Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the role of mindfulness in the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
To investigate the effect of mindfulness on entrepreneurial intention and behavior, we adopt a conceptual framework based on the theory of planned behavior and develop our hypothesis, anticipating that mindfulness has a moderating effect on the entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship. We conduct an empirical study by administering a survey questionnaire with 329 respondents who attended a training program organized by one of the leading management institutes in India.
Findings
We find a positive effect of entrepreneurial intention and mindfulness on entrepreneurial behavior. Further, mindfulness has a moderating effect on the entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship.
Research limitations/implications
The study has a few limitations. It was conducted among unemployed youth who participated in a government-sponsored training program for the promotion of entrepreneurship. Although not all the participants in the program were automatically eligible for government funding for starting a business, their entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship may vary based on their conditions after the training concluded. This study emphasizes only the relationship between mindfulness and entrepreneurial intention behavior, considering EI and well-being implicit in mindfulness. Other contingent factors might also influence the entrepreneurship intention–behavior relationship, but our argument is that, ultimately, all emotional and rational factors can be subordinated to mindfulness. Hence, future research could be carried out to study the effect of mindfulness practice, entrepreneurial intention and the effectiveness of implementation behavior. Further longitudinal studies could be designed to understand how mindfulness training bridges the gap in the entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship.
Practical implications
Through this study, we offer empirical evidence on the role of mindfulness in moderating the intention–behavior relationship in entrepreneurship. Mindfulness makes people more aware of their internal and external environment when they pay attention with a purpose that helps them to regulate their emotions, cognition, novelty seeking and social contexts to sustain the ups and downs in starting a business.
Originality/value
The findings of the study offer new insights into the nuanced association between entrepreneurial intention and behavior through the lens of mindfulness.
Keywords
Citation
Abdul Waheed, K., Laeequddin, M. and Sahay, V. (2025), "Bridging the gap between entrepreneurial intentions and behavior: examining the role of mindfulness", Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 109-124. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-03-2023-0132
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited
1. Introduction
Entrepreneurship is considered an important economic factor because entrepreneurs explore social problems and find innovative solutions that can be converted into business opportunities (Carlsson et al., 2013). In order to promote entrepreneurship, government organizations focus on understanding the drivers of entrepreneurial behavior (Ahmetoglu et al., 2015). The entrepreneur’s intentions play a central role in the creation of a new venture, translating into an action that leads to a startup. Several research studies have investigated the association between entrepreneurial intention and behavior by applying the theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991). Pihie et al. (2009) define entrepreneurship as a state of mind with an intention to become an entrepreneur that requires a conscious effort and planned behavior if that intention is to succeed. Even though it has been established in previous research that entrepreneurial intentions are the best predictor of entrepreneurial behavior, growing evidence on this matter suggests that not all intentions translate into starting a new venture (Shirokova et al., 2016).
Many individuals develop an intention to start a business enterprise but end up not doing so because of changes in their preferences or the emergence of new constraints (Van Gelderen et al., 2015; Neneh, 2019). Therefore, the conversion of entrepreneurial intentions into the action of successful entrepreneurship could face a number of boundary conditions. For example, Shirokova et al. (2016) examine the influence of individual and environmental factors on the entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship. Similarly, Neneh (2019) find a moderating effect of anticipated regret and proactive personality on the link between entrepreneurial intentions and behavior. Kautonen et al. (2015) contend that entrepreneurship is not just about intentions but rather about actions, and they identify little research that examines the entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship. They determine additional factors that could influence the entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship. Consistent with prior research (e.g. Kautonen et al., 2015; Van Gelderen et al., 2015; Shirokova et al., 2016; Neneh, 2019), this study contends that several contingent factors could help in bridging the gap between entrepreneurial intentions and actions, such as the use of mindfulness in translating entrepreneurial intentions to actions.
