Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Trust. The structure and genesis of economic transaction patterns in ‘low-trust’ and ‘high trust’ environments in Eastern and Western Europe.

A joint research project conducted by the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen in collaboration with the RWI (Rhine-Westphalia Economic Research Institute), Essen, as supported by the Volkswagen Foundation, Project duration: 2001 – 2003

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The aim of the present research project was to examine how managerial behaviour unfolds in the different socio-cultural and institutional environments of Eastern Europe and how this differs from the managerial behaviour displayed in the developed market economies of Western Europe. In this context a number of behavioural patterns were analysed in some details: First, the various ways of allocating ‘entrepreneurship’ to the productive, unproductive and parasitical areas of the economy, while taking the influence of formal and informal institutions into account; second, the emergence and evolution of managerial strategies as dependent on the development of their particular socio-cultural and institutional environment; and third, their influence on the formation of operational and sectoral structures. Furthermore, the recursive process – in which, on the one hand, the socio-cultural and institutional environment influences the behaviour of market players and, thus, the formation of economic structures at the micro- and meso-level, and in which, on the other hand, market players and economic structures impact on the socio-cultural and institutional environment – was examined further. The question that emerged was where in the history, culture and societies of Eastern and Western Europe the cognitive models, values, motives and behavioural patterns identified in the study have their roots. To respond to this question and to contribute to the Volkswagen Foundation’s funding initiative entitled ‘Unity amidst Diversity? Intellectual Foundations and Requirements for an Enlarged Europe’, the project took an interdisciplinary approach.


Project Partners

The main project partners were the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen and the RWI (Rhine-Westphalia Economic Research Institute), Essen. In addition, the project involved a Russian and an Estonian research institute on the East European side and a British and Italian research institute on the West European side. Accordingly, most of the empirical studies focussed on Russia and Estonia as well as Germany. These were complemented by expert studies on Great Britain and Italy, each containing some empirical research.


Publications

Hans-Hermann Höhmann, Friederike Welter (eds.), Trust and Entrepreneurship.
A West-East perspective Cheltenham Glos UK 2005, 320 pp.

Elena Malieva: Russische Kleinunternehmer zwischen Ökonomie und Politik. Zur Genese und Rolle von Vertrauen, Sozialkapital und Institutionen in der Region Nishnij Nowgorod, Doctoral Dissertation (University of Bremen) 2004


Working Papers of the Research Centre for East European Studies

No. 54: Hans-Hermann Höhmann and Friederike Welter (eds.):
Entrepreneurial Strategies and Trust
Structure and Evolution of Entrepreneurial Behavioural Patterns in "Low Trust"
and "High Trust" Environments of East and West Europe
Part 1: A Review
Bremen, January 2004, 51 p. 

No. 55: Hans-Hermann Höhmann and Friederike Welter (eds.):
Entrepreneurial Strategies and Trust
Structure and Evolution of Entrepreneurial Behavioural Patterns in "Low Trust"
and "High Trust" Environments of East and West Europe
Part 2: East and West Germany
Bremen, January 2004, 95 p. 

No. 56: Hans-Hermann Höhmann and Friederike Welter (eds.):
Entrepreneurial Strategies and Trust
Structure and Evolution of Entrepreneurial Behavioural Patterns in "Low Trust"
and "High Trust" Environments of East and West Europe
Part 3: Italy and Great Britain
Bremen, January 2004, 111 p. 

No. 57: Hans-Hermann Höhmann and Friederike Welter (eds.):
Entrepreneurial Strategies and Trust
Structure and Evolution of Entrepreneurial Behavioural Patterns in "Low Trust"
and "High Trust" Environments of East and West Europe
Part 4: Estonia and Russia
Bremen, January 2004, 128 p.