Exploring the relationship between entrepreneurial education, national culture and entrepreneurial orientation: insights from global freelancing platforms

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is the overall attitude of firms, ³which they adopt toward new emerging opportunities to gain a competitive advantage and survive in the market (Covin and Lumpkin, 2011). Literature shows that EO has an overall positive effect on firms' performance in terms of long-term profitability and survival; however, there are many studies, such as, Pratono and Mahmood (2015), which argues that investing heavily in EO may negatively affect firms' performance, showing the need for research on its various exigencies (Andersén, 2010; Anderson and Eshima, 2013; Messersmith and Wales, 2013). Scholars argue that firms need proper alignment of their strategies with the environment in which they operate, for EO to generate expected benefits (Wales, 2016). Accordingly, more researchers are exploring the contextual factors that may alter the relationship of EO with its various dimensions (e.g. Gupta and Batra, 2016; Stam and Elfring, 2008). Researchers agree that EO results from deliberate strategies, which firms or individual entrepreneurs adopt to create a competitive advantage and survive in the industry. In other words, EO directs firms to “be entrepreneurial” at all times to effectively compete in the market (Wales et al., 2020). As EO can be generated purposefully, entrepreneurial education and national culture are two of the critical contextual factors that affect the EO of entrepreneurs (Crossland and Hambrick, 2011).

Entrepreneurial education refers to educational programs and formal training designed to teach entrepreneurs the skills and attitudes they need to succeed (Fayolle et al., 2006). Entrepreneurs get the necessary skills and learn strategies to apply in their businesses to be successful (Souitaris et al., 2007). More specifically, they develop skills that enable them to innovate their products and services, compete effectively within their industry, exploit new business opportunities and ensure long-term sustainability. The study argues that entrepreneurial education is most effective when provided at the post-secondary level, as this is when many young people begin to develop skills for earning a living. Therefore, the study is examining entrepreneurial education at the post-secondary level (EEPS) as an independent variable. According to Hannon (2006), EEPS can help entrepreneurs make wise decisions and thrive in competitive environments. However, the culture in which they are brought up affects their choices. Therefore, it becomes important to see how their national culture affects the EO of the countries' freelancer entrepreneurs.

Culture is the shared beliefs that define what is acceptable to the members of society (Taras et al., 2009). According to North (1991), social beliefs and societal expectations work as the main pillars on which the structure of society stands. Then culture begins to function as a “common signpost” for what is acceptable to society (Chiles et al., 2007). As a result, these social values guide managers, indicating which decisions are acceptable to stakeholders (Crossland and Hambrick, 2007). This study argues that if the cultural settings affect EO on online freelancing platforms, different strategies would be needed to attract clients. This is because cultural values provide a range of actions appropriate for managers within their respective firms (Crossland and Hambrick, 2011). Consequently, if cultural values are not adequately considered by managers while making decisions, it can lead to the failure of the firm (Wiklund and Shepherd, 2011; Hahn et al., 2017). Furthermore, the researchers highlighted the need to study factors that are external to the businesses that drive their performance (Covin and Miller, 2014); however, adequate consideration is not given to social contextual factors, such as culture (e.g. Gupta and Gupta, 2015; Wiklund and Shepherd, 2005). Therefore, it is of immense importance to study the relationship between culture and EO, especially in the online freelancing world, where everything is global and freelancers' cultures are not the same as those of their clients.

Modern economies increasingly rely on freelancers, including contingent and project-based workers. Online freelancing platforms enable freelancers to offer a broader range of services than is possible through traditional channels, such as physical marketplaces. This shift is facilitated by the digital revolution, which has led to the emergence and growth of digital freelancing platforms (Cusumano et al., 2020). A freelancer is a person who works freely and is not employed by any particular employer permanently (Akhmetshin et al., 2018). They typically work on a project basis, undertaking a range of services including mobile application development, Website development, graphic design, financial analysis for small businesses, virtual assistant services and more. Freelancers acquire projects through numerous online platforms like Upwork.com, Fiverr.com, and others (Ahmed and Lucianetti, 2024). These online platforms are where buyers (also known as clients) and freelancers (also known as sellers) meet and make deals for services. These online platforms charge a commission from both parties involved. This study posits that each freelancer functions as a small business enterprise, even when operating alone, as they must assume all managerial responsibilities, including management, proactiveness and competitive strategies, on online freelancing platforms.

