Entrepreneurial Propensity Research Articles

The Role of Entrepreneurship Education in Fostering Entrepreneurial Intentions and Performances: A Review of 30 Years of Research

Many scholars have stressed on the strong relationships between entrepreneurship, self-employment and the labor market growth in contemporary society. Several training and academic programs have been designed and developed all around the world to increase entrepreneurial propensity. This article aims to show the empirical evidences about the effects of entrepreneurship education programs on perceived attractiveness and perceived feasibility of new venture initiation, entrepreneurship-related human capital assets and entrepreneurship outcomes. Moderators affecting the relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions and outcomes—such as the attributes of education itself, the individual’s background, and the contextual factors—have been analyzed. Explorations of the main theoretical frameworks that argue the positive relationships between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions and performance have been conducted. Different pedagogical models adopted for entrepreneurship education programs have been compared. The study was conducted through the systematic literature review method, allowing the suggestion of evidence-based policies at an organizational and a national level of analysis. The role of entrepreneurship education in adjusting and refining the participants’ assessment of their own entrepreneurial aptitude can explain the small positive relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions revealed by several meta-analyses.

The propensity for entrepreneurship among rural populations. A Central and Eastern European country perspective

Abstract The paper aims to assess the propensity for entrepreneurship among rural populations in ten Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The entrepreneurship propensity is measured against four dimensions: entrepreneurial potential, desirability of self-employment, feasibility of selfemployment and the comfort with acquiring customers. In addition, we analysed key motivations for self-employment among rural populations in the sample countries, namely: the prospects of second income; self-fulfilment and possibility to realize own dreams and ideals; and return to job market as alternative to unemployment. The objectives of the paper are three-folded: (1) To determine how likely are the rural populations in the CEE countries studied to take on a self-employment activity; (2) To understand the perception of rural populations in the CEE countries about entrepreneurship and selfemployment; and (3) To identify the apparent similarities and differences in the countries studied among the rural populations in terms of their perception about entrepreneurship and motivations for self-employment. The study interprets the data collected in 2016 through the Amway Global Entrepreneurship Report. The research is meant to foster and popularize the rural entrepreneurship career model among rural communities in the sample CEE countries. This is important in order to know what can be done to encourage the business continuation and growth of rural entrepreneurs.

Gender differences in entrepreneurial propensity: Evidence from matrilineal and patriarchal societies

We examine whether men and women in patriarchal and matrilineal societies differ in their propensity to engage in entrepreneurship. We conduct two studies. Study 1 involves face-to-face interviews to identify individuals who are in the process of starting a new business. We find that men in patriarchal societies are more likely than women to initiate action to start a new business. This result, however, is reversed in matrilineal societies, where women are more likely than men to do so. The results of causal mediation tests suggest that entrepreneurial self-efficacy and fear of business failure explain the gender gap in both societies. Study 2 involves a controlled experiment in the lab that captures individuals' willingness to invest in the creation of a new venture. The results of the experiments are consistent with the survey data: men in patriarchal societies and women in matrilineal societies invest more in new venture creation in a simulated environment. We therefore rule out the simplistic view that women are inherently less likely to enter into entrepreneurship due to innate differences across genders. Rather, gender differences in entrepreneurial propensity are outcome of socialization.

The Effect of Career Decisions on Entrepreneurial Intention Levels of University Students Studying Sport Sciences

This study investigates the entrepreneurial intention levels and career decisions of a sample of 340 university students studying sport sciences. Entrepreneurship refers to a career-related choice that is driven by a risk-taking and innovation imperative. Entrepreneurs of the future are expected to make their career related choices well before they move into labor markets. In this context, this study attempts to designate young adults’ entrepreneurial intentions which are considered to be highly related with their career decisions. The study also tests the potential effects of career decisions on entrepreneurial intentions. The findings of the study evidence the significant effect of conscious career choice on entrepreneurial propensity. A blind career choice is found to be also correlated with entrepreneurial intentions, albeit less so than the conscious career choice. The environmental factors subscale of career choice proves to be insignificant in terms of entrepreneurial propensity within the scope of this study’s sample group. Findings are discussed with a view to practical implications.

