The Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy of Micro-Entrepreneurs: A Social Cognitive Perspective

Today, the world is witnessing a massive transformation in all spheres of activity as a result of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognising opportunities is more crucial than ever. The purpose of this article is to analyse the impact of social capital (SC) on the opportunity recognition (OR) of micro-entrepreneurs through entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The study is in line with the social cognitive theory. Furthermore, the study analyses the influence of gender and type of business on SC, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and OR. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey among micro-entrepreneurs in Kerala, India. Independent sample Z-test and structural equation modeling were used to analyse the data. The results reveal that entrepreneurial self-efficacy mediates the relationship between SC and OR. Sobel test was used to reaffirm the mediation effect. This study provides suggestions for enhancing entrepreneurial self-efficacy to better identify opportunities in today's ever-changing global business environment. © 2023 The Association for Social Economics.

The effect of entrepreneurial education on university student's entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention

The purpose of this study is to find out the impact of curriculum attendance (CA) and extracurricular activities (EA) on entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and entrepreneurial intentions (EI) in Indonesian students. This research is elaborated using the quantitative method with SEM-PLS to find out the studied phenomena. Decision questionnaires from questionnaires that have been used in previous studies. The questionnaire was responded to by 733 students who had studied entrepreneurship education during COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed that the presence of the curriculum attendance and extracurricular activities had a positive impact on entrepreneurial selfefficacy and entrepreneurial intentions. Extracurricular activities and entrepreneurial self-efficacy have a positive impact on entrepreneurial intentions. However, the presence of the curriculum has no impact on entrepreneurial intentions. This is the first step for universities and students to realize that the presence of the curriculum needs to be reconstructed in order to have an impact on entrepreneurial intentions. © 2023, Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science. All rights reserved.

Transforming a Highly Tactile Entrepreneurship Course “Ideas to Innovation” to an Entirely Online Delivery Model: Lessons for Theory and Practice

Recent changes in education due to COVID-19 required a shift from classroom to online delivery. This chapter illustrates how a highly complex training program, Ideas to Innovation (i2i), responded to this challenge. i2i is based on experiential learning including a variety of activities carried out both in large and small groups with the intention to raise delegates’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy. In this case study, we illustrate the process by which the program was delivered online for the first time since its existence and how the online delivery of an entrepreneurial program contributed to participants raised level of entrepreneurial intent. We took a qualitative approach by conducting structured (written) and semi-structured interviews with participants. We triangulated the data with insights and reflections of the facilitators engaged in the online delivery. The findings indicate that even when i2i is delivered online, it raised participants’ level of entrepreneurial intent. We also found that digital interaction and collaboration among participants and facilitators on various platforms promoted the development of an entrepreneurial mindset. By highlighting this change in delivery and design, we contribute to the ongoing debate of digitally supported education for entrepreneurship and provide insights to redesign entrepreneurial training programs. © 2023, The Author(s).

Implications of entrepreneurial education, self-efficacy and personality traits on the entrepreneurial intentions of deaf/hard of hearing students post COVID-19 lockdown.

BACKGROUND: Implications of entrepreneurial education (EE), entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and personality traits (PT) on the entrepreneurial intentions of the deaf is yet unknown in existing literature. OBJECTIVE: To examine the influence of EE, ESE and PT on the entrepreneurial intentions among some 250 Deaf and Hard of hearing (DHH) students from two post-secondary institutions in Oyo state, Nigeria. METHODS: A descriptive research design was adopted, while a structured paper questionnaire was used for data collection. The data generated were analysed using descriptive statistics and the inferential statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlation and hierarchical multiple regression at a 0.05 level of significance. RESULTS: The entrepreneurial intentions of DHH college students had a significant positive correlation with EE (r = 0.18, p < 0.05), agreeableness (r = 0.23, p < 0.05), and conscientiousness (r = 0.19, p < 0.05); but had a negative correlation with ESE, neuroticism and openness. Furthermore, personality traits and ESE were the highest predictors of entrepreneurial intention among DHH college students. CONCLUSIONS: Personality traits were the greatest predictor of the entrepreneurial intention of DHH college students post the COVID-19 lockdowns in Nigeria. Therefore, higher education institutions should intensify their efforts in entrepreneurial education and parents of DHH students should encourage them to seek entrepreneurial opportunities.

Rethinking Entrepreneurial Education: The Role of Digital Technologies to Assess Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Intention of STEM Students

The COVID-19 pandemic imposed restrictions and social distancing requirements that limited face-to-face education. However, the challenge of continuing studies, albeit in an online environment, promoted the redesign of teaching models, thanks to the availability of digital technologies such as MOOCs, gamification, and digital platforms. The aim of this study is to analyze if students' entrepreneurial self-efficacy and intention can be achieved through an online designed and delivered entrepreneurial course, as in face-to-face entrepreneurial education, and whether digital technologies are helpful in pursuing this goal. Data from a sample of 210 engineering students enrolled in an online entrepreneurship course having a duration of 16 weeks revealed a positive impact of digital technologies adoption on students' self-efficacy and intention in launching a novel entrepreneurial venture. Practical implications concern insights about entrepreneurship education programs' learning strategies that need to be redesigned, with the adoption of ad hoc digital tools to support projects and business plan development. Finally, the study proposes managerial and policy implications for improving the inclusion of digital tools for enhancing University students' entrepreneurship education in the digital era.

Attitudes Toward Entrepreneurship Education, Post-pandemic Entrepreneurial Environment, and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Among University Students.

Currently, little is known about the mechanism of how university students' attitudes toward entrepreneurship education (ATEE) affect entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) in the post-pandemic entrepreneurial environment. Based on