Previous research has offered some evidence of a possible role for mindfulness in the entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship – not directly but through constructs that are closely related to mindfulness: well-being and emotional intelligence (EI). We build our arguments about the role of mindfulness based on research findings on well-being and EI. Henao García et al. (2022, pp. 161–162) state, “People who experience high levels of subjective well-being experience a greater willingness to take action and become entrepreneurs.” Ryff (2019) define well-being as eudaimonic in nature, so it is associated with self-acceptance, autonomy, purpose in life, positive relationships, personal growth and environmental mastery, which are the characteristics of entrepreneurship. Miao et al. (2018) discover a significantly positive relationship between an individual’s EI and entrepreneurial intention behavior. Some studies have shown that individuals with high EI are more creative, capable of influencing other people and coping with stress (Rhee and White, 2007; Zampetakis et al., 2009) and are better at regulating their own emotions and those of others (Fernandez-Pérez et al., 2019), which are the implicit dimensions of entrepreneurship. Othman and Tengku Muda (2018) divide EI into four dimensions – self-awareness, emotion management, empathy and social skills – which consist of cognitions and emotions that play an important role in entrepreneurship (Baron, 2008). However, cognitions and emotions are regulated by mindfulness in uncertain environments, which is necessary for recognition of opportunity and hence an aspect of entrepreneurship (Brown and Ryan, 2003).
Similarly, prior studies have also shown a significant relationship between mindfulness, EI and well-being. For example, Brown and Ryan (2003; p.824) argue that “mindfulness facilitates well-being through self-regulated emotions and fulfillment of psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness.” Brown and Ryan (2003) find a significant role of mindfulness in self-regulation of one’s behavior and well-being. Rodríguez-Ledo et al. (2018) reveal that higher levels of mindfulness competence lead to higher levels of EI. Jiménez-Picón et al. (2021) conduct a systematic literature review on the relationship between mindfulness and EI and conclude that mindfulness helps regulate an individual’s emotions and reduces emotional exhaustion.
Previous research that examines mindfulness in the entrepreneurship context emphasizes its positive effects on entrepreneurial intentions. For example, Tuan and Pham (2022) apply the TPB and investigate the effects of mindfulness on self-efficacy, attitudes and social entrepreneurial intentions among students. Ozcan et al. (2023) find a positive effect of mindfulness on entrepreneurial intentions. However, Gordon and King Schaller (2014) explore the role of mindfulness in analyzing entrepreneurs’ market opportunities. They propose a conceptual model in which entrepreneurs’ mindfulness has a moderating effect on the relationship between cognitive processing and the decision to take advantage of an opportunity; however, their proposed model is not empirically validated. Kelly and Dorian (2017) discuss the positive effects of mindfulness on evaluating market opportunities. Similarly, van Gelderen et al. (2019) find that highly mindful people perform better in terms of starting a new business when they initiate activity. Thus, there is a research gap regarding the role of mindfulness in the entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship. Chatzisarantis and Hagger (2007, p. 663) find that “mindfulness is a useful construct that helps understand the intention-behavior relationship within the theory of planned behavior.” We propose that mindfulness has a moderating effect in bridging the gap between entrepreneurial intentions and behavior. Further, we validate the proposed model by conducting a survey among the participants of a training program organized by one of the leading management institutes in India.
After this introduction, the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents a conceptual framework and hypothesis development considering the factors influencing entrepreneurship success, Section 3 presents the research methodology, Section 4 discusses the results and analysis and Section 5 discusses presents limitations and directions for further research.
2. Conceptual framework and hypothesis development
We build our conceptual framework based on the TPB developed by Ajzen (1991, p. 181), which states that “intentions are assumed to capture the motivational factors that influence a behavior; they are indications of how hard people are willing to try, of how much of an effort they are planning to exert, in order to perform the behavior.” The TPB theory has been extensively applied in entrepreneurship research for over 30 years. The TPB theory is well suited to entrepreneurship research, as starting and running a venture are essentially planned behaviors (Lortie and Castogiovanni, 2015). Entrepreneurship is considered a dynamic process in which individuals first formulate their interest in starting the business and then actually start the business by recognizing an opportunity and creating a venture (Lortie and Castogiovanni, 2015). The application of TPB is more appropriate in our conceptual framework, as individuals who are disposed to be more mindful tend to engage in goal-directed behaviors such as starting a new business.