Propensity for hybrid entrepreneurship among females

The entrepreneurial potential of women remains not fully exploited and lags behind men’s ambition and capability in both business start-ups and self-employment. Nowadays it is imperative to enable women to fully participate in the economic activities of their communities. The paper argues about the need for encouraging a female hybrid entrepreneur role in emerging economies. It attempts to identify the perceived challenges of the female hybrid entrepreneur by analysing the propensity for entrepreneurship among full-time, part-time and self-employed females in eight Central and Eastern European countries. The entrepreneurship propensity is determined by taking into account four dimensions: entrepreneurial potential, self-employment desirability, self-employment feasibility, and comfort with recruiting customers.

Unmasking the contributing factors of entrepreneurial activities among men and women in Ghana

PurposeUsing the 2010 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey data, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the contributing factors of entrepreneurial propensity among males and females in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachUsing a measure of entrepreneurial propensity that takes into account individuals who are involved in starting a new business (nascent entrepreneurs) as a dependent variable and socio-demographic characteristics, and perceptual variables as explanatory variables, the study adopts robust empirical estimation techniques to examine how these variables influence the probability of starting a new business among men and women in Ghana.FindingsThe probability of being a male nascent entrepreneur is significantly dependent upon a wide range of factors including demographic, economic, perceptual and contextual elements, albeit with important variations across gender. An individuals’ subjective assessment of fear of failure in starting a business and of having the requisite entrepreneurial capabilities; the age of the individual; gender of the individual; work status and contextual factors matters for entrepreneurial propensity in Ghana. However, important differences exist in the drivers of entrepreneurial propensity for males and females with females’ entrepreneurship attributed largely to conditions of necessity relative to their male counterparts.Originality/valueThe main value of this paper is to use the GEM survey (which is nationally representative) for Ghana to analyze the contributing factors of the entrepreneurial propensity among men and women in Ghana.

Students’ Entrepreneurial Propensity: An Exploratory Study from a Portuguese Polytechnic School

Given the high unemployment among young and well educated people, entrepreneurial initiatives may turn to be valid actions to mitigate such difficulties. High education schools can contribute to detect and support students with potential to become young entrepreneurs and they also can involve and inspire other students. In the sequence of a branch of research into student entrepreneurship that has been developed in recent years, the aim of this study is two-fold: firstly, to estimate the entrepreneurial propensity of students at a Portuguese polytechnic school and, secondly, to evaluate the importance of academic, personal and contextual factors that may be explanatory factors to this propensity. The present study is based on a sample of 277 students who were, at the time of the research (2013), enrolled in a Master’s degree or in a Bachelor´s degree. The results obtained suggest, at one hand, that student from management areas and students from more advanced curricular years present higher propensity to entrepreneurship but also, on the other hand, that knowing entrepreneurs examples and having previous management experiences potentiate such propensity, thus confirming the usefulness of higher connections between academia and firms.

Entrepreneurial orientation in a hostile and turbulent environment: risk and innovativeness among successful Russian entrepreneurs

Applying the construct of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) we test the relationship between the dimensions of entrepreneurial risk taking and innovativeness. Risk taking is measured as an entrepreneurial propensity as well as a behaviour. Innovativeness is manifested in decisions for strategic growth, specifically strategies of vertical integration and horizontal diversification. The study context is the turbulent and hostile environment of Russia, focusing on 158 successful entrepreneurs and their firms, and extending the EO construct beyond the more positive set of circumstances as found in developed economies. Results show that both operationalisations of risk are significantly related to firm innovativeness, and are generally counter-intuitive to what might be found in a more stable environment of developed economies like the USA and Western Europe.

