Predicting self-employment intentions and entry in Germany and East Africa: an investigation of the impact of mentoring, entrepreneurial attitudes, and psychological capital
Loading...
Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship
Abstract
Self-employment is a feasible and in some contexts the most
available form of employment especially for new entrants into
the labor market. Understanding student’s willingness to go into
self-employment and the factors important to the process of
becoming self-employed is therefore important. This paper
explores the role of entrepreneurial mentoring, attitudes, and psychological
capital in development of self- employment intentions
among students. A two-year longitudinal survey of final year
university students (288 German and 498 East African) was
conducted. The follow-up survey (T2) of 103 participants was
conducted within 6 months and 2 years after graduation. Results
suggest that entrepreneurial mentoring, attitudes, and psychological
capital are directly related to self-employment intentions.
Attitudes mediated the relationship between mentoring and
intentions. Furthermore, psychological capital moderated the
effects of mentoring and attitudes on self- employment intentions.
East African participants reported higher intentions (T1) and
higher rate of entry into self-employment (at T2) compared to the
German participants. Contrary to our assumption, however,
psychological capital did not have substantial effects on selfemployed
entry. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Description
Keywords
Cultural context, Entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions, Mentoring, Psychological capital, Selfemployment entry
Citation
Martin Mabunda Baluku, Peter Onderi & Kathleen Otto (2019): Predicting self-employment intentions and entry in Germany and East Africa: an investigation of the impact of mentoring, entrepreneurial attitudes, and psychological capital, Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, DOI: 10.1080/08276331.2019.1666337