The Relationship between Entrepreneurial Social Identity and Entrepreneurial Intention: The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy
Subject Areas : Human resources management)Mahdieh Khalili Khezrabadi 1 , Mohammad Hassani 2
1 - Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Educational Sciences, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
2 - Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
Keywords: Entrepreneurial Intention, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, Entrepreneurial Social Identity,
Abstract :
In the dawn of this new era and the development of knowledge-based economy, entrepreneurship has been recognized as a fundamental factor in the economic progress of countries. Hence, the aim of this research was to investigate the impact of students' entrepreneurial social identity on their entrepreneurial intention, considering the mediating role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, using the structural equation method. The statistical population of this research was male and female students of Urmia Technical and Vocational University in the academic year 1399-1400, who had completed entrepreneurship units in their courses. As a census, Linan and Chen's (2009) standard entrepreneurial intention questionnaire, Di-Nabel et al.'s (1999) entrepreneurial self-efficacy questionnaire, and Zeiger et al.'s (2016) entrepreneurial identity questionnaire were administered to all students. Finally, 267 questionnaires were examined as a sample. The results indicated that there exists a statistically significant positive relationship between the entrepreneurial social identity of the students in both dimensions of Darwinian identity and Missionarie identity and their entrepreneurial intention (p < 0.05). Furthermore, it was found that entrepreneurial self-efficacy plays a mediating role in this relationship (p < 0.001). Therefore, it is recommended that in providing entrepreneurship trainings and also in the related policies, the compatibility of these trainings with students’ social identity style should be taken into consideration in order to increase their entrepreneurial productivity.
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational behavior and human decision processes,50(2),179-211.doi:10.1016/0749-5978(91) 90020-T
Alsos, G. A., Clausen, T. H., Hytti, U., & Solvoll, S. (2016). Entrepreneurs’ social identity and the preference of causal and effectual behaviors in start-up processes. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 28(3-4), 234-258. doi: 10.1080/08985626.2016.1155742
Asimakopoulos, G., Hernández, V., & Peña Miguel, J. (2019). Entrepreneurial intention of engineering students: The role of social norms and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Sustainability, 11(16),4314.doi:10.3390/ su11164314
Bacq, S., Ofstein, L., Kickul, J., & Gundry, L. (2017). Perceived entrepreneurial munificence and entrepreneurial intentions: A social cognitive perspective. International Small Business Journal, 35(5), 639–659. doi:10.1177/0266242616658943
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological review, 84(2), 191-215. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191
Bosma, N., Hessels, J., Schutjens, V., Van Praag, M., & Verheul, I. (2012). Entrepreneurship and role models. Journal economic psychology, 33(2), 410-424.doi:10.1016/j.joep.2011.03.004
Brändle, L., Berger, E. S., Golla, S., & Kuckertz, A. (2018). I am what I am -How nascent entrepreneurs’ social identity affects their entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 9, 17-23. doi:10.1016/j.jbvi.2017.12.001
De Noble, A. F., Jung, D., & Ehrlich, B. (1999). Entrepreneurial self-efficacy: the development of a measure and its relationship to entrepreneurial intentions and actions. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 18(4), 63-77.
Dinc, M.S. & Hadzic, M. (2018). The mediating impact of personality traits on entrepreneurial intention of women in Northern Montenegro, International Journal Entrepreneurship & Small Business, 33(3), 400-416 .doi:10.1504/IJESB.2018.090224
EstradaCruz, M., VerdúJover, A. J., & GómezGras, J. M. (2019). The influence of culture on the relationship between the entrepreneur's social identity and decision-making: Effectual and causal logic. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, 22(4), 226-244.doi:10.1016/j.brq.2018.10.002
Fauchart, E., & Gruber, M. (2011). Darwinians, communitarians, and missionaries: The role of founder identity in entrepreneurship. Academy of management journal, 54(5), 935-957.doi:10.5465/amj.2009.0211
Grant, A. M. (2008). Does intrinsic motivation fuel the prosocial fire? Motivational synergy in predicting persistence, performance, and productivity. Journal of applied psychology, 93(1), 48-58. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.93.1.48
Gruber, M., & MacMillan, I. C. (2017). Entrepreneurial behavior: A reconceptualization and extension based on identity theory. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 11(3), 271-286.doi:10.1002/sej.1262
Herman, E. (2018). Innovation and entrepreneurship for competitiveness in the EU: an empirical analysis. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence , 12, (1), 425-43.doi:10.2478/picbe-2018-0038
Hockerts, K. (2017). Determinants of social entrepreneurial intentions. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 41(1), 105–130. doi:10.1111/etap.12171
Huggins, R., Prokop, D., & Thompson, P. (2017). Entrepreneurship and the determinants of firm survival within regions: human capital, growth motivation and locational conditions. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 29(3-4), 357-389.doi:10.1080/08985626.2016.1271830
Karimi, S. (2020). Mediating role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and self-perceived employability on the relationship between career adaptability and entrepreneurial intentions of agriculture students. Quarterly Journal of Research and Planning in Higher Education, 26(2), 53-76. [in Persian].
