The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy in the Development of Entrepreneurial Intentions.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of self-efficacy in the development of students' intentions to become entrepreneurs. The authors used structural equation modeling with a sample of 265 master of business administration students across 5 universities to test their hypotheses. The results showed that the effects of perceived learning from entrepreneurship-related courses, previous entrepreneurial experience, and risk propensity on entrepreneurial intentions were fully mediated by entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Contrary to expectations, gender was not mediated by self-efficacy but had a direct effect such that women reported lower entrepreneurial career intentions. The authors discuss practical implications and directions for future research.

How and Why Do IT Entrepreneurs Leave Their Salaried Employment to Start a SME? A Mixed Methods Research Design

“…Lastly, self-efficacy, innovativeness, and risk-taking are other important attributes. Arenius and Minniti found a strong role for confidence in one's skills as a factor distinguishing entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs [25] -a result confirmed by others [26], [27], [28]. Chen et al further specified entrepreneurial selfefficacy (ESE) into five sub-factors: marketing, innovation, management, risk-taking and financial control or self-efficacy [7].…”

Raising entrepreneurs: can parenting style amplify entrepreneurial intentions and behaviours?

“…Although early mixed findings in the entrepreneurship literature led scholars to shy away from research concerning personality and individual differences (Gartner, 1989;Low and MacMillan, 1988), recent research agrees that certain characteristics associated with resilience are common among nascent entrepreneurs (Brandstätter, 2011). Indeed, when it comes to understanding traits of typical nascent entrepreneurs, strong support has been found for individual differences such as achievement motivation (Ciavarella et al, 2004;Collins, Hanges and Locke, 2004;McClelland, 1961McClelland, , 1965, risk-propensity (Begley and Boyd, 1987;Miner and Raju, 2004;Stewart andRoth, 2001, 2004;Xu and Ruef, 2004;Zhao, Seibert and Lumpkin 2010), optimism (Arabsheibani et al, 2000;Cassar, 2009;Cooper, Woo and Dunkelburg, 1988;Hayward et al, 2010), self-efficacy (Chen, Greene and Crick, 1998;Chen, Gully and Eden, 2001;Zhao, Seibert and Hills, 2005), and social competence (Baron, 2000;Baron and Markman, 2003). Recognising this, entrepreneurship scholars and practitioners argue and find evidence suggesting that characteristics related to resilience play important roles in implementing entrepreneurial intentions, especially amidst adverse conditions and environments (Bullough and Renko, 2013;Bullough, Renko and Myatt, 2014;Krueger, Schulte and Stamp, 2008).…”

Motivation and Entrepreneurial Cognition

“…In terms of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial self-efficacy denotes one's belief that he or she is able to perform the tasks involved in starting and successfully managing a venture (Chen et al 1998). Indeed, researchers have found that entrepreneurial self-efficacy is positively related to the intention to act entrepreneurially (Zhao et al 2005;Zhao et al 2010) and to entrepreneurial action (Boyd and Vozikis 1994).…”

“…During the recent revival of studies on entrepreneurs' personal characteristics, scholars have gone past looking for "trans-situational consistency in personality traits" (Shaver and Scott 2002) and have begun exploring deeper models of individual characteristics, motivation, cognition, and behavior (e.g., Baron 2004;Baum and Locke 2004;Baum et al 2001;Busenitz and Barney 1997;Mitchell et al 2004;Rauch and Frese 2007;Zhao et al 2005). Take, for example, Baum et al (2001) and Baum and Locke (2004) who showed individual characteristics such as tenacity and passion do not have a direct association with new firm growth but that these variables are associated with growth-related motivation.…”

“…Self-efficacy refers to the personal belief that one can achieve whatever he or she sets out to accomplish and can thus successfully meet one's goals (Utsch et al 1999;Zhao et al 2005). This belief that one can achieve whatever goals he or she sets-particularly, that one can successfully start and manage a business (i.e., entrepreneurial self-efficacy [Chen et al 1998])-may make people more likely to disengage their pro-environmental values for several reasons.…”