1042-2587-02-264$1.50 Copyright 2002 by Baylor University The Influence of National E ] p Culture and Family ...... _____. ..._____..______. Involvement on Entrepreneurial Perceptions and Performance at the State Level James J. Chrisman Jess H. Chua Lloyd P. Steier This emplrlcal study tests how dimensions of national culture affect entrepreneurs' collec- tive perceptions of the business environment and the performances of newly created firms In the United States. The data are aggregated to the state level from survey responses of 3,619 preventure clients of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) program. DI· menslons of culture examined Include region, urbanization, nativity, ethnic mix, and family Involvement. Results Indicate that only family Involvement has a consistent Impact on the perceptions and performance of new ventures In the sample. It is generally acknowledged that culture is an important determinant of economic success. Landes (1998, p. 516) observes that "If we learn anything from the history of economic development, it is that culture makes all the difference." Indeed, a significant body of academic research has already established that national cultures greatly influ- ence productivity, innovation, and inventiveness (Shane, 1992, 1993 Shane, Venkat- araman, & MacMillan, 1995). Recently, Lenartowicz and Roth (1999) suggest that a better understanding of the nature and impact of culture within individual countries should become a central re- search focus. Those authors observe that most existing approaches to studying culture use national or geographical boundaries that, while convenient to define, represent overly broad units of analysis. They further suggest that culture-based research purport- ing to study business performance should identify and examine multiple subcultures within a single country. Lenartowicz and Roth's (2001) research on businesses in Brazil indicates that sub- cultures exist and that variations in subcultures impact performance. Their research further supports the notion of "layers of culture" observed by Hofstede, Neuijen, Ohayv, and Sanders ( 1990) and strongly suggests that studies of national culture should focus more on uncovering its many nuances and dimensions. In this article we further test the premise that national culture is not necessarily Summer, 2002 113