Entrepreneurs bring an enormous contribution to a country’s economic growth. Developing individual’s interest into new venture creation represents an important asset, especially for less developed countries where entrepreneurial activities are fundamental in enhancing economic growth. The recent economic crisis turned the attention of European policymakers towards entrepreneurship as a driving force for the creation of new job opportunities, regional/national competitiveness and growth. The aim of this article is to verify what relations are between locus of control, need for achievement and entrepreneurial intention of youth, following a cognitive approach and how much entrepreneurial education consolidates entrepreneurial skills and informs the young that entrepreneurship is a career option. To analyse entrepreneurial intentions, locus of control, need for achievement and entrepreneurial education in the context of Romania, this research used a quantitative design based on the answers to the questionnaire conducted during March 2017 to October 2017 on a sample of 270 students from two important Romanian universities. From the methodological point of view, several hypotheses have been developed and tested using multivariate logistic regression estimates, frequency analysis, internal consistency reliability of the constructs and moderating effects. The results illustrate that locus of control, need for achievement and entrepreneurial education proved to be important determinants for venture creation among young students, both independently and under the action of control variables. Also, respondents’ gender had a significant influence on one’s intention of opening a business in the future, with males being more inclined to become entrepreneurs than females.

In this paper, we explore the determinants of being satisfied with a job, starting from a SHARE-ERIC dataset (Wave 7), including responses collected from Romania. To explore and discover reliable predictors in this large amount of data, mostly because of the staggeringly high number of dimensions, we considered the triangulation principle in science by using many different approaches, techniques and applications to study such a complex phenomenon. For merging the data, cleaning it and doing further derivations, we comparatively used many methods based on spreadsheets and their easy-to-use functions, custom filters and auto-fill options, DAX and Open Refine expressions, traditional SQL queries and also powerful 1:1 merge statements in Stata. For data mining, we used in three consecutive rounds: Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services and SQL DMX queries on models built involving both decision trees and naive Bayes algorithms applied on raw and memory consuming text data, three LASSO variable selection techniques in Stata on recoded variables followed by logistic and Poisson regressions with average marginal effects and generation of corresponding prediction nomograms operating directly in probabilistic terms, and finally the WEKA tool for an additional validation. We obtained three Romanian regional models with an excellent accuracy of classification (AUROC > 0.9) and found several peculiarities in them. More, we discovered that a good atmosphere in the workplace and receiving recognition as deserved for work done are the top two most reliable predictors (dual-core) of career satisfaction, confirmed in this order of importance by many robustness checks. This type of meritocratic recognition has a more powerful influence on job satisfaction for male respondents rather than female ones and for married individuals rather unmarried ones. When testing the dual-core on respondents aged 50 and over from most of the European countries (more than 75,000 observations), the positive surprise was that it undoubtedly resisted, confirming most of our hypotheses and also the working principles of support for replication of results, triangulation and the golden rule of robustness using cross-validation.

In this paper, we analyze the determinants of job satisfaction for employees over the age 50 or more, using the latest SHARE-ERIC dataset (Wave 7) filtered for Romania (over 2000 records). After applying logistic regressions with average marginal effects, we obtained an overall and seven regional models which emphasize that a good atmosphere at the workplace and the deserved recognition received for the work done are the most reliable predictors of career satisfaction, confirmed in this order of importance by many other robustness checks. Particularly, in the case of respondents from the Western part of Romania, we found that meritocracy-based influence, namely deserved recognition, counts almost as much as the workplace atmosphere. For these individuals, previous educational performance and lifetime employment at a single job matter more than the previous dual-core on job satisfaction. Unexpectedly, the adults from central romania present a negative influence of life satisfaction on job satisfaction due to an unbalanced work-family vision of life. The locus of control has different effects on job satisfaction in south and south-western regions, while in the north-east, meaning in life is negatively influencing job satisfaction. Bridge employment exerts a negative influence on career satisfaction in the north-west, and in the South-East, and interpersonal trust has a positive effect.

Based on a survey among students in economics at universities from the Romanian region of Moldova (RoMold) and Republic of Moldova (ReMold), this study explores the influence of familial, background, and individual characteristics on the migration intentions abroad. Both regional models built after using data mining tools and binary logistic regression analysis show a powerful emphasis on our own value recognition, while the other influences indicate clear asymmetric patterns in terms of migration intentions. For RoMold, there is a low level of interpersonal trust, a strong accent on individual liberty and favoritism, a low respect for traditions, and the belief that Orthodoxy could be a migration cause. The paternal occupation and the maternal religiosity matter for their migration plans. For ReMold, the parental migration experience, a low level of parents’ education attainment, and a powerful internal locus of control are considered the main triggers for migrating abroad. For both particular regions, a highly interactive distribution map and two corresponding risk-prediction nomograms provide basic support for replication, fast visual insight, and consistent support for interpretations directly in probabilistic terms. We intend to apply an inductive approach in order to extend the analysis to different types of respondents and geographic areas.

Entrepreneurship is increasingly acknowledged as a critical economic and growth driver. As a result, practitioners’ and scholars’ inquiry into the link between the entrepreneurial social network and its pursuit of innovation have gained momentum in developed economies. However, it remains scarce in the context of emergent economies. Drawing upon social network theory, this qualitative study explores this knowledge gap by examining how Romanian software as a service (SaaS) entrepreneurs enable innovative performance by using social capital in national and international entrepreneurial networks. This qualitative interpretative study relies on the experiences and practices shared by 24 Romanian SaaS entrepreneurs interviewed to expand our understanding of how these entrepreneurs use social capital-driven networks to achieve innovative performance in international markets. Feeling unsupported by a weak institutional entrepreneurial context, Romanian SaaS entrepreneurs build their international entrepreneurial journeys and achieve innovative performance extensively by relying on social capital-driven networks. This paper contributes to the emergent economies stream on entrepreneurship literature and regional entrepreneurship policies. These findings show that motivated to overcome the challenges of a weak institutional context and pursue their entrepreneurial path, these Romanian SaaS entrepreneurs’ international presence and innovative performance are relational manifestations of bonding and bridging social capital-based networks.

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