Assessing Regional Entrepreneurship: A Bootstrapping Approach in Data Envelopment Analysis

The aim of the present paper is to demonstrate the viability of using data envelopment analysis (DEA) in a regional context to evaluate entrepreneurial activities. DEA was used to assess regional entrepreneurship in Greece using individual measures of entrepreneurship as inputs and employment rates as outputs. In addition to point estimates, a bootstrap algorithm was used to produce bias-corrected metrics. In the light of the results of the study, the Greek regions perform differently in terms of converting entrepreneurial activity into job creation. Moreover, there is some evidence that unemployment may be a driver of entrepreneurship and thus negatively affects DEA-based inefficiency. The derived indicators can serve as diagnostic tools and can also be used for the design of various interventions at the regional level.