When education sticks: early imprints and sociopreneurship in emerging economies

This study examines how entrepreneurship education and training (EET) influences sociopreneurship in emerging economies. Drawing on dynamic imprinting theory, we argue that EET received at different stages of life leaves imprints of unequal durability, and that the expression of those imprints depends on supportive institutional conditions. Using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey and National Expert Survey data from 26 emerging economies from 2002 to 2022, we distinguish between basic-school and post-school EET and assess how commercial and professional infrastructure, country-level cultural and social norms shape their relationship with sociopreneurship. The findings show that basic-school EET is positively associated with sociopreneurship, suggesting that earlier educational exposure creates more durable prosocial and opportunity-oriented imprints. By contrast, post-school EET is weak or insignificant on average but becomes positively associated with sociopreneurship where institutional infrastructure and cultural norms are more supportive. These results extend dynamic imprinting theory by showing that educational imprints vary by timing and that institutions operate not merely as background conditions but as mechanisms that reactivate latent imprints. The study contributes to research on entrepreneurship education and social entrepreneurship and offers policy implications for early educational intervention and ecosystem development in emerging economies.