Kubberød, E., & Pettersen, I. B. (2017). Exploring situated ambiguity in students’ entrepreneurial learning. Education & Training, 59(3), 265–279. doi:10.1108/ET-04-2016-0076
Wu, S., & Wu, L. (2008). The impact of higher education on entrepreneurial intentions of university students in China. Journal of small business and enterprise development, 15(4), 752-774. doi:10.1108/14626000810917843
Liñán, F., & Chen, Y. W. (2009). Development and cross–cultural application of a specific instrument to measure entrepreneurial intentions. Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 33(3), 593-617.doi:10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00318.x
Lu, G., Song, Y., & Pan, B. (2021). How university entrepreneurship support affects college students’ entrepreneurial intentions: An empirical analysis from China. Sustainability, 13(6), 1-25. doi:10.3390/su13063224
Mmbaga, N. A., Mathias, B. D., Williams, D. W., & Cardon, M. S. (2020). A review of and future agenda for research on identity in entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 35(6), 106049. doi:10.1016/j.jbusvent.2020.106049
Mondalizadeh, Z., & Khosravizadeh, E. (2021). The Effectiveness of teaching the Entrepreneurship Course on Entrepreneurial Personality Characteristics and the Entrepreneurial Intent of undergraduate Students of Sports Sciences. Sports Marketing Studies, 2(1), 156-180. [in Persian]. doi:10.34785/J021.2021.121
Moradzadeh, P., & ghayour baghbani, S. M. (2022). Structural modeling the effective role of entrepreneurial automation in shaping students' entrepreneurial intention emphasizing the theory of planned behavior components. Journal of Coaching in Management and Productivity Development. [in Persian].doi:10.22034/jcmpd.2022.546033.1006
Murad, M., Ashraf, S. F., Syed, N., Munir, M., & Butt, R. S. (2022). Entrepreneurial social identities and nascent entrepreneurial behaviour: Mediating role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 10(1), 129-143.
Musona, J., Puumalainen, K., Sjögrén, H., & Vuorio, A. (2021). Sustainable entrepreneurship at the bottom of the pyramid: An identity-based perspective. Sustainability, 13(2), 1-37.doi:10.3390/su13020812
Ndofirepi, T. M., Rambe, P., & Dzansi, D. Y. (2018). The relationship among technological creativity, self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions of selected South African university of technology students. Acta Commercii, 18(1), 1-14.
Nielsen, S. L., Klyver, K., Evald, M. R., & Bager, T. (2021). Entrepreneurship in theory and practice: Paradoxes in Play. Edward Elgar Publishing, 1-416.
Noor, N. H. M., & Malek, E. N. (2021). An application of Theory of Planned Behavior in determining student entrepreneurship intention. Jurnal Intelek, 16(1), 207-214.
Norman, P., & Hoyle, S. (2004). The theory of planned behavior and breast self‐examination: Distinguishing between perceived control and self‐efficacy. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34(4), 694-708.doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2004.tb02565.x
Nowiński, W., Haddoud, M. Y., Lančarič, D., Egerová, D., & Czeglédi, C. (2017). The impact of entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and gender on entrepreneurial intentions of university students in the Visegrad countries. Studies in Higher Education, 44(2), 361-379.doi: 10.1080/03075079.2017.1365359
Obschonka, M., Silbereisen, R. K., & Schmitt-Rodermund, E. (2010). Entrepreneurial intention as developmental outcome. Journal Vocational Behavior, 77(1), 63–72.doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2010.02.008
Powell, E. E., & Baker, T. (2017). In the beginning: Identity processes and organizing in multi-founder nascent ventures. Academy of Management Journal, 60(6), 2381-2414.doi:10.5465/amj.2015.0175
Rezaei, M. (2019). The Relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention of agricultural students at University of Tarbiiat Modarres. Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research, 50(2), 409-419. [in Persian]. doi:668669.267959.2019ijaedr/22059.10
Schlaegel, C., & Koenig, M. (2014). Determinants of entrepreneurial intent: A meta-analytic test and integration of competing models. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38, 291–332.doi:10.1111/etap.12087
Schneider, K. (2019). How to promote entrepreneurial identity through edutainment. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 22(3), 1-12.
