Entrepreneurial Aspirations Research Articles

Study of Kazakhstani students’ entrepreneurial intentions

The aim of the study is to examine Kazakhstani students’ career plans and the primary elements that influence their entrepreneurial inclinations. The Kazakh database GUESSS (Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey) was used in the study. The goal of the GUESSS project is to generate unique and new ideas about student entrepreneurship in the form of academic and practical results. Our study demonstrates that respondents’ personal qualities, family and social affiliations, and the university environment all have an effect on students’ entrepreneurial inclinations. Kazakhstan participated in the GUESSS international survey three times in 2016, 2018, and 2021 as the primary tool for analysis. The GUESSS national report’s key findings from previous years were incorporated. The study thoroughly evaluates the entrepreneurship literature and the factors that influence entrepreneurial intentions. The study’s findings evaluated the primary characteristics of Kazakhstani students’ entrepreneurial goals in contrast to global trends. Analyzing the critical elements influencing students’ career intentions enables institutions to design policies and practices that support the growth of students’ entrepreneurial activities. Additionally, the findings of this paper accurately represent the entrepreneurial intentions and ambitions of Kazakhstani university students, both undergraduate and postgraduate. The major findings about the impact of the university environment on students’ entrepreneurial objectives, intentions, and motivation are highlighted as well. The study identifiesthe critical elements for fostering a more supportive and inspiring environment conducive to entrepreneurship in higher education. The university professors,students, and university administrations can benefitsignificantly from thisstudy, and educational policy administrators and entrepreneurs can greatly improve business-university engagement opportunities.

Exploring the desire to be an entrepreneur among university-educated youths: lessons from Sierra Leone

ABSTRACT The developing country entrepreneur is championed as a driver of economic growth, poverty alleviation, and social development. Yet little is known about what drives entrepreneurial ambitions in developing countries. This study uses qualitative data from focus group discussions with university-educated Sierra Leonean youths to explore these issues. Findings show that very few have entrepreneurial ambitions ex ante, though a large share resort to entrepreneurship as a survival mechanism. Limited entrepreneurial ambitions can be explained by macro-level factors such as access to credit, but are largely driven by individual-level factors such as conceptions of success and cultural perceptions about entrepreneurship.

Influence of Demographic Factors on Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Study for Management Students of India

The study was intended to find the influence of demographic factors on entrepreneurial intentions (EI) of students from premier management colleges in India. With a sample size of 323 students, research aimed to see the influence of factors such as family, education, age, and background on the willingness of these students to do business. The goal of the research was to learn more about the demographic and socio-economic factors that influence these students’ entrepreneurial ambitions. Also, the study was aimed to relate the findings with two broad questions: ‘which socio-demographic indicators are associated with a desire to start a business’? and ‘which socio-demographic characteristics impact entrepreneurial intentions among families and individuals?’ The study also tried to capture the influence of factors like number of children in the family, caste, and religion on individual’s entrepreneurial aspirations.

Drivers of agripreneurial intentions among students attaining agricultural education in the Gambia

In many third-world countries, high unemployment severely threatens society's social and economic fabric. Countries like The Gambia, with a youthful and increasing population, are particularly hard hit. Agripreneurship has been identified as an alternative for promoting economic development through employment creation, food security, and poverty reduction. Based on Social Cognitive Career Theory, this study aims to assess the drivers of agripreneurial intentions of students pursuing agricultural education at the University of The Gambia. A total of 160 students participated in the online survey. Smart PLS3 software was used to analyze the data using partial least square-structural equation modeling. The findings revealed that agripreneurial attitude, perceived educational support, and social capital significantly impacted students' agripreneurial intentions. However, it was found that self-efficacy, perceived government support, and social norms had no impact on students' agripreneurial intentions. The research draws implications for academics and policymakers concerned with students' entrepreneurial ambitions, including adopting entrepreneurship education by combining cognitive and behavior-oriented instruction and creating an enabling environment for young entrepreneurs by combining a university entrepreneurial support system with external institutional assistance. However, the study was limited to agricultural students in the public university. It would be helpful if future researchers could compare the level of agripreneurial training offered by public and private institutions to gain more insight into shaping students' intentions of self-employment in agripreneurship

