The Value of Happy Population for Relative Engagement in Vertical and Horizontal Entrepreneurship

In this study, we investigate the impact of a country’s population happiness level and happiness inequality on the level of entrepreneurship engagement that individual entrepreneurs in that country pursue. Entrepreneurship engagement is measured along two dimensions: horizontal entrepreneurship (expansion-focused, involving venture growth and internationalization) and vertical entrepreneurship (innovation- focused driven by opportunity). We argue that a country’s happiness level and happiness inequality are differently related to these two dimensions. By using an integrative dataset incorporating multi-country and individual-level data over the period 2007-2013, our empirical analysis supports the hypotheses we develop in the paper.

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