Entrepreneurial behaviour in rural contexts

Psychologists and other specialists of human behaviour have shown a considerable interest on entrepreneurial behaviour. This chapter sets out to revisit the issue of entrepreneurship in a rural context. It is concerned with the identification of sources of entrepreneurship in rural areas and explores the extent to which entrepreneurship is influenced by the characteristics of the rural. The chapter presents and interprets a large body of empirical data collected in five countries (Germany, Greece, Poland, Portugal and the UK) as part of a European Union funded project. In order to capture the characteristics of the Case Study Area under investigation, it provides an approach that identifies Factors of Unity and Factors of Diversity. This approach provides suggestive insights into the entrepreneurial processes at work in the rural areas under investigation. The chapter discusses the number of conceptual propositions regarding rural entrepreneurship derived in large part from empirical findings in various rural areas, across Europe