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In this paper we explore the relationship between the individual decision to become an entrepreneur and the institutional context. We pinpoint the critical roles of property rights and the size of the state sector for entrepreneurial activity and test the relationships empirically by combining country-level institutional indicators for 44 countries with working age population survey data taken from the Global Enterprise Monitor. A methodological contribution is the use of factor analysis to reduce the statistical problems with the array of highly collinear institutional indicators. We find that the key institutional features that enhance entrepreneurial activity are indeed the rule of law and limits to the state sector. However, these results are sensitive to the level of development.

Įvadas -- Jaunimo emigracijos ypatumai -- Jaunimo emigracijos veiksniai -- Pastarojo dešimtmečio jaunimo emigracijos iš Lietuvos ypatumai: Emigracijos iš Lietuvos tyrimų apžvalga; Lietuvos jaunimo emigracinių nuostatų ypatumai; Neatsakyti klausimai -- Lietuvos aukštųjų mokyklų studentų tyrimo metodologija -- Studentų apklausos metodika -- Studentų apklausos duomenų regresinės analizės ypatumai: Nuostatų emigruoti regresinės analizės metodika; Tikslo šalių regresinės analizės metodika -- Studentų nuostatų išvykti dirbti į užsienį ypatumai -- Bendros studentų nuostatos emigruoti: Studijų ypatumai ir nuostatos išvykti dirbti į užsienį; Asmens duomenys ir nuostatos išvykti dirbti į užsienį; Darbo patirtis ir nuostatos išvykti dirbti į užsienį; Šeimos duomenys ir nuostatos išvykti dirbti į užsienį -- Studentų nuostatų išvykti dirbti į užsienį regresinė analizė: Universitetų studentų nuostatų išvykti dirbti į užsienį regresinė analizė; Kolegijų studentų nuostatų išvykti dirbti į užsienį regresinė analizė -- Galimos studentų migracijos kryptys -- Regresinė galimų studentų migracijos krypčių analizė -- Galimi jaunų specialistų emigracijos valdymo būdai -- Lietuvos studentų emigracija - protų švaistymas ar ciklinis reiškinys -- Išvados -- Santrauka anglų kalba -- Literatūra -- Priedai. Pagrindinis monografijos tikslas - supažindinti visuomenę ir specialistus su akademinio jaunimo emigracijos ypatumais: jos veiksniais, keliamomis problemomis, pagrindinėmis tendencijomis ir įvardyti galimus jos mažinimo būdus. Knygoje apibūdinama emigracija, migracijos, kaip ciklinio proceso, "protų nutekėjimo", "švaistymo" reiškiniai bei aktualiausios šių reiškinių tendencijos pasaulyje. Pristatomi autorių atlikto Lietuvos aukštųjų mokyklų studentų nuostatų emigruoti tyrimo rezultatai. Apibūdinamos studentų nuostatos emigruoti, jų sąsajos su studentų charakteristikomis, jų darbo patirtimi ir studijų ypatumais, aptariamos galimos migracijos kryptys, taip pat pateikiama pasiūlymų, ko reikėtų imtis, siekiant valdyti šį procesą. Tyrimas buvo vykdomas 2004-2006 metais. Apklausta 2394 įvairių specialybių daugumos Lietuvos universitetinių aukštųjų mokyklų studentų. Rezultatai parodė, kad apie trečdalis Lietuvos studentų planuoja ilgesnį laiką išvykti iš Lietuvos, o daugiau negu 60 proc. norėtų išvykti bent trumpam. Absoliuti dauguma studentų planuoja grįžti. Pagrindinė paskata emigruoti yra vertybinių nuostatų nulemtas nepasitenkinimas esamomis sąlygomis, todėl labai svarbu skirti kuo daugiau dėmesio darbo rinkos sureguliavimui, sukurti pakankamai darbo vietų, kurioms reikia aukštos kvalifikacijos specialistų, optimizuoti parengiamų specialistų skaičių prie rinkos poreikių priderinant jų kvalifikaciją, sudaryti palankias sąlygas pradėti savarankišką verslą. Young adults have the greatest inclination towards migration. However, very little data are currently available as to the specific characteristics of this population of migrants, especially in Eastern Europe. In this book attention is foccused on a very important segment of youth migration, namely university students in Lithuania. Although at present the wave of emigration from Lithuania has stabilised, the migration of Lithuania's youth has not diminished and incorporates an ever-increasing number of educated individuals. [...] In order to gain insight into the tendencies towards migration of university students in Lithuania, 2394 completed questionnaires were collected from university students in 2004- 2006. Control data were also collected from 661 students studying at Lithuanian colleges in 2006-2007. The questionnaire contained a total of 46, mainly closed-ended, questions which addressed the following nine interest areas: 1) demographic information; 2) family/ parent characteristics; 3) study characteristics; 4) work experience in Lithuania; 5) work or study experience abroad; 6) future