David Urbano is a professor of Entrepreneurship at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and deputy director at the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation Research (CREIS). He earned a PhD in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management (UAB / Växjö University - Sweden). His research on institutions and entrepreneurship has been published in multiple leading academic journals and he currently participates in numerous international research projects (e.g., GEM, GUESSS). He is a research fellow at IfM Bonn (Germany) and at the Basque Observatory for Entrepreneurship (OVE-EBB), and he regularly visits Haas School of Business (University of California Berkeley). He is associate editor of Small Business Economics Journal (SBEJ) and International Small Business Journal (ISBJ), a member of the Board of Directors in the European Council of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ECSB), and president of the Entrepreneurship Division at the Spanish Academy of Management (ACEDE).

Research interests

David Urbano’s research focuses on the analysis of factors affecting entrepreneurship in different contexts, using the institutional approach, and combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Particularly, he is interested in analyzing: (a) the influence of institutions (legal and cultural) on entrepreneurship; (b) the diversity in entrepreneurship (entrepreneurial universities, social entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, etc.) in light of the institutional perspective; and (c) the link between entrepreneurship and socio-economic performance through institutional lenses. To complement institutional economics, other theoretical perspectives are considered in order to explain entrepreneurship variations across countries at different levels of analysis (human capital, dynamic capabilities, and entrepreneurship ecosystems). Also, his research provides useful insights for the design of entrepreneurship policies to foster economic performance and social prosperity.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial activity, small business, diversity in entrepreneurship, institutions, institutional economics.