The Impact of Communication Language on Entrepreneurship in Cameroon

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of linguistic diversity on entrepreneurship in Cameroon. More specifically, it was a question of analysing the effects of linguistic diversity first on entrepreneurial intention, then on business creation, and finally on the sustainability of the businesses created. To achieve these objectives, the authors used data from a survey of 504 individuals in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé conducted by the Laboratory of Research in Fundamental and Applied Economics (LAREFA) of the University of Dschang and using the binary probit, recursive bivariate probit, and tobit models; it was found that 1) bilingual individuals have a lower entrepreneurial intention than their monolingual counterparts; however, the fact that the individual masters several languages facilitates the transition from intention to action; 2) if linguistic diversity is varied from zero to low or medium level, then the duration of the enterprise will increase by 25 months.