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.

Entrepreneurial Behavior of Skilled Youths of Banda District of Bundelkhand Region,Uttar Pradesh

India being predominantly agriculture and agripreneurs play vital and important role in theagricultural value chain. In today’s changing scenario, skills in entrepreneurship developmenthave become important and Skill Development of Rural Youth is a flagship scheme of theGovernment of India. The study was conducted in Banda district of Bundelkhand regionof Uttar Pradesh to study the entrepreneurial behaviour of youths and its impact on socio-economic status of youths. Total 90 respondents were selected through proportionaterandom sampling from three youth training centers of Banda district. The data were collectedwith the help of pre-structured schedule and entrepreneurial behaviour of youths wasassessed by seven components of entrepreneurial behaviour. It was found that the majority(66.67%) of respondents had medium level of entrepreneurial behaviour. Further, the socio-economic profile attributes like education, land holding, material possession, occupation,annual income and sources of information utilization were positively and significantlycorrelated with entrepreneurial behaviour of youths.

Exploratory Factor Analysis for SME Entrepreneur Subjective Norm Instrument towards e-Commerce Acceptance during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic that has hit the world since the end of 2019 has resulted in the contraction of the country’s SMEs economic activities. To maintain business continuity, SME entrepreneurs have been advised to apply e-Commerce in their business routine. Throughout the crisis, subjective norms are seen as a dominant element in determining the implementation of SME entrepreneurial behaviour to accept new changes. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the factors that influence the subjective norms of SME entrepreneurs to accept e-Commerce. Despite this necessity, the delineation of the subjective norms constructed is still not comprehensive as there are limitations in terms of instrument development and the number of items to measure social influence. Hence, this study was conducted to explore item suitability, analyse the degree of validity and reliability as well as to validate the instrument for SMEs' subjective norms toward e-Commerce acceptance behaviour. A total of 159 SME entrepreneurs around Nilai and Seremban, Negeri Sembilan were selected as the respondents through random sampling technique. The results from Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) revealed two component factors of subjective norms which are Interpersonal Influence and External Influence explaining 81.981 percent of the total variance as conceptualised through this instrument. Meanwhile, the reliability index was above 0.9. Based on each analysis performed, it can be concluded that the instrument developed was very satisfactory and relevant in assessing SME entrepreneur subjective norms in accepting e-Commerce. Keywords: Subjective norms, exploratory factor analysis, e-Commerce, COVID-19, SME entrepreneurs.

Students’ perceptions of the entrepreneurial culture in Finnish higher education institutions

The purpose of this study is to add to the literature on entrepreneurial universities by investigating entrepreneurial culture (EC) in higher education institutions (HEIs). The authors investigate how students experience EC and which factors explain their perceptions of EC. The study is based on a survey of HEI students in Finland with 1277 responses. The results show that formal institutional support and institution-level activities have the strongest impact on the students’ experienced EC. According to the findings, formal institutional support has a greater impact on students’ perceptions of EC than student-driven activities. Furthermore, the results highlight that the encouragement of teachers has a greater influence on students’ perceptions of EC than peer students and student-driven activities. Accordingly, the paper’s theoretical contribution to the literature lies in its demonstration that institutional support, in addition to the encouragement of teachers, influences HEI students’ perceptions of EC. With regard to practical implications, the findings indicate that, if HEIs wish to build an EC and operate entrepreneurially, it is vital to support teachers’ entrepreneurial behaviour and thinking. In addition, equal emphasis needs to be placed on the observable artefacts and on clear, well-communicated organisational structures and processes.

Entrepreneurship and Small Island Economies

Over the past two decades, the study of entrepreneurship and its importance to the economy has increased in appeal to academics, practitioners and governments. This study explores entrepreneurship in small island economies within regions based on Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) and Established Business Ownership (EBO) as observed in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) dataset. This research uses the pooled regression model to study the impact of TEA and EBO on economic growth. The findings highlight that new venture creation is a driver that improves gross domestic product (GDP); however, there are significant differences across SIDS in the orientation of TEA and EBO that suggest that other contextual issues like culture, education system, and entrepreneurial support elements influence entrepreneurial behaviour across regions as well. The more advanced of these nations like Singapore and Puerto Rico benefit from knowledge networks and scientific mobility, while the smaller economies in the Caribbean and Pacific Region show less openness to pursuing entrepreneurial endeavours. These findings provide a foundation for further research on varying types of combinations of both economic factors and contextual differences that lend to the transitioning process towards an emerging economy.