Purpose: The decision to engage in entrepreneurial activities is grounded in personal characteristics (motivation) and external environmental factors. One of the main external factors might be the structure of the regional economic activity. Does a high share of the public sector affect positively regional entrepreneurship or vice versa? Does the diversity in regional economic activity is conducive for entrepreneurial development or the regional comparative advantage as expressed by spatial economies of scale offering more entrepreneurial opportunities? Even though economic analysis has extensively examined the impact of the public sector size on the overall national economic activity (the crowding out effect), this impact has not been into scrutiny at regional level on microeconomic issues, such as the decision to engage in entrepreneurial activities. The authors further investigate the relation between diversity and entrepreneurship at regional level. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses data for 264 NUTS II EU regions. The time span of the data set is 1999-2008. The paper applies panel data analysis to explain the cross-time cross-section variation of the dependent variable: the self-employment share in total employment at regional level. In order to measure the existence of crowding out from public sector to regional entrepreneurship, the authors use the share of regional public sector gross value added over total regional gross value added. The diversity of the regional economic activity is measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Concentration Index across sectors.Findings: The findings of the paper show that there is a negative correlation between public sector share and regional entrepreneurship. Hence, as at national level, the increase in the role of the public sector in the regional economic system crowds out regional entrepreneurship. The second finding indicates that the impact of the diversity of the regional economic activity on regional entrepreneurship is inconclusive.Originality/value: The originality of this paper is due to the fact that the role of the public sector on regional economic phenomena, such as entrepreneurship, is examined for the first time. Also, the investigation of the relationship between diversity (vs localization economies) and entrepreneurship is performed using data for the full sample of regions of the European Union. The findings of the paper have significant policy implications since they provide useful inputs for the design of the regional development policy. The reduction of the public sector at regional level may contribute in entrepreneurial development and finally in regional economic growth and prosperity. Besides, the regional industrial policy should focus on the exploitation of the spatially constraint economies of scope in the framework of the Triple Helix model.

This study explores the impact of the perceived well-being of students; the degree to which they perceive that their university enhances, facilitates, and supports six sustainable development goals (SDGs); and entrepreneurship education on nascent entrepreneurship. Moving beyond main effects, our research uses entrepreneurship education as a moderator, offering nuanced insights into nascent entrepreneurship, particularly among art students—an under-researched group. Utilizing data from a large sample within the established research project GUESSS, our findings show a very small statistically significant positive relationship between subjective well-being and nascent entrepreneurship among art students. However, the anticipated impact of university enhancement, facilitation, and support of SDGs on nascent entrepreneurship is not evident for these students. Notably, entrepreneurship education is important for the cultivation of the future generation of art entrepreneurs. These results have important theoretical and practical implications.

The formation of entrepreneurial intentions and their translation into behaviors still remains unclear. This study contributes to the field by examining socio-cognitive concepts and dysfunctional career beliefs that have not been employed in previous studies. Emotional states are one primary source of self-efficacy, an important driver of career decisions. In turn, emotional states interact with dysfunctional beliefs when making entrepreneurial career decisions. Using a sample of 323 participants, the analysis revealed two key findings. First, positive emotions significantly predict both entrepreneurial intentions and subsequent behaviors. Second, “criticality of the decision”, a dysfunctional career belief, was found to be a key moderator that (a) mitigates the negative effects of adverse emotions on entrepreneurial intentions and (b) weakens the relationship between intentions and actual entrepreneurial actions. These findings are novel and deepen our understanding of the emotional and cognitive processes underlying entrepreneurial career choices. They also provide theoretical insights on the connection between entrepreneurship and career theory and have practical implications for educators and career counselors who aim to support the next generation of aspiring entrepreneurs systematically and coherently.

'Correction to: Gender Differences and Similarities in Entrepreneurship in European Countries: Latest Data from the GUESSS Project' published in 'Advances in Applied Macroeconomics'