Entrepreneurial Intention, Culture, Gender and New Venture Creation: Critical Review

Abstract

In today’s world, the formation of new firms is crucial for the vitality of national economies. Initialization and support of new business ventures are important tasks for both policy makers and academics. This independent conceptual study paper investigates the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and new venture start-ups as moderated by the effects of cultural values as well as the intervening influence of gender. Peoples’ attitudes toward income, independence, risk, and work effort forms the foundation of entrepreneurial intent. Entrepreneurs are often described in terms of the strength or weakness of their attitudes in these dimensions. Previously, research on the question of why people choose entrepreneurship as a career option has been based predominantly on the disciplines of psychology and sociology. More recently there have been important contributions from an economics’ perspective also. Analysis of past literature has indicated the existence empirical concerns on the venture creation and entrepreneurial intention relationship. In particular, there is a paucity of research on how entrepreneurs harness the potential of cultural influence in new firm creation. Some researchers have also raised issues relating to the important theoretical arguments which are anchored on the role of gender in new venture creation. The current study focuses on past contributions in this stream of literature, seeking to provide definitive evidence of previously examined relationships between entrepreneurial intention and new venture as impacted by culture and gender.