Exploring the relationship between entrepreneurial education, national culture and entrepreneurial orientation: insights from global freelancing platforms

Purpose – Acknowledging the pivotal importance of entrepreneurial orientation for firms' survival, researchers are investigating the contextual factors that could modify the relationship between entrepreneurial education at the post-secondary level and entrepreneurial orientation. Drawing on institutional and managerial discretion theories, this study examined, using archival data, whether online freelancers with varying levels of entrepreneurial education and cultural backgrounds exhibit lower or higher levels of entrepreneurial orientation, as evidenced by their sales pitches on online freelancing platforms. Design/methodology/approach – This research used text analysis methodology to study entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial education at the post-secondary level and culture. It is achieved by first quantifying entrepreneurial orientation through a search of the entrepreneurial orientation's word list in sales descriptions of 25, 000 online freelancers from 58 countries, and then conducting correlation and regression tests to examine the moderating effect of cultural values on the relationship between entrepreneurial education at the post-secondary level and entrepreneurial orientation. Findings – The study found that entrepreneurial education at the post-secondary level affects the entrepreneurial orientation of society's online freelancers; however, all cultural moderators do not influence this relationship. Assertiveness, humane orientation and performance orientation are the only cultural values that moderate the entrepreneurial orientation level. Moreover, findings suggest that culture has a critical role in generating strategic results and a positive impact of entrepreneurial education programs on entrepreneurial orientation. Originality/value – This study employed sales pitches (sales descriptions) of online freelancers (archival data), representing a pioneering application of such data in examining entrepreneurial orientation. By focusing on online freelancers – an emerging mode of work – the study provides an ideal context for conducting this investigation. It further extends the scope of entrepreneurship research by elucidating the role of culture in shaping entrepreneurial orientation within the dynamic environment of global freelancing platforms. This research directly addresses ongoing calls in the literature for deeper inquiry into the contextual factors influencing entrepreneurial orientation.