In order to become serial entrepreneurs and even portfolio entrepreneurs. individuals' must first establish themselves as entrepreneurs. Moreover. and prior to this. they must first be nascent entrepreneurs. Hence. the focus of this study is the factors that lead individuals at the early stage of their career to choose to establish a personal business venture rather than any other career path. That is. this study focuses on the factors that influence individuals intentions' to become entrepreneurs. Three models are empirically tested. These models comprise an extended version of the Shapero model of the entrepreneurial event. a modified version of the Ajzen model of planned behaviour. and Boyd and Vozikis' extended Bird model. A fourth model is developed and tested. This particular model is characterised as the 'entrepreneurial capital' model and extends the reasoning into the probability of sustained entrepreneurial behaviour. There are four main contributions from this study. • The first contribution is the development of the notion of entrepreneurial capital. where entrepreneurial capital is conceived of as a function of sustained entrepreneurial intentions (commitment) and entrepreneurial competence. It is argued that the most valuable source of emerging firms is the nascent entrepreneurs' entrepreneurial capital. In other words, the combined capacity to identify opportunities. to acquire and co-ordinate resources and to see the venture through to fruition may be regarded as entrepreneurial capital. • The second contribution of this thesis relates to the empirical testing of Boyd and Vozikis' theoretical propositions. These propositions are based on the extended Bird model and have not been empirically tested before. The presence of entrepreneurial goals was found to have a stronger effect on entrepreneurial intentions than entrepreneurial commitment and perceived entrepreneurial capability. • The third contribution relates to social entrepreneurial experience; experience gathered through interaction with entrepreneurially orientated others. it appears that social entrepreneurial experience is an important antecedent factor that influences 'entrepreneurial intentions'. Hence. culture. that is, the presence of other entrepreneurially orientated people. appears to be the most important influence on the development of individuals' intentions toward enterprise formation. • The fourth contribution also relates to social entrepreneurial experience. it appears that 'perceived entrepreneurial competence' is also influenced by social entrepreneurial experience. According to this study. mastery entrepreneurial experience (i.e. previous start-up experience) as well as vicarious entrepreneurial experience (i.e. parental role models) have less effect. Only when self-employment is judged more attractive than organisational employment. will high potential individuals' choose the former. Educational programmes that value self-employment initiatives should therefore stimulate individuals to develop personal entrepreneurial goals. and to develop individuals' perceptions of their entrepreneurial capabilities. which again should trigger their entrepreneurial intentions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:617794 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Erikson, Truls |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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