Some researchers (e.g. Van Gelderen et al., 2018, p. 924; Frese and Gielnik, 2014) argue that an “intention to engage in startup activity does not follow upon intention with concrete actions, and that those with superior self-regulation abilities are better in taking action.” Therefore, Alzubaidi et al. (2021) and Munir et al. (2019) argue that researchers often modify the TPB model by adding variables appropriate to the particular context in explaining behavior. For example, Chatzisarantis and Hagger (2007) experimentally proved that mindful individuals enact their intention to engage in physical activity (a demonstrated intention–behavior relationship) and others do not, showing a moderating effect of mindfulness on the intention–behavior relationship. However, they prove that “individuals not acting mindfully may fail to translate intentions into actions because they are more susceptible to the influences of counter-intentional habits and thoughts (p.669).” Therefore, we find that mindfulness influences the intention–behavior relationship. Increased awareness of present experiences and events may influence the intention–behavior relationship by enhancing the self-control of mindful individuals (Kuhl and Fuhrmann, 1998).
2.1 The effect of entrepreneurial intention on behavior
The intention is the willingness to behave in a certain manner before performing an actual action (Kautonen et al., 2013). Moriano et al. (2012) define entrepreneurial intention as the conscious mental state that precedes action and focuses on entrepreneurial behaviors such as beginning a new business. Similarly, Autio et al. (2001) argue that entrepreneurship is an intentional behavior because it is a planned activity. Gartner and Carter (2003) define entrepreneurial behavior as a phenomenon that occurs over time and results in an organization as a result of a series of activities. Reynolds (2007) describes entrepreneurial behavior as a set of necessary actions taken by an individual, such as establishing a firm and organizational and financial structures. Therefore, entrepreneurial behavior can be seen as a dynamic process that needs continuous adjustment in order to identify opportunities, produce required goods and services and position them as acceptable to the market as a new venture.
Kolvereid and Moen (1997) compare the behavior of business graduates who major in entrepreneurship to that of business graduates with other majors to determine the effect of entrepreneurship education. They find that graduates with an entrepreneurship major are likelier to start new businesses and have stronger entrepreneurial intentions than those with other majors. According to Krueger et al. (2000), entrepreneurial intention is the single best predictor of any planned behavior, and intentions are a state of mind that attracts an individual’s attention to the pursuit of entrepreneurship (Virick et al., 2015). Bird and Schjoedt (2009) state that behavior can be considered individually and socially as observable human action influenced by an individual’s cognition, intention and decision. A meta-analytic study in entrepreneurship research suggests that only 27% of the variation in entrepreneurial behavior is explained by entrepreneurial behavior (Armitage and Conner, 2001), which means that not all entrepreneurial intentions result in behavior. By conducting a longitudinal study, Kautonen et al. (2015) find that only 31% of the variation in entrepreneurial behavior is explained by intentions.
Therefore, we posit our first hypothesis as follows:
Entrepreneurial intentions have a positive effect on entrepreneurial behavior.
2.2 The role of mindfulness on the entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship
For the purpose of this study, we consider the mindfulness concepts outlined by Kabat-Zinn (2003) and Langer (1989) and examine the entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship based on their concepts. Kabat-Zinn (2003, p. 145) defines mindfulness as “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience, moment by moment.” The awareness emerges through performing a variety of meditation exercises for self-help intervention to reduce stress and increase awareness, empathy, compassion and the ability to self-observe (Walsh and Shapiro, 2006; Baer, 2003; Germer, 2005).
