Relationship between Entrepreneurship Intention and Attitude among University Students

Factors influencing people to start their own business

Task:

Factors influencing people to start their own business rather than chose to work for a wage have long been debated. Indeed, huge research is devoted to the question of why some people choose to be in self-employment. A number of conceptual models with factors that affect this process have been developed. Though not specifically developed for students, all these models point towards strong relationship between intentions and attitudes to entrepreneurship. Attitudes to entrepreneurship are found to be split between three components, Desirability, Feasibility and Propensity to act. This empirical study aims at assessing the relationship between entrepreneurship intention and entrepreneurship attitude of university students. The specific objective of the study is to measure the level of relationship between intention and the three components of entrepreneurial attitudes controlling for gender and the availability of entrepreneur role models among relatives.

Entrepreneurial intention is considered to be the first step in new business and venture creation; (Lee & Wong, 2004). The intention for a business start-up (or entrepreneurial intention) is simply defined as the necessary commitment to start a physical business venture (Krueger Jr, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000). According to Krueger et al. (2000), entrepreneurial activity can be predicted more accurately by studying the person’s intention rather than their personality traits, their demographic characteristics, or their situational factors. The “intention” variable is measured by a single item (what would say is the likelihood for you to open your own business at some point in your life?) on the likelihood scale (1=Very unlikely, 5=Very likely). Perceived desirability

This represents the degree of personal attraction to create one’s own company. The beliefs of desirability are split two ways. On the one hand they understand the beliefs relating to the consequences of the creation of a company and on the other hand the beliefs relating to social environment (Ajzen, 1991, Shapero and Sokol, 1982); the notion of desirability is equallyinteresting to the issue of resilience, because it perfectly articulates the ability to re-conquer selfesteem.The concept desirability is operationalised using the statement “How attractive do you find the

Perceived feasibility

This reflects the degree of an individual’s belief that they are personally able and resourceful enough to create a company. According to the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991), the resources and opportunities available to a person must to some extent dictate the likelihood of behavioural achievement. Shapero emphasised that perceived availability of financial support, and the perception of the availability of other supports such as advice, consultation and education that make the act of venture creation feasible to the potential entrepreneur (Shapero, 1982). Krueger presented evidence that perceived desirability to act explained well “over half” of the variance of the intentions toward entrepreneurship, with feasibility perceptions explaining the most (Krueger, 1993).The concept feasibility is operationalised using the statement. “How confident are you about your skills and abilities to start a business?”

Conceptual models with factors that affect the entrepreneurship process

Propensity to act Shapero conceives “propensity to act” as the personal disposition to act according to one’s own decisions. Conceptually, this propensity to act depends on perceptions of control of the consequences of the behaviour over the environment and context. This concept, which is at the heart of the intention, also seems to feed the “reconstruction” processes that are apparent among resilient entrepreneurs acquired through difficult situations and adversity. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, incarnates this concept perfectly.

Gender variable

Models based on demographics have generally been criticised because they provide little insight on how family background and social forces shape the individual’s decision process (Katz, 1992).However, convincing models have been put forward arguing that the variable “Gender” plays a significant role on entrepreneurial intentions. Indeed, a growing body of literature which analyses the relationship between gender and attitudes towards new venture creation (Delmar and Davidsson, 2000), have found that males have a higher preference for entrepreneurship behaviour than females. Kolvereid (1996), in its application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour to predict employment status choice, found that males have a significantly higher preference for selfemployment than females. The author concluded that gender influences self-employment intentions indirectly through their effect on attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control.

The variable entrepreneurs among relatives

The literature on family background evidences a positive relationship between the presence of role models in the family and the emergence of entrepreneurs. Collins, Moore and Unwalla (1964) were the first authors to verify through an empirical research that the influences over a new venture idea go back to the childhood and the family circumstances of the entrepreneur (Veciana, 1988:14). Advocates of demographic models have suggested and found empirical support that family background is related to entrepreneurial intentions (Mathews and Moser, 1995).Among the literature that focuses on intentions Scherer et al. (1989) as well as Krueger (1993), argue that role models affect entrepreneurial intentions, but only if they affect attitudes.Kolvereid (1996), in its application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour to predict employment status choice, also studied the role of family background. The author found that the relationship between family background and intentions, though positive, was not statistically significant.

Required:

You are supposed to have read the above literature review section regarding the topic and understood the key aspects and concepts highlighted by the review. For this part, you are asked to write down the methodology section for this study. In particular, you need to

1. What are the arguments for the use of a positivist paradigm in this study.

2. Discuss the appropriate target population for this study and how you might negotiate access to an appropriate sample. Discuss any safeguards to insure the reliability of your
data.

3. Indicate the key concepts introduced in this study and state the appropriate research hypotheses. You should present a draft questionnaire with a maximum of ten questions
based on this study (this questionnaire will not be part of the word count).