To the best of current knowledge, research on online freelancers and online freelancing platforms is scarce, despite the fact that online freelancing is growing rapidly, as Storey et al. (2018) predict that one out of every five workers in the United States will be freelancers by 2020. As projected, the United States now has 39% (two out of every five workers) professional freelancers, the highest percentage ever, generating $1.35 trillion in revenue (Upwork, 2023). Furthermore, it represents approximately 12% of the global workforce, which, according to the World Bank, is much higher than expected and makes it more deserving to be studied (World Bank, 2023). It suggests that freelancers, as part of a larger informal economy, provide an ideal setting for conducting this research, given the increasing number of workers joining the freelancing workforce. Moreover, these platforms operate globally, allowing freelancing firms from a specific cultural context to offer services worldwide. This makes it essential to examine whether these firms reflect the same cultural characteristics on global online freelancing platforms as those identified by House et al. (2004), indicating a consistent cultural representation across countries regardless of the nature or style of work. This will also help us understand how firms in the gig economy can align their strategy with the culture in which they operate. Therefore, to understand this phenomenon, the study investigates it through archival data, examining whether online freelancers with different EEPS and cultural backgrounds exhibit lower or higher levels of EO, as depicted in their sales pitches on these platforms. This study is also a pioneer in using such data for calculating EO and doing it through text analysis, which according to Wales et al. (2020), can effectively catch the level of EO from firms' general textual data available. Additionally, the research is contributing to the literature by improving the understanding of culture's role in the entrepreneurial orientation of businesses, which is a relatively under-explored area (Freytag, 2010).

The culture of any society is composed of different cultural dimensions, which act as a mechanism for running that society, i.e. assertiveness, future orientation, gender egalitarianism, humane orientation, societal collectivism, in-group collectivism, performance orientation, power distance and uncertainty avoidance (House et al., 2004). The research follows the nine cultural dimensions of House et al. (2004) for examining the moderating effect of culture on the relationship between EEPS and EO. The study argues that each of the nine essential elements acts differently and has an independent effect on EO. Several researchers have examined the relationship between cultural values and nonperformance outcomes, as well as investigated culture's single dimension (e.g. Kreiser et al., 2013; Engelen et al., 2015). However, they do not discuss culture's relationship with EEPS and EO, which is one of this study's contributions. Therefore, the research proposes a framework, i.e. Figure 1.

Moreover, in highly developed economies such as the United States and the European Union, digital platforms increasingly structure entrepreneurial activity and labor market participation. The widespread adoption of online freelancing platforms reflects advanced digital infrastructures, high levels of human capital, and strong institutional support for flexible and innovation-driven work arrangements. Within these contexts, freelancers operate as independent economic actors whose entrepreneurial orientation is shaped not only by platform mechanisms but also by broader cultural and institutional environments. Despite the growing relevance of freelancing platforms in developed economies, empirical research remains limited on how cultural factors influence entrepreneurial orientation in these digitally mediated settings. Addressing this gap is critical for advancing entrepreneurship and platform research in mature, technology-intensive markets.

The study makes several contributions to the literature. First, many studies examined moderators; however, the moderation of society's nine cultural dimensions provides new insights into the relationship between EEPS and EO (Hoskisson and Hitt, 1999; Short et al., 2008). Second, although every culture and freelancer entrepreneur has different cultural values and backgrounds, it is crucial to report on how they present themselves on global online platforms in terms of EO (Tung and Verbeke, 2010; Clark et al., 2024). Third, according to Schneider (1989), contextualization strengthens the accuracy of theorizing in management; it also immensely improves the explanation of results and reveals new significant insights (Rousseau and Fried, 2001). Therefore, this study contributes to this domain by discussing the EO in relation to cultural values (Johns Gary, 2006; Zahra, 2007; Welter, 2011).

The rest of the article is as follows. The next section discusses relevant literature leading to the development. In the following sections, the study presents the detailed methodology, results and analysis. Lastly, the article explains limitations, managerial and theoretical implications, and future research directions.