Setiawan, J. L. (2014). Examining entrepreneurial self-efficacy among students. Procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 115, 235-242. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.02.431
Sieger, P., Gruber, M., Fauchart, E., & Zellweger, T. (2016). Measuring the social identity of entrepreneurs: Scale development and international validation. Journal of Business Venturing, 31(5), 542-572. doi:10.1016/j.jbusvent.2016.07.001
Solesvik, M. Z. (2017). A cross-national study of personal initiative as a mediator between self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of East-West Business, 23(3), 215-237.doi:10.1080/10669868.2017.1306821
Sun, S., Vancouver, J., & Weinhardt, J. (2014). Goal choices and planning: Distinct expectancy and value effects in two goal processes. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 125, 220–233. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2014.09.002
Vancouver, J., More, K., & Yoder, R. (2008). Self-efficacy and resource allocation: Support for a nonmonotonic, discontinuous model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(1), 35–47.doi:10.1037/0021-9010.93.1.35
Wang, M., Cai, J., & Munir, H. (2021). Promoting entrepreneurial intentions for academic scientists: combining the social cognition theory and theory of planned behaviour in broadly-defined academic entrepreneurship. European Journal of Innovation Management, 24(2), 613-635.doi:10.1108/EJIM-07-2020-0257
Yitshaki, R., & Kropp, F. (2016). Entrepreneurial passions and identities in different contexts: a comparison between high-tech and social entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 28(3-4), 206-233.doi:10.1080/08985626.2016.1155743
Younis, A., Xiaobao, P., Nadeem, M. A., Kanwal, S., Pitafi, A. H., Qiong, G., & Yuzhen, D. (2021). Impact of positivity and empathy on social entrepreneurial intention: The moderating role of perceived social support. Journal of Public Affairs, 21(1), e2124.doi:10.1002/pa.2124
Zarinjoi Alvar, S. (2020). The mediating role of the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention in relation to previous experience and social entrepreneurship. Women's Studies Sociological and Psychological, 18(3), 181-216. [in Persian].doi:10.22051/JWSPS.2021.31988.2275
Zhang, P., & Cain, K. W. (2017). Reassessing the link between risk aversion and entrepreneurial intention: The mediating role of the determinants of planned behaviour. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 23(5), 793–811.doi:10.1108/IJEBR-08-2016-0248
Zur, A. (2020). Entrepreneurial identity and social-business tensions–the experience of social entrepreneurs. Journal Social Entrepreneurship, 1-24. doi:10.1080/19420676.2020.1740297
_||_Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational behavior and human decision processes,50(2),179-211.doi:10.1016/0749-5978(91) 90020-T
Alsos, G. A., Clausen, T. H., Hytti, U., & Solvoll, S. (2016). Entrepreneurs’ social identity and the preference of causal and effectual behaviors in start-up processes. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 28(3-4), 234-258. doi: 10.1080/08985626.2016.1155742
Asimakopoulos, G., Hernández, V., & Peña Miguel, J. (2019). Entrepreneurial intention of engineering students: The role of social norms and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Sustainability, 11(16),4314.doi:10.3390/ su11164314
Bacq, S., Ofstein, L., Kickul, J., & Gundry, L. (2017). Perceived entrepreneurial munificence and entrepreneurial intentions: A social cognitive perspective. International Small Business Journal, 35(5), 639–659. doi:10.1177/0266242616658943
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological review, 84(2), 191-215. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191
Bosma, N., Hessels, J., Schutjens, V., Van Praag, M., & Verheul, I. (2012). Entrepreneurship and role models. Journal economic psychology, 33(2), 410-424.doi:10.1016/j.joep.2011.03.004
Brändle, L., Berger, E. S., Golla, S., & Kuckertz, A. (2018). I am what I am -How nascent entrepreneurs’ social identity affects their entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 9, 17-23. doi:10.1016/j.jbvi.2017.12.001
De Noble, A. F., Jung, D., & Ehrlich, B. (1999). Entrepreneurial self-efficacy: the development of a measure and its relationship to entrepreneurial intentions and actions. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 18(4), 63-77.
