Entrepreneurial profile, characteristics, expectations, and outcomes--an empirical study to compare rural entrepreneurs with urban entrepreneurs

Policy should be based on good information about the people impacted by the policy. Since rural entrepreneurship development policy has been discussed in rural community development, it would be important to determine if and to what extent rural entrepreneurs are different. This study was designed with that in mind. We discovered that, in general, rural and urban entrepreneurs were very similar with respect to characteristics, decision making path, and expectation. However a few significant differences were revealed by our survey. For example, urban entrepreneurs seem a little more optimistic and realistic than rural entrepreneurs in the process of new venture formation. Urban entrepreneurs also were more likely to believe that starting new ventures improved their personal and family's quality of life. In general, policy development should take into consideration some differences between rural and urban populations and community settings. Access to information, education, opportunities, and capital might be issues for rural entrepreneurs more often than for urban entrepreneurs.