Technological advances in automation,represented by artificial intelligence and robotics,continue to deepen their impact on the structure of the labor market,not only in terms of traditional employed work patterns,but also in terms of corpo-rate entrepreneurial choices and decisions.This paper examines the impact of robot use on entrepreneurial activity and possi-ble mechanisms based on the context of deepening automation at the country level,using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor(GEM)entrepreneurial activity data from 2011-2017 and International Federation of Robotics(IFR)country-level robot da-ta.The results of the study indicate that increased robot use has a significant contribution to entrepreneurial activity.With the division of opportunity entrepreneurship and necessity entrepreneurship according to entrepreneurial motivation,we found that increased robot use significantly promoted opportunity entrepreneurial activity.The findings remain robust controlling for endogeneity and considering different measures.This paper further examines the mechanism of robot use on entrepreneurial activity in terms of two dimensions:market entry barriers and human capital effects.The mechanism analysis finds that robot use facilitates the realization of entrepreneurial activity by simplifying the firm's production process,lowering the firm's mar-ket entry barriers,and increasing the level of human capital.Heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect of robot use on entre-preneurial activity is greater in OECD countries,and robot use significantly increases the probability of opportunity entrepre-neurial activity among middle-aged,female,and low-and middle-educated groups,which helps to narrow the entrepreneur-ial gap among different groups.This study provides some research ideas and references to promote the deepening of robotics application and the realization of opportunity entrepreneurial activities in China.
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
维普
