Abstract
The word“entrepreneur”originated in French and refers to an individual who possesses an adventurous spirit and is responsible for the operation or management of an organization. In this context,scientifically and reasonably quantifying entrepreneurship has become a key link in policy design and theoretical research. Existing discussions in the academic community include two branches. One focuses on the innovation dimension,often using a single or a few indicators,which is simple but difficult to fully reflect its rich connotations; the other builds a multi-dimensional system,incorporating elements such as risk-taking,management,learning,and social responsibility on the basis of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit,which is more in line with the diverse real-life roles of entrepreneurs.
However,existing research still needs improvement in two aspects: Firstly,it pays insufficient attention to the “soft” dimensions such as values and social responsibility inherent in entrepreneurial spirit,making it difficult to fully reflect the connotations of entrepreneurial spirit; Secondly,it is still weak in combining with the policy orientation and development characteristics of the new era in China,especially lacking in reflecting major strategic backgrounds such as common prosperity and high-quality development. This easily leads to insufficient adaptability in evaluating Chinese entrepreneurial spirit and makes it difficult to accurately capture the evolution of entrepreneurial behavior and spirit traits driven by policies. It can be seen that although scholars at home and abroad have gradually deepened their research on entrepreneurial spirit in recent years,there is still a lack of a scientific and reasonable indicator system for quantifying and evaluating Chinese entrepreneurial spirit.
In this regard,this study takes the five aspects of Chinese entrepreneurial spirit in the new era (patriotism,innovation,integrity and law-abiding,social responsibility,and international perspective) as the first-level indicators. This study establishes an evaluation index system for Chinese entrepreneurial spirit,covering 11 secondary indicators and 12 evaluation contents. Based on this index system,the entrepreneurial spirit of nearly 3500 enterprises in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2012 to 2024 was quantitatively evaluated,and the differences in entrepreneurial spirit among six types of enterprise nature,12 major industries,and 31 provincial administrative regions were compared. The results show: ①From 2012 to 2021,the entrepreneurial spirit of Chinese listed companies fluctuated and rose overall,reaching a peak in 2021. This upward trend has laid a solid foundation for entrepreneurial spirit; although it declined somewhat from 2022 to 2024,this was a strategic adjustment by enterprises in a high-risk environment. In the long term,with economic recovery and the implementation of policies,entrepreneurial spirit is expected to gradually recover and focus more on quality improvement. ② At the provincial level,the total scores of eastern coastal provinces continue to lead,while some provinces in the central and western regions have outstanding performance in social responsibility and patriotism. ③ At the industry level,technology-intensive industries have obvious advantages in innovation and international perspective,while basic and public service industries are more stable in integrity and law-abiding and social responsibility. ④At the enterprise nature level,state-owned enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises lead in the overall score,while private enterprises are active in the innovation dimension. Furthermore,the results of the panel data regression analysis we employed indicate that entrepreneurial spirit has a significant positive predictive effect on the performance of enterprises,thereby further verifying the effectiveness of this assessment system.Based on this,this study has proposed policy suggestions for promoting the entrepreneurial spirit in the new era from aspects such as overall recommendations,cultivating patriotism,stimulating innovation spirit,practicing integrity and law-abiding,undertaking social responsibilities,and expanding international perspectives. It has also pointed out the future research directions.
The main contributions of this study can be summarized into three aspects: Firstly,it has constructed an authoritative and characteristic evaluation system from a single dimension to multiple dimensions. Previous studies mostly focused on the innovation or entrepreneurship dimension and used a single indicator to measure entrepreneurial spirit,ignoring its multi-level social and cultural connotations. However,this study innovatively introduced five core dimensions and constructed a multi-dimensional quantitative assessment system. This system takes into account both economic performance and social value,thereby presenting the era connotations and social characteristics of Chinese entrepreneurial spirit more systematically. Theoretically,this system provides a more comprehensive perspective,helping the academic community to deeply explore the connotations of entrepreneurial spirit,and enabling more precise measurement and analysis in line with China's national conditions and policy environment. In terms of application value,this system can help the government and all sectors of society better identify and cultivate entrepreneurs,and promote Chinese enterprises to gain an advantage in global competition. Secondly,a scientific and reasonable indicator weight and assessment method have been established. The determination of the weights of primary indicators and the secondary indicators has consolidated the consensus of academia,industry and policy,forming a comprehensive and precise measurement system. Thirdly,the assessment results are sustainable and easily accessible. The original data sources are stable,the assessment process is replicable,the results can be verified,and it supports annual updates and free public disclosure,providing reliable data support for related research and decision-making.
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