Egalitarianism Values) scores. Findings indicate that Gender Egalitarianism Values and Gender Egalitarianism Practices mainly have a curvilinear effect on entrepreneurial activity, showing an inverted U-shape relationship. The main contribution is Gender Egalitarianism’s non-linear moderating role in the relationship between latent and actual entrepreneurship: higher Gender Egalitarianism Values and Gender Egalitarianism Practices significantly reduce the effect of latent entrepreneurship on entrepreneurial activity.