Summary Extensive statistical discussion about societal and individual levels of analysis continues in international organizational behavior (IOB). This discussion can be improved by drawing from other social science fields, particularly anthropology, sociology, and experimental psychology. We use such literature to develop a cultural expertise and personal values or “like it or not” proposition about the implications that societal culture has for individuals. This proposition suggests that a society's culture strongly shapes its members' cognitive structures and moderately influences its members' support for the society's prevailing value orientation. We use the family of individualism and collectivism values to illustrate the differences and relationships between levels of analysis. We conclude by reconsidering how to study societal culture and psychological dimensions in IOB. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between culture and entrepreneurial activity at both the national and regional levels of analyses. While there has been significant progress in investigating the effects of culture on entrepreneurial activity, most work overlooks the effects that time-orientation may have on national or regional entrepreneurial activity. Specifically, this study argues for the connection between long-term orientation (LTO) and subsequent levels of entrepreneurship such that the more a nation or region is long-term oriented, the higher the subsequent entrepreneurial activity will be. Design/methodology/approach Data from the World Value Survey (WVS), which is a global project that measures individuals’ values across 62 countries (World Value Survey, 2011), were used for this project. The final sample consisted of 36,652 individual observations across 29 nations and 262 regions and was analyzed using ecological factor analyses and multilevel modeling. Findings The findings suggest that LTO as a cultural dimension does influence entrepreneurship activity levels. The findings also suggest that the effects of LTO at the regional and national levels vary widely. Specifically, the authors find LTO to be positively related to entrepreneurship at the regional, but not national, level of analysis. Originality/value The findings reveal important nuances about the implications that the understudied cultural factor of LTO has on entrepreneurial activity across multiple levels of analysis.

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Empirical evidence establishes that entrepreneurs pursue and achieve different goals and objectives with their ventures ranging from purely economic to purely social (e.g. non-profits) in nature. The reason that individual entrepreneurs choose to pursue such divergent paths is currently poorly understood, however. We employ a perspective integrating generational theory, goal-setting theory and the theory of planned behaviour to determine why entrepreneurs of different ages pursue social performance in their ventures. Using a sample of 150 entrepreneurs belonging to Baby Boomer, Generation X and Millennial generations, we examined the relationship between age, social salience and the social performance of their firms. Findings suggest a mediated relationship between age, social salience and social performance.