Institutional Quality, Entrepreneurial Perceptions, and Women’s Entrepreneurship: A Comparative Cluster Analysis
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Abstract
This study examines patterns of female entrepreneurship within a comparative framework through an integrated analytical approach linking institutional quality and entrepreneurial perceptions at the national level. Indicators related to female entrepreneurship are treated as manifest expressions of gendered entrepreneurial activity. The analysis covers 25 countries in Europe and North America, selected based on data availability in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the World Bank (WB), and the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) databases for 2024. The methodological framework combines hierarchical cluster analysis (Ward’s method) and the K-means algorithm, with multidimensional scaling (MDS) applied as a complementary technique for the spatial representation of inter-country similarities. The results of both hierarchical and K-means clustering indicate a stable four-cluster structure, showing systematic grouping of countries based on similarities across institutional and perceptual indicators. These groupings reflect differences in the observed configuration of variables across countries. Lower institutional quality is observed alongside higher levels of female self-employment, while more developed economies tend to exhibit lower levels of female self-employment. These patterns describe structural differences in labor market characteristics and the relative presence of necessity- and opportunity-related entrepreneurial activity. The findings highlight cross-country variation in entrepreneurial indicators and the role of institutional and perceptual measures in describing these differences.
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