The conceptual framework of this study is grounded in two theoretical perspectives. First, the institutional theory suggests that institutions as a whole, especially their culture, significantly influence the outcomes resulting from the actions of individuals and groups inside them (Bruton and Ahlstrom, 2003). The reason for this is the values and beliefs of members of the respective society that shape their actions, which they consider legitimate in society or think are acceptable to others (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983). According to Yuan et al. (2023), individuals' actions collectively shape the overall environment of a society and influence its behavioral patterns. The second theory guiding this study is the managerial discretion theory, which posits that different societies grant varying degrees of latitude for managers' actions they deem appropriate (Crossland and Hambrick, 2011). Given that scenario, freelancing firms do not seem to be objective in their functioning; rather, it is a matter of managerial intentions, perceptions and environmental interpretations, where a national culture appears to play a crucial and influential role in the proper implementation of firms' strategy. Consequently, managers are not fully autonomous in their actions and have to consider their actions' alignment with society's values (Crossland and Hambrick, 2007). Therefore, freelancing firms and their managers are not autonomous in their actions to generate EO and handle moderation in the face of factors operating in the environment, making it a perfect setting for analysis.

EO encompasses practices, processes inside firms, and decision-making styles that lead firms to develop new products or enter markets (Lumpkin and Dess, 1996). Other researchers conceive EO as a firm that is actively involved in product/service innovation, accepts risky projects to accomplish, and has a highly proactive approach toward competitors (e.g. Cho and Lee, 2018; Miller, 2011). Entrepreneurial orientation is regarded as a foundation for achieving competitive advantage, as it explains how firms can restructure their operations to pursue new growth trajectories. It represents the process through which owners make strategic decisions to advance the organization's mission (Abu-Rumman et al., 2021). According to Kraus et al. (2023), Ata et al. (2022) and Tajeddini et al. (2023), there is a strong positive relationship between EO, bricolage and disruptive innovation, leading to the success of entrepreneurial firms. The literature also shows a strong link between EO and firms' performance (Gupta and Wales, 2017). However, several researchers question its direct positive relationship and argue that various contextual factors influence it, such as EEPS serving as an antecedent and cultural values acting as moderating factors (e.g. Lumpkin and Dess, 2001; Andersén, 2010; Wales, 2016; Putniņš and Sauka, 2020). These contextual factors strongly influence the level of EO among freelancer entrepreneurs, i.e. innovation, proactivity and autonomy.

The EEPS encompasses training programs, counseling and other social activities that enable entrepreneurs to acquire entrepreneurial skills and develop their capacity for suitable entrepreneurial decision-making (Fayolle and Klandt, 2006). According to Cheung (2008), governments regard EEPS as highly significant, as it can contribute to a country's economic development by enhancing the skill levels of its workforce. It plays a vital role in imparting entrepreneurial skills and behavior among entrepreneurs (Fayolle and Klandt, 2006). Moreover, the students' choice of starting new ventures is also affected by the educational support they get at the university (Engle et al., 2011; Nabi and Liñán, 2013; Trivedi, 2016; Anwar et al., 2020). Prior research also highlights how institutional accreditation frameworks influence individual-level orientations and motivations by shaping norms, capabilities and value systems (Shraah and Alshurideh, 2022). According to Franco et al. (2010) and Lindberg et al. (2017), aspirant entrepreneurs' skills are nurtured by EEPS. Hence, the literature shows a positive relationship between EEPS and entrepreneurs' success (Westhead and Solesvik, 2016; Hahn et al., 2017; Ram et al., 2017; Passaro et al., 2018). Therefore, it is hypothesized:

Culture is society's shared norms, values and practices (Taras et al., 2009). These shared norms, beliefs and practices are the result of common experiences that the members of society passed on to generations through learning and socialization (House et al., 2004). Many studies revealed that national culture has a significant impact on the EO of entrepreneurs (Lee et al., 2011). According to Lee and Peterson (2000), countries with specific cultural attributes tend to foster a stronger entrepreneurial orientation than others. Many researchers believe that culture is an important contextual factor because firms whose strategies align with national culture expectations perform better than other competing firms (Newman and Nollen, 1996).

Furthermore, Hemelgor (2002) argued that there is a significant difference between US and Dutch firms, which is because of substantial cultural differences between the two countries. However, despite the strong emphasis on national cultural values in the context, few studies have investigated the influence of national culture on EO (Hayton et al., 2002; Kreiser et al., 2013). It is also important to mention that few studies attempted to examine this relationship by treating culture as a single-dimension item or in a single country's context (Gupta and Gupta, 2015; Wales, 2016).

