I make my own rules! A multi-method analysis of individual antecedents of entrepreneurial intention

Abstract

We propose a cognitive-personality-ethic model of entrepreneurial intention, which is based on a multi-method analysis. Our model integrates conditional rule-breaking – the cognitive skill to follow or break a rule according to the expected consequence and self-interests – as well as personality traits and ethical orientations as antecedents of entrepreneurial intention. The model bridges different theoretical perspectives and overcomes methodological flaws of previous entrepreneurial intention research. We argue that conditional rule-breaking is likely to be linked to entrepreneurial intention in individuals with high openness or low relativism, and that narcissism is related to conditional rule-breaking and entrepreneurial intention. Our study (N = 108), in which we assess individuals’ conditional rule-breaking skill in a computerised task, and their personality traits and ethical orientations in a questionnaire, supports our predictions. Our research contributes to entrepreneurship and organisational behaviour literature by (1) introducing conditional rule-breaking, and its behavioural measurement in a computerized task, as an antecedent of entrepreneurial intention, and (2) considering the interplay of individual characteristics in an integrative model of antecedents of entrepreneurial intention.