Entrepreneurial intention among University students in Malaysia: integrating self-determination theory and the theory of planned behavior

The present study endeavors to develop a deeper understanding of the motivational processes involved in intentional entrepreneurial behavior. For this purpose, it integrates the social cognitive approach of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the organismic theory of motivation of self-determination theory (SDT). More specifically, it tests the role of basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness as defined in SDT in shaping university students’ attitudes and intentions toward entrepreneurship. The sample of this study consisted of 438 (Males = 166, Females =272) 3rd and4th year university students from four Malaysian Public Universities. The results of the study show that the model strongly explains about 71% of the variance in entrepreneurial intention. Basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness have a strong indirect impact on entrepreneurial intention via their attitudinal antecedents: attitude,subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. This indicates a full-mediational model,where the attitudinal factors operated as transmitters of effects from the distal constructs ofSDT on entrepreneurial intention. These findings confirm that both SDT and the TPB provide complementary explanations of the motivational processes of entrepreneurial behavior. The study contributes to the existing knowledge by providing a theory-based understanding of the role of motivations in the formation of entrepreneurial intentions. It opens the way for future research to analyze how alternative motivations may affect new venture creation, survival and success

SOCIAL MEDIA USE TO SUPPORT ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE FACE OF DISRUPTION

By comparing respondents in Egypt and the United States this paper examines whether the rise of virtual social networks to support entrepreneurship may be more important in driving entrepreneurial intent in countries undergoing disruption. Further, this research developed a new factor of social media self-efficacy as a predictor of perceived behavioral control in entrepreneurial intent. Results were analyzed using Partial Least Squares (PLS), employing the double bootstrap comparison method for improved accuracy. Social media self-efficacy provided significant, unique variance for both samples in predicting perceived behavioral control above and beyond the contribution of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and access to entrepreneurial resources. Social media self-efficacy was significantly more influential for Egyptians than for Americans in predicting perceived behavioral control; entrepreneurial self-efficacy and access to resources were significantly more influential for Americans. This research introduces a framework for conceptualizing a social media role in promoting entrepreneurship, with an emphasis on its likely importance for contexts suffering from institutional voids or severe institutional instability