House et al. (2004) presented nine distinct cultural dimensions: assertiveness, future orientation, gender egalitarianism, humane orientation, social collectivism, in-group collectivism, performance orientation, power distance and uncertainty avoidance. The study considered cultural dimensions as individual items, as the literature shows that each item captures a distinct cultural aspect of society (House et al., 2004). For instance, uncertainty avoidance negatively affects the overall well-being of the society, while other dimensions do not affect in the same way (Arrindell et al., 1997). Similarly, the performance orientation is the only dimension that exhibits admiration for success in society, however, not others (Diehl et al., 2008). Therefore, it seems appropriate to examine the moderating effect of cultural dimensions individually on the relationship between EEPS and EO.

Assertiveness reflects the level of dominance and confrontation that a society shows in its social interactions (House et al., 2004). According to Diehl et al. (2008), societies higher in assertiveness support and encourage the members of society to dominate over others and have aggressive behavior, which makes it easier for freelancer entrepreneurs to plan for more entrepreneurial education, believe in the future benefits and adopt an overall aggressive entrepreneurial strategy. Whereas, when society is low on aggressiveness, it becomes difficult for freelancers to convince their stakeholders (e.g. freelancing team members, employees, services' suppliers) about competing aggressively and having aggressive sales pitches. According to Lyon et al. (2000), EO activities related to introducing new products are associated with a strong desire to stay ahead of rivals on online platforms. Such activities are also considered antithetical to the “live-and-let-live” value in any society's culture that characterizes low assertiveness. Therefore, the research hypothesizes:

The future orientation is the society's propensity toward delaying its instant gratification and instead thinking and investing resources for the long term (House et al., 2004). It is society's belief that their current actions can change their future outcomes. The higher the future orientation, the higher the emphasis on systematic planning and the time required to reach goals (Gupta et al., 2002). Whereas societies low on future orientation tend to have short-term goals, and their actors appear to be quite opportunistic in their working styles. Therefore, it is logical to say that societies with higher future orientation tend more toward EEPS, which leads to lower EO, and vice versa. This is because future orientation makes them less likely to capitalize on entrepreneurial opportunities, as it involves more thinking and systematic planning. Ideally, there should be strategic flexibility in firms' planning to respond to emergent threats effectively (Lumpkin and Dess, 1996). However, according to Covin et al. (2006), there is a substantial tradeoff between advance planning and taking advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities, irrespective of entrepreneurial education. Firms' responses to this situation vary and depend on many factors. Therefore, it is suggested:

Gender egalitarianism pertains to the extent to which differences in gender roles and discrimination based on gender are minimized (House et al., 2004). The literature shows that societies that value men and women equally are more innovative and able to make effective and quality decision-making (McLeod et al., 1996). This research argues that men and women have different and unique ways of looking at strategic issues of firms, given the same EEPS. Gender egalitarianism allows both men and women equal opportunities so that they can contribute equally to the achievement of strategic goals (Emrich et al., 2004). Freelancing firms with this cultural value tend to adopt new trends and opportunities more quickly than others due to the timing of their decision-making and the differing perspectives of genders on these issues (Wiklund and Shepherd, 2005). Furthermore, when members feel valued and appreciated for their work, they are more likely to pursue entrepreneurial education, leading to higher EO. Therefore, operating in a culture open to unbiased analysis of the opportunities from both genders would foster more benefits (Turley et al., 2024). Thus, the study predicts:

Humane orientation refers to the degree to which societies value kindness, generosity, and fairness (House et al., 2004). The concept of humane orientation is the same as explained by Hofstede and Bond (1988), i.e. Kind-Heartedness. Members of societies with low humane orientation expect others to look out for themselves. According to House et al. (2004), the labor recruitment, hiring, and firing policies are also less restrictive in these countries (low on humane orientation), as the management of firms believes that they will manage themselves. On the other hand, managers in societies higher on the humane orientation show generosity in their approach toward employees, even if it costs their firms (Kennedy, 2002). This implies that freelancers would have more EEPS and higher EO if the society in which they are living has a lower humane orientation and vice versa, because it could be their belief that EEPS would make them more competitive and help them in erasing their competitors, leading to higher EO. Additionally, a high humane orientation in a society does not benefit freelancing firms/individual freelancers to be entrepreneurially oriented, as it is hard and time-consuming to decide which products to compete and how much to compete with competitors. It is suggested:

Societal collectivism indicates the extent to which institutional structures within a society promote and reward collective action and the collective distribution of resources. According to Leung and Bond (1984), societies with higher societal collectivism have fewer conflicts and more cohesiveness. Moreover, in these types of countries, people are attracted toward common goals and shared vision, making it easier for them to accept entrepreneurial strategy (Chen et al., 1998). It is important to mention that some researchers argue that low societal collectivism is more conducive to the EO, such as Lee and Peterson (2000). In contrast, some say that high societal collectivism supports the higher EO, such as Stewart (1989). It is argued that substantial social collectivism benefits EO by fostering a higher commitment to shared goals and the upliftment of society's members, who are more likely to pursue EEPS due to their belief in its societal benefits. It would be difficult for them to be different on critical strategic matters. Therefore, the entrepreneurial strategies and efforts toward its achievement would be followed wholeheartedly. This position on societal collectivism is aligned with the researches, which suggests that it is necessary to have societal collectivism for achieving full benefits from the innovative approaches toward the issues (Rosenbusch et al., 2011). Therefore, the hypothesis is:

In-group collectivism is the degree to which members of society feel loyalty, pride and cohesiveness in their families and organizations (House et al., 2004). According to Markus and Kitayama (1991), it is actually a sense of interdependence between members of society belonging to the same group. The society with a higher emphasis on this cultural value expects its members not to view themselves as individuals independent from the group and socializes them extensively to align their goals with the goals of the group (Bhawuk, 2017). Moreover, it is the group action mentality and demands collective actions toward the group's problems. The study argues that freelancing firms in these societies have a strong tendency to surrender their individual goals and agendas in favor of collective goals and tend to have higher EEPS, because they believe in entrepreneurial education to generate benefits, resulting in higher EO (House et al., 2004). This also helps in fostering collaborative communication across the different parts of the firm. Hence, strong and harmonious relationships within the firm help in implementing innovative and proactive market strategies, which ultimately lead to higher EO. The study suggests:

Performance orientation refers to the degree to which society rewards and encourages its members for excellence in their work and overall productivity (House et al., 2004). The study argues that performance orientation is necessary to reap the full benefits of EO with the help of EEPS, as employees perform at their best level because they believe their work will be appreciated for being best in class. Additionally, when higher performance is encouraged in any society, it fosters innovation and quality initiatives that lead to higher quality products and services and challenge the status quo, which strengthens the relationship between EEPS and EO. This is because freelancers from these societies acquire more EEPS and firmly believe that their hard work will pay off, which results in higher EO. Resultantly, the EO efforts and their legitimacy increase in the firms, and higher results are achieved. Therefore, it is hypothesized:

Power distance is the degree to which society accepts the unequal sharing of power (House et al., 2004). Societies with higher power distance tend to concentrate power in the hands of a few individuals, allowing them to act with minimal constraints (Niranjan et al., 2013). EO is higher in societies with high power distance because members in these societies believe that entrepreneurial education (EEPS) is the only way to outperform, and hence, getting more EEPS leads to higher EO. Moreover, it also makes it easier for senior management to coordinate efforts related to EO and enforce them, which contributes to the achievement of goals (Covin et al., 2006). Moreover, online freelancers (or online freelancing firms) enjoy greater respect and higher autonomy in their actions in societies with higher power distance (Dvouletý, 2024), as management can easily make difficult decisions due to less scrutiny of their actions within and outside their freelancing business (Crossland and Hambrick, 2011). Therefore, the hypothesis is proposed:

Uncertainty avoidance is the level to which society prefers to avoid unpredictability (House et al., 2004). Societies with higher uncertainty avoidance have formal procedures, rituals and bureaucratic procedures to prevent uncertainty and problems generated (Niranjan et al., 2013). A higher emphasis on uncertainty avoidance is associated with a lower desire for risk-taking, hence a low desire to acquire EEPS and overall a low preference to try any innovative strategy by the freelancing firm. The reason for this is the mindset that makes them realize there is no guarantee of higher EO, even with more EEPS. Therefore, they prefer to avoid uncertainty rather than work on their entrepreneurial education. Freelancing firms in societies characterized by higher uncertainty avoidance have strict rules, formal procedures and do not accept trial and error practices adopted for EO (Wang, 2008). Hence, it is suggested:

The study examined the moderating effect of cultural values on the relationship between EEPS and EO of 58 countries (i.e. 58 societies). The research relied on House et al. (2004) for cultural values. The sample is diverse, which can enhance the generalizability of this research, as it encompasses all types of countries in terms of development, i.e. underdeveloped, developing and developed. A few countries named are Australia, Belgium, Croatia and Denmark. The study selects categories of freelancers from www.freelancer.com, on the basis that their sales pitches (gig descriptions) are significantly influenced by their cultural backgrounds. Therefore, five categories of freelancers were chosen, i.e. designers, writers, Internet marketing specialists, logistics services and virtual assistants. Data are collected from one hundred freelancers in each category, resulting in an ideal total of five hundred per country.