Entrepreneurial orientation in a hostile and turbulent environment: risk and innovativeness among successful Russian entrepreneurs

Applying the construct of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) we test the relationship between the dimensions of entrepreneurial risk taking and innovativeness. Risk taking is measured as an entrepreneurial propensity as well as a behaviour. Innovativeness is manifested in decisions for strategic growth, specifically strategies of vertical integration and horizontal diversification. The study context is the turbulent and hostile environment of Russia, focusing on 158 successful entrepreneurs and their firms, and extending the EO construct beyond the more positive set of circumstances as found in developed economies. Results show that both operationalisations of risk are significantly related to firm innovativeness, and are generally counter-intuitive to what might be found in a more stable environment of developed economies like the USA and Western Europe.

Supply of Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Native Entrepreneurship

This paper estimates the causal impact of immigrant entrepreneurship on entrepreneurial propensities of natives. I draw data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey and use within-state variation in supply of immigrant entrepreneurs for identification. To address concerns of endogeneity in the supply of immigrant entrepreneurs, I take advantage of a quasi-experiment provided by the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. While the Ordinary Least Squares estimates suggest a positive impact of immigrant entrepreneurs on native entrepreneurship, the two stage least squares estimates suggest that there is no discernible effect of supply of immigrant entrepreneurs on entrepreneurial propensities of natives. Moreover, the effect on entrepreneurial propensities of subgroups of native populations such as blacks and whites is indistinguishable from zero. These results are in contrast to the economically and statistically significant negative impact suggested by previous literature.

THE QUALITY OF MACRO-ENVIRONMENT AND BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT ENTREPRENEURSHIP - COMPARISON OF THE CZECH AND THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC

The aim of this paper was to examine university students’ propensity for entrepreneurship in the context of the evaluation of the quality of macro-environment and business environment. A part of this aim was a comparison of defined factors in the Czech and the Slovak Republic. In relation with the research aim, a survey-based research was conducted with university students in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. 409 students in the Czech Republic and 568 students in Slovakia were approached during this research. To verify the defined scientific hypotheses, the regression analysis was used. The research results brought interesting findings, namely that the present macroeconomic environment does not prevent students from starting their own business, and that the present level of basic macroeconomic factors (GDP, employment, inflation) determine the students’ propensity for entrepreneurship in both countries. In Slovak Republic, the administrative workload is seen by the students as a factor discouraging them from entrepreneurship after graduating from college. The students feel that the conditions for doing business have improved in the last five years. Students in the Czech Republic think that the conditions for doing business have improved over the past five years, and consider the business environment to be reasonably risky and of good quality.

The Quality of Macro-Environment and Business Environment and University Student Entrepreneurship - Comparison of the Czech and the Slovak Republic

Abstract The aim of this paper was to examine university students’ propensity for entrepreneurship in the context of the evaluation of the quality of macro-environment and business environment. A part of this aim was a comparison of defined factors in the Czech and the Slovak Republic. In relation with the research aim, a survey-based research was conducted with university students in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. 409 students in the Czech Republic and 568 students in Slovakia were approached during this research. To verify the defined scientific hypotheses, the regression analysis was used. The research results brought interesting findings, namely that the present macroeconomic environment does not prevent students from starting their own business, and that the present level of basic macroeconomic factors (GDP, employment, inflation) determine the students’ propensity for entrepreneurship in both countries. In Slovak Republic, the administrative workload is seen by the students as a factor discouraging them from entrepreneurship after graduating from college. The students feel that the conditions for doing business have improved in the last five years. Students in the Czech Republic think that the conditions for doing business have improved over the past five years, and consider the business environment to be reasonably risky and of good quality.

Annual review article: Is it time to rethink the gender agenda in entrepreneurship research?