plans to work abroad; 7) motivations to work or live abroad; 8) destination countries, and 9) possible strategies to reduce emigration. Students studying in Lithuania's main universities were surveyed. Students studying in the most 'mobile' majors (i.e. most easily applied in a foreign context) such as economics, computer science, engineering and medicine were targeted. Similarly, the control group of college respondents originated from eleven of Lithuania's primary colleges located throughout the country. Both samples correspond well to the general proportion of students in Lithuania. [...] Our study found support for the proposition that the main reason for emigration is not the poor social or economic position of the students but, to a significant degree, the students' perceived dissatisfaction with their current condition which frequently does not fulfil their needs such as the need for status. In essence, this means that for students the pull factor to work abroad is of greater influence than the push factor to leave Lithuania. Therefore, though the predominant factors for migration were economic ones, they are also combined with other reasons such as the realisation of job and lifestyle goals. [...] the results of our regression analysis indicated that both university and college students who had worked abroad tended to be older (more mature) than the sample in general. Partial support was found for the expectation that a parent living abroad would be associated with working abroad. For university students, either mother or father living abroad is significantly associated with a student having worked abroad, but this was not found to be the case for college students. Neither university or college, nor major were found to be significant drivers for having worked abroad or planning to work abroad. University students without siblings were more likely to plan to work abroad than did students with siblings. This result counters our expectation that students without siblings would be less likely to plan to work abroad due to pressure from their parents to stay nearby. However, college students without siblings were not found to be significantly associated with plans to work abroad after graduation. [...] This book further explores the relationship between destination country and student characteristics for university students that have worked abroad. [...] Our statistical analysis shows that in terms of long-term migration, the economic motives that influence the choice of country arc also related to other factors, most importantly the ability to maintain tics with Lithuania and to obtain legal employment. In addition, in choosing a destination country, social ties play a very important role, albeit their overall importance varies. [...] The realistic strategies to avoid the problems that arise as a result of the emigration of qualified young specialists necessitate a multifaceted approach. It is very important to create the conditions in Lithuania that will retain specialists and at the same time attract emigrants to return. The emigration of students could be reduced by creating conditions for students to find jobs in Lithuania that match their qualifications and develop their professional skills. Also, programs that would assist in new business start-up for students could reduce the outflow of students with entrepreneurial ambitions. A considerable proportion of the tendencies of Lithuanian students are similar to the general global transnational tendencies. We believe that this type of migration will be cyclical and that the ebb and flow of student emigration will be strongly affected by macroeconomic factors and also as our research indicates, by student as well as parents' attitudes towards working abroad are of fundamental influence on student migration. However, certain country-wide preconditions are necessary for cyclical migration to be fostered. Most importantly, domestic policy needs to focus on facilitating the return of migrants. Also, the reorganization of the domestic labour market could help retain young specialists while enticing those who have left to return.

Does entrepreneurial optimism affect business performance? Using a unique data set based on repeated survey design, we investigate this relationship empirically. Our measures of ‘optimism’ and ‘realism’ are derived from comparing the turnover growth expectations of 133 owners-managers with the actual outcomes one year later. Our results indicate that entrepreneurial optimists perform significantly better in terms of profits than pessimists. Moreover, it is the optimist-realist combination that performs best. We interpret our results using regulatory focus theory.