Dinc, M.S. & Hadzic, M. (2018). The mediating impact of personality traits on entrepreneurial intention of women in Northern Montenegro, International Journal Entrepreneurship & Small Business, 33(3), 400-416 .doi:10.1504/IJESB.2018.090224
EstradaCruz, M., VerdúJover, A. J., & GómezGras, J. M. (2019). The influence of culture on the relationship between the entrepreneur's social identity and decision-making: Effectual and causal logic. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, 22(4), 226-244.doi:10.1016/j.brq.2018.10.002
Fauchart, E., & Gruber, M. (2011). Darwinians, communitarians, and missionaries: The role of founder identity in entrepreneurship. Academy of management journal, 54(5), 935-957.doi:10.5465/amj.2009.0211
Grant, A. M. (2008). Does intrinsic motivation fuel the prosocial fire? Motivational synergy in predicting persistence, performance, and productivity. Journal of applied psychology, 93(1), 48-58. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.93.1.48
Gruber, M., & MacMillan, I. C. (2017). Entrepreneurial behavior: A reconceptualization and extension based on identity theory. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 11(3), 271-286.doi:10.1002/sej.1262
Herman, E. (2018). Innovation and entrepreneurship for competitiveness in the EU: an empirical analysis. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence , 12, (1), 425-43.doi:10.2478/picbe-2018-0038
Hockerts, K. (2017). Determinants of social entrepreneurial intentions. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 41(1), 105–130. doi:10.1111/etap.12171
Huggins, R., Prokop, D., & Thompson, P. (2017). Entrepreneurship and the determinants of firm survival within regions: human capital, growth motivation and locational conditions. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 29(3-4), 357-389.doi:10.1080/08985626.2016.1271830
Karimi, S. (2020). Mediating role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and self-perceived employability on the relationship between career adaptability and entrepreneurial intentions of agriculture students. Quarterly Journal of Research and Planning in Higher Education, 26(2), 53-76. [in Persian].
Kubberød, E., & Pettersen, I. B. (2017). Exploring situated ambiguity in students’ entrepreneurial learning. Education & Training, 59(3), 265–279. doi:10.1108/ET-04-2016-0076
Wu, S., & Wu, L. (2008). The impact of higher education on entrepreneurial intentions of university students in China. Journal of small business and enterprise development, 15(4), 752-774. doi:10.1108/14626000810917843
Liñán, F., & Chen, Y. W. (2009). Development and cross–cultural application of a specific instrument to measure entrepreneurial intentions. Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 33(3), 593-617.doi:10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00318.x
Lu, G., Song, Y., & Pan, B. (2021). How university entrepreneurship support affects college students’ entrepreneurial intentions: An empirical analysis from China. Sustainability, 13(6), 1-25. doi:10.3390/su13063224
Mmbaga, N. A., Mathias, B. D., Williams, D. W., & Cardon, M. S. (2020). A review of and future agenda for research on identity in entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 35(6), 106049. doi:10.1016/j.jbusvent.2020.106049
Mondalizadeh, Z., & Khosravizadeh, E. (2021). The Effectiveness of teaching the Entrepreneurship Course on Entrepreneurial Personality Characteristics and the Entrepreneurial Intent of undergraduate Students of Sports Sciences. Sports Marketing Studies, 2(1), 156-180. [in Persian]. doi:10.34785/J021.2021.121
Moradzadeh, P., & ghayour baghbani, S. M. (2022). Structural modeling the effective role of entrepreneurial automation in shaping students' entrepreneurial intention emphasizing the theory of planned behavior components. Journal of Coaching in Management and Productivity Development. [in Persian].doi:10.22034/jcmpd.2022.546033.1006
Murad, M., Ashraf, S. F., Syed, N., Munir, M., & Butt, R. S. (2022). Entrepreneurial social identities and nascent entrepreneurial behaviour: Mediating role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 10(1), 129-143.
Musona, J., Puumalainen, K., Sjögrén, H., & Vuorio, A. (2021). Sustainable entrepreneurship at the bottom of the pyramid: An identity-based perspective. Sustainability, 13(2), 1-37.doi:10.3390/su13020812
Ndofirepi, T. M., Rambe, P., & Dzansi, D. Y. (2018). The relationship among technological creativity, self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions of selected South African university of technology students. Acta Commercii, 18(1), 1-14.