This article develops a critique of contemporary approaches to analysing the impact of gender upon entrepreneurial propensity and activity. Since the 1990s, increasing attention has been afforded to the influence of gender on women’s entrepreneurial behaviour; such analyses have highlighted an embedded masculinity within the entrepreneurial discourse which privileges men as normative entrepreneurial actors. While invaluable in revealing a prevailing masculine bias within entrepreneurship, this critique is bounded by positioning women as a proxy for the gendered subject. This is a potentially limiting analysis that does not fully recognise gender as a human property with myriad articulations enacted throughout entrepreneurial activity. To progress debate, we engage more deeply with the notion of gender as a multiplicity, exploring the implications of such for future studies of entrepreneurial activity.

Education À L’entrepreneuriat Et Propension À Entreprendre En Contexte De Formation Professionnelle En Côte d’Ivoire

Entrepreneurship education was introduced as a formal discipline in vocational training programs in the late 1990s. This study reflects on the relevance of this education to entrepreneurship in terms of the persistence of unemployment and the underemployment of graduates. Its general objective is to analyze the influence of the satisfaction of the training expectations of the trainees on their propensity to undertake. The survey was carried out at the Yopougon Business Professional High School and the Riviera Professional Hotel School. The instrument used to capture the level of satisfaction of trainees' expectations and their entrepreneurial propensity is a questionnaire with scales of measurement with three categories of response. The results establish a growing monotonous relationship between the satisfaction of the trainees expectations and their propensity to undertake. These results also indicate that satisfying three of the expectations expressed by trainees has a significant influence on their propensity to undertake. Entrepreneurship education is an effective strategy for the social construction of vocational integration through entrepreneurship among trainees in vocational training.

Risky Business? Rural Entrepreneurship in Subsistence Markets: Evidence from Burundi

Present-day development theory and practice highlight the potential of micro-entrepreneurship for poverty reduction in rural Africa. At the same time, subsequent studies show that entrepreneurial propensity is not often exhibited by subsistence farmers. Basing our analysis on a cross-section dataset from Burundi, we analyze the entrepreneurial livelihood strategies of rural households: diversifying crops, processing food for sale, supplementary wage work, and non-agricultural employment. We find that the farmers living close to subsistence level are more risk averse in their decision making and less likely to pursue these opportunities. Further, we show that risk aversion is negatively correlated to employment diversification, while there is no significant correlation for the other strategies. Employment diversification is indeed the most risk-bearing strategy that the subsistence farmers cannot afford as adverse outcomes would endanger their households’ survival. Our results also suggest that this risk effect is mitigated by the participation in formal and informal networks.

Community-based entrepreneurship: evidences from a retail case study

Community-based entrepreneurship is considered to be an important instrument for the realization of potential among marginal and deprived communities isolated from the mainstream economy and is important in bringing social upliftment. Cultural values, shared resources, linkages, and mutual trust work for the community, nurtured through close personal relations for the functioning of economic activities. Entrepreneurial activities creating local public goods for a community have a comparative advantage over the absolute market-oriented activities. This paper tries to follow a case study method to analyze the community-based entrepreneurship in a marginal community (Muslim). Many self-employed Muslim workers and small businesses in urban centers in a non-Islamic society indicate that they bound to have a great propensity for entrepreneurship compared to the indigenous population. The government needs to introduce a policy with implicative measures for financial and technical support to these entrepreneurial activities.

Towards an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem: A Case Study of the Central University of Technology, Free State

