IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i6p5053-d1095542.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Relationship between Search Engines and Entrepreneurship Development: A Granger-VECM Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Olumekor

    (Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, 620014 Yekaterinburg, Russia)

  • Hossam Haddad

    (Accounting Department, Business Faculty, Zarqa University, Zarqa 13133, Jordan)

  • Nidal Mahmoud Al-Ramahi

    (Accounting Department, Business Faculty, Zarqa University, Zarqa 13133, Jordan)

Abstract

The decision to set-up a business as a sole proprietor—also individual entrepreneur or sole trader—is a consequential one for every nascent entrepreneur. Sole proprietorship businesses have remained the most popular business structure in many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia, and are vital to the sustainable development of countries and regions. In this research, we developed a model to investigate if increased online interest in sole proprietorships led to the creation of new sole proprietorship businesses in four regions of Russia. Search engine data were retrieved from Russia’s most popular search engine, Yandex, whereas data on newly registered individual entrepreneurship businesses were retrieved from Russia’s Federal Tax Service. Our model was comprised of a range of statistical methods, including the augmented Dickey–Fuller unit root test, the Johansen cointegration test, the Granger causality Wald test, and the vector error correction model. The results revealed a unidirectional causal relationship between search engine data and newly established individual entrepreneurship businesses. This means that interest in individual entrepreneurship, measured through search engine data, influenced the creation of new individual entrepreneurship businesses. This research provides a pioneering empirical investigation of the topic in post-Soviet states, and its main contribution includes introducing search engine data as a key tool for assessing entrepreneurial intention.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Olumekor & Hossam Haddad & Nidal Mahmoud Al-Ramahi, 2023. "The Relationship between Search Engines and Entrepreneurship Development: A Granger-VECM Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-16, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:6:p:5053-:d:1095542
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/5053/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/5053/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Douglas Cumming & Sofia Johan, 2010. "The Differential Impact of the Internet on Spurring Regional Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(5), pages 857-884, September.
    2. Matthias Bank & Martin Larch & Georg Peter, 2011. "Google search volume and its influence on liquidity and returns of German stocks," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 25(3), pages 239-264, September.
    3. Engle, Robert & Granger, Clive, 2015. "Co-integration and error correction: Representation, estimation, and testing," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 39(3), pages 106-135.
    4. Wagner, Joachim, 2005. "Nascent and Infant Entrepreneurs in Germany: Evidence from the Regional Entrepreneurship Monitor (REM)," IZA Discussion Papers 1522, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Choi, In, 2001. "Unit root tests for panel data," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 249-272, April.
    6. Aouadi, Amal & Arouri, Mohamed & Teulon, Frédéric, 2013. "Investor attention and stock market activity: Evidence from France," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 674-681.
    7. Elzbieta Rogalska, 2018. "Multiple-criteria analysis of regional entrepreneurship conditions in Poland," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 13(4), pages 707-723, December.
    8. Tang, Wenbin & Zhu, Lili, 2017. "How security prices respond to a surge in investor attention: Evidence from Google Search of ADRs," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 38-50.
    9. Dickey, David A & Fuller, Wayne A, 1981. "Likelihood Ratio Statistics for Autoregressive Time Series with a Unit Root," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 1057-1072, June.
    10. Leibowitz, Arleen & Tollison, Robert, 1980. "Free Riding, Shirking, and Team Production in Legal Partnerships," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 18(3), pages 380-394, July.
    11. Francesca Maria Cesaroni & Maria Gabriella Pediconi & Annalisa Sentuti, 2018. "It’s Always a Women’s Problem! Micro-Entrepreneurs, Work-Family Balance and Economic Crisis," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-16, November.
    12. Michael Fritsch & Michael Wyrwich, 2012. "The Long Persistence of Regional Entrepreneurship Culture: Germany 1925–2005," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1214, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2012.
    13. Carroll, Robert & Holtz-Eakin, Douglas & Rider, Mark & Rosen, Harvey S, 2000. "Income Taxes and Entrepreneurs' Use of Labor," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(2), pages 324-351, April.
