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Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, and Hackett 1994, 1996) proposes that career interests, goals, and choices are related to self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations. It suggests that peopleʼs self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations with regard to self-employment would predict their goals to become selfemployed. This study explores the ability of SCCT to predict goals for self-employment in a sample of 115 undergraduate business students. Results indicated that students with higher entrepreneurial self-efficacy and higher self-employment outcome expectations had higher intentions to become self-employed. These findings imply that educators and policy-makers may boost student entrepreneurial intentions by (1) enhancing studentsʼ confidence to succeed in an entrepreneurial career and (2) enhancing studentsʼ expectations of strong positive outcomes resulting from an entrepreneurial career

Since the 1950s, organizational psychology research investigating work‐related motivation has progressed from static content models to dynamic process models. Entrepreneurship research has evolved along a similar trajectory, adapting organizational psychology findings to better understand the motivation to become an entrepreneur. This paper reviews motivation research from both fields, explores some of the commonalities among current theories, and presents a new model of entrepreneurial motivation.

In an exploratory study, the ability of tolerance for risk, perceived feasibility, and perceived net desirability to predict intentions for self‐employment is examined in a sample of 114 undergraduate business students at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Results indicated that tolerance for risk, perceived feasibility and net desirability significantly predicted self‐employment intentions, with an adjusted R² of 0.528.

Because the sample consisted entirely of undergraduate business students, findings may not be generalizable to non‐student populations. This research did not examine the role of negative motivations, or “push” factors. The cross‐sectional rather than longitudinal design of the study raises the usual caveats regarding lack of causal evidence. Finally, a limitation of any survey research is the inability to ask follow‐up questions and explore in more depth the reasoning behind any finding. Future research including qualitative interviews and/or focus group sessions could therefore provide rich explanatory information that could add value to the survey data.

As a result of this research, educators, government officials, and others interested in stimulating entrepreneurial motivation should consider how their words and actions affect potential entrepreneurs’ perceptions of entrepreneurial feasibility and net desirability.

Although the model is original and unique, it is based on established theories and models. It provides a well‐supported explanation of the motivation to become an entrepreneur that will be useful to potential entrepreneurs and those who encourage and guide them.

This article examines entrepreneurship courses offered by engineering faculties in Canada. The venturing rate of engineering students, whether the venturing rate increases if students have taken a course in entrepreneurship, and the type of ventures created are also explored. A recent census and an empirical study of two groups of engineering graduates from a Canadian university were utilized. Findings have implications for educators and administrators and for policy-makers interested in encouraging economic growth.

While considerable attention has been devoted to the personality traits of entrepreneurs, less attention has been given to their values, especially outside of a Western context. Values are instrumental in the decision to pursue entrepreneurship, and have implications for the entrepreneurʼs approach to creating and managing the venture. The role of values would seem especially relevant in the context of ethnic subcultures. Values traditionally associated with entrepreneurship, such as risk, individualism, competitiveness, wealth generation, and growth, may be more consistent with Western cultures, and may conflict with closely held values within various ethnic subcultures the world over. This article examines the values of entrepreneurs in two ethnic subcultures within South Africa. Findings are reported from interviews with cross-sectional samples of black and colored entrepreneurs. The results indicate entrepreneurs tend to embrace common values regardless of their individual ethnic heritage, but with different underlying patterns. In addition, the entrepreneurial path itself gives rise to certain shared values; and the overarching country culture has a strong influence on value orientations. Implications are drawn from the results, and suggestions made for ongoing research

Officially, of course, the world is now post-imperial. The Q’ing and Ottoman empires fell on the eve of World War I, and the last Leviathans of Europe's imperial past, the Austro-Hungarian and Tsarist empires, lumbered into the grave soon after. Tocsins of liberation were sounded on all sides, in the name of democracy (Wilson) and socialism (Lenin). Later attempts to remake and proclaim empires – above all, Hitler's annunciation of a “Third Reich” – now seem surreal, aberrant, and dystopian. The Soviet Union, the heir to the Tsarist empire, found it prudent to call itself a “federation of socialist republics.” Mao's China followed suit. Now, only a truly perverse, contrarian regime would fail to deploy the rhetoric of democracy.

Following an incursion into the business world as an entrepreneur, many people go back to being salaried workers or unemployed. Using self-determination theory (SDT), this study aims to test the effects of self-determined motivation of Ivorian agricultural entrepreneurs on career retention, career satisfaction and subjective well-being.

The sample under study consisted of 171 agricultural entrepreneurs in the Ivory Coast who owned their businesses. Research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling.

The findings reveal that the degree of self-determination in the motivation of Ivorian agricultural entrepreneurs does not have a direct effect on their intention as to whether or not to remain an entrepreneur. The findings nevertheless show that the more the degree of motivation of Ivorian agricultural entrepreneurs is self-determined, the greater satisfaction they experience with their entrepreneurial career and the higher their subjective well-being. The findings also show that satisfaction with the entrepreneurial career is a predictor of career retention among Ivorian agricultural entrepreneurs. In addition, career retention and subjective well-being are reciprocally linked, as are subjective well-being and career satisfaction.

Career retention of agricultural entrepreneurs in the Ivory Coast can be achieved through career satisfaction and self-determined motivation.

