Much research has highlighted the influence of certain factors of the environment on entrepreneurship. This article proposes a structural model that relates three of these environmental variables to entrepreneurial capacity. These are entrepreneurial education and training, research and development transfer and cultural and social norms. These relationships were tested via empirical analysis of a sample of 380 Spanish experts, applying the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique. The findings allow confirmation of the outstanding role of cultural and social norms in entrepreneurial capacity. Entrepreneurial education and training is not a significant antecedent variable of entrepreneurial capacity: rather it is an indirect enabler via cultural and social norms. Finally, research and development transfer exerts a significant positive influence on entrepreneurial capacity. This article also represents a pioneering methodological contribution to the study of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data. These data were analysed by applying structural equation modelling according to the PLS technique.
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