A tab corresponding to a specific category was selected, along with the application of a country-specific filter. The first one hundred entries from the resulting list were then chosen to constitute the sample. Moreover, the website generates this list randomly; for example, when it shows the list in any category, the website's algorithm makes sure that it contains highly rated freelancers, new freelancers, expensive freelancers and low-price freelancers; therefore, the sample is free from selection biasness. However, there were a few countries that did not have the required number of freelancers in any category, such as Zimbabwe, where there were only five freelancers in the virtual assistants' category. Consequently, these circumstances limited the total sample to 24,708 online freelancers.

Independent variable. EEPS is kept as an independent variable. It will help us understand whether entrepreneurial education among its citizens at the post-secondary level makes any difference in the EO level of online freelancers of that country. The data values for EEPS are obtained from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Global Report 2021 (GEM, 2021).

Dependent variable. EO is measured by the Computer Aided Text Analysis (CATA) technique adopted by Short et al. (2010). Since the list of words measuring EO and its dimensions was already available (developed by Short et al., 2010), the study utilized it ( Appendix). The words are searched within each online freelancer entrepreneur's sales pitch, commonly referred to as the gig description. The higher the number of words representing EO in gig descriptions, the higher the EO of those online freelancers, ultimately leading to a higher total EO for that country.

Moderating variable. The research relied on scores of cultural values provided by House et al. (2004). For some countries, such as Switzerland and Germany, different values are provided for their distinct language-speaking societies; the study incorporated these countries as one society by taking the average.

Control variables. The study used information and communication technologies (ICT) penetration and unemployment rate as control variables. Both variables will help us understand whether there is a relationship between them and the EO depicted by its freelancers. The data for ICT penetration and unemployment rate for the year 2021 is obtained from the websites of the International Telecommunication Union (an agency of the United Nations) (ITU, 2021) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF, 2021) respectively.

For measuring EO among online freelancers, the study collected sales descriptions of 24,708 freelancers. Later, the word list generated for EO is searched within the sales descriptions of these 24,708 freelancers. First, a correlation test is performed for all variables to check for multicollinearity, as shown in Table 1. Variables with correlation values higher than 0.7 are removed. Only uncertainty avoidance correlates higher than 0.7; hence, it was removed from further analysis. Later, the study performed regression analysis to see the direct effect of entrepreneurial education at the post-secondary level on the entrepreneurial orientation of freelancers, along with the moderating effect of cultural dimensions.

The regression analysis, i.e. Table 2 (also illustrated in Figure 2), shows that there is a significant positive relationship between EEPS and EO (β = 0.083, p < 0.05, Hypothesis 1), hence H1 is supported. It shows that the more societies are high on EEPS, the more EO is exhibited by their online freelancers working on platforms from these societies. Then, the moderating effect of each cultural dimension is analyzed. H2a is supported (p < 0.05), indicating that assertiveness has a negative moderating effect on the EEPS and EO relationship. Specifically, societies with higher assertiveness levels and more EEPS tend to have lower EO among their online freelancers. The relationship contradicts the proposed hypothesis, which this study argues that it is a new culture that is emerging in online working environments. H2b is not supported (p > 0.05), suggesting that future orientation in the societies in context does not influence the EEPS and EO relationship. Moreover, H2c is also not supported, as results show (p > 0.05), revealing that gender egalitarianism has no moderation on the association between EEPS and EO.

H2d is supported (p < 0.05), depicting that humane orientation moderates the association between EEPS and EO of online freelancers. The proposed H2e and H2f are not supported (p > 0.05), showing no moderation effect of societal collectivism and in-group collectivism, respectively. Furthermore, the study found that performance orientation moderates the relationship between EEPS and EO, supporting H2g (p < 0.05). This suggests that societies with a high performance orientation have more EEPS, leading to higher EO among their online freelancing firms. Lastly, the proposed H2h and H2i are not supported (p > 0.05), showing no influence over the EEPS and EO relationship.