Previous research has established that the EI of individuals determines their entrepreneurial intention and action (Rhee and White, 2007; Zampetakis et al., 2009; Kwapisz et al., 2022). According to Mayer and Salovey (1997; p. 267), EI is defined as “capacity to perceive emotions, assimilate emotion-related feelings, understand the information of those emotions and manage them.” Wong and Law (2002) operationalize EI in four dimensions, such as self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotion appraisal, use of emotion and regulation of emotion. Researchers are trying to discover the relationship between mindfulness and EI. Schutte and Malouff (2011) contend that mindfulness by individuals helps them to raise their levels of EI, which could further enhance their well-being. Specifically, the mindfulness of individuals helps them in regulating their emotions (Chambers et al., 2009). Specifically, Roche et al. (2014) confirm that mindfulness has direct effects on mental well-being and mediation effects through psychological capital. Teal et al. (2019) establish that EI acts as a mediator between mindfulness and well-being. Van der Riet et al. (2018) show that mindfulness training of healthcare professionals improves psychological well-being by reducing stress, anxiety and depression. Sharma and Gupta (2021) find that a statistically significant relationship between EI and subjective well-being acts as a mediator in their relationship with mindfulness. Similarly, Pan et al. (2022) show the mediating effect of EI between mindfulness and well-being.
Soomro and Shah (2015) propose that because entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions are individual mindsets, they can be developed through education and training. Similarly, we can train entrepreneurs to develop attention to and awareness of entrepreneurship through mindfulness meditation practice. Weick and Sutcliffe (2006) and Giluk (2009) argue that, by focusing on events occurring in the present, people can reach a state of mindfulness without using meditation techniques. Entrepreneurship requires an individual’s awareness, competence and ability to assess opportunities, and therefore, entrepreneurship is closely related to mindfulness (Yener et al., 2018). Although previous research has examined the role of mindfulness in the context of entrepreneurship, few studies have highlighted its effect on entrepreneurial action. However, previous papers have confirmed that mindfulness helps individuals to become more alert to market opportunities and to taking advantage of an opportunity at the right time. Good et al. (2016) find that, when setting up new businesses, mindful individuals who engage in compassionate behavior consider ethical aspects rather than thinking purely about profit maximization. In addition, Roche et al. (2014) find that mindfulness is negatively related to burnout among entrepreneurs, and through psychological capital (i.e. hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism), it reduces dysfunctional outcomes, such as anxiety, depression and burnout by entrepreneurs.
Therefore, we posit our second hypothesis as follows:
Mindfulness has a positive effect on entrepreneurial behavior.
Langer (1992, p. 289) defines mindfulness “as a process of drawing active distinctions and creating new social categories that leave individuals open to novelty and sensitive to context.” Langer’s formulation of mindfulness emphasizes cognitive operations that explain how people process environmental inputs to generate new categories and social perspectives. Langer’s concept of mindfulness reflects (a) a search for novelty, (b) engagement, (c) the creation of novelty and (d) flexibility. Langer’s dimensions are closely related to the characteristics of entrepreneurship. For example, Baron and Ensley (2006) state that one of the most important characteristics of entrepreneurs is the ability to recognize opportunities (engagement), entrepreneurs explore societal problems (search for novelty) and find innovative solutions (create novelty), which can be converted into business opportunities (Carlson et al., 2003), flexibility in risk taking and self-efficacy (Segal et al., 2005), ambiguity tolerance, personal control and achievement motivation (De Pillis and DeWitt, 2008). Zampetakis et al. (2009) find that EI has a positive impact on entrepreneurial intention through creativity, proactivity and attitudes toward entrepreneurship. Chaskalson (2014) claims that mindfulness has a positive impact on a variety of prominent workplace-related outcomes, including creativity, innovation, resilience, work engagement, productivity, communication skills, reduced conflict, absenteeism and turnover. Chinchilla and Garcia (2017) find a positive relationship between mindfulness and social entrepreneurial intentions. Van Gelderen et al. (2019; p. 501) argue that “mindful individuals are more often involved in endeavors that have aspects of social entrepreneurship, and less mindful individuals find it easier to close themselves to negative repercussions of their actions.” Van Gelderen et al. (2015) highlight the role of self-control in moderating the relationship between entrepreneurial intentions and actions. Yener et al. (2018) demonstrate a positive and statistically significant relationship between mindfulness and entrepreneurship, mediated by temperament. Gordon and King Schaller (2014) argue that mindfulness moderates the effect of experience and the dispositional optimism of entrepreneurs in their cognitive processing. We argue that mindfulness strengthens the positive effect of entrepreneurial intentions on entrepreneurial behavior. For individuals who have an intention to start a business, having higher mindfulness helps them to recognize market opportunities, find innovative solutions that fit customer needs and engage in activities related to starting a business. Thus, individuals’ level of mindfulness strongly helps them to convert their entrepreneurial intentions into behavior.
