Cut me some slack! An exploration of slack resources and technology-mediated human capital investments in entrepreneurship

PurposeIn this paper, the authors explore the relationship that slack resources and technology-mediated human capital investments can have on individuals’ entrepreneurial intentions. Focusing on human capital investments that individuals make through education and work, the authors analyze the relationship among formal online learning opportunities, informal skill development in the gig economy and entrepreneurial intentions.Design/methodology/approach Leveraging a novel dataset that merges administrative tax data with a survey of over 8,528 low- and moderate income (LMI) households, this study uses machine learning and propensity score weighting to examine the likelihood that individuals who make these technology-mediated human capital investments will have increased odds of entrepreneurial intentions when compared to similar individuals who do not make these investments.Findings The authors find that both partaking in online learning and working in the gig economy are significantly associated with increased odds of entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore, through a variety of robustness and mechanism checks, the authors find that technology-mediation is an important factor in these relationships and that informal skill development and career preparation is one way in which gig employment influences entrepreneurial intentions.Research limitations/implications As the study’s data come from a cross-sectional survey, the authors cannot make causal inferences about the relationship between online learning, gig employment and entrepreneurial intentions. Thus, future research should explore sources of longitudinal data.Practical implications This study has practical implication for individuals and policymakers that seek to increase entrepreneurship among LMI households.Originality/value Despite a wealth of research on the relationships among slack resources, technology and innovation at the firm level, there is little of this research at the individual level – especially among LMI individuals. The authors begin to fill this important gap.

My mother-in-law does not like it: resources, social norms, and entrepreneurial intentions of women in an emerging economy

This paper provides new evidence at the intersectionality of gender, family status, and culture by focusing on a previously little researched group of middle-class women in an emerging economy. While the existing literature examines both structural and normative constraints for women entrepreneurship, little is known about the gains from relaxing structural constraints for women when compared to men. In addition to examining this new question, the paper sheds light on the binding nature of normative constraints for women entrepreneurship that persist in a patriarchal developing economy even when structural constraints are significantly eased. Using a mixed-methods approach, the empirical results suggest that higher resource availability differentially impacts the entrepreneurial intentions of women when compared to men indicating the strong presence of normative barriers that inhibit their entrepreneurship. These normative barriers emerge through the roles people play within women life spheres inhibiting their entrepreneurial intentions.

The malleability of international entrepreneurial cognitions: a natural quasi-experimental study on voluntary and involuntary shocks

PurposeThe authors investigate the durability of international entrepreneurial cognitions. Specifically, they examine how advanced business education and the Covid-19 pandemic influence international entrepreneurial orientation disposition (IEOD), and subsequently entrepreneurial intentions (EIs), to better understand the psychological dynamics underpinning the drivers of international entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachAgainst the backdrop of emerging entrepreneurial cognition and international entrepreneurial orientation research, the authors theorize that both a planned business education intervention (voluntary) and an unforeseeable radical environmental (involuntary) change constitute cognitive shocks impacting the disposition and intention to engage in entrepreneurial efforts. The authors use pre- and post-Covid-19 panel data (n = 233) and uniquely identify the idiosyncratic cognitive effects of Covid-19 through changes in the OCEAN personality assessment.FindingsFindings demonstrate that when individuals' perceived psychological impact of Covid-19 is low, business education increases IEOD. Conversely, the effects of a strongly perceived Covid-19 impact reduce the risk-taking and proactiveness components of the IEOD scale. The authors trace the same effects forward to EIs.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper contributes to a greater understanding of the resilience of entrepreneurial dispositions through an empirical test of the IEOD scale and shows its boundary conditions under planned intervention as well as unplanned externally induced shock.Practical implicationsThe study offers a first benchmark to practitioners of the malleability of international entrepreneurial dispositions and discusses the potential to encourage international entrepreneurial behaviour and the individual-level dispositional risk posed by exogenous shocks.Originality/valueThe study uniquely employs a baseline measure of all our constructs pre-Covid-19 to discern and isolate the pandemic impact on entrepreneurial dispositions and intentions, responding to recent calls for more experimental designs in entrepreneurship research.