University students’ entrepreneurial intentions during COVID-19: The perspective of social cognitive career theory

PURPOSE: Although the COVID-19 pandemic has had a catastrophic effect on economic activities worldwide, the paradoxical phenomenon of this black swan situation may be found to facilitate entrepreneurial intentions. This study aims to investigate Thai university students’ perceptions of their entrepreneurial aspirations during the times of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODOLOGY: Drawing upon social cognitive career theory, this research investigates the profound linkage of university students’ COVID-19 perceptions and attitudes towards situations for self-believing in the adaptation for entrepreneurship. A valid sample of 798 collected from eight provinces, eight districts, and eight cities throughout Thailand was included for further analysis using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Process Macro Model 6. FINDINGS: University students’ COVID-19 pandemic perceptions influence their self-efficacy in situation adaptations and perceived desirability towards individual-level entrepreneurial intentions. Interestingly, self-efficacy and desirability towards entrepreneurship act as serial mediating factors, towards the mediated relationship between attitude towards the situation, COVID-19 perception, and university students’ entrepreneurial intentions. IMPLICATIONS: The results of this research can add to entrepreneurship literature and additional model testing has also been proposed. Besides, practitioners and researchers could collaborate with governors to cultivate entrepreneurial trajectories based on research findings. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) can rationalize an academic student’s career choice of entrepreneurship by considering their perception of the start-up processes during COVID-19. Future research can also test findings on a representative sample at the national level.

Preduzetničke performanse Vijetnama

The study aims to measure entrepreneurship performance of Vietnam in comparison to Asian countries by applying the Global Entrepreneurship Development Index (GEDI) and then employed the Penalty for Bottleneck (PFB) methodology to allocate priority policies for the improvement of entrepreneurship performance in Vietnam. Specifically, the GEDI consisting of three sub-indices: Entrepreneurial Attitudes, Entrepreneurial Abilities and Entrepreneurial Aspiration, which are divided into 14 pillars and further subdivided into 28 variables, is used to identify the best and worst performing variables of the GEDI in Vietnam in comparison to Asian countries. Then the PFB methodology provides a more realistic analysis, aiming to discover bottle-neck factors, which are poorly performing system components before suggesting recommendations to achieve the greatest improvement of entrepreneurship performance in Vietnam. The results indicate that ten bottlenecks of 14 pillars are poorly performing with very low scores in Vietnam, in which the top priority policy is given for five pillars, including Risk acceptance, Opportunity perception, Internationalization, Technology absorption and Process innovation.

Consideration sets as resources for business model generation

Business models as outcomes for entrepreneurship are increasing in prevalence in pedagogy and practice. Instructors and entrepreneurs are focusing efforts on iterating potential ideas through a process of trial and error in hopes to produce working business models. However, such practices need to be better underpinned by theory so we can develop an understanding of how to identify more valuable opportunity ideas and how to progress them towards working business models with fewer trials and errors. This conceptual paper focuses on integrating extant conceptualisations of business models as interdependent activities with research on identifying opportunities as problem-solution pairings. While integrating those literatures, the present framework also details how reliance on constrained, systematic search - with its resource-based view underpinnings - can help individuals with entrepreneurial aspirations identify more valuable opportunities and progress them faster and with fewer trials and errors into working business models.

The influence of creativity on the entrepreneurial intention of university female graduates: An SEM approach

Entrepreneurial activities have been vital to economic growth as a feasible career option for many university graduates. Nonetheless, it has been recognised that the lowest intentions to undertake entrepreneurial activity are among female graduates. While entrepreneurship is claimed to be a reflection of creative activity from which individuals generate value, graduates’ creativity can be a crucial aspect of entrepreneurship, with innovative concepts, products and services. This study examines the role of creativity skills in the entrepreneurial intentions of female university students attending business programs. Built on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the survey results collected from 303 female business graduates identified the positive influence of creativity on entrepreneurial intentions. Recognising the need to embed creative skills and activities in the university curriculum is fundamental to encouraging entrepreneurial aspirations among female graduates.

