A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THE KOREAN CASE

Date of Completion

January 1985

Keywords

Economics, General

Degree

Ph.D.

Abstract

The main purpose of this dissertation is to construct a synthetic measure of entrepreneurship and to apply it in empirical tests of some hypotheses suggested in the literature. This is done with particular reference to a sample of Korean firms for the period from 1980 through 1982.^ Entrepreneurship is defined with references to functions rather than individuals. These functions are viewed broadly as comprising a number of variations from primary innovations to routine management. They are classified into seven hypothetical categories: product, market, technology, raw materials, organization, management, and government related entrepreneurship.^ A total of twenty-three variables is selected to represent the complex dimensions of entrepreneurship. Data on the variables are gathered through the questionnaire method. To these data, factor analysis is applied in order to demonstrate the pattern of entrepreneurship empirically. The results are fairly supportive of the hypothetical categorization of entrepreneurial functions. Seven factors emerge and they roughly correspond to each of the a priori aspects of entrepreneurship.^ Based on the factor analytic solution, seven separate indices and an overall index of entrepreneurship are computed, and they create many possibilities for further empirical research. With the sample classified by industry, an inter-industry comparison of entrepreneurship is performed. The major finding is that the extent of entrepreneurship differs among various industry groups. The most salient contrast emerges between the electronics and the textile industries. This contrast stems largely from the high performance of the electronics industry in the areas of technology and market related entrepreneurship.^ More rigorous findings are provided as we utilize the entrepreneurial indices in hypothesis testing. First, with regard to the relationship between firm size and entrepreneurship, the empirical results do not support the Schumpeterian hypothesis. Although it is an increasing function of firm size, entrepreneurship exhibits decreasing returns at high levels of firm size. The second test concerns the hypothesis of the contribution of entrepreneurship to the growth of a firm. Due to data limitations, the test is limited to the short-run relationships. No systematic association is found between the magnitude of entrepreneurship and several measures of business success, except for the case of export growth. ^

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