    14. Amal Aouadi & Mohamed Arouri & David Roubaud, 2018. "Information demand and stock market liquidity: International evidence," Post-Print hal-02044294, HAL.
    15. Kim, Neri & Lučivjanská, Katarína & Molnár, Peter & Villa, Roviel, 2019. "Google searches and stock market activity: Evidence from Norway," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 208-220.
    16. Adriaan Van Stel & David Storey, 2004. "The Link between Firm Births and Job Creation: Is there a Upas Tree Effect?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(8), pages 893-909.
    17. Philip T. Roundy & Dutch Fayard, 2019. "Dynamic Capabilities and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: The Micro-Foundations of Regional Entrepreneurship," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 28(1), pages 94-120, March.
    18. Aouadi, Amal & Arouri, Mohamed & Roubaud, David, 2018. "Information demand and stock market liquidity: International evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 194-202.
    19. Michael Fritsch & Pamela Mueller, 2004. "Effects of New Business Formation on Regional Development over Time," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(8), pages 961-975.
    20. Marcelo S. Perlin & João F. Caldeira & André A. P. Santos & Martin Pontuschka, 2017. "Can We Predict the Financial Markets Based on Google's Search Queries?," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(4), pages 454-467, July.
    21. Takeda, Fumiko & Wakao, Takumi, 2014. "Google search intensity and its relationship with returns and trading volume of Japanese stocks," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 1-18.
    22. Wolfram Höpken & Tobias Eberle & Matthias Fuchs & Maria Lexhagen, 2019. "Google Trends data for analysing tourists’ online search behaviour and improving demand forecasting: the case of Åre, Sweden," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 45-62, March.
    23. Mostafa Abbas & Thomas B. Morland & Eric S. Hall & Yasser EL-Manzalawy, 2021. "Associations between Google Search Trends for Symptoms and COVID-19 Confirmed and Death Cases in the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-24, April.
    24. Swamy, Vighneswara & Dharani, M. & Takeda, Fumiko, 2019. "Investor attention and Google Search Volume Index: Evidence from an emerging market using quantile regression analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-17.
    25. Joachim Wagner, 2005. "Nascent Necessity and Opportunity Entrepreneurs in Germany. Evidence from the Regional Entrepreneurship Monitor (REM)," Labor and Demography 0506004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    26. Joachim Wagner, 2005. "Nascent and Infant Entrepreneurs in Germany. Evidence from the Regional Entrepreneurship Monitor (REM)," Working Paper Series in Economics 1, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    27. Scott Shane, 2000. "Prior Knowledge and the Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(4), pages 448-469, August.
    28. Power, Laura & Rider, Mark, 2002. "The effect of tax-based savings incentives on the self-employed," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 33-52, July.
    29. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
    30. Johansen, Soren, 1988. "Statistical analysis of cointegration vectors," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 12(2-3), pages 231-254.
    31. Fritsch, Michael & Mueller, Pamela, 2004. "The effect of new firm formation on regional development over time," Freiberg Working Papers 2004/01, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    32. G. S. Maddala & Shaowen Wu, 1999. "A Comparative Study of Unit Root Tests with Panel Data and a New Simple Test," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(S1), pages 631-652, November.
    33. Colleen Collins‐dodd & Irene M. Gordon & Carolyne Smart, 2004. "Further Evidence on the Role of Gender in Financial Performance," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(4), pages 395-417, October.
    34. Siliverstovs, Boriss & Wochner, Daniel S., 2018. "Google Trends and reality: Do the proportions match?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 1-23.
    35. Nuno Barreira & Pedro Godinho & Paulo Melo, 2013. "Nowcasting unemployment rate and new car sales in south-western Europe with Google Trends," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 129-165, November.
    36. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, May.
    37. Maddala,G. S. & Kim,In-Moo, 1999. "Unit Roots, Cointegration, and Structural Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521587822, January.
    38. repec:bla:obuest:v:61:y:1999:i:0:p:631-52 is not listed on IDEAS
    39. Kim, Younghwan & Kim, Wonjoon & Yang, Taeyong, 2012. "The effect of the triple helix system and habitat on regional entrepreneurship: Empirical evidence from the U.S," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 154-166.