How do gender disparities in entrepreneurial aspirations emerge in Pakistan? An approach to mediation and multi-group analysis

This cross-sectional study sought to identify gender differences in individual behavioral attitudes, personal traits, and entrepreneurial education based on planned behavior theory. The Smart partial least squares (PLS) structural equation model and PLS path modeling were used. A survey design was used to collect data from 309 samples using quantitative measures. The model was tested for validity and reliability and showed variance (full, R2 = 58.9% and split, R2 = 62.7% and R2 = 52.7%) in male and female model predictive power, respectively. Subjective norms (SN), personality traits (PT), and entrepreneurial education (EE) significantly impacted the male sample's intention. Females' intentions toward entrepreneurship was less affected by attitude toward behavior (ATB), subjective norms (SN), perceived behavioral control (PBC), and entrepreneurship education (EE). Further, attitudes, social norms, and behavioral controls as mediation variables indicate a significant and positive role of male and female intentions. These findings imply that behavioral beliefs (ATB, PBC, and SN) influence entrepreneurial intention-action translation. The results significantly supported the designed hypotheses and shed light on individual personality traits (PT) and entrepreneurship education (EE) underpinning enterprise intention. The study determined that EE and PT are the strongest predictors of intention, thus highlighting the role of these motives in the entrepreneurial process. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on youth entrepreneurs, expands our understanding of entrepreneurship as a practical career choice, and offers a novel account differentiating male and female PT. The drive to evaluate the effects of entrepreneurial intention among budding disparities in Pakistan requires a more profound knowledge of the aspects that endorse entrepreneurship as a choice of profession and enhances youth incentive abilities to engage in entrepreneurial activities based on exploitation.

Unjani Clinics: meeting the need for scale through social franchising

In this contribution to the Organization Zoo series, we discuss an organization with a unique organization design that allows for a scalable and financially sustainable approach to social impact. Unjani Clinics is a network of nurse-led clinics in South Africa, where the nonprofit (head office) organization oversees the operations of more than ninety for-profit independent primary healthcare clinics. Combining for-profit and nonprofit entities in a social franchise structure represents a unique bundle of organization design choices that together enable the organization to effectively pursue its mission. By combining entrepreneurial incentives for nurses, such as ownership rights over their clinics, with social impact-driven controls, Unjani cultivates an otherwise untapped resource—i.e., professional nurses’ entrepreneurial ambitions—to deliver on its social mission. This novel combination of entrepreneurial autonomy with formal hierarchical as well as informal controls to safeguard the social mission allows Unjani to address the tension between social and financial value creation, which often prevents social enterprises from scaling successfully.

Preferred leadership style, managerial and entrepreneurial inclination among Hungarian students

Although a great deal of research has been done on leadership styles, and university students have often been the subject of exploratory research in social sciences, the Full Range Leadership model has been applied to young people only in a few instances. In this article, the authors seek to survey the preferred leadership styles among Hungarian students and explore how they correlate with managerial and entrepreneurial inclination. A complex analysis of leadership style preferences of university students combined with their managerial and entrepreneurial inclination, social and cultural resources is rare in the research practice so far. The online questionnaire used in the research was completed by 335 university students studying economics, engineering and social studies both in Budapest and in the country. The questionnaire was completed by 335 university students. The results are exploratory and they amend the existing leadership typologies at some points. Based on the results of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire featuring 36 self-rating items, four distinct leadership styles emerged within the target group, representing the transformational, the supportive, the defensive, and the laissez-faire leadership types. The multivariate analysis has shown that while managerial inclination is related to the transformational style of leadership, entrepreneurial aspirations are associated with the transformational and supportive leadership styles.

