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The purpose of this paper is to explore the start-up intention among the female population in Saudi Arabia using the social cognitive theory (SCT).

This paper is based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor nationwide survey of 1,835 adult females in 2017. This is one of the most comprehensive surveys for assessing the start-up climate across the globe including Saudi Arabia. The data have been analyzed using simple techniques such as chi-square statistics, correlation, and logistics regression. The factors affecting start-up intentions have been identified using the social cognitive theory (SCT).

Out of 1,835 adult females surveyed under Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 568 of them have reported start-up intention, i.e. 31.9 percent. The profile of females with and without start-up intention has been mapped in terms of age, family size, working status, education level, region, and citizenship to understand the potential group. The results of the correlation coefficient indicated a significant and positive relationship between start-up intention (SI) among females and self-efficacy (SE), career choice (CC), employment generation (EG), and social welfare (SW). The regression estimates proved that both the constructs, i.e. self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations of the social cognitive model are positive and significant.

The result of this paper provides empirically meticulous evidence for understanding the start-up intention of females in Saudi Arabia based on the social cognitive theory. This study provides a key strategy for changing the start-up ecosystem for females in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. By focusing on the required knowledge, skill, and experience among females belonging to young, small family size, not-working and having higher family income may provide better start-up intention for all those who are willing to venture into a new business as a career choice, have the intention to create jobs and wish to solve social problems.

Considering the current focus of the government for establishing a knowledge-based economy by promoting new programs in the kingdom for start-ups and SMEs, the findings of this research can be valuable for the rapid acceleration of a new model of growth supported by the grass-root rise of women entrepreneurs.

This paper aims to explore the effects of the positive psychological capital of young start-up entrepreneurs on start-up intention and entrepreneurial performance and examines variations in the relationship when measures based on Hofstede’s (1980) cultural dimensions model are applied. This study aimed to analyze whether the sub-factors comprising positive psychological capital differ across distinct groups, thereby enhancing the effects on start-up intention and entrepreneurial performance.

Data were collected from a total of 600 young start-up entrepreneurs from China (n = 300) and Korea (n = 300) to examine the relationship between psychological capital and start-up intention on entrepreneurial performance. To test the hypotheses, multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with covariance structure analysis was conducted using EQS6b.

The results of the CFA show that sub-factors that comprise positive psychological capital, namely, hope, resilience and self-efficacy, were found to have positive effects on start-up intention. However, another sub-factor, optimism, did not have a significant effect on start-up intention. In addition, the positive psychological capital of young start-up entrepreneurs was found to be closely related to start-up intention.

A limitation of this study is that it fails to cover a wide range of concepts associated with psychological capital. There are likely many concepts that factor into understanding psychological capital beyond trust, the sharing of core values and the sharing of knowledge. In the future, systematic studies need to be conducted on models that review the roles of a wide range of explanatory variables for psychological capital.

The implications of this study apply in two areas. First, the academic implications involve the evaluation of psychological capital. Psychological capital is not being studied as widely as it should be in many areas of management and financial studies. Even though intrinsic factors such as psychological capital are core marketing concepts that cannot be neglected by today’s enterprises and CEOs, theories and empirical studies on these factors have made little progress. Under such circumstances, this study represents an opportunity to advance the theoretical discussion by presenting and examining new intrinsic factors associated with young start-up entrepreneurs from the perspectives of the managerial mindset, personnel management and marketing capabilities.

In the early stages of the introduction of psychological capital, studies focused on the meaning of research, the development of valid measurement tools and strategies for developing psychological capital. This paper presents an empirical study on the relationship between several variables related to the positive psychological capital of entrepreneurs, start-up intention and entrepreneurial performance. On the individual level, this study focused on the relationship between psychological capital and start-up intention and entrepreneurial performance, respectively.

Existing studies on psychological capital have focused mainly on positive organizational behavior. In the early stages of the introduction of psychological capital, studies focused on the meaning of research, the development of valid measurement tools and strategies for developing psychological capital. This paper presents an empirical study on the relationship between several variables related to the positive psychological capital of entrepreneurs, start-up intention and entrepreneurial performance.

This study aims to develop and test a conceptual model of business students' intention to establish a start-up business that involves attitude, perceived behavioral control (PBC), entrepreneurial competence, financial access, lecture service quality, curriculum program, extracurricular activity and institutional support simultaneously.

