Abstract
This study empirically explores the relationship between latent and actual entrepreneurship among a cross-cultural sample of 17,307 individuals across 20 different countries. We call upon the theory of planned behavior (TPB) perspective integrated with Scott's (2000) cultural cognitive framework to predict self-employed status in based on expressed preference for self-employment. We further examined how this relationship is moderated by the predominant cultural cognition. We find that expressed preference for entrepreneurship leads to actual behavior. We also find that entrepreneurship is more likely to be recorded in those societies wherein cultural cognition provides approval and moral support for entrepreneurial behavior.