Comparing entrepreneurial communities Theory and evidence from a cross-country study in Asia Justin Paul University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA and University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, USA, and Archana Shrivastava Vellore Institute of Technology, Madras, India Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare entrepreneurial attributes of MBA students, the next generation business people, from two important Asian countries, India from South Asia and Japan from East Asia (India, being an emerging country and Japan, a developed country). Design/methodology/approach – Survey responses from MBA students in India and Japan were measured on an entrepreneurial personality index. Bateman and Crant’s scale consisting of 17 traits is used to identify if entrepreneurial traits are a learned cultural behaviour or intrinsic personality factors. Findings – Although the findings indicate that India has benefitted from entrepreneurship in the information technology and information technology-enabled service ventures during the past two decades, the country still has a long way to go when compared to developed countries like Japan, where entrepreneurship is widespread. Research limitations/implications – The results are based on a single survey, using cross- sectional data. Originality/value – The level of entrepreneurship differs considerably across countries and periods. The authors put forward a theoretical framework to denote the linkage between entrepreneurial attitude, pro-active personality and culture, besides highlighting the three pillars of entrepreneurship. Keywords Culture, Entrepreneurship, Proactive personality, Japan and India, Three pillars Paper type Research paper Introduction It has been revealed from extensive research that people who choose entrepreneurial careers look for greater financial and psychological rewards than traditional employment. Entrepreneurship is measured by self-employment and has become an increasingly prominent characteristic of industrialised economies. The definition of an entrepreneur has evolved over past three centuries, from someone who bears risk by buying at a low price and selling at a higher price, to the creation of new enterprises of which the entrepreneur is the founder. According to McClelland (1961) and Say (1963), an entrepreneur is one who brings together the factors of production, provisions of continuing management and willingness to bear risk. Schumpeter (1950) envisioned that an entrepreneur is the agent who provides an economic leadership that changes the The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/1750-6204.htm JEC 9,3 206 Received 18 June 2013 Revised 15 September 2014 30 October 2014 Accepted 7 December 2014 Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy Vol. 9 No. 3, 2015 pp. 206-220 © Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1750-6204 DOI 10.1108/JEC-06-2013-0018