The Role of Work Hope on Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy and Entrepreneurial Intentions: Evidence from Business Students in Turkey

The Role of Work Hope on Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy and Entrepreneurial Intentions: Evidence from Business Students in Turkey

ALTUNTAS, Gultekin
AYTUG, Sozuer
DOGAN, Altan
H. TALHA, Demirtas

Based on Bandura’s (1977; 1982) ‘self-efficacy’ concept within socialcognitive theory, management scholars derived ‘entrepreneurial selfefficacy’ (e.g. Boyd & Vozikis, 1994; Chen, Greene & Crick, 1998; De Noble, Jung & Ehrlich, 1999), which is defined as an individual’s thoughts or beliefs of whether he or she has the abilities attributed to an entrepreneur’s role in respect to his or her self-perceptions of their skills (Chen, Greene & Crick, 1998; Wilson, Kickul & Marlino, 2007). Widely accepted entrepreneurial skills are opportunity identification, relationship building, managerial capacity and tolerance for working effectively under conditions of stress, pressure, conflict, and change (Barbosa, Gerhardt & Kickul, 2007). Besides this definition, it is noted that individuals are motivated by their self-efficacy rather than their objective ability to achieve an important tasks as well as a chosen outcome (Bandura, 1989; 1997; Markham, Balkin & Baron, 2002). Individuals with high level of entrepreneurial self-efficacy share another belief of possessing a viable idea for a new business (Wilson, Kickul & Marlino, 2007) on which it is expected for them to have an aspiration to act reflecting a high level of entrepreneurial intention (Chen, Greene & Crick, 1998; De Noble, Jung & Ehrlich, 1999; Krueger, Reilly & Carsrud, 2000; Krueger, 2007). In other words, individuals engage in entrepreneurship not by accident but by an entrepreneurial intention defined as a conscious state of mind, which directs their personal attention, experience, and behavior toward planned entrepreneurial behavior (Krueger, 2007; Bird, 1988). In order to understand the relationship between self-efficacy and career choice or particularly entrepreneurial intentions, there is extant research (e.g. Barbosa, Gerhardt & Kickul, 2007; Boyd & Vozikis, 1994; Kruger, 1993; Krueger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000; Markham, Balkin & Baron, 2002; Shapero & Sokol, 1982; Wilson, Kickul & Marlino, 2007). However, there is limited application of a newly developed construct, i.e. ‘work hope’ within this interaction. Adapted from Snyder’s (2000) hope theory, Juntunen and Wettersten (2006) defines work hope as “a positive motivational state that is directed at work and work-related goals and is composed of the presence of workrelated goals and both the agency and pathways for achieving those goals”. Furthermore, they developed an instrument to assess work hope, which would offer empirical information in vocational research (Juntunen & Wettersten, 2006). In respect, ‘work hope’ is assumed as a promising variable to provide additional perspective to the understanding of individuals’ entrepreneurial intentions. To sum up, this study aims to investigate the role of work hope on the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions. The scope of the research would be students enrolled in İstanbul University, School of Business Administration and a cross-sectional survey is intended for data collection. In attempt to expand previous literature, this study is expected to shed light on the moderating effect of students’ vocational prospects on their perceived self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions. Keywords: Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy, Entrepreneurial Intentions, Work Hope.

Article
PeerReviewed

ISSN 2303-4564

International Burch University

2013-05-10

1573