Therefore, we posit our third hypothesis as follows:
Mindfulness moderates the effect of entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial behavior.
Based on the literature review and the hypothesis development, we propose a conceptual model, as shown in Figure 1, that depicts the effect of mindfulness on the entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship.
3. Methodology
3.1 Questionnaire design
To measure entrepreneurial intention, we use the six-item scale developed by Liñán and Chen (2009). The entrepreneurial behavior was measured with the 10-item scale used by Shirokova et al. (2016) and Neneh (2019) that was drawn from the list of startup activities identified by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics. For measuring mindfulness, we used Langer’s (1989) mindfulness scale. Langer’s mindfulness scale (LMS14) was confirmed by Pirson et al. (2012). In the literature, we found nine popular scales for measuring mindfulness, including Langer’s. All the scales except Langer’s were designed mostly to measure mind-body awareness, feeling and thoughts without judgment. Langer measures three interrelated components: novelty seeking, engagement and novelty producing of socio-cognitive mindfulness. Langer (1989) followed a socio-cognitive approach to mindfulness that takes into account its application in the organizational context, and this approach considers mindfulness as goal oriented and an aspect that improves problem solving. Langer’s notion of mindfulness is considered to provide the foundation of mindfulness research in organizational contexts (Pirson et al., 2018). Therefore, we find content validity of this scale more appropriate for measuring mindfulness in an entrepreneurship setting than other scales that measure mindfulness.
3.2 Pilot study
First, we designed a questionnaire including all the items of the measures, divided into two sections. The first section includes questions about respondents’ demographic information such as gender, age, education and family business, and the second section consisted of the measurement items of the constructs in our study, entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial behavior and mindfulness that were measured on a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). The questionnaire was administered in a pilot study randomly distributed to 40 adults (24–35 years old), consisting of 11 women and 29 men. The pilot study was performed among the participants of a training program organized by one of the leading management institutes of India using in-person interviews to pretest the questionnaire. The pilot study helped identify the difficulties in understanding the items of the questionnaire would be faced by respondents and ensured that the respondents can understand the instructions. The final questionnaire incorporated a few changes with respect to instructions based on the inputs from the pilot study.
3.3 Study sample
The primary data for the main study come from participants selected by the Bihar State Government (Bihar is a state in India) for two weeks of entrepreneurship training organized by one of the leading management institutes in India and for receiving financial assistance toward starting a new business. To facilitate participation by those with only a high school education, the questionnaire was bilingual (English and the local language). The survey was conducted on May 2, 2022, in the presence of one of the authors, who distributed 453 questionnaires on the same day, 329 of which had complete information and were suitable for analysis. The sample characteristics are shown in Table 1. The participants were 25–43 years old, with a mean age of 29.16 years. Around 52% of the respondents have an undergraduate college education, 42% have an education at the high school level and 73.86% of the respondents do not have a history of family business.