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2015 Global Report (GEM, 2015), South Africa (SA) had the lowest youth entrepreneurial propensity of only 23.3 per cent. Among the sub-Saharan African countries surveyed, Uganda recorded the highest youth entrepreneurs with 55.6 per cent of the youth population involved in nascent, new or established businesses. South Africa had the lowest youth entrepreneurship participation of only 12.8 per cent, and recorded the highest level of non-entrepreneurial youth with 63.9 per cent of the youth population (GEM, 2015). According to Puuka (2014), SA has not yet unleashed its entrepreneurial potential. Despite the importance of small- and medium-sized enterprises for the economy and job creation, SA’s established business rate is only 2.3 per cent—the second lowest in the world. South Africa needs new job creators to solve the job crisis. A new philosophy and approach to education in general are required; more specifically in a higher education sub-system of universities of technology in SA that is designed to lead to work opportunity-enhancing outcomes. The Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT), SA has, in line, with its Vision 2020 that focuses on producing quality social and technological innovations for socio-economic developments set a goal of transforming CUT into an innovative and entrepreneurial university, and of becoming a robust agent for socio-economic development in the city and the region. This article gives an overview of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem established at the University, the city and the region; the creation of an increasingly robust innovation and entrepreneurship pipeline; and initiatives that started in 2012 in the field of curriculum innovation, and innovation and entrepreneurship education later in 2014. These initiatives, together with international examples cited, show that universities could pursue the path to innovation and entrepreneurship education with outcomes that impact the broader society. True to the universities of technology’s general philosophy of education, the path involves innovation, entrepreneurship education, research, idea generation and technology transfer. Based on a literature study of global perspectives on entrepreneurship education and lessons to be learnt, the paper discusses the enablers to promote entrepreneurship education at CUT and key elements of the University’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Strategy. Furthermore, it shares successes and some challenges of these efforts at CUT, which are evident in the increasing national recognition of our innovation and entrepreneurship activities. The impact of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship ecosystem on the knowledge production from CUT in the past few years are also illustrated. The article concludes that the overarching challenge to ensuring high impact and relevance is dependent on the development and successful implementation of an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem, buy-in of all internal and external stakeholders and dedicated resources.

ON THE WORK VALUES OF ENTREPRENEURS AND NON-ENTREPRENEURS: A EUROPEAN LONGITUDINAL STUDY

Entrepreneurs are critical for countries’ industrial dynamics and economic growth. Although there are several studies focusing on the attitudes, cognitions and traits of entrepreneurs, only a few have explored the link between entrepreneurship and the job features entrepreneurs most value in the work setting. Taking a longitudinal perspective, over two periods of time, 1990–1993 and 2008–2010, the present study resorted to the European Value Study dataset, encompassing 27 European countries and more than 100 thousand individuals. Based on logistic estimates, we found that, compared with non-entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs consider work more important than other life dimensions (except family). Moreover, some work values associated with entrepreneurship (e.g., use initiative, achieving something, responsible job, meeting abilities, have a say, and learning new skills) are indeed mentioned the most by entrepreneurs and emerged significantly related with entrepreneurial propensity. Finally, some work values (e.g., have a say) are associated with entrepreneurship propensity regardless of country’s culture, whereas others (e.g., interesting job) are strongly influenced by culture.

Born entrepreneurs? Adolescents’ personality characteristics and entrepreneurship in adulthood

Abstract Is there an entrepreneurial personality, and does it appear early in life? We provide a new answer to this important question by examining traits related to Type A behavior (Aggression, Leadership, Responsibility, and Eagerness-Energy) measured during adolescence and their relationship to entrepreneurship propensity in adulthood. The results indicate that the early-life Leadership dimension is significantly associated with a higher likelihood of 1) becoming an entrepreneur and 2) being more successful as an entrepreneur, as approximated by sales.

GENDER DIFFERENCES AND ENTREPRENEURIAL MUNIFICENCE: THE PURSUIT OF INNOVATIVE NEW VENTURES

Much of the literature on gender differences in entrepreneurship focuses on entrepreneurial propensity and access to resources. This study takes a step further to explore gender differences in the type of new ventures pursued. Specifically, we investigate whether there is a gender difference in the pursuit of innovative vs. imitative new ventures. Additionally, we examine whether perceptions of the entrepreneur’s environment influence the pursuit of innovative new ventures for female vs. male entrepreneurs. Utilizing PSED data, we find there is no significant difference between genders in the pursuit of innovative new ventures. However, entrepreneurial munificence (i.e., having friends who have started their own business and perceived support of financial institutions) matters for female-led businesses in their pursuit of innovative new ventures. These findings have major implications for building effective entrepreneurial ecosystems.