Influence of entrepreneur type, region and sector effects on business self-confidence: Empirical evidence from Argentine firms

In this current work we analyse the influence of factors potentially able to explain entrepreneurs' self-confidence in their own business activity, in view of the repercussions that they may ultimately have on economic development. Specifically, we include a number of factors in the analysis presented here that can be considered traditional in the specialized literature, such as the regional and sectoral factors, along with an additional factor measuring the type of entrepreneur running the firm. This typology is defined on the basis of the entrepreneurs' personal characteristics, and their way of managing the firm's resources. The authors used a cross-section (during 2001-2002) of 1314 firms, grouped in four sectors of activity, spatially distributed over 14 Argentine provinces, and considering seven models of entrepreneurial behaviour in the analysis. Our results, controlled by size, at the business level, and for the socio-economic and demographic characteristics, at the regional level, have been tested to be able to capture the significant effect that the entrepreneur type, the sector of activity and the regional location of the firm have in strengthening the entrepreneurs' perception of the improvement in the economic situation of their firms.