Ana Junça-Silva, Henrique Duarte and Susana C. Santos
Discovering opportunities is a key entrepreneurship competence for those who want to start their own business and who choose to enter the workforce. In this study, the authors…
Abstract
Purpose
Discovering opportunities is a key entrepreneurship competence for those who want to start their own business and who choose to enter the workforce. In this study, the authors focus on the antecedents of the ability to discover entrepreneurial opportunities by uncovering how and when students' personal initiative (Frese and Fay, 2001) leads to an increase in this key competency. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of risk-taking and creativity in the interplay between personal initiative and opportunity discovery competencies among university students.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected with a self-assessment tool in two moments in time, using a sample of 103 university students from Portugal enrolled in an entrepreneurship course. The authors measured personal initiative and entrepreneurial risk-taking at the beginning of the entrepreneurship course (Time 1). Two months later (Time 2), by the end of an entrepreneurship course, the authors measured creativity and opportunity discovery abilities.
Findings
The results of this study showed that risk-taking mediates the effect of personal initiative on opportunity discovery and that creativity interacts with risk-taking and opportunity discovery. Specifically, the authors found that the relationship between entrepreneurial risk-taking and opportunity discovery is positive and statistically significant when students display average or above-average creativity. The indirect effect of the personal initiative on opportunity discovery through entrepreneurial risk-taking seems to increase when the student's creativity increases, as the index of moderated mediation is positive.
Research limitations/implications
As with all studies, there are limitations to work of this study. First, data of this study is restricted to a sample of students from Portugal. As such, the authors should be careful about generalizations concerning students from other cultural settings; entrepreneurship competencies can differ across countries. Second, the findings of the present study are based on students’ self-reports regarding their own entrepreneurship competencies.
Originality/value
This work can inspire entrepreneurship educators to look at the entrepreneurship competencies models holistically and inspire future work to explore the relationship patterns between entrepreneurial competencies.
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Curtis F. Matherne III, Joshua S. Bendickson, Susana C. Santos and Erik C. Taylor
Individuals adopt differing perceptions of entrepreneurial types, including small businesses, scalable businesses and social businesses. This study aims to suggest that…
Abstract
Purpose
Individuals adopt differing perceptions of entrepreneurial types, including small businesses, scalable businesses and social businesses. This study aims to suggest that individuals' entrepreneurial personal theory (EPT: learning from experiences that informs how an individual conceptualizes entrepreneurship) influences entrepreneurial intent, and that sensemaking facilitates this process such that those with a clearer understanding of different entrepreneurship paths are more likely to pursue opportunities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study theorizes and empirically tests whether EPT affects an individual's intent to start a small business, a scalable business or a social enterprise and how gender moderates the relationship between EPT and entrepreneurial intent. Primary survey data were collected from undergraduate business students and working adults.
Findings
The results indicate that EPTs characterized by small business, scalable business and social entrepreneurship have a positive association with entrepreneurial intentions. However, gender interaction effects showed that for women, an EPT characterized as small business has a weaker relationship with entrepreneurial intent, whereas an EPT characterized as social entrepreneurship has a stronger relationship with entrepreneurial intent. The notions that gender directly affects personal conceptions of entrepreneurship and that women may have not been exposed to all facets of entrepreneurship are addressed.
Research limitations/implications
Other variables not included in this study could also influence the relationship between how the type of entrepreneurship may shape entrepreneurial intent and how such relationship may be influenced by gender. Implications for entrepreneurship education and curriculum development are presented.
Originality/value
Integrating the EPT and sensemaking to uncover gender differences in the development of entrepreneurial intentions is a novel theoretical discussion.
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Susana C. Santos and Eric W. Liguori
Building on social career cognitive theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate outcome expectations as a mediator and subjective norms as a moderator in the relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
Building on social career cognitive theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate outcome expectations as a mediator and subjective norms as a moderator in the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 1,026 students from US public and private universities retrieved from the Entrepreneurship Education Project, this study tests a first-stage moderated mediation model in a two-step process.
Findings
Results show that entrepreneurial self-efficacy is positively related to entrepreneurial intentions through the partial mediating effect of entrepreneurial outcome expectations, and that this relationship is consistently significant and positive for individuals with lower, average and higher subjective norms towards entrepreneurship.
Research limitations/implications
These findings contribute to the literature on entrepreneurial intentions by providing a comprehensive overlook on the mechanisms and boundary conditions relevant for intentions.
