David Urbano

David Urbano
Autonomous University of Barcelona | UAB · Department of Business (School of Economics and Business) & Centre for Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation Research (CREIS)

PhD Professor

About

292
Publications
203,716
Reads
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13,857
Citations
Citations since 2017
128 Research Items
11014 Citations
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Introduction
My research focuses on the role of the institutional environment on ​entrepreneurial activity, using the ​institutional approach as a ​theoretical framework and combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Specifically, the research streams are​ (a) institutions and entrepreneurship; (b) institutions and diversity in entrepreneurship; (c) institutions, entrepreneurship and socio-economic performance (further information available​ at WWW.DAVIDURBANO.EU)
Additional affiliations
January 2008 - present
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
Position
  • Professor (Full)

Publications

Publications (292)
Article
The majority of research on corporate entrepreneurship focuses on developed countries and overlooks that various cultural and economic contexts may lead to different intensities and behaviors in entrepreneurial activities. This omission could challenge extant theoretical models and assumptions. Accordingly, this article intends to analyze the liter...
Article
Full-text available
The legitimation of social enterprises is contingent upon the institutional context and targeted stakeholders; however, this claim has not been explored systematically, considering existing legitimacy strategies. Understanding the reasons behind the pursuit of legitimacy and the strategies that can be employed in specific contexts is paramount for...
Chapter
In this chapter, we analyze the main conclusions, implications, limitations, and future research lines of the book. The conclusions and implications make clear the role that entrepreneurship and institutions play for the adequate economic development of nations, in addition to revealing the complexity of development and proposing both new variables...
Chapter
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the literature established that economic growth remains like a mystery. In this chapter, we take a trip back in time and review chronologically the most influential theories of economic development. First, this chapter reviews the classical theories of economic development, focusing on endogenous and ex...
Chapter
The economic development literature in recent years has focused on promoting research with an endogenous growth approach. Yet, economic development is still an unsolved puzzle. This research suggests a sociotechnical subsystems approach to explain that entrepreneurship and innovation can spur economic development through three key factors highlight...
Chapter
The literature that relates tax burdens to economic growth has focused on explaining the effect of taxes on GDP. However, it has neglected two fundamental aspects. First, the role that the institutional framework plays in taxes and, second, the effect of these taxes on growth, such as income and the business sector. Thus, this research aims to esti...
Chapter
This chapter introduces a dynamic model capable of considering the effects of time in the labor, goods and services, and investment markets, as an alternative to the general equilibrium model that is usually used in the literature. Through the formulation of this model, the fundamental role of firms is also discovered; through investment decisions...
Chapter
Investment decision variables such as internal rate of return (IRR) and return on equity (ROE) are crucial for correct decision-making in firms. However, given the difficulty of creating an IRR or ROE variable at the country level, the literature studying the effect of these variables on macroeconomics such as economic growth is almost non-existent...
Chapter
Size is a characteristic that suggests how much impact a company can have on the economy; however, this characteristic is little explored in the literature, especially in Latin American and Caribbean countries. For this reason, in this chapter we seek to carry out an approximation of the size of companies through their sales and to estimate the eff...
Chapter
Many studies analyze the causal effects of certain economic, social, and institutional factors on variables such as poverty and income distribution. Still, there is much room for work on different methodologies for the analysis of the main factors of both poverty and income distribution. In this chapter, we use Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to...
Chapter
The literature analyzing how firms expand across international markets is extensive; however, little is known about their relationship with institutional economics, specifically institutional barriers. This chapter seeks to unveil the relationship between firm exports and some institutional barriers (at the firm, city, and country level), showing t...
Chapter
In this chapter, we analyze the content and evolution of the relationship between entrepreneurial activity and economic growth. A rigorous search of articles published in journals within the Web of Science, through an exploratory analysis focused on this relationship, was conducted. The most frequently cited articles that tested the causality of en...
Chapter
This chapter introduces the book, its structure, and scope. It departs from the motivation around economic development as a mystery, which is somehow solved by entrepreneurship and innovation as key gears within the complex engine. The chapter suggests that the formation of entrepreneurial and innovative activities is dependent on the institutional...