An online survey was performed. The respondents were 196 business students in a private university in Indonesia. The data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Business students' intention to establish a start-up business was positively and significantly influenced by attitude and PBC. PBC was positively and significantly influenced by entrepreneurial competence and financial access. Attitude and entrepreneurial competence were positively and significantly influenced by curriculum program and extracurricular activity, but not influenced by lecture service quality and institutional support. Financial access was positively and significantly influenced by extracurricular activity and institutional support.

This research was conducted in a private university in Indonesia. Therefore, to test the stability of the research findings and the proposed conceptual model, it is necessary to conduct research in different contexts.

Research on the intention to establish a start-up business that simultaneously considers attitude, PBC, entrepreneurial competence, financial access, lecture service quality, curriculum program, extracurricular activity and institutional support is still scarce in the literature. This study addressed the gap.

Student entrepreneurs account for a considerable number of start-up ventures derived from university settings. Nevertheless, there is little research that demonstrates how university entrepreneurship education (EE) directly influences students’ start-up activities. The primary purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of various types of university entrepreneurship activities (incorporate entrepreneurial courses, extra-curricular initiatives, and start-up support) on student start-up behavior. This quantitative research utilized questionnaire data collected from university students (n = 1,820) in southeast China and was analyzed with hierarchical Poisson regression in STATA procedures. Research results indicate that engaging in any type of university entrepreneurship activities positively predicts students’ start-up activities, yet this positive effect is contingent on students’ prior start-up experience and the overall university entrepreneurial climate. These findings advance our understanding of crucial elements within university entrepreneurial ecosystems and how various entrepreneurship activities within these ecosystems potentially impact students’ venture creation.

The objective of this paper is to advance research concerning the factors affecting the intentions to start-up. In this vein, scholars are more and more interested in perceptual variables, i.e. subjective perceptions that may affect individuals’ intentions to start-up. These can have an internal locus of control (PVIs), if they depend on personal cognitive styles, or an external locus of control (PVEs), if they depend on how individuals perceive environmental stimuli. Usually, scholars investigate them at a micro-level of analysis, by focusing on individuals in a country. Instead, this paper adopts a macro-level analysis. Thus, the research question at the basis of this paper is: whether the impact of perceptual variables (with an internal or external locus of control) on the intentions to start-up varies across countries.

Stochastic frontier analyses – SFAs are carried out since they allow disentangling technical and random inefficiencies and comparing statistical results. SFAs are based on data retrieved from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor – GEM website and refer to PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain) and BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries where entrepreneurship is a vibrant phenomenon, but cultural and economic differences are manifest.

Concerning the drivers of entrepreneurship, achieved results reveal that some differences exist across PIGS and BRICs countries, but they cannot be generalized so easily.

This paper reveals its originality in reference to the classification of the variables, the macro-level of analysis, and the results that – at the same time – are in line with previous ones, but also offer new insights about perceptual variables in entrepreneurship and – at a wider extent – about the drivers of entrepreneurship.

This paper aims to address the need for a re‐focused research agenda in relation to graduate entrepreneurship. An important theme for some years has been the effort to monitor attitudes and intentions of students towards starting up their own businesses. It is timely, however, to raise some questions about both the impact of this research and likewise the general approach it has taken in understanding the phenomenon of graduate entrepreneurship.

The paper draws on a large data set (over 8,000 students) from one UK region. Specifically, it presents data from the 2007/2008 Entrepreneurial Intentions (EI) survey within the Yorkshire and Humberside region and reflects back over previous iterations of this research.

The paper identifies three key outcomes. First, it establishes that across all years of the survey a substantial minority of students consistently hold relatively strong start‐up intentions. Second, the paper highlights that, despite considerable efforts to increase the numbers moving to start‐up, little impact is discernible. Third, the paper suggests that, although the EI survey is useful as a stock‐taking exercise, it fails to address critical questions around the impact of higher education on entrepreneurship and the transition from entrepreneurial intent to the act of venture creation.

The paper provides an important positioning perspective on the relationship between higher education and graduate entrepreneurship. While highlighting the importance of the EI research, the paper establishes the need for a re‐focused research agenda; one that is conceptually robust and with a focus on the student journey from higher education to graduate entrepreneur.