Attitudes, Subjective Norms, and Perceived Control Versus Contextual Factors Influencing the Entrepreneurial Intentions of Students From Poland

Purpose: The article analyses the influence of personal and contextual variables on entrepreneurial intentions of students from Poland. The article presents a structural model that has been developed from a set of student perceptions. Chosen variables included in the model allows explaining and managing the formation of the intention in the context of higher education. This study provides answers to the following questions: What role and which personal variables do play importance in the formation of entrepreneurship intention in the case of young people? Which and how contextual variables are important to enhance personal variables for entrepreneurial intentions? Methodology: The research was carried out by using critical literature analysis as well as statistical research. In carrying out this work, a causal quantitative methodology (structural equation modeling) was applied using the Amos program. Factor analysis has also been used in a descriptive methodological context. The empirical research was conducted in first quarter of 2020. Findings: Research conducted on a sample of over 330 Polish students has shown that not all personal factors are statistically significant in assessing the entrepreneurial intentions of young people. As the results show, subjective norms do not play a significant role in the intention to take up self-employment. External (contextual) factors related to the broadly understood environment supporting the future entrepreneur play an important role, but much less clear than the factors at the individual level and generally indirectly influence entrepreneurial intentions, strengthening the entrepreneur's personal factors. Practical Implications: The results suppose a theoretical and practical contribution to the promotion of entrepreneur intentions of university students inside and outside the educational context. Entrepreneurship promotion programmes run by universities must focus on developing the attitude of the potential entrepreneurs, conveying the message that, despite all the obstacles that exist when launching a business, the entrepreneurship route can be an interesting alternative. Originality/Value: In the study, the personal and contextual factors influencing the entrepreneurial intentions of students were taken into account. The causal model generated on a sample of 332 Polish respondents shows the importance of individual factors on entrepreneurial intentions and the impact of contextual constructs on personal factors. Contextual variables (i.e. education, public policy, supporting entrepreneurial environments) were found to have a positive impact on personal variables as well as entrepreneurial intentions.

Cognitive Antecedents of the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Intentions of Indian University Students

The purpose of this chapter is to extend the research on determinants of entrepreneurial intentions in the agricultural industry by using the theoretical framework of determinants of entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial event model. By employing the DEI and EEM, the researchers evaluate how perceived desirability, perceived feasibility, individual background, and triggering events can influence the attitude of an individual and in turn how entrepreneurial attitude can control entrepreneurial intentions. To achieve the objective, a questionnaire survey was held using the sample of 335 PhD, master, and bachelor students in commerce, business, and economics from an Indian central university. The data was analysed using a linear regression model. The findings advocate that perceived desirability, perceived feasibility, individual background, and triggering events are positively related to entrepreneurial attitude, and the entrepreneurial attitude positively and significantly influences entrepreneurial intentions in the agricultural sector.

Sustainability at Universities as a Determinant of Entrepreneurship for Sustainability

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of universities in promoting sustainability and sustainable development goals among Indian students as future entrepreneurs, supporting the mission of sustainability. Using PLS-SEM (n = 422), we checked the influence of three constructs related to the university’s role, i.e., campus sustainability, environmental sustainability, and education on sustainability at the university, on attitudes towards sustainability among students, on one hand, and on the intention to start entrepreneurship for sustainability, on the other hand. We also looked into the impact of attitude towards sustainability-related entrepreneurship on the intention to start entrepreneurship for sustainability, as well as into the mediating role of attitude on the relationship between the three mentioned constructs and sustainability entrepreneurial intentions. Results suggest that campus sustainability and education on sustainability positively influence the attitude towards sustainability of the students. Additionally, campus sustainability and environmental sustainability influence students to start entrepreneurship for sustainability. Further, a positive attitude towards sustainability-related entrepreneurship impacts the sustainability entrepreneurial intentions. Attitude towards sustainability mediates the relationship of campus sustainability and environmental sustainability with the sustainability entrepreneurial intentions. The study will be helpful for the universities, students, researchers, and curriculum developers to understand the role of educational institutes and its policies towards sustainability in shaping the intentions towards sustainable entrepreneurship.