Why older workers become entrepreneurs? International evidence using fuzzy set methods

In this paper, we empirically analyze the individual characteristics that drive older workers to become entrepreneurs, providing evidence of the differences between developed and developing countries. While OLS models provide limited conclusions, Qualitative Comparative Analysis and fuzzy set logic, at the country level, using GEM 2014 Adult Population Survey micro-data, show the importance of the various combinations of high and/or low presence of skills, opportunities, entrepreneurial perceptions, peer effects, and satisfaction with life and income. This indicates how entrepreneurship may be a potential source of income for older workers, in a range of contexts. Further, we find that all the possible combinations of higher proportions of individuals with the latter features are necessary conditions. Our results contribute by identifying certain aspects of the entrepreneurial behavior of older workers, highlighting certain causal patterns of the complex phenomenon that is entrepreneurship.