Chapter
Although the literature on entrepreneurial choice is extensive, little is known about its macroeconomic effects, especially in emerging countries. Thus, this chapter reveals the effect of characteristics at the individual, household, and city levels on the entrepreneurial decision (entrepreneur or self-employed), the effect of this decision on labo...
Chapter
The theories of exogenous growth that prevailed in the first half of the twentieth century provided a fundamental understanding of countries’ growth process, establishing capital as the fundamental axis in this process. However, through literature analysis and empirical evidence, this chapter demonstrates that the fundamental factors in the growth...
Article
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Contextualisation research in entrepreneurship is on the rise. Scholars generally view it positively, as contextualisation allows for a better understanding of the bigger picture, whilst also concerns are voiced. However, contextualisation may lead to an overly fragmented field and its possible disintegration. This calls for ‘the emergence of sensi...
Article
Literature shows that entrepreneurial employee activity is positively related to organisational growth and competitiveness. A significant number of studies have focused on the determinants of entrepreneurial employee activity. However, there are aspects of these determinants that remain unexplored; in particular, the role of factors at the environm...
Article
An effective digital strategy provides multifaceted benefits for firms of all sizes, including operational oversight, learning, and effective market interactions. Yet, despite the burgeoning evidence that digitalization provides essential resources for firms, disparate observations on the link between SME performance and digitalization across regio...
Article
Going beyond the traditional approach of formal and informal institutions as antecedents of entrepreneurship (directly) and development (indirectly), this paper seeks to explore knowledge institutions as a necessary input for entrepreneurship and the development of societies. Institutional economics lenses are utilized to observe other factors (e.g...
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Weak institutions leading to a dysfunctional competitive environment affect firms' innovation. Drawing on the innovation modes approach and institutional theory, we suggest that STI (science and technology-based innovation) and DUI mode (learning by doing, using, and interacting) are moderated by perceived dysfunctional competition. Based on the Co...
Article
This article examines the interaction effects of formal and informal institutions on intrapreneurship in developed and developing countries. We use a multilevel logistic regression technique and data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) for the years 2014–2020 with information from 29 developed countries (237,053 observations) and 31 deve...
Chapter
The objective of this chapter is to determine the probability of starting social or commercial entrepreneurship in developing countries using the institutional approach as the theoretical framework. The study tests the hypotheses through a binomial logistic regression based on a sample of 10,598 entrepreneurs obtained from the Global Entrepreneursh...
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This study investigates the role of institutions on female entrepreneurial activity in Saudi Arabia, using institutional economics as the theoretical framework for developing the hypotheses. Primary data were collected and used to analyse the role that institutions play and continue to exercise in developing entrepreneurial activity among female ci...
Book
Full-text available
El Proyecto Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, GEM CAPV 2021-2022, realiza un diagnóstico de la actividad emprendedora en la Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco. Para ello, este informe analiza la actividad emprendedora en dicha región comparándola con la de otros países y regiones estatales.
Article
Purpose Motivated by a lack of evidence regarding the effect of migration on entrepreneurship in a highly informal country, such as Colombia, this paper has a twofold purpose. First, it explores how Venezuelan immigration affects entrepreneurial activity in Colombian regions. Second, it intends to shed light on this relationship, by distinguishing...
Article
Purpose To date, insufficient research has been conducted on gender differences in entrepreneurial activity among entrepreneurs in developing countries. This study aims to analyse the influences of formal and informal institutional factors on entrepreneurial activity among men and women in the context of Saudi Arabia. Design/methodology/approach T...
Article
Entrepreneurship has been linked to economic development at the regional and national levels, yet the microeconomic nuances of entrepreneurial diversity and the challenges that different entrepreneurs face in producing social benefits remain unexplored. Numerous studies have recognised that a gender gap exists not only in entrepreneurship but also...
Article
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Plain English Summary This review analyzes the articles published in the corporate entrepreneurship field and presents the future research agenda. Research agrees that corporate entrepreneurship has a positive impact on firms’ profits and growth. This has generated an increase in the number of research articles published in this area. However, prev...