4. Results and analysis
We analyzed the data collected to test our hypotheses, using partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to initially check the reliability and validity of the measures and then validate the hypotheses. We performed PLS-SEM using SmartPLS 3.0 software (Ringle et al., 2015). We checked the validity based on factor loadings and cross-loadings of the items used in the study. Table 2 shows all the items used in the analysis, along with their respective factors and cross-loadings. All the items for entrepreneurial intentions satisfactorily loaded with their respective factor with factor loading of more than 0.60, with p < 0.05 (Chin et al., 1997; Hair et al., 2012, 2015), and there were comparatively lower cross-loadings with other factors, indicating the convergent and discriminant validity of the measures. Only 7 of the 14 items used for mindfulness measurement were found to have a factor loading higher than 0.60, and thus, the items with a factor loading of less than 0.60 were insignificant. One item for entrepreneurial behavior also had a factor of less than 0.60 and was insignificant. Therefore, we omitted these items from further analysis.
Then we tested the reliability and validity using other statistics. The results of these tests are presented in Table 3. All the constructs are found to have satisfactory reliability with Cronbach’s alpha (entrepreneurial intention = 0.88, mindfulness = 0.89 and entrepreneurial behavior = 0.91) and composite reliability (entrepreneurial intention = 0.89, mindfulness = 0.89 and entrepreneurial behavior = 0.92), exceeding the cut-off value of 0.70. The constructs regarding convergent validity (entrepreneurial intention = 0.64, mindfulness = 0.60 and entrepreneurial behavior = 0.58) are supposed to have an average variance extracted (AVE) score more than 0.50 (Hair et al., 2012). All three constructs used in the study have an AVE of more than 0.50, demonstrating satisfactory convergent validity. We use the Fornell and Larcker criterion to test the discriminant validity of the measures (Hair et al., 2015). This criterion concerns the square root of the AVEs of the respective construct, which is expected to have a higher correlation with this construct than with other constructs in order to establish discriminant validity (Hair et al., 2015). In Table 3, the square root of the AVEs is shown on the diagonal (also in boldface) and is found to have a higher correlation than with the other constructs, thus establishing satisfactory discriminant validity.
The hypotheses are tested in PLS-SEM through analysis of the measurement model. Two models are tested to confirm the hypotheses. The direct effects model is used to confirm H1 and H2. To test H3, we use the moderation effects model. The results of both models are presented in Table 4. The models are assessed for explanatory power through R2 (Hair et al., 2012). The direct effects model resulted in an R2 of 0.264, which means that 26.4% of the variance comes from the dependent variable; entrepreneurial behavior is explained by the two independent variables (entrepreneurial intentions and mindfulness), which is considered satisfactory because the goal of our study is to diagnose the effect on entrepreneurial behavior of only these two variables. The moderation effects model produced an R2 of 0.298, which means that 29.8% variance comes from the dependent variable; entrepreneurial behavior is explained by two independent variables, along with a moderation effect.
The predictive power of the independent variables over the dependent variable is assessed through the standard deviation of the path coefficients. Entrepreneurial intention (coefficient = 0.289, p < 0.01) and mindfulness (coefficient = 0.286, p < 0.01) are both found to have a significant effect on entrepreneurial behavior, confirming H1 and H2. The moderation effects model also confirms H1 (coefficient of entrepreneurial intention = 0.459, p < 0.01) and H2 (coefficient of mindfulness = 0.329, p < 0.01). In addition, the effect of entrepreneurial intention on entrepreneurial behavior, moderated by mindfulness, is found to be significant (coefficient of moderation effect of mindfulness = 0.159, at p < 0.05). This means that, in the presence of mindfulness, the positive effect of entrepreneurial intention on entrepreneurial behavior is further strengthened, thus supporting H3.
5. Discussion and conclusions
The main goal of the study is to examine the role of mindfulness in bridging the gap in the entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship. The study tests three hypotheses. H1 predicts that entrepreneurial intention has a positive effect on entrepreneurial behavior. As predicted, we found a positive effect of entrepreneurial intention on behavior. Our findings align with the findings by Ali and Jabeen (2020), who confirm the positive role of startup intentions among individuals in India. Having established the first relationship, in which intention leads to behavior, H2 predicts that an entrepreneur’s mindfulness has a positive effect on entrepreneurial behavior. As predicted, we find a positive effect of mindfulness on entrepreneurial behavior. This finding aligns with the argument by Chatzisarantis and Hagger (2007), who experimentally prove that mindful individuals enact their intentions. As Shapiro et al. (2006) argue, mindfulness practice requires intention, attention and attitude. Our findings imply that, in addition to intention, entrepreneurial behavior requires attention and attitude, which are essential components of mindfulness.
