Purpose – This paper aims to clarify the impact of the entrepreneurial training on a Tunisian trainee’s entrepreneurial cognitions and intention. An interactive cognitive perspective was adopted to test the interaction effect between the entrepreneurial cognitions: the perceived entrepreneurial self-efficacy, the perceived entrepreneurial feasibility and entrepreneurial desirability. A research model was built showing several relationships between entrepreneurial training, cognitions and intention. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted on a convenience sample of 240 participants in four business incubators. The maximum-likelihood test was used as a structural equation modeling method to test the model. Findings – The results show the importance of the entrepreneurial training in the development of entrepreneurial cognitions. Further, the findings, to some extent, validate the interaction between the entrepreneurial cognitive patterns. However, entrepreneurial intention was only predicted through the entrepreneurial desirability. Several implications are discussed at the end of this paper. Practical implications – The findings seem interesting insofar, as they show the importance of entrepreneurial trainings in the entrepreneurial intention development through the enhancement of desirability. This process can be triggered by a training program that contains case studies, success stories and conferences to make the youth enthusiastic about self-employment. Originality/value – The significant impact of the entrepreneurial training on trainees’ cognitions should encourage governments and incubators to promote entrepreneurial training programs to enhance the youths’ willingness to create their own businesses. The findings in this paper seem interesting insofar as they show the importance of entrepreneurial trainings in the entrepreneurial intention development through the enhancement of desirability. This process can be triggered by a training program that contains case studies, success stories and conferences to make the youth enthusiastic about self-employment.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether transformational leadership matters in promoting corporate entrepreneurship in Tunisian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It has been argued that transformational leadership is a multidimensional construct which is composed of intellectual stimulation, idealized influence, inspirational motivation and individual consideration. Corporate entrepreneurship is also a multidimensional construct composed of new business venturing, innovativeness, self-renewal and proactiveness. Hence, it has been hypothesized that transformational leadership positively and directly influences corporate entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach A hypothetico-deductive and quantitative approach was adopted to test the suggested research model. A 2 × 2 survey was conducted on a random sample of a set of Tunisian SMEs’ workers. Data analysis was performed using the structural equation modeling. Findings The results highlight the relatively relevance of transformational leadership’s components in triggering the corporate entrepreneurship’s patterns. Originality/value The author reports on the importance of transformational leadership in the corporate entrepreneurship development in the Tunisian business context. The paper should be of interest to readers in the areas of management and entrepreneurship. This work seems to be relevant to the extent that few works have highlighted the association between the components of both transformational leadership and corporate entrepreneurship. The findings seem interesting insofar as they show mainly the important effect of the intellectual stimulation and the inspirational motivation, triggered by transformational leaders, on workers’ innovativeness, proactiveness and new business venturing.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the motivational process that leads to commitment development in the private and public sectors. It has been suggested that employee’s commitment is mainly predicted by job satisfaction and motivational factors such as internal communication, training, structural empowerment, incentive systems, transformational leadership and person–organization fit. Design/methodology/approach A comparative approach, between a set of private and public organizations, was undertaken. A survey was conducted on two random samples of workers belonging to both types of organizations. Findings The findings report a set of similarities and discrepancies between the private and the public organizations in terms of motivational factors that lead to job satisfaction and employees’ commitment. Originality/value This research brings additional value to the comparative literature on organizational analysis. It is one of the scarce comparative research in the North African context that deal with motivational factors at private and public workplaces.

Purpose This paper aims to clarify the effect of attitudinal ambivalence on resistance to anti-smoking persuasion through information processing styles. It was hypothesized that a high smoker’s ambivalence, induced by an anti-smoking persuasive message, triggers among smokers both a reflective and a non-reflective information processing. In turn, both the information processing styles were supposed to be predictors of the resistance to anti-smoking persuasion. Design/methodology/approach An experiment and a survey were conducted on a random sample of 347 smokers in this regard. Findings The findings indicated that smokers feel ambivalent toward anti-smoking messages in print ads and tend to process them both analytically and superficially. Also, it seems that only the analytical processing triggers resistance to anti-smoking persuasion. Originality/value The author reports on the importance of attitudinal ambivalence and information processing in the resistance to anti-smoking persuasion process. The paper should be of interest to readers in the areas of health communication and social marketing. This work seems to be important to the extent that few works have highlighted the causal and linear effect of a persuasive anti-smoking message on smokers’ ambivalence, information processing and resistance to persuasion. The findings in this paper seem interesting insofar, as they show the importance of the negative emotional appeal in the ambivalence, analytical information processing and resistance triggering.

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