The Application of Cluster Analysis to Entrepreneurial Perception of Regional Economic Environments

Abstract

This paper evaluates nine elements, comprised of 233 entrepreneurs' locational attitudes in two Canadian metropolitan centers, for evidence that perception of the same region differs according to metropolitan location, and that locational images are related to specific types of manufacturing activity. Hierarchical cluster analysis is used to group attitudes that entrepreneurs hold toward their regional economic environments into patterns of similarity, and to provide visual and quantitative evidence for the level at which various firms enter a group, and the number of alternative groupings which are undertaken before any two firms comprise the same group. The paper concludes that a single ‘regional economic milieu’ does not exist for all entrepreneurs inhabiting the same regional location, that entrepreneurs' attitudes differ between and within the region's two metropolitan centers, and that decisionmakers perceive regional location opportunities as individuals, according to their personal needs and those of their firm (but not of their industry).

Attitudes and Perceptions Regarding Entrepreneurship Around the World: A Cluster Analysis Approach

“…Although this methodology is not a common one has been used in entrepreneurship analysis. See the examples of Becker et al (2011), Cordon et al (2008, Gartner (2002) and Barr et al (1980), for several entrepreneurship topics namely the relation between attitudes, perceptions and entrepreneurship.…”

Exploring Entrepreneurial Cognitions of Retail Environments

“…Moreover, the authors found that entrepreneurial attitudes vary both by location and by organizational characteristics (i.e., small, organizationally simple firms, or larger, professionally managed enterprises). A somewhat related study was undertaken by Barr, Waters, and Fairbairn [2], who used cluster analysis to group attitudes that entrepreneurs hold regarding the regional economic structure. Two of the authors [26] also performed an analysis in which differences in entrepreneurial perceptions among an undifferentiated population of firms and among groups of product-related firms were tested.…”