Perceived social norms, psychological capital and entrepreneurial intention among undergraduate students in Bukavu

Abstract

Purpose Entrepreneurship is important for economic growth, through its role in the provision of employment. In the recent past, a number of African universities have developed entrepreneurship education courses to facilitate the growing demand for entrepreneurs in the market. An immediate outcome anticipated from entrepreneurship education is to increase entrepreneurial intention (EI) among the participants. Unfortunately, most of the entrepreneurship education in developing economies has not been linked to an increase in the EI of students. This paper thus proposes that it is when students possess high levels of psychological capital and perceive positive social norms that entrepreneurship education will lead to positive EI. The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between perceived social norms (PSN), psychological capital and EI of university students. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire on a random sample of 196 final year entrepreneurship and business management students, from three universities in Bukavu (East of DRC). Structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses. Findings The paper provides four main findings. First, PSN and psychological capital have a positive significant effect on EI. Second, PSN contribute more to this effect than psychological capital. Third, PSN make a positive and significant effect on psychological capital. Lastly, psychological capital positively mediates the relationship between PSN and EI. Research limitations/implications This study could have benefited from a qualitative approach to have a more in-depth explanation of these relationships. The study is conducted amongst students who operate in a controlled environment. This may not reflect the actual behavior of entrepreneurs. Practical implications This work provides cues of what entrepreneurship educators should consider as they recruit and train students. Specifically, the study highlights the importance of students’ psychological capital and positive social norms in transforming entrepreneurial education into intention. Originality/value This study adds value to knowledge by highlighting the mediating role of psychological capital on the relationship between PSN and EI.

Entrepreneurial Motivation, Psychological Capital, and Business Success of Young Entrepreneurs in the DRC

“…Although some commentators would argue that necessity entrepreneurs could develop a higher level of PsyCap that is rooted in hard work and strengthened by the fact that they have limited career options, we posit the opposite. While we do not underestimate the impact of hard work on BS, we argue that entrepreneurship is about resources and competencies among which psychological capital would play a key role [7]. People who embark on an entrepreneurial career to exploit a perceived viable opportunity would be self-confident to take advantage of the occasion because they believe it will lead to a positive outcome (optimism) since they have already set realistic goals about the opportunity (hope) and are ready to overcome any drawback along the way (resilience).…”

“…We acknowledge that PsyCap dimensions are valuable and non-substitutable strategic resources, in both the short and long run. However, they can be improved, imitated, or developed, thus become widely distributed among both necessity and opportunity entrepreneurs in the long run [7,39].…”

“…Still battling to recover from civil strife and wars, the country has some of the most challenging institutional and and less stressed [36,37]. In addition, they would be more confident in what they do, can survive any drawback, and set realistic goals that they pursue persistently with clear plans, while those with a lower PsyCap may experience less or the opposite of these values [7,38]. Thus, we draw from the theory of the resource-based view of the firm to acknowledge that PsyCap dimensions are valuable and non-substitutable strategic resources in the short and long term, but imitable and imperfectly rare resources in the long term because they are open to development [7,39].…”

“…In addition, they would be more confident in what they do, can survive any drawback, and set realistic goals that they pursue persistently with clear plans, while those with a lower PsyCap may experience less or the opposite of these values [7,38]. Thus, we draw from the theory of the resource-based view of the firm to acknowledge that PsyCap dimensions are valuable and non-substitutable strategic resources in the short and long term, but imitable and imperfectly rare resources in the long term because they are open to development [7,39]. Then, what makes the difference between necessity and opportunity entrepreneurs in the short run is the tacitness, the complexity, the non-observability, and scarcity of PsyCap dimensions that generate causal ambiguity in competence-based advantage, and thus raise barriers to imitation by necessity entrepreneurs.…”

The Moderating Role of Individual Cultural Values on the Relation between TPB Predictors and Entrepreneurial Intention: Evidence from Egypt and Scotland, UK

“…Likewise, Eid et al (2019) report a significant positive association between PBC and entrepreneurial intentions among United Arab Emirates national business and engineering undergraduate students On the other hand, SN were sometimes found to be a direct predictor of EI (e.g. Moriano et al, 2012;Engle et al, 2010;Siu and Lo, 2013;Maresch et al, 2016;Eid et al, 2019;Ephrem et al, 2019). While in another, they showed indirect effect via attitude and PBC (e.g.…”