The effect of urban culture on the development of urban entepreneurship: A comparative analysis on the case of Şanlıurfa and Gaziantep

Entrepreneurship is a determining factor in the development of the urban economy. There is a direct relationship between the cultural structure of the city and entrepreneurship. Just as entrepreneurship can affect urban culture, urban culture can also affect entrepreneurship. Although Şanlıurfa and Gaziantep are neighboring cities, they show significant differences in the areas such as environment and energy, education and culture, price and inflation construction and housing, employment and unemployment, population and demography, health and social protection, agriculture and farming, transportation and communication. For example, while the labor force participation rate is %40,6 in Şanlıurfa, it is %50 in Gaziantep, the employment rate is %34,5 in Şanlıurfa, it is %45 in Gaziantep and the unemployment rate is %15 in Şanlıurfa, %10,1 in Gaziantep, and the per capita gross domestic product is 3.012 dollars in Şanlıurfa, it is 7.819 dollars in Gaziantep. In this study, the economic underdevelopment of Şanlıurfa relatively to Gaziantep was researched within the framework of the effect of urban culture on urban entrepreneurship. The relationship between urban culture and urban entrepreneurship was examined through cultural elements affecting entrepreneurship such as geographical location, history, language, religion, economic structure, public policies, family structure, gender, education and awareness of the city. Within the scope of the field research of the thesis, a mixed methods research design was used, using a combination of qualitative research technique through a survey conducted with participants determined by simple random sampling technique, and also quantitative technique by face –to-face interviews with semi-structured questions. A total of 1.200 business owners, 600 from both Şanlıurfa and Gaziantep participated in the field research, which aims to measure their perceptions on the urban culture's levels of impact on the decions of business owners to become entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurial activities. It was found that culture can affect entrepreneurship positively or negatively, in the study. It was concluded that Şanlıurfa urban culture negatively affects urban entrepreneurship. Whereas, it was observed that Gaziantep urban culture positively affects urban entrepreneurship. In the study, it was determined that tribes, religional communities and conservative parties are decisive in the urban culture of Şanlıurfa. It was determined that actors the business actors, ruling parties and industrialists are decisive in the urban culture of Gaziantep. In the study, it was also determined that Şanlıurfa has a collectivist social structure whereas Gaziantep has individualist