The purpose of this paper is to refine the relationship between environmental turbulence and start-up behavior by considering entrepreneurial-related antecedents (alertness to business ideas, entrepreneurial opportunities, and intention toward entrepreneurship) and moderating roles of entrepreneurial knowledge.

The study was conducted through a self-administered survey of owner/managers of SMEs in Pakistan. Correlation, moderated hierarchical regression, and structural equation modeling approach were used for the analysis.

The results revealed that environmental turbulence positively affects the alertness to business ideas and entrepreneurial opportunities which, in turn, affect intention toward entrepreneurship. The results also suggested that entrepreneurial knowledge significantly moderates the relationship between intention toward entrepreneurship and start-up behavior.

The changes in the market and technologies which shape the entrepreneurial behavior toward start-up activities should be longitudinally observed. The research data came from the owner/managers of SMEs industries; therefore, the findings may not be generalized to other sectors due to industry-specific difference.

The positive impact of environmental turbulence suggests that turbulence is a presentiment signal, calling upon the entrepreneurs to collect meaningful information as well as identify new opportunities and adjust their capabilities for any challenges and changes ahead.

The study confirmed the positive impact of environmental turbulence toward the creation of new ventures in the context of developing economies as well as the moderating role of entrepreneurial knowledge on the relationship between intention toward entrepreneurship and start-up behavior in small and medium enterprises.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of professional preparation support on the transformation of nascent ventures into actual start‐ups.

An intention‐based approach is used. Longitudinal data concerning 228 nascent entrepreneurs are analysed using hierarchical binary logistic regression.

The positive effect of professional preparation support on start‐up outcomes is apparent in the results. However, self‐selection effects are detected concerning the use of individual preparation support. The results hold after controlling for these selection effects, intention and other project‐ and individual‐level influences.

The sample size limited the number of variables that could be analysed and the operationalisation used for support could be refined. In addition, the macro‐economic context in which the study took place influenced the results. The results concur with those which consider pre‐start‐up preparation support as a valuable tool to help individuals carry their projects through. In addition, they illustrate the relevance of intention‐based entrepreneurship research and show how this approach can be used to study various factors influencing entrepreneurial processes.

The results show that support actors can contribute to start‐up projects getting launched. They also highlight the presence of self‐selection issues that may be important for support networks to take into consideration when designing their programmes.

To the author's knowledge, this is the first application of an intention‐based approach to study the effect of professional support on a group of nascent entrepreneurs identified so early in their preparation.

The purpose of this article is to provide a selective review of literature on the career‐related decision‐making processes in terms of the transition from student to business start‐up, and the nature and influence of support and guidance.

Primarily, a critical review of a range of recently published literature (1995‐2005) addressing the theoretical and practical aspects of the journey from student to start‐up. The literature is divided into sections: the graduate labour market: a state of flux; Conceptual and definitional issues; Career choice and decision‐making; and Start‐up training and support.

The paper finds that despite an increasing body of theoretical and empirical literature on career choice in general and on the career choice to start‐up a business in the form of intention models, there remains a lack of in‐depth research on the stories, circumstances, contexts and complexities of graduates on their journey from student to business start‐up. A transition from entrepreneurial intentions to actual start‐up is often assumed but under‐researched in terms of career development and decision making processes. The nexus between training, support, intent and actual career choice to start‐up a business remains under‐investigated.

Given that careers are made in a changing and complex context, simple relationships should not be expected. Hence, rather than focusing solely on certain aspects of the start‐up process, research is needed that takes a more holistic approach.

The study highlights the need for research that does justice to the complexities of the decisions made in the process from student to start‐up and by implication public policy and practice in relation to formal intervention within this aspect of the graduate labour market.

The paper lays the basis for a more nuanced understanding of the journey from student to start‐up of value to both researchers and policy makers.

Entrepreneurship education at universities aims to create entrepreneurial thinking and spread the culture of entrepreneurial awareness, skills and attitudes to students to stimulate their entrepreneurship intentions as graduates. This study investigates the impact of entrepreneurship education on innovative start-up intention as well as the mediating role of entrepreneurial mind-sets of university students.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for analysis with (n = 204) valid questionnaires collected from university students.

The main findings show that entrepreneurial mind-sets mediate the relationship between entrepreneurship education and innovative start-up intention.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge by its application in a higher educational institution and enriches the literature with new evidence that entrepreneurship education could enhance innovative start-up intention.