Entrepreneurial Intentions: The Moderating Role of Parental Self-Employment

Abstract

Using the entrepreneurial intention model, we examine how parental self-employment/role models moderates (using Multi-Group Analysis) the relationship between the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention and Social Valuation, Closer Valuation, Entrepreneurial Skills and Environmental Support. The data of three hundred and nineteen respondents were analysed by structural equation modelling (SEM). Thus, SEM was used to examine the structure model of developing entrepreneurial intentions and bootstrap confidence intervals were estimated to test the mediation role. Multi-Group Analysis was used to test the moderating role of parental self-employment (PSE) to determine whether there is significant relationship between respondents with PSE and respondents without PSE. Consistent with prior studies, ATE and PBC have a positive effect on EI. The results prove that entrepreneurial skills have an influence on ATE, PBC and SN. Regarding the influence of perceived environmental knowledge (ENSUP) and ATE, the relationship was insignificant, though the impact of ENSUP on PBC and SN was significant. With respect to the correlations between SV and CV and the antecedents of TPB respectively, all the hypotheses were accepted except CV→ATE and SV→PBC relationships. This study revealed that respondents with parental self-employment perceive a higher attitude towards entrepreneurship, PBC, entrepreneurial skills, entrepreneurial support, and entrepreneurial intention that those without PSE. However, the MGA established that the formation of entrepreneurial intentions is similar for respondents with parental self-employment and respondents without PSE. Thus, there was no significant relationship between respondents with PSE and respondents without PSE. A limitation of this study is the missing link between intentions and actual behavior. The results of this paper indicate that entrepreneurial intention is explained by the three antecedents (ATE, SN, and PBC) of the TPB. This study adds empirical support to the robustness and reliability of the TPB in entrepreneurial research. This study has implications for the content of entrepreneurial intentions, especially with the incorporation of culture, motivations, skills and knowledge of the entrepreneurial environment within a higher educational institution. Thus, this study moves a step further by analyzing other variables that are considered critical to the antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions. This study is perhaps one of the pioneering works to conduct an MGA to assess the relationship between respondents with parental self-employment and respondents without PSE, using the entrepreneurial intention model.