Enacting multilingual entrepreneurship: an ethnography of Myanmar university students learning Chinese as an international language

ABSTRACT Drawn on the notion of linguistic entrepreneurship (De Costa, P., Park, J. S., & Wee, L. (2016). Language learning as linguistic entrepreneurship: Implications for language education. Asia-Pacific Education Research, 25(5–6), 695–702, De Costa, P., Park, J. S., & Wee, L. (2019). Linguistic entrepreneurship as affective regime: Organisations, audit culture, and second/foreign language education policy. Language Policy, 18(3), 387–406, De Costa, P., Park, J. S., & Wee, L. (2021). Why linguistic entrepreneurship? Multilingua), this study extends the field of inquiry of neoliberal language learning by exploring Chinese as an international language. Based on a large-scale ethnography of Myanmar university students in China conducted between September 2013 and July 2017, this paper reports on a qualitative inquiry on how the neoliberal discourse permeates Myanmar students’ language exploitation to enhance their worth and maximise their opportunities. Findings show that Chinese learning constitutes the formation of a neoliberal self through the valorisation of multilingual competence. However, the study demonstrates that the enactment of multilingual entrepreneurship only values certain languages, which aligns with the neoliberal logic of convertibility for the China-and-Myanmar communication market. The study also reveals that access to entrepreneurial ambitions through Chinese learning opportunities is largely constrained by citizenship status, socioeconomic conditions, and the fast-evolving demands of linguistic markets within and across national boundaries. The study concludes with some implications for language policy and language education.

A Meta-Theoretical Approach into the Determinants of Internal Psychological Resources for Entrepreneurs

This study, which was conducted in the context of a Small Island Developing state economy, adopts exploratory, meta-theoretical, and inter-disciplinary stances to examine determinants of internal psychological resources for entrepreneurs. It contributes to existing literature and methodology through its innovative interdisciplinary theoretical framework and the use of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) in the field of entrepreneurship. Questionnaires were randomly distributed among 711 entrepreneurs, of which 539 were deemed useful for analytical purposes. EFA was used to identify factors that determine fundamental internal psychological resources for entrepreneurs. The Kaiser-Meyer Olkin coefficient of 0.85 justified the sample size for the use of EFA. The highly significant Barlett’s test (p<0.0001) showed the presence of adequately correlated items to form clusters. A coefficient of 0.00033 on the inverse of correlation matrix ruled out the possibility of multicollinearity issues among the six key EFA constructs of internal psychological resources for entrepreneurs. Inner Strength which originates from the field of medicine is surprisingly revealed as the leading internal psychological resource valued by entrepreneurs, followed by Entrepreneurial Aspirations, Entrepreneurial Alertness, Entrepreneurial Orientation, Self-leadership, and Risk Orientation. Two other concepts (Psychological capital and Sense of Coherence) which were initially included in the theoretical framework were eliminated during the EFA because the Scree plot did not support their retention and contributed to multicollinearity issues. This study has several practical and policy implications which will enable governments and entrepreneurs to contribute more effectively and more accurately to the entrepreneurial process.

The provenance and effects of entrepreneurial inspiration

PurposeBuilding on authoritative studies on inspiration in the field of psychology (e.g. Thrash and Elliot, 2013, 2014), this study aims to clarify how entrepreneurial inspiration – an emotional state of personal attraction toward entrepreneurship – is created and how it affects entrepreneurial intentions. First, receptiveness to inspiration is introduced as a potential entrepreneurial feeling trait that constitutes a universal enabler of entrepreneurial inspiration alongside typically idiosyncratic inspirational triggers. Second, this study proposes to reinforce the theoretical base of the relation between entrepreneurial inspiration and entrepreneurial intentions by applying the affect infusion model (AIM) and empirically testing its explanatory power.Design/methodology/approachHypotheses are tested through independent and dependent samplet-tests and hierarchical regression analyses with an interaction effect. Data originate from a pre-post course survey among 342 entrepreneurship students from various countries and institutions.FindingsThe results confirm a positive relation between receptiveness to inspiration and entrepreneurial inspiration. Receptiveness to inspiration precedes and increases with entrepreneurial experience, suggesting that it can be both inborn and cultivated. In line with the AIM, entrepreneurial inspiration stimulates only the entrepreneurial aspirations of participants without entrepreneurial experience. Experienced individuals, on the other hand, derived more entrepreneurial inspiration from their courses, but this was not translated to higher entrepreneurial intentions. Instead, they could benefit from this inspiration in other ways proposed in the literature, such as enhanced opportunity recognition.Originality/valueThis study provides much needed, theory-informed, insight into the formation of entrepreneurial inspiration. Furthermore, it is the first research to propose and test a specific theoretical underpinning of the relation between entrepreneurial inspiration and entrepreneurial intentions, which also accounts for the moderating role of entrepreneurial experience. Finally, the rare multi-country, multi-institution nature of the sample reinforces the external validity of the findings.