The study provides important insights into the topic that received relatively less attention in management (Covin and Miller, 2014). Notably, the methodology adopted in this study is considered a methodology of choice, as it utilizes existing empirical evidence to draw new inferences and recommendations based on research for practice in organizational studies (Gupta et al., 2018). EEPS significantly affects the EO of freelancing firms, similar to its impact on traditional businesses. The primary reason for this effect is that entrepreneurial education programs teach general business sense and other necessary techniques for running businesses successfully, leading to higher EO when utilized by freelancing firms (Munir et al., 2024). Furthermore, driven by institutional theory and managerial discretion theory, this research speculates that freelancing firms generate higher EO through EEPS, depending on the freelancers' sales descriptions' alignment with cultural dimensions that moderate the relationship, i.e. assertiveness, humane orientation and performance orientation. It has been learned that not all dimensions moderate this relationship. More importantly, the cultural dimensions that affect EEPS and EO in traditional working environments do not affect online working environments, for instance, the assertiveness. The reason behind this anomaly could be the online nature of work, in which firms do not depict the same culture as they are supposed to, i.e. the same culture from where they are operating. They tend to hide behind the so-called “online culture” and align their strategies with the platforms' culture.

This research puts together two significant theoretical perspectives to highlight the role of national culture in demonstrating the relationship between EEPS and EO. Therefore, the study first examines how EEPS affects the EO of online freelancers. It then investigates whether cultural values influence the latitude of freelancers in generating EO when working from specific societies on these online freelancing platforms (Gupta et al., 2018). The findings strongly suggest that two cultural values out of nine are essential to bolster the relationship between EEPS and EO, and the opposite is true in the case of assertiveness. Consequently, in societies where EEPS is provided and has EO strategies adopted with keeping performance orientation and humane orientation in view, the EO would be higher among online freelancers and vice versa (in case of assertiveness). This is also aligned with the notion that considering various contextual factors, particularly cultural ones, facilitates alignment with the overall environment, making it difficult for competitors to imitate (Boal and Hooijberg, 2000). Moreover, the results also show that an informal environment, such as culture, can be critical in generating strategic results, i.e. desired EO level (Giorgi et al., 2015).

Results support the argument that contextual factors affect the EEPS and EO relationship, forcing EO to be appropriately aligned with the environment to get full benefits (Lumpkin and Dess, 1996). Prior research has focused on industries' environments that impact the EO level of traditional firms (Gupta and Batra, 2016). In contrast, this study examines the contextual cultural factors influencing the EO of online freelancing firms. The study provides evidence that EEPS facilitates the adoption of entrepreneurial strategies, i.e. EO, only when cultural values are appropriately considered, as three cultural values significantly moderate this relationship (Anderson and Eshima, 2013). Moreover, it is an important contribution of this study that literature suggests that the relationship between EEPS and EO is of similar magnitude in different cultures; however, major studies only analyzed Western societies (Rauch et al., 2009). Whereas, this research provides information on this relationship in many societies, other than the Western world, as our sample is diverse and includes countries like Cuba, South Africa.

Research finds that three cultural values, i.e. assertiveness, performance orientation and humane orientation, individually moderate the relationship between EEPS and EO. Therefore, the study argues that if performance orientation is high in any society, its online freelancers will have more EO than others because higher performance expectations in society or from clients force them to deliver more entrepreneurial strategies. This research also finds that a new culture is emerging in online working contexts, which could be termed as online culture, as societies that are high on assertiveness negatively influence online freelancers, hence, they show less entrepreneurial orientation elements in their sales pitch and vice versa. However, contrary to expectations, future orientation, gender egalitarianism, societal collectivism, in-group collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance do not affect the EEPS and EO relationship. The possible reasons for this could be the high number of freelancers who run their freelancing firms individually; consequently, factors like societal collectivism, in-group collectivism and power distance do not affect this relationship. Moreover, in today's competitive world, everyone wants their work done at affordable rates, regardless of the gender of the person performing it. Therefore, since freelancing is an online work, gender egalitarianism does not affect it. Thus, the three cultural values significantly affect the EO of online freelancers. Furthermore, the insignificant results for ICT penetration indicate that the prevalence of online work is not directly influenced by the level of ICT infrastructure available in a country. This suggests that individuals engage in online work regardless of national variations in technological facilities. Similarly, the unemployment rate does not appear to influence the tendency to participate in online work, implying that people may choose freelancing or other forms of online employment even when opportunities exist in traditional sectors. These findings highlight that motivations for engaging in online work extend beyond structural or infrastructural factors.

