A note on trust, networks, social capital and entrepreneurial behaviour.

The project investigated entrepreneurial behaviour in differing cultural and institutional milieus in Eastern Europe, in order to identify differences to Western European economies and among East European countries. The central hypothesis was that trust has a decisive impact on entrepreneurship. Trust determines ways into and forms of entrepreneurship as well as entrepreneurial behaviour. Russia, e.g., is characterised by a very low level of trust, due to country-specific (historical) developments. A low-trust milieu constrains market entry, enterprise growth and competition whilst on the contrary it encourages unproductive forms of entrepreneurship. In this context, the project analysed the role of country-specific formal (laws, organisations, etc.) and informal (norms, values, etc.) institutions in fostering productive, unproductive or destructive forms of entrepreneurship; the development and change of entrepreneurial strategies in different milieus (countries, regions, sectors, etc.), especially the impact of trust-related factors on entrepreneurial behaviour; the impact of trust-related factors on enterprise structures; the role intermediary institutions such as chambers or business associations play in developing trust; the possibilities for politics to promote trust in Eastern European countries; the question if and to what extent institutional models could be transferred from West Europe. Co-ordinated from Germany, the project included Russian, Estonian and Italian partners as well as CEED