The present research applied the theory of planned behavior to predict employment status choice, defined as the intention to enter an occupation as a wage or salaried individual or as a self-employed one. The role of family background, sex, and prior self-employment experience was also investigated. Using a sample of 128 Norwegian undergraduate business students, the findings strongly support the theory of planned behavior as applied to employment status choice intentions. Moreover, demographic characteristics were found to influence employment status choice intentions only indirectly through their effect on attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control.

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This research developed a classification scheme of reasons given for preferring self-employment versus organizational employment. Using an open-ended approach, data were collected from persons who had obtained a master's degree in business from a Norwegian business school during the 1987–1994 period. The classification scheme that emerged questions the relevance of earlier models, which have been used to explain and predict occupational status choice.

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Purpose -This study proposes to use the Theory of Planned Behaviour to predict entrepreneurial intentions among students in five developing and nine developed countries. The purpose is to investigate whether entrepreneurial intention and its antecedents differ between developing and developed countries, and to test the theory in the two groups of countries. Design/methodology/approach -A total of 2,225 students in 13 countries participated in this study by responding to a structured questionnaire in classrooms. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. Findings -The findings indicate that respondents from developing countries have stronger entrepreneurial intentions than those from developed countries. Moreover, the respondents from developing countries also score higher on the theory's antecedents of entrepreneurial intentionsattitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control -than respondents from developed countries. The findings support the Theory of Planned Behaviour in both developing and developed countries.Research limitations/implications -The findings strongly support the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The measure of subjective norms used, a multiple-item index encompassing the views of other people and motivation to comply with these, seems to have advantages over other measures of this concept. Practical implications -Developing countries need to focus on the development of institutions that can support entrepreneurial efforts. At the same time, developed economies may need to accept that entrepreneurial intentions are dependent on the dynamism of an economic environment and possibly on risk-perceiving behaviours. Originality/value -While multiple-country studies on entrepreneurship in developing and developed countries have been called for, no previous study has compared entrepreneurial intentions between developing and developed countries. The inclusion of developing countries provides a unique quasi-experimental setting in which to test the theory.