Similarly, H3 predicts that mindfulness moderates the effect of entrepreneurial intention on entrepreneurial behavior. Greater mindfulness, which means that entrepreneurs are focused and aware of the purpose of their thinking, leads the entrepreneur to have higher attention and awareness of the intention and lower mindfulness means that the conversion of entrepreneurial intention into behavior is weaker. Therefore, this finding implies that mindfulness moderates the intention–behavior relationship, depending on the degree of awareness and attention paid in the form of recognition of market opportunity. Wang et al. (2015, p. 658) state that “mindful managers, from a contemplative perspective, have a deeper empathy for their customers and hence can observe and read customer’s emotions more clearly as well as their own self-serving inclinations which may lead to intentions of serving the needs of the society and, or become compassionate resulting in social entrepreneurship” (Grimes et al., 2013). Hayward et al. (2006) argue that mindfulness is linked to emotional self-regulation; hence, it can modulate risk-taking behavior by an entrepreneur, thereby moderating entrepreneurial decision-making. Van Gelderen et al. (2015) highlight the role of a moderating effect on the relationship between entrepreneurial intentions and actions due to self-control and action-related emotions.
In this study, we provide empirical evidence of the role of mindfulness in moderating the intention–behavior relationship in entrepreneurship. Mindfulness brings awareness of people’s internal and external environment when they pay attention with a purpose that helps individuals regulate their emotions, cognition, novelty seeking and social contexts to sustain the ups and downs in making a business operational, which leads them to regulate their intentions and behavior. Murnieks et al. (2020) find that mindfulness exercises reduce an entrepreneur’s exhaustion and thus improve “cognitive functioning, opportunity identification and evaluation, decision-making and perseverance.” Moder et al. (2023) find that short-term mindfulness training enhances the factors that influence recognition of an opportunity, such as alertness, creativity and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Mindfulness facilitates stress management for entrepreneurs, who typically work in an uncertain environment under intense pressure to succeed and are susceptible to stress and health problems. Previous research has shown that mindfulness is extremely beneficial for reducing stress and enhancing health and well-being (Brown and Ryan, 2003). Thus, we reiterate that mindfulness regulates an entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship. Therefore, incorporating mindfulness factors is crucial in future studies of the intention–behavior relationship.
Our findings have implications for policymakers in terms of identifying the approaches for tackling a challenge often faced in promoting entrepreneurship: translating entrepreneurial intention into entrepreneurial action. We recommend that the government and educational institutions provide mindfulness training to entrepreneurs, in addition to entrepreneurship training, in order to translate entrepreneurial intentions into action and enhance their well-being.
5.1 Limitations and direction for further research
The study has few limitations. It was conducted among unemployed youth who participated in a government-sponsored training program for the promotion of entrepreneurship. Although not all the participants in the program were automatically eligible for government funding for starting a business, their entrepreneurial intention–behavior relation may vary based on their conditions after the training concluded. This study emphasizes only the relationship between mindfulness and entrepreneurial intention behavior, considering EI and well-being implicit in mindfulness.
Other contingent factors might also influence the entrepreneurship intention–behavior relationship, but our argument is that, ultimately, all emotional and rational factors can be subordinated to mindfulness. Hence, future research could be carried out to study the effect of mindfulness practice, entrepreneurial intention and the effectiveness of implementation behavior. Further longitudinal studies could be designed to understand how mindfulness training bridges the gap in the entrepreneurial intention–behavior relationship.
