Non-farm proprietorship employment by US metropolitan area

Purpose The entrepreneurial process is the result of the interaction between the individual entrepreneur and the surrounding entrepreneurial ecosystem. Such a question raises an important research question: Are U.S. metropolitan areas with disproportionately high shares of entrepreneurs systematically linked to particular attributes of the entrepreneurial support system? Design/methodology/approach In this paper, non-farm proprietorship (NFP) employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis is used as a dependent variable proxy for entrepreneurship. NFP data are widely used in the entrepreneurship literature. Data on all independent variables were obtained from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and the Bureau of Labor Statistics by metropolitan area and subject to a stepwise linear regression analysis. Findings The relative share of NFP employment by metropolitan area exhibited a strong positive relationship with percent employment in finance, insurance, and real estate, median age, p...