    40. Jeroen Content & Koen Frenken & Jacob A. Jordaan, 2019. "Does related variety foster regional entrepreneurship? Evidence from European regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(11), pages 1531-1543, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maksim Vlasov & Sergey N. Polbitsyn & Michael Olumekor & Hossam Haddad, 2023. "Exploring the Role of Socio-Cultural Factors on the Development of Human Capital in Multi-Ethnic Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-14, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jacobo Campo Robledo & Juan Pablo Herrera Saavedra, 2016. "Patentes y crecimiento económico: ¿innovación de residentes o no residentes?," Revista Desarrollo y Sociedad, Universidad de los Andes,Facultad de Economía, CEDE, vol. 76, February.
    2. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Chiu, Yi-Bin, 2011. "Oil prices, nuclear energy consumption, and economic growth: New evidence using a heterogeneous panel analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 2111-2120, April.
    3. Valérie Mignon & Christophe Hurlin, 2005. "Une synthèse des tests de racine unitaire sur données de panel," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 169(3), pages 253-294.
    4. Armenia Androniceanu & Irina Georgescu, 2023. "The Impact of CO 2 Emissions and Energy Consumption on Economic Growth: A Panel Data Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-17, January.
    5. David Greasley & Les Oxley, 2010. "Cliometrics And Time Series Econometrics: Some Theory And Applications," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 970-1042, December.
    6. Jobert, Thomas & Karanfil, Fatih & Tykhonenko, Anna, 2013. "On the structure and form of the GDP–nuclear nexus: New perspectives and new findings," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1553-1561.
    7. Guneratne B Wickremasinghe & Jae H Kim, 2008. "Weak-Form Efficiency of Foreign Exchange Markets of Developing Economies," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 7(2), pages 169-196, August.
    8. Pilbeam, K. & Litsios, I., 2015. "An Empirical Analysis of the Nexus between Investment, Fiscal Balances and Current Account Balances in Greece, Portugal and Spain," Working Papers 15/18, Department of Economics, City University London.
    9. Md Shahiduzzaman & Allan Layton & Khorshed Alam, 2015. "On the contribution of information and communication technology to productivity growth in Australia," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 281-304, November.
    10. repec:aly:journl:202073 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Betty C. Daniel & Christos Shiamptanis, 2008. "Fiscal policy in the European Monetary Union," International Finance Discussion Papers 961, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    12. Juan Carlos Aquino & N. R. Ramírez-Rondán, 2020. "Estimating factor shares from nonstationary panel data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(5), pages 2353-2380, May.
    13. Jun, Sangjoon, 2015. "The Nexus between FDI and Growth in the SAARC Member Countries," East Asian Economic Review, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, vol. 19(1), pages 39-70, March.
    14. Somesh K. Mathur & Rahul Arora & Ishita Ghoshal & Sarbjit Singh, 2016. "Domestic Energy Consumption and Country’s Income Growth: A Quantitative Analysis of Developing and Developed Countries Using Panel Causality, Panel VECM, Panel Cointegration and SURE," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 14(1), pages 87-116, June.
    15. Gogas, Periklis & Plakandaras, Vasilios & Papadimitriou, Theophilos, 2014. "Public debt and private consumption in OECD countries," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 11(C), pages 1-7.
    16. Manuel David Cruz, 2022. "Labor productivity, real wages, and employment: evidence from a panel of OECD economies over 1960-2019," Working Papers PKWP2203, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    17. Litsios, Ioannis & Pilbeam, Keith, 2017. "An empirical analysis of the nexus between investment, fiscal balances and current account balances in Greece, Portugal and Spain," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 143-152.
    18. Dina Azhgaliyeva, 2013. "What Makes Oil Revenue Funds Effective," International Conference on Energy, Regional Integration and Socio-economic Development 6023, EcoMod.
    19. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Rasool, Ghulam & Ahmed, Khalid & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar, 2016. "Considering the effect of biomass energy consumption on economic growth: Fresh evidence from BRICS region," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1442-1450.
    20. Jacobo Campo Robledo & Henry Antonio Mendoza Tolosa, 2014. "Gasto Público y Crecimiento Económico regional en Colombia (1984 - 2012)," Documentos de Trabajo 12425, Universidad Católica de Colombia.
    21. Chien-Chiang Lee & Mei-Se Chien, 2011. "Empirical Modelling of Regional House Prices and the Ripple Effect," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(10), pages 2029-2047, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:6:p:5053-:d:1095542. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.