Founders’ Social Identities, Work-Life-Balance, and Stress: A Stakeholder perspective

Recent research on entrepreneurial well-being has shown that prosocial motivation and autonomy have significant impact on founders’ stress levels and life satisfaction. While the literature has identified stakeholders as both reference points for entrepreneurial ambitions as well as potential constraints for entrepreneurs’ autonomy, we know little about how founders’ sense-making of their stakeholders in relation to their own self-understanding shapes their well-being. This study applies a stakeholder perspective informed by social cognition theory and applies survey data from 110 German-speaking commercial and social start-up entrepreneurs to examine the effects of the interactions between founders’ social identities and perceived stakeholder power on work-life-balance and stress. Our results show that the influence of social identity on stress ultimately depends on founders’ perception of their stakeholders’ power. An altruistic Missionary identity is positively connected to stress via work-life-balance but only if they do not perceive their stakeholders as strong. On the other hand, a more self-centered Darwinian identity has a negative, indirect effect on stress but only if they perceive their stakeholders as having comparably little power. Accordingly, our research provides further arguments for the importance of examining individuals’ sense-making of both themselves and their social environment simultaneously when studying results of founders’ cognitive processes.

Are people in Ifugao Philippines Entrepreneurship? Shedding Light on Entrepreneurial Characteristics, Motivations, Challenges, and Intentions among Ifugao

Entrepreneurship is a means of beginning your own company. A person's target and option depend on those processes of thought. These cycles of thinking and motives either drive or drag the participant to the creative exercises. To fill the gap in the literature, this research explored the entrepreneurial traits, motives, difficulties, and obstacles faced by Ifugao citizens in the Philippines while doing business. The relationship between the above variables and the entrepreneurial aspirations of Ifugao individuals was also calculated. Data were collected from 263 Ifugao persons, both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the programs of various government agencies in the province using the snowball sampling process, through a research questionnaire and semi-structured interview. Using means, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the rank order correlation of Spearman, this paper finds that considering the difficulties and obstacles they face, Ifugao individuals retain the character of becoming an entrepreneur. Overall, five traits that are common to respondents have been identified. Ifugao people stay inspired and it motivates them to persevere constantly in carrying out entrepreneurial practices. Finally, the findings of this study indicate that training, seminars, and workshops, the positive perceived image of entrepreneurs, and motives have a major impact on the entrepreneurial purpose of Ifugao people, which is important for entrepreneurial success.

A Study on Factors Determining Entrepreneurial Aspirations of Arts and Science College Students in Kanyakumari District

The study's primary goal is to identify the factors that influence entrepreneurial aspirations among arts and science college students. The structure questionnaire was used to collect primary data about creative thinking, leadership, commitment, communication skills, and achievement motivation factors determining entrepreneurial aspirations for this study. All data was collected and analysed using a five-point Likert scale, with 1 representing "strongly disagree" and 5 representing "strongly agree." For this study, the researcher employed the purposive sampling technique. The sample size for this study was 150 college students from the arts and sciences. It is concluded that the factors of creative thinking, leadership, commitment, communication skills, and achievement motivation influence the entrepreneurial aspirations of Kanyakumari district arts and science college students. It has been discovered that the variables creative thinking, leadership, commitment, communication skills, and achievement motivation are closely related and have an impact on the entrepreneurial aspirations of Kanyakumari district arts and science college students. The study's findings will assist planners and policymakers in taking the necessary steps to promote entrepreneurial intelligence among arts and science college students.