Nielsen, S. L., Klyver, K., Evald, M. R., & Bager, T. (2021). Entrepreneurship in theory and practice: Paradoxes in Play. Edward Elgar Publishing, 1-416.
Noor, N. H. M., & Malek, E. N. (2021). An application of Theory of Planned Behavior in determining student entrepreneurship intention. Jurnal Intelek, 16(1), 207-214.
Norman, P., & Hoyle, S. (2004). The theory of planned behavior and breast self‐examination: Distinguishing between perceived control and self‐efficacy. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34(4), 694-708.doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2004.tb02565.x
Nowiński, W., Haddoud, M. Y., Lančarič, D., Egerová, D., & Czeglédi, C. (2017). The impact of entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and gender on entrepreneurial intentions of university students in the Visegrad countries. Studies in Higher Education, 44(2), 361-379.doi: 10.1080/03075079.2017.1365359
Obschonka, M., Silbereisen, R. K., & Schmitt-Rodermund, E. (2010). Entrepreneurial intention as developmental outcome. Journal Vocational Behavior, 77(1), 63–72.doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2010.02.008
Powell, E. E., & Baker, T. (2017). In the beginning: Identity processes and organizing in multi-founder nascent ventures. Academy of Management Journal, 60(6), 2381-2414.doi:10.5465/amj.2015.0175
Rezaei, M. (2019). The Relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention of agricultural students at University of Tarbiiat Modarres. Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research, 50(2), 409-419. [in Persian]. doi:668669.267959.2019ijaedr/22059.10
Schlaegel, C., & Koenig, M. (2014). Determinants of entrepreneurial intent: A meta-analytic test and integration of competing models. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38, 291–332.doi:10.1111/etap.12087
Schneider, K. (2019). How to promote entrepreneurial identity through edutainment. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 22(3), 1-12.
Setiawan, J. L. (2014). Examining entrepreneurial self-efficacy among students. Procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 115, 235-242. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.02.431
Sieger, P., Gruber, M., Fauchart, E., & Zellweger, T. (2016). Measuring the social identity of entrepreneurs: Scale development and international validation. Journal of Business Venturing, 31(5), 542-572. doi:10.1016/j.jbusvent.2016.07.001
Solesvik, M. Z. (2017). A cross-national study of personal initiative as a mediator between self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of East-West Business, 23(3), 215-237.doi:10.1080/10669868.2017.1306821
Sun, S., Vancouver, J., & Weinhardt, J. (2014). Goal choices and planning: Distinct expectancy and value effects in two goal processes. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 125, 220–233. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2014.09.002
Vancouver, J., More, K., & Yoder, R. (2008). Self-efficacy and resource allocation: Support for a nonmonotonic, discontinuous model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(1), 35–47.doi:10.1037/0021-9010.93.1.35
Wang, M., Cai, J., & Munir, H. (2021). Promoting entrepreneurial intentions for academic scientists: combining the social cognition theory and theory of planned behaviour in broadly-defined academic entrepreneurship. European Journal of Innovation Management, 24(2), 613-635.doi:10.1108/EJIM-07-2020-0257
Yitshaki, R., & Kropp, F. (2016). Entrepreneurial passions and identities in different contexts: a comparison between high-tech and social entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 28(3-4), 206-233.doi:10.1080/08985626.2016.1155743
Younis, A., Xiaobao, P., Nadeem, M. A., Kanwal, S., Pitafi, A. H., Qiong, G., & Yuzhen, D. (2021). Impact of positivity and empathy on social entrepreneurial intention: The moderating role of perceived social support. Journal of Public Affairs, 21(1), e2124.doi:10.1002/pa.2124
Zarinjoi Alvar, S. (2020). The mediating role of the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention in relation to previous experience and social entrepreneurship. Women's Studies Sociological and Psychological, 18(3), 181-216. [in Persian].doi:10.22051/JWSPS.2021.31988.2275
Zhang, P., & Cain, K. W. (2017). Reassessing the link between risk aversion and entrepreneurial intention: The mediating role of the determinants of planned behaviour. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 23(5), 793–811.doi:10.1108/IJEBR-08-2016-0248
Zur, A. (2020). Entrepreneurial identity and social-business tensions–the experience of social entrepreneurs. Journal Social Entrepreneurship, 1-24. doi:10.1080/19420676.2020.1740297