By applying regulatory focus theory, this paper investigates the impact of both initial confidence and of exactness of growth expectations on subsequent financial performance of the small firms. Drawing on the unique data set based on the repeated survey design, we make one of the first attempts to explore the complexity of this relationship empirically. Overall the findings suggest that controlling for other relevant factors, including actual growth, the entrepreneurs having higher growth expectations perform significantly better later on in terms of profitability. In addition, education has a strong modifying effect: the impact of high growth expectations on subsequent profit performance is stronger for entrepreneurs with lower level of education.

This paper explores the relationship between self-employment, partner's employment, the household and children on a mother's and father's probability to choose self-employment. Few studies are available on this topic and their analysis is mainly limited to the female role in the North American context. In this study, we examine the influence of personal characteristics, household and labor market characteristics for both mothers and fathers in a family context and their probability to be self-employed as compared to parents who have chosen formal, gainful employment. We focus on the data from the European context comparing results from Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. Using these large and comparable data sets, our logit model estimates show that mothers who choose self-employment do not work fewer working hours than those in gainful employment. Similar results were found for fathers in Spain and Italy. Perhaps the most striking result is the very strong significance of the partner's self-employed status on the choice for self-employment for both mothers and fathers in all three countries. Other effects such as human capital, household income, presence of grandmothers and number of young children indicate country differences.

In this paper we explore the ways in which institutions and networks influence entrepreneurial development in Russia. By utilizing new Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data collected in 2001, we investigate the effects of the weak institutional environment in Russia in terms of three dimensions: on the rate of productive entrepreneurial activity measured in terms of start-ups and existing business owners; on the characteristics of business owners; and on business financing. In addition, the analysis explores the effectiveness of Russia’s informal networks for circumventing the weak institutional environment for business development. Our results indicate that Russia’s business owners share many of the same characteristics as business owners in advanced western countries, though education is not associated with entrepreneurial activity. However, the main differences are in the sources of financing and the fact that relatively few individuals engage in productive entrepreneurial activity. Our results support the notion of the limited effectiveness of Russia’s networks for supporting entrepreneurial activity in its weak institutional environment.

In this paper we explore the ways in which institutions and networks influence entrepreneurial development in Russia. By utilizing new Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data collected in 2001, we investigate the effects of the weak institutional environment in Russia in terms of three dimensions: on the rate of productive entrepreneurial activity measured in terms of start-ups and existing business owners; on the characteristics of business owners; and on business financing. In addition, the analysis explores the effectiveness of Russia's informal networks for circumventing the weak institutional environment for business development. Our results indicate that Russia's business owners share many of the same characteristics as business owners in advanced western countries, though education is not associated with entrepreneurial activity. However, the main differences are in the sources of financing and the fact that relatively few individuals engage in productive entrepreneurial activity. Our results support the notion of the limited effectiveness of Russia's networks for supporting entrepreneurial activity in its weak institutional environment.

This paper presents an empirical study based on a survey of 399 owners of small and medium size companies in Lithuania. Applying bivariate and ordered probit estimators, we investigate why some business owners expect their firms to expand, while others do not. Our main findings provide evidence that SME owner's generic and specific human capital matter. Those with higher education and 'learning by doing' attributes, either through previous job experience or additional entrepreneurial experience, expect their businesses to expand. The expectations of growth are positively related to exporting and non-monotonically to enterprise size. In addition, we analyse the link between the perceptions of constraints to business activities and growth expectations and find that the factors, which are perceived as main business barriers, are not necessary those which are associated with reduced growth expectations. In particular, perceptions of both corruption and of inadequate tax systems seem to affect growth expectations the most.

