A ‘Third Culture’ in Economics? An Essay on Smith, Confucius and the Rise of China

Entrepreneur-Region Fit and Entrepreneurial Success in China: The Effect of “Confucian” Personality

“…Confucian philosophy advocates agriculture but restrains commerce. That is, it emphasizes agricultural production and ignores the development of industry and commerce (Hou and Hou, 2002;Herrmann-Pillath, 2015). It is conceivable that if an individual highly endorses Confucian ideology, this person will score high in IR and holds a negative attitude toward the developing commerce and business.…”

“…On the other hand, we may also expect a positive link between the regional IR and the success of entrepreneurs because how regional IR associates with the entrepreneurial vitality might be different from how regional IR associates with entrepreneurial success. In particular, the regional IR may negatively correlate with the enthusiasm of starting up a business in this region because Confucianism does not value business and looks down on merchants (Herrmann-Pillath, 2015). However, the regional IR may positively correlate with the entrepreneurial performance because Confucianism values the establishment and maintenance of the instrumental relationship (e.g., with strangers aim at obtaining specific resources), thus creating a friendly social climate for entrepreneurs to run business (Hwang, 2010), which in turn, may promote success.…”