Practical implications
These results reinforce the need for educators and policy makers to ensure programs manage outcome expectations and recognize the role of peer, parent and mentor role models on the construction of these expectations and, consequently, on entrepreneurial intentions.
Originality/value
Exploring the combined effect of entrepreneurial outcome expectations as a mechanism and subjective norms as boundary conditions on the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions is an unexplored issue to date, and helps to understand how and why entrepreneurial intentions emerge.
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Susana C. Santos, Michael H. Morris, António Caetano, Sílvia F. Costa and Xaver Neumeyer
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of team entrepreneurial competence, a team-level construct representing the level of shared abilities toward entrepreneurial…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of team entrepreneurial competence, a team-level construct representing the level of shared abilities toward entrepreneurial activities within a new venture team. A multilevel model of the influence of team entrepreneurial competence and team entrepreneurial experience on the cognitive strategies of team members is developed and tested.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 47 early stage entrepreneurial teams (144 individuals), a set of hypotheses regarding the effect of team entrepreneurial competence on team member reliance on effectual and causal reasoning, together with the moderating effect of team entrepreneurial experience, are tested.
Findings
The results provide support for a positive multilevel association between team entrepreneurial competence and the reliance by team members on both causal and effectual reasoning strategies; members of teams with higher entrepreneurial competence and more entrepreneurial experience are more likely to engage in effectuation.
Research limitations/implications
Understanding how team-level predictors and moderators have a role in determining individual effectuation and causation strategies offers promise in advancing effectuation theory.
Practical implications
Teams develop entrepreneurial competencies that transcend those of individual team members; where teams have more collective entrepreneurial experience, the effect on the tendency of individuals to engage in effectual reasoning is enhanced, which can be beneficial in highly uncertain contexts.
Originality/value
The results of this study are a step forward for effectuation theory, as it demonstrates the role of team-level variables in explaining individual causal and effectual reasoning.
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Susana C. Santos, Shahrokh Nikou, Malin Brännback and Eric W. Liguori
Building on construal level theory (CLT), this study explores mental representations of entrepreneurial intentions (EIs) with different foci (i.e. social and commercial) among…
Abstract
Purpose
Building on construal level theory (CLT), this study explores mental representations of entrepreneurial intentions (EIs) with different foci (i.e. social and commercial) among university students from Generations Y and Z.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of university students from the United States contacted through the Entrepreneurship Education Project, this study employs a configurational perspective—fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA)—to identify the pathways leading to EIs and social entrepreneurial intentions (SEIs).
Findings
Results show that the configurations of conditions leading to the outcomes (EI and SEI) are not disparate but share far more similarities even when considering socially oriented antecedents, supporting the claim that students perceive both EIs with different foci as high-level construals. The results also demonstrate no differences within gender, but there are asymmetries between gender in the configurations leading to EI and SEI.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to EI literature by providing new insights into understanding how individuals perceive EIs at an early stage of entrepreneurship and by bringing CLT to the EI literature.
Practical implications
These results have implications for entrepreneurship education and practice, as it recognizes that students' EIs are psychologically distant, lacking a level of detail and specificity. This would explain why students do not immediately create ventures, but that entrepreneurship has a certain incubation time to create an entrepreneurial mindset.
Originality/value
Exploring the configurational approaches can help to uncover the complexity and idiosyncrasies underlying EIs.
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Abstract
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Susana Alves Pereira, Nuno Rebelo dos Santos, Leonor Pais and Salvatore Zappalà
This paper aims to describe and characterise the actions carried out by Italian organisations participating in the Economy for the Common Good (ECG) movement and to analyse these…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe and characterise the actions carried out by Italian organisations participating in the Economy for the Common Good (ECG) movement and to analyse these actions through the lens of decent work (DW), identifying patterns leading to a typology and conceptual propositions on the subject.
Design/methodology/approach
A documentary analysis was conducted on 14 reports describing the actions taken by Italian organisations that belong to the ECG movement. Qualitative content analysis was performed using QSR-NVivo12. The descriptive analysis of the codes was made, as well as a cluster analysis based on coding similarity.
Findings
A total of 1,497 actions were coded, and four clusters, grouping sets of the common good reports, were identified. Results suggest that Customers, Business Partners and Staff and Owners are the most addressed stakeholders, human dignity and environmental sustainability are the most addressed values and Fulfilling and Productive Work and Fundamental Principles and Values at Work are the most addressed DW dimensions. Additionally, all clusters are intensive in environmental concerns but have differentiated priorities. Cluster analysis suggests three drivers: recognition, core business closeness and social common good impact. A total of five conceptual propositions are being made useable by organisational leaders who intend to adhere to the ECG movement.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation is the low number of organisations participating in the ECG movement in Italy, which restricts the scope of the conclusions.
