Stel, André vanLyalkov, SerhiyMillán Tapia, Ana MaríaMillán, José María2024-12-232024-12-232019-04van Stel, A., Lyalkov, S., Millán, A. et al. The moderating role of IPR on the relationship between country-level R&D and individual-level entrepreneurial performance. J Technol Transf 44, 1427–1450 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-019-09731-210.1007/s10961-019-09731-2https://hdl.handle.net/10433/22159Using recent data drawn from the European Working Conditions Survey for 32 European countries, we explore the relationship between country-level expenditures on R&D, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and individual-level entrepreneurial performance as measured by earnings. Our results show that both R&D expenditures and IPR are positively associated with earnings (and hence the quality) of individual entrepreneurs. However, we also find an intriguing moderation effect in the sense that IPR reduces the positive relationship between country R&D and entrepreneurial earnings. This suggests that too strict IPR legislation may hamper the diffusion of knowledge created by R&D. Hence, governments need to carefully consider the level of IPR they want to install, especially in countries with high R&D expenditures.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Expenditure on R&DIntellectual property rightsEntrepreneurshipSelf-employmentEarningsEuropean Working Conditions Surveyjournal articleopen access