ARE PEOPLE IN IFUGAO, PHILIPPINES ENTREPRENEURIAL?

A person's target and option depend on different processes of thought. These cycles of thinking and motives either drive or drag the participant to the creative exercises of entrepreneurship. This research explored the entrepreneurial traits, reasons, difficulties, and obstacles faced by Ifugao citizens in the Philippines while doing business. The relationship between the above variables and the entrepreneurial aspirations of Ifugao individuals was also calculated. Data were collected from 263 Ifugao, both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the programs of various government agencies in the province using snowball sampling through a research questionnaire and semi-structured interview. Using means, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the rank order correlation of Spearman, this paper finds that considering the difficulties and obstacles they face, Ifugao individuals retain the character of becoming an entrepreneur. Overall, five traits that are common to respondents have been identified. Ifugao people stay inspired, and it motivates them to persevere constantly in carrying out entrepreneurial practices. Finally, the findings of this study indicate that training, seminars, and workshops, the positive perceived image of entrepreneurs, and motives have a significant impact on the entrepreneurial purpose of Ifugao people, which is essential for entrepreneurial success.
 Keywords: Entrepreneurial Characteristics, The Perceived Image on Entrepreneurship, Motivations, Problems and Challenges, Entrepreneurial Intention, Ifugao People, Philippines.

Lawns and lemonade: are childpreneur activities gendered?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is threefold. The first is to explore how children engage in entrepreneurship by creating a comprehensive inventory of commercial activities in which children engage. The second is to examine the extent to which the activities and categories of activities are gendered. The third purpose is to explore if the breadth of entrepreneurial activities (i.e., balanced skillset) increases entrepreneurship chances in emerging adults.Design/methodology/approachA holistic approach was used to create an inventory of commercial activities in which children engage. The researchers engaged in seven iterations, including scholarly and Internet searches, think-aloud and pilot tests, before submitting the inventory of over 100 activities to 928 participants. The relationship between general experiences and business startup was analyzed using binary logistic regression with a subsample of emerging adults aged 18–29.FindingsThe results revealed that 61% of the 23 categories and 53% of the 121 activities were gendered. Girls and boys tend to gravitate to gender-stereotypical entrepreneurial endeavors. Males were more likely to engage in stereotypical male commercial activities outside of the home, such as yard work, farm work and painting structures. In contrast, females were more likely to engage in stereotypical female commercial activities inside the home or activities related to beauty, crafts or food. Results also revealed that a variety of entrepreneurial activities and a general versus specific college degree increased the odds of starting a business in emerging adults regardless of gender.Originality/valueResearch and viewpoints explaining the gendered construction of entrepreneurship have been widely discussed. However, little is known about early-age commercial activities and their gendered nature. To our knowledge, this is the first construction of a childpreneur inventory and a subsequent demonstration of a connection between childpreneur activities and gender. This study also builds on prior work with emerging adults and the jack of all trades theory by suggesting that pursuing a balanced skillset is something learned early in life. The results will be useful to other researchers in gender and entrepreneurship and support agencies that seek to encourage children's entrepreneurial aspirations.

Motivating Prosocial Venturing in Response to a Humanitarian Crisis: Building Theory From the Refugee Crisis in Germany

In the context of the humanitarian refugee crisis in Germany, we conducted an 8-month qualitative study of prosocial ventures that emerged during this crisis to build a theory of motivation in prosocial venturing. We identified two venturing paths driven by founders’ distinct motivations. Founders motivated by others’ suffering focused on rescuing refugees, following an execution-oriented approach, and scaling their activities to meet victims’ short-run needs. Founders motivated by entrepreneurial aspirations focused on building an organization, following a foundation-oriented approach, and customizing activities to meet victims’ long-run needs. This study contributes to prosocial venturing and crisis research.