Figures
Figure 1
Moderating effect of mindfulness on entrepreneurial intention on behavior
Characteristics of the sample
| Factors | Mean | Number | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 29.16 | ||
| Education | |||
| High school level | 138 | 41.95 | |
| Undergraduate level | 171 | 51.98 | |
| Postgraduate level | 20 | 6.08 | |
| Family business | |||
| Yes | 86 | 26.14 | |
| No | 243 | 73.86 | |
Source(s): Authors’ own work
Factor loadings and cross-loadings
| Factors/Items | EI | MFL | EB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entrepreneurial intention (EI) | |||
| I have the firm intention to start a firm someday | 0.74 | 0.46 | 0.35 |
| I have very seriously thought of starting a business | 0.86 | 0.48 | 0.39 |
| I am determined to create a firm in the future | 0.81 | 0.50 | 0.40 |
| I will make every effort to start and run my own business | 0.80 | 0.43 | 0.33 |
| My professional goal is to become an entrepreneur | 0.72 | 0.47 | 0.37 |
| I am ready to do anything to be an entrepreneur | 0.84 | 0.49 | 0.36 |
| Mindfulness (MFL) | |||
| I like to investigate things | 0.43 | 0.79 | 0.36 |
| I generate few novel ideas | 0.44 | 0.76 | 0.38 |
| I am always open to new ways of doing things | 0.47 | 0.79 | 0.34 |
| I “get involved” in almost everything I do | 0.50 | 0.81 | 0.40 |
| I like to figure out how things work | 0.37 | 0.69 | 0.24 |
| I can behave in many different ways for a given situation | 0.41 | 0.81 | 0.39 |
| I try to think of new ways of doing things | 0.58 | 0.76 | 0.33 |
| Entrepreneurial behavior (EB) | |||
| I have a product or business idea for a particular customer base/industry | 0.34 | 0.29 | 0.75 |
| I know how to collect information about markets or competitors | 0.38 | 0.37 | 0.76 |
| I have started working on a business plan | 0.33 | 0.37 | 0.78 |
| I have started exploring product/service development | 0.28 | 0.29 | 0.77 |
| I have started exploring marketing or promotion efforts for my business idea | 0.34 | 0.36 | 0.78 |
| I plan to purchase material, equipment or machinery for the business | 0.31 | 0.33 | 0.75 |
| I plan to obtain external funding for my business | 0.38 | 0.36 | 0.79 |
| I plan to apply for a patent, copyright or trademark for my business idea | 0.46 | 0.43 | 0.79 |
| I belong to a social network that can promote my business | 0.25 | 0.27 | 0.63 |
Source(s): Authors’ own work
Construct reliability, convergent and discriminant validity
| Constructs | Cronbach's alpha | Composite reliability | Average variance extracted (AVE) | Inter-construct correlations* | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EI | MFL | EB | ||||
| Entrepreneurial intention (EI) | 0.88 | 0.89 | 0.64 | 0.80 | ||
| Mindfulness (MFL) | 0.89 | 0.89 | 0.60 | 0.59 | 0.77 | |
| Entrepreneurial behavior (EB) | 0.91 | 0.92 | 0.58 | 0.46 | 0.46 | 0.76 |
Note(s): * Diagonal figures in italic represent square root of AVEs
Source(s): Authors’ own work
Hypotheses testing (dependent variable: entrepreneurial behavior)
| Direct effects model | Moderation effects model | Hypotheses supported? | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent variables | Std. path coefficients | t-value | Std. path coefficients | t-value | |
| H1: Entrepreneurial intention | 0.289 | 2.708* | 0.459 | 4.571* | Yes |
| H2: Mindfulness | 0.286 | 3.203* | 0.329 | 3.709* | Yes |
| H3: Entrepreneurial intention × Mindfulness | 0.159 | 2.426** | Yes | ||
| R2 | 0.264 | 0.298 | |||
Note(s): *p value < 0.01 level; **p value < 0.05 level
Source(s): Authors’ own work
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Further reading
Jane, M., Norris, R.L. and Bauer-Wu, S.M. (2006), “Mindfulness meditation for oncology patients: a discussion and critical review”, Integrative Cancer Therapies, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 98-108, doi: 10.1177/1534735406288083.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994), Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life, Hyperion, New York.