The study also advances the literature on national culture. Literature at a glance provides information on individual elements of national culture; however, it does not receive deserved attention on its moderating role (Taras et al., 2009). Furthermore, this study finds that freelancing firms can benefit significantly from designing their strategies with consideration of cultural values, leading to higher EO. Future studies can do worthwhile research by analyzing all cultural values simultaneously. Therefore, a key takeaway from the findings is that national culture is worth studying in entrepreneurship literature, aligning with calls for greater attention to national culture in EO literature (Covin and Miller, 2014).

Like any research, this study also has some limitations. These limitations can be valuable future research avenues. First, the study relied on data of cultural values from House et al. (2004), which was collected several years ago. There can be a significant change in these cultural values of societies. Future studies can collect new data on these cultural values. Second, the research relied on secondary data for cultural values, which is limited to 58 countries, a sample size that may be considered somewhat small for producing generalized results. Therefore, it is suggested that future studies consider a broader range of countries. Third, this research utilizes a list of words developed by Short et al. (2010) for measuring EO. However, this list was developed for traditional businesses and does not account for the online business world. This can miss many important keywords that can depict EO in the online freelancing world. Future research can develop a list of words measuring EO for online platform businesses. Fourth, this study focuses exclusively on entrepreneurial education at the post-secondary level, excluding other forms of entrepreneurial education. Future studies can take a holistic view of entrepreneurial education provided in any society to understand the phenomenon better. Furthermore, there were missing data for some countries in the case of all variables. Future studies can apply more accurate values to the missing data, as this study has taken averages for missing data. Last but not least, the study relied on GLOBE's conception of national cultural values, however, there are many other frameworks available that capture national culture (Taras et al., 2009; Giorgi et al., 2015). It will be interesting to see whether other frameworks reveal new insights.

Based on managerial discretion theory and institutional theory, the research suggests that EEPS increases the EO of online freelancers and three national cultural values, i.e. assertiveness, humane orientation, and performance orientation, moderate this relationship. The findings indicate that certain dimensions of national culture significantly influence the level of EO among online freelancers, and they can effectively formulate entrepreneurial strategies to achieve the desired level of EO by taking these cultural values into account. This study extends the literature on entrepreneurial education, entrepreneurial orientation and national culture. It enriches EO theory by applying it to the underexplored context of freelancers, showing how EO dimensions (like innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking) manifest in platform-based work. The findings can also be generalized to other forms of work, particularly those that fall under the gig economy. The research also contributes to cross-cultural entrepreneurship research by showing how national or local culture influences freelancers' entrepreneurial behaviors and decisions. Moreover, theoretically, the findings suggest that online freelancing platforms have their own culture and is not precisely similar to the country's general culture, as shown by House et al. (2004), this is because of the online freelancing platforms' global reach. The study's significant practical implication is that freelancers need to carefully align their gig descriptions with cultural dimensions, as it could lead to attracting clients on global freelancing platforms. There are also important implications for clients or buyers of services at these online freelancing platforms, as carefully screening the freelancer's cultural background can inform them about how they should expect the freelancer's strategies while working in the long run. Furthermore, policymakers can design entrepreneurship-supportive measures (e.g. funding, education) considering cultural variations in freelance entrepreneurship. Also, training programs can be tailored keeping in view the nation's EO and cultural configuration, improving the performance and adaptability of freelancers (Sreenivasan and Suresh, 2025). The promotion of online work, wherever feasible, also contributes to reducing national fuel consumption, which is a crucial element in achieving sustainable development (Qi et al., 2023; Yikun et al., 2023). Freelancing platforms can also optimize features (e.g. communication, support tools) to support culturally diverse freelancers, considering our results. It will be interesting to examine how cultural values, as a single moderating variable, simultaneously affect the EEPS and EO relationship. Despite the limitation of relying on secondary data, this study offers valuable, insightful and critical contributions to understanding the nexus between culture and entrepreneurial orientation (EO).