Testing mediating effects of individual entrepreneurial orientation on the relation between close environmental factors and entrepreneurial intention
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research
ISSN: 1355-2554
Article publication date: 8 April 2020
Issue publication date: 28 May 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the literature on entrepreneurial intention (EI), this paper develops and tests a model that aims to explain student EI by considering the valuation of entrepreneurship and the venture failure stigmatization in the closer environment of the respondent and the role of individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) through direct and indirect effects.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a survey method for data collection. As such, this study was conducted by considering a sample of 1,155 undergraduate students from different majors. Structural equation modeling is used to validate the theoretical model.
Findings
The findings suggest that a positive closer valuation of entrepreneurship facilitates students' EI. In turn, a closer stigma of entrepreneurial failure hinders students' EI. More importantly, IEO has a significant mediating role in both of these relationships. The findings offer important theoretical and practical implications for the field of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial behavior.
Originality/value
The paper offers a new insight relating environmental cognitive elements and their impact on EI, besides how IEO represents a determinant role shaping these relations. The proposed model is original and makes a connection between two widely validated constructs and evidences the relationship that may exist between the orientation and the real intention of setting up a business. Moreover, IEO has rarely been addressed for verifying interaction effects. This paper is one of the very first studies that applies the IEO (individual-level of entrepreneurial orientation) as a mediating variable.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
We thank Francisco Liñan for his views on the development stage of this paper, Antonia Mercedes Garcia Cabrera for reviewing the previous draft of the manuscript and Jorge Hernán Mesa for assistance with data collection. Finally, the authors are grateful to the editor and two anonymous IJEBR reviewers for their constructive and useful comments.
Citation
Martins, I. and Perez, J.P. (2020), "Testing mediating effects of individual entrepreneurial orientation on the relation between close environmental factors and entrepreneurial intention", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 771-791. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-08-2019-0505
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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