Abstract

The Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (KSTE) assumes a positive effect of a country’s knowledge stock on entrepreneurial activity; however, empirical support for this relationship is largely contradictory. While some studies confirm the positive relationship between knowledge stock and entrepreneurial activity, others find a negative relationship or no relationship at all. We use multivariate ordinary least squares regression on a sample of 58 countries over the period from 2007 to 2012 to test the KSTE across countries. We reconcile the apparent paradox in the KSTE literature and show that the effect of knowledge stock on entrepreneurial activity is contingent upon a country’s entrepreneurial absorptive capacity. While the effect is positive for countries with high levels of entrepreneurial absorptive capacity, the effect is negative for countries with low levels of entrepreneurial absorptive capacity. Our results demonstrate that a high level of entrepreneurial absorptive capacity is a boundary condition for the KSTE to hold at the country level. We further show that policymakers should not solely focus on encouraging and facilitating knowledge generation to increase entrepreneurial activity but also on elevating their country’s entrepreneurial absorptive capacity to create an environment that is conducive to knowledge-based entrepreneurial activity.

Plain English Summary

The relationship between knowledge stock and entrepreneurship is dependent upon entrepreneurial absorptive capacity. Knowledge that is created by incumbent organizations can spill over to local entrepreneurs. The extent of these knowledge spillover effects may depend on the absorptive capacity of entrepreneurs that is the ability of entrepreneurs to understand knowledge. Our analysis reveals that the relationship between knowledge and entrepreneurship is not uniformly positive but dependent upon a country’s entrepreneurial absorptive capacity. Whereas the relationship is positive for countries with high levels of entrepreneurial absorptive capacity, the relationship is negative for countries with low levels of entrepreneurial absorptive capacity. Our study has implications for policymakers who seek to encourage entrepreneurship within their country by increasing the level of entrepreneurial absorptive capacity.

中文翻译：

---

创业吸收能力对知识溢出创业的作用

摘要

创业知识溢出理论（KSTE）假设一个国家的知识储备对创业活动有积极影响；然而，对这种关系的经验支持在很大程度上是矛盾的。虽然一些研究证实了知识存量与创业活动之间的正相关关系，但其他研究则发现了负相关关系或根本没有关系。我们在 2007 年至 2012 年期间对 58 个国家的样本使用多元普通最小二乘回归来检验各国的 KSTE。我们调和了 KSTE 文献中明显的悖论，并表明知识存量对创业活动的影响取决于一个国家的创业吸收能力。虽然这对创业吸收能力水平高的国家是积极的，对于创业吸收能力水平低的国家，这种影响是负面的。我们的研究结果表明，高水平的创业吸收能力是 KSTE 在国家层面保持的边界条件。我们进一步表明，政策制定者不应仅仅专注于鼓励和促进知识生成以增加创业活动，还应着眼于提高本国的创业吸收能力，以创造有利于以知识为基础的创业活动的环境。

简单的英语摘要

知识存量与创业的关系取决于创业的吸收能力。现有组织创造的知识可以外溢给当地企业家。这些知识溢出效应的程度可能取决于企业家的吸收能力，即企业家理解知识的能力。我们的分析表明，知识与创业之间的关系并非一律正向，而是取决于一个国家的创业吸收能力。这种关系对于创业吸收能力水平高的国家是正向的，而对于创业吸收能力水平低的国家这种关系是负向的。