Article
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This study reviews systematically the existing literature on female entrepreneurial activity in emerging economies. The paper reviews articles included in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). Based on the main findings, the literature considers three levels of analysis: micro-individual, meso-organizational, and macro-environmental. The result...
Chapter
This chapter provides a better understanding of the theoretical, managerial, and policy implications of entrepreneurial innovation policies. By examining the accumulation of literature published from 1970 to 2019, this chapter clarifies the definition of entrepreneurial innovations and the policy frameworks’ role in fostering this phenomenon worldw...
Book
Evidence suggests that economies with technology transfer initiatives provide a better supply of high-quality jobs and tend to be characterized by entrepreneurs with higher innovation contributions. This book explores the effectiveness of technology transfer policies and legislation on entrepreneurial innovation across continents. It analyses the t...
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Organizations are facing an interesting phenomenon in the composition of their workforce: the concurrence of multiple age generations that demand suitable strategies regarding work design, job satisfaction, and incentives. Ongoing entrepreneurship and strategic management debates require a better understanding of the relationship between workplace...
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This study explores the influence of green entrepreneurial activity on sustainable development, using institutional economics as a theoretical framework. Also, the role of entrepreneurship policy is analysed in the context of Saudi Arabia. Using information from the General Authority for Statistics from 13 Saudi Arabian cities, the main findings sh...
Article
This paper explores the extent to which informal institutions influence leadership behavior in Mexico, distinguishing between urban and rural areas. Using the institutional approach and through logistic regression models with data obtained from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), the main results of the study show that trans...
Article
Purpose-Little is known about how subsidies enhance both collaborative and opportunistic behaviours within subsidized industry-university partnerships, and how partners' behaviours influence the intellectual capital dynamics within subsidized industry-university. Based on these theoretical foundations, this study expects to understand intellectual...
Chapter
In this exploratory study, we analyzed the influence of governmental supportive policies on green entrepreneurial activity in Saudi Arabia, using institutional economics as a theoretical framework. Based on data from reports of the General Authority for Meteorology and Environmental Protection and the General Authority for Statistics, both fixed an...
Article
The research on institutions’ role in entrepreneurship acknowledges that formal and informal institutions matter. However, previous research has stressed less the co-existence and interaction between individual- and country-level factors that shape entrepreneurial potential, population of skillful individuals with no entrepreneurial intentions, acr...
Chapter
The World Wide Web has transformed primary university IT functions, but the digital economy is redefining the rules of the game in higher education. The aging phenomenon claims long-life training for developing digital competencies required in current workplaces. Nowadays, COVID-19 pandemic also represented an unprecedented challenge for education...
Article
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During the past two centuries, universities have evolved from being “accumulators” of knowledge, largely separated from society, to “knowledge hubs,” which are deeply embedded in systems of innovation and take on the role of instigating economic and social development. Despite economic, social, and institutional disparities, university authorities,...
Article
Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have received a lot of attention over the last few years. Although the technological/pedagogical aspects of MOOCs have been well articulated in the literature, empirical evidence substantiating MOOCs' role in university outcomes is scarce. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the relationships among (a)...
Article
Drawing on institutional economics, this article investigates how different contexts condition the prevalence of export-oriented entrepreneurship, which affects economic growth. We place emphasis on the differences between developed and developing countries through interaction effects that allow us to test for differential validity. Using simultane...
Chapter
Although there is abundant literature on entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial behavior, there is still a lacuna on those factors enabling the pass from intention to action. Motivated by this gap, this study assesses the extent to which the determinants of entrepreneurial intention also have an effect on subsequent entrepreneurial behavior...
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Despite the fact that the determinants and the consequences of R&D activities have been extensively studied in previous research, further efforts to integrate disparate streams of literature might bring new insights into innovation decision-making by firms. In particular, this article studies the simultaneous effects that a set of factors (at both...
