Success, survive or escape? Aspirations and poverty traps

Abstract

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An anatomy of entrepreneurial pursuits in relation to poverty

“…Chen, Chang, and Bruton, 2017). This lends credence to the potential spillover effects of entrepreneurial activity based on high aspirations (Chivers, 2017). Furthermore, the evidence provided is consistent with the view that self-employment (at its early stages) may not be a suitable proxy for understanding entrepreneurial activity, especially that with more growth potential (Bruton, Ahlstrom, and Obloj, 2008;Haltiwanger, Jarmin, and Miranda, 2013).To our knowledge, our study is one of the first studies to take a deeper look at the complex relationship between inequality and entrepreneurial activity, and in conjunction with the relationship between entrepreneurial activity and absolute poverty alleviation.…”

“…Therefore, opportunity-centric entrepreneurs are able to establish a greater legitimacy to access complementary resources, which would increase the performance of their venture (Ahlstrom, Bruton, and Yeh, 2008). Furthermore, entrepreneurs with this sort of prior knowledge have higher aspirations (Chivers, 2017), and are more likely to strive for the betterment of self and society. Thus, they are also more likely to establish higher thresholds for their performance, meaning that they are less likely to tolerate lower performance after they establish their ventures (Gimeno, Folta, Cooper and Woo, 1997).…”

Understanding the Role of Rural Poor’s Endogenous Impetus in Poverty Reduction: Evidence from China

“…Aspiration is subordinate to the subjective well-being of the individual in a cognitive dimension and transcends material well-being [45][46][47]. However, the lack of aspiration will inhibit the formation of the individual's willingness to work [48,49] and will then affect the individual's economic decision-making and effort level [15,50]. The reduction of the individual's effort further strengthens the reduction of their aspiration, and the vicious circle formed thereby will cause the individual to fall into the trap of poverty [51].…”

The relation between public assistance and self-employment in census tracts: a long-term perspective

“…High poverty conditions also limit the level of aspirations (Dalton et al 2016). Wellknown conceptualizations such as poverty traps highlight the set of hindrances faced by individuals in developing aspirations for self-actualization (Chivers 2017). The collective resources of an area with a high poverty ratio may therefore not facilitate the mobilization of necessary resources and skills to adapt to changing conditions, nor provide the necessary psychological and socio-emotional resources to prime entrepreneurial activity (Schreiner 1999).…”