Title: The impact of demography on opportunity recognition among Caribbean entrepreneurs

Authors: Paul Alexander Pounder

Addresses: Department of Business and Management, St. George's University, True Blue, St. George's, Grenada

Abstract: Opportunity recognition plays a key role in understanding entrepreneurship and its development. This research focused on the impact of demography on opportunity recognition. The aim was to investigate the effect of age, gender and education on opportunity recognition on entrepreneurs in the Caribbean. Selection of those areas aligns with their importance seen in other related studies. The dataset for the research came from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Adult Population Survey. The findings highlighted that as age and education years increase, the odds of opportunity recognition decrease and that males are more likely to recognise opportunities. Additionally, further exploratory analysis showed that age partially mediates the relationship between education and opportunity recognition. If researchers can achieve a better understanding of the impact of demographic factors on opportunity recognition, this can assist entrepreneurs in appraising their own prospects. In addition, governments can use this research to inform the design of more effective and supportive policies.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; opportunity recognition; Caribbean; age; gender; demographics; education; mediation; Global Entrepreneurship Monitor; GEM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEIM.2022.128224

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 2022 Vol.26 No.5/6, pp.269 - 286

Accepted: 30 Sep 2021
Published online: 12 Jan 2023 *

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