Pateikiami nuo 2005 m. vasario mėn. vykdomo Britų akademijos (Didžioji Britanija) jaunimo emigracijos tyrimo projekto preliminarūs rezultatai. Tyrimo tikslas - nustatyti Lietuvos universitetų studentų išvykimo dirbti į užsienį nuostatas ir motyvus. Pagrindiniai darbo uždaviniai . ištirti sąsajas tarp studentų darbo užsienyje patirties ir galimo potencialaus "protų nutekėjimo", taip pat nustatyti įvairių veiksnių (asmeninių savybių, universitetinių studijų pobūdžio bei šeimos) įtaką siekiui išvykti dirbti į užsienį. Didžiausią tikimybę kuo greičiau kompensuoti persikėlimo į užsienį ir integracijos kaštus turi jauni ir tam tikras specialybes (tarp aukščiausios kvalifikacijos specialistų - biomedicinos, tiksliųjų ir technologijos mokslų atstovai) įvaldę asmenys. Kiekvienai valstybei emigracija gali turėti tiek teigiamą, tiek ir neigiamą įtaką. Vienas didžiausių neigiamų efektų yra jaunų aukštos kvalifikacijos ir svarbiausia universitetinį išsilavinimą turinčių asmenų emigracija. Buvo nustatyta, kad daugiausia norinčiųjų išvykti dirbti į užsienį yra tarp tarptautinę orientaciją turinčių universitetų (ISM) ekonomikos, vadybos ir verslo administravimo specialybių, jaunesnio amžiaus, vyriškosios lyties ir turinčių darbo užsienyje patirties studentų. Išvykti padirbėti į užsienį mažiausiai ketina humanitarinius, socialinius, gamtos mokslus ir mediciną studijuojantys vyresnio amžiaus moteriškosios lyties ir darbo užsienyje patirties neturintys studentai. The preliminary results of the project of the study of emigration of youth, performed by the British Academy (Great Britain) since February 2005 are provided. The aim of the study is to identify the motives for Lithuanian university students’ leaving to work abroad. The main tasks of the study are the following: to examine the relations between the students’ working abroad experience and the potential “brain drain” and identify the influence of different factors (personal traits, the character of the university studies and the family) on the wish to leave to work abroad. Young persons with certain specialities (among the most highly qualified – representatives of biomedical, exact and technological sciences) have the biggest change to cover the costs of moving and integrating abroad. Emigration can have both positive and negative influence on each country. One of the most negative effects is the emigration of highly qualified young people with university education. It was established that the biggest number of those wishing to leave to work abroad is among the younger male students of the ISM economics, management and business administration specialities, who already have the experience of working abroad. Female students of older age, studying humane, social, natural sciences and medicine, who do not have the experience of working abroad are least wishing to leave to work abroad.

Existing studies show a positive relationship between entrepreneurs' business performance and their conventional human capital as measured by previous business experience and formal education. In this paper, we explore whether illegal entrepreneurship experience (IEE), an unconventional form of human capital, is related to the performance and motivation of entrepreneurs operating legal businesses in a transition context. Using regression techniques on a sample of 399 private business owners in Lithuania, we find that, in general, IEE is significantly and positively associated with subjective measures of business motivation. Moreover, younger entrepreneurs benefit from their IEE in terms of business performance, indicating that they have been more successful than older entrepreneurs in transferring their IEE to a market oriented setting. In addition, IEE and business performance are positively related for entrepreneurs who started completely new legal businesses. Thus, our research partially supports the notion that prior experience in the black or gray market may signal and provide valuable human capital for legal enterprising.

This paper explores the gendered influence on SME development under economic transition in Lithuania. Previous studies have shown that male and female business owners are more different than similar in terms of personal and business characteristics (Brush 1992). An analysis of 332 SME owners in Lithuania using descriptive statistics and regression analysis indicates that there are significant differences not only in objective criteria such as business size and business turnover but also in terms of subjective criteria such as perceived business financial 'success' and general business 'success'. Gendered expectations such as norms, values and social expectations (i.e. informal rules) that have been internalized or continue to exert external pressure seem to be at the heart of this discrepancy.

This paper identifies the specific external barriers to SME development in Lithuania. An analysis of 332 SME owners reveals that formal barriers (taxes, frequent changes to and ambiguity of tax policies) and environmental barriers (low purchasing power, lack of funds for business investment) form the most significant barriers for SME businesses. Informal barriers (late payment to clients, corruption, government interference) were secondary in significance. By grouping together variables according to barrier types, and using regression analysis, the inter-linkages between barrier types becomes evident. Our results suggest that the effect of business barriers is intensified by corruption, lack of information and inadequate business skills.