Based on previous studies on SDT in an organizational context, this study is, to the best of the knowledge, the first to have tested a theoretical model that can explain career retention, career satisfaction and subjective well-being among entrepreneurs. This research brings to light these processes among agricultural entrepreneurs in Ivory Coast.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how personal values and internal motivation interact to influence entrepreneurial orientations. Personal values and internal motivation are among personal characteristics that have an impact on entrepreneurial orientation. However, these two personal variables are studied in isolation; therefore, how these two interact to influence entrepreneurial orientation is not yet fully understood.

This study comprised a sample of Malay-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) located in the Klang Valley in Malaysia. A cross-sectional research design was used to examine the relationships between personal values, self-efficacy motivation and entrepreneurial orientation among small-scale Malay SMEs. To focus on SMEs, lists were sought from the Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA). Malay was chosen for this study because Malaysia has a majority of the Malay population compared to other races. Data were gathered based on mailed and personally administered questionnaires.

The findings indicate that self-efficacy of Malay SMEs in the Shah Alam area acted as a mediator in the relationship between personal values and entrepreneurial orientation. Malay SMEs were found to have high self-efficacy and entrepreneurial orientation.

An important implication of this research is that the interesting findings provide some insight to management consultants for focusing on improving the self-efficacy of Malay SMEs, in their training, as this would improve their entrepreneurial orientations.

The findings are original and unique and are based on established theories from the literature on Malay-based SMEs in Malaysia. The results are based on a sample of Malay-owned SMEs in the Klang Valley in Malaysia. The research findings are useful to academics and policymakers interested in fostering SMEs in Malaysia.

The study uses social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to explore the driving and restraining factors that students consider in selecting auditing as a career.

Considering the aim of this study, a qualitative research was preferred with the objective of gathering in-depth and enriched empirical data; hence, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seventy-five fourth-year undergraduate accounting students of six top-ranked universities in Ghana that offer accounting programmes.

The findings of the current study unearth the constructs of the SCCT that students' decision to consider a career in audit is driven by outcome expectations (high earnings/monetary incentives and social prestige associated with the job), as well as self-efficacy belief (possession of ethical values). Further, the study finds that self-efficacy beliefs (job stress and accounting stereotype) were the factors restraining students from considering auditing as a career. The results finally show that the students who would choose auditing as a career in future are in one way or the other, preparing for the achievement of their goals.

The SCCT framework utilized focuses on the three main constructs: self-efficacy, outcome expectations and goals. There are a number of related factors that may influence students' career choice decisions. These may include personal characteristics and contextual influences; a change of the theoretical framework may help discover other important personal and contextual factors that this current study could not unearth.

The study indicates, on the contrary, that students have negative perceptions about auditing as a career option; they consider the career as stressful, tedious and monotonous. These misconceptions make it less likely for a student to pursue auditing as a career. Educators can aid students in their decision to pursue a study in accounting and become auditors by displaying and reinforcing the positive outcomes that come with the position of an auditor.

The findings of this study add to the existing literature by delving deeper into the self-selection factors that influence a student's desire to become an auditor. Furthermore, the current research is exceptional in that it applies the SCCT to the aim of becoming an auditor. Although other research studies have looked into factors that may influence a student's decision to pursue a profession as an accountant, these studies have mostly been quantitative, limiting the students' ability to explain why those factors encourage or dissuade them.

The moral credibility of accountants has been battered for over two decades because of a seemingly unending series of accounting scandals. The inclusion of ethics education in the accounting curricula has been advocated as one option through which a new generation of morally competent accountants can be produced. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study that sought to determine the success of this strategy by measuring the moral competencies of 160 final-year Muslim accounting students enrolled in two Islamic-university accounting programs.

An open-ended, scenario-based, accounting-specific instrument was developed in collaboration with five Islamic accounting scholars to survey and measure the students’ moral competencies from an Islamic perspective.

The results revealed that the students had glaring weaknesses in their moral competencies, particularly in selecting an Islamically appropriate organization to work for after graduation and the importance of diligence in completing one’s task as an accountant. The implication of these results is that these accounting programs have to critically assess the ethical content of their curricula to ensure that it is capable of developing the moral competencies of these students to an excellent level.

The implication of these results is that these accounting programs have to critically assess the ethical content of their curricula to ensure that it is capable of developing the moral competencies of these students to an excellent level.

This paper is one of the few moral competence studies that consider the source of moral values of the respondents in measuring their moral competencies. Additionally, it provides much-needed insight into the effectiveness of a policy to address a pressing problem in the accounting profession.

Diversity and inclusion is a key focus of the profession. This paper investigates the ecological inherited niche of Indonesia and which employers accounting students choose and whether this will result in a diverse and inclusive profession. The authors conceptualise diversity as the demand-from the profession encompassing professional accounting firms, and inclusion as the supply of individuals wishing to enter the profession.

The 1377 responses to a questionnaire survey of students deciding on their career paths were analysed using a multinomial logistic regression and path model.

The findings show that a lack of diversity in the profession is caused by the ecological background, constructing a local niche, that prevents diversity. This is manifest in ethnicity, gender and education, whereby the local niche consists of Chinese males recruited from B-rated private universities. To bring diversity and inclusivity into the workplace, the profession needs to entice people from multi-faceted groups and match ecological niche underpinnings to expectations of the professional landscape. Non-Chinese females are needed to become role models and trail blazers to establish a diverse profession. The public interest will then be better served.

This study uses niche construction as the theoretical framing and demonstrates that the profession needs to take action to become truly diverse and inclusive.