Practical implications
The results are helpful as inputs for designing interventions in organisations that intend to start or strengthen their involvement in the ECG movement.
Originality/value
Identifying DW aspects related to common good indicators and the four approaches to the ECG adhesion corresponding to the four clusters.
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Carla Susana Marques, Gina Santos, Vanessa Ratten and Ana B. Barros
Rural entrepreneurship is an emergent field of study, with these start-ups becoming one of the most noticeable ways to promote rural development, but the few studies concerning…
Abstract
Purpose
Rural entrepreneurship is an emergent field of study, with these start-ups becoming one of the most noticeable ways to promote rural development, but the few studies concerning innovation among artisans have thus far only been exploratory. The purpose of this paper is to examine the entrepreneurial artisan initiatives of young innovators in a peripheral northern area of Portugal where black pottery is produced.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative data analysis was carried out on in-depth semi-structured interviews with three young artisan innovators and entrepreneurs and one individual who functions as a cultural booster. The content analysis was done using QSR International’s NVivo Version 11 software.
Findings
These young entrepreneurs have developed commercial activities and introduced innovations (i.e. design and process) into black pottery production, while taking advantage of endogenous materials, local culture and traditional knowledge. These individuals have sought not only to generate their own innovations but also to keep their culture and local traditions alive, thereby contributing to rural development by establishing networks with local young artisans.
Research limitations/implications
Some limitations are linked to the sample’s size and basis in a specific geographic reality.
Practical implications
The findings provide a fuller understanding of why some rural artisan firms grow, suggesting that artisans’ networks and innovative and entrepreneurial behaviours play a key role.
Originality/value
This research’s results contribute to the literature on the role that innovation can play as a booster of rural artisanship through networks and entrepreneurship. This paper is among the first to discuss black pottery as a form of artisan entrepreneurship. The results underline the value of innovations and networks, which were found to be the core ingredients in rural artisan entrepreneurship.
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Susana Alves Pereira, Nuno Rebelo dos Santos and Leonor Pais
This paper aims to relate conceptually decent work and the economy for the common good describing the main contributions of the former to the latter.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to relate conceptually decent work and the economy for the common good describing the main contributions of the former to the latter.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper analyses the relationships between the values of the economy for the common good that have been explicitly stated and the psychological dimensions of the decent work concept.
Findings
Four conceptual propositions concerning the contributions of decent work to the economy for the common good are presented.
Research limitations/implications
Because the four conceptual propositions were not submitted to empirical research, future studies are suggested.
Practical implications
The pursuit of decent work is aligned with the economy for the common good, which contributes to reinforcing both proposals.
Social implications
Both decent work and the economy for the common good are synergistic and values-based approaches that consider the social system as a whole instead of proposing strategies to improve the competitive advantage of one over the other. This synergistic idea through cooperation contributes to overcoming the limitations of “business as usual”.
Originality/value
This is the first paper discussing the relationships between decent work and the economy for the common good.
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Susana C. Silva, Ana Santos, Paulo Duarte and Božidar Vlačić
Second-hand clothing (SHC) has kindled a growing interest among researchers and practitioners. However, despite all the benefits that this market presents, consumer adherence…
Abstract
Purpose
Second-hand clothing (SHC) has kindled a growing interest among researchers and practitioners. However, despite all the benefits that this market presents, consumer adherence still has considerable room for improvement. Several studies have explored the main motivations that lead consumers to buy second-hand clothes (SHCs), but few have focused on the factors that prevent consumers from adopting this consumption behavior. Hence, this study aims to identify barriers through the differences in the perception of experienced and inexperienced consumers in SHC purchases.
Design/methodology/approach
Data collected through an online questionnaire from 127 cases were analyzed using means comparison and binomial logistic regression.
Findings
The findings of this study revealed that having previous experience in purchasing SHCs influences consumers' perception of the barriers. The results also indicate that social embarrassment is the factor that most negatively influences the purchase of SHCs, as well as the consumers' lack of knowledge regarding the available channels.
Originality/value
Considering the importance of the SHC market and its potential, this study reveals what motivates and at the same time prevents consumers from acquiring SHCs. Original findings regarding the importance of channel familiarity and social embarrassment assist companies in defining their marketing strategies and enhancing the consumer experience in the purchase of SHCs.