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The discussion on which institutions determine entrepreneurial activity – and the role of institutions in the aggregated output for developing countries – is as yet unresolved. The extant literature about entrepreneurship recognizes new ventures as potential mechanisms for long-term development. Yet, there is a consensus on the lack of evidence, pa...
Article
Ibero-American researchers show an increasing number of studies on entrepreneurship and innovation research. This article analyzes the journals and universities that published research on the discipline developed by Ibero-American authors between 1986 and 2015. The work uses the Web of Science database and provides several bibliometric indicators....
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Latin-American countries are characterised by societal problems like violence, crime, corruption, the informality that influence any entrepreneurial activity developed by individuals/organisations. Social innovations literature confront “wicked problems” with strong interdependencies among different systems/actors. Yet, little is known about how fi...
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In recent decades, there has been growing interest in intrapreneurial capabilities. The intrapreneurship and strategic management literatures have insights for entrepreneurs about how to apply entrepreneurial and strategic techniques and concepts in creating competitive advantage. More specifically, the dynamic capabilities framework has emerged as...
Article
Purpose The objective of this article is to examine the extent to which the antecedents of entrepreneurial employee activity differ by gender across countries. Design/methodology/approach Generalised linear multilevel logistic regression is applied to data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) with a sample of 60 countries for the period...
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This article draws upon institutional theory to investigate whether and to what extent informal institutions (masculinity, power distance, individualism, and indulgence) affect the relationship between formal institutions (the public expenditure on childcare and the length of parental leave) and the likelihood that women will become entrepreneurs....
Article
Ongoing research agendas regarding the intersection between entrepreneurship and innovation in academia still demand analysis about the antecedents/consequences of enterprise-university collaborations. On the one hand, little is known about how enterprise-university collaborations manage their resources/capabilities to develop entrepreneurial innov...
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Recent decades have brought cultural changes toward the increase of environmentally-friendly initiatives such as green entrepreneurship. Some countries are failing to develop environmental initiatives, whereas others are transitioning and advancing toward this new trend. In particular, Saudi Arabia has initiated efforts toward becoming an ecologica...
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Purpose This paper provides insights about how graduates' career patterns (i.e. academic entrepreneur, self-employed, or paid employed) are influenced by entrepreneurial university ecosystems (i.e. incubators and entrepreneurship education programs). Design/methodology/approach By adopting Douglas and Shepherd's utility-maximising function, the in...
Article
Accepted Manuscript at: https://sebastian-aparicio.com/research.html Building upon institutional economics, we examine how social progress orientation (SPO) affects inclusive growth through innovative and opportunity entrepreneurship. Hypotheses about civic activism, voluntary spirit, and the inclusion of minorities as proxies of SPO that affect e...
Chapter
This chapter examines the influence of informal institutions on the probability of becoming an entrepreneurial leader. In this regard, institutional economics is used to frame the hypotheses that relate to environmental factors and entrepreneurial leadership. These hypotheses are tested through logistic regression analysis, using a sample of 67,268...
Chapter
Few scholars can be considered beacons who guide interested (and often disoriented) researchers. David Audretsch is one such scholar, who has shed light on entrepreneurship in a broad sense as well as on the economics of entrepreneurship and small business as a distinct field. Given his noteworthy and abundant contributions, a synthesis is required...
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The transformation of ideas into new technologies depends not only on how knowledge diffuses but also on which context/time this transformation is developed. In the assumption that internal and environmental conditions directly affects the decision of exploiting technological opportunities, this paper explores how some strategic dynamic capabilitie...
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The purpose of this article and the special issue is to improve our understanding of the theoretical, managerial, and policy implications of the effectiveness of technology transfer policies on entrepreneurial innovation. We accomplish this objective by examining the relationship between entrepreneurship, innovation and public policies in the 186 p...
Article
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse how collaborative/opportunistic behaviours within subsidised university-industry partnerships are influencing the design/implementation of strategic knowledge management practices in emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach The proposed conceptual model was analysed with a retrospective multip...
Technical Report
Dentro de la CAPV, las diputaciones forales no sólo son intermediarios entre el nivel autonómico y local, sino que también son responsables de diseñar sus propias políticas y programas para que luego las ejecuten los entes locales dentro de sus respectivos territorios históricos. En consecuencia, requieren información relevante sobre la actividad e...
Article
Full-text available
The study of the impact of institutions on entrepreneurship has been a topic of great interest in recent years. Nevertheless, less attention has been paid to the relation that can exist between the spatial context and the entrepreneurial activities. Specifically, institutions and the space of entrepreneurial activities in a country have rarely been...
Book
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La edición 2018-2019 del proyecto GEM se ha desarrollado en 49 países de Asia, Europa, Norte América y Latinoamérica, Medio Oriente y África, que en conjunto representan el 66,6% de la población mundial y el 85,0% del PIB mundial según datos del Banco Mundial.6 De esta manera, se consolida una trayectoria de veinte años de seguimiento de la activid...
Chapter
Stimulating entrepreneurship inside universities and the consequent development of entrepreneurial universities against the backdrop of global reduction of governmental financial support is one of the current of academics, university authorities and policy makers from all around the world. These issues are more critical to post-Soviet economies whe...
Article
The International Business Review (IBR) is a leading international academic journal in the field of International Business (IB). Such leadership is reflected in the large number of publications that grow year after year and particularly in the large number of citations received from other journals of high academic prestige. The aim of this study is...
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This paper analyzes an emergent stream of research shedding light on the institutional factors shaping entrepreneurial activity and its effect on economic growth. This integrative analysis spanning a broad spectrum of diverse literature enables a distinction between two different research lines in the field of entrepreneurship. The findings of this...
Chapter
Since the publication of Burton R. Clark’s book (1998), the research about the phenomena of “entrepreneurial universities” and their core activities–teaching, research, technology transfer and entrepreneurship–has increased significantly. Traditionally, studies tend to take a narrow view about the role of universities in entrepreneurship and innova...
Article
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This study evaluates the influence of institutions on the probability to become a woman and man entrepreneur during the recent European economic crisis. We approach institutional factors affecting entrepreneurial decisions through a post-materialist value, educational level and unemployment rate. Using data from the World Values Survey (WVS) and Wo...
Technical Report
Full-text available
El desarrollo del sistema español de innovación depende, además de la capacidad de producción científica, de la transferencia de conocimiento entre ciencia y empresa. Pese a los avances recientes, el vínculo universidad-empresa es todavía poco eficiente y persisten serias barreras a la colaboración en ambos sentidos. Este documento propone diez rec...
Book
Using institutional economics as a theoretical framework, this book analyzes institutional environment conducive to entrepreneurial activity in order to enhance economic performance across countries. In particular, the main contributions of this book to the entrepreneurship literature are the following: • Identify past and current research about...
Chapter
Focused on those consequences of entrepreneurial activity, this chapter estimates the effect of entrepreneurship on economic growth. To this purpose, our modeling relies on a traditional Cobb–Douglas production function, which allows the examination of possible factors such as entrepreneurship that may be also important to foster economic growth. A...
Chapter
Through synthesizing disparate strands of literature over the period 1992–2016, this chapter identifies past and current research about the institutional context shaping entrepreneurial activity and its effect on economic growth. This conjoint analysis reveals two important research lines in entrepreneurship research, which have been devoted to exp...
Chapter
Extensive research has been conducted to understand the antecedents and consequences on entrepreneurship, in which institutions were found important factors explaining differences across countries. Similarly, a vast number of scholars have been focused on comprehending those economic consequences of entrepreneurial activity, who highlighted its imp...
Chapter
After diving into the literature on institutions, entrepreneurship and economic performance, and empirically testing the sequential connection among these factors, this chapter gathers the main findings and discusses implications for entrepreneurship and public policy. Throughout the literature analysis, we find that informal institutions have been...
Chapter
The main purpose of this chapter is to examine how country’s institutional context influences the way in which entrepreneurial activity affects social progress. Following the theoretical approach of institutional economics, we test our hypotheses using pooled data of 62 countries (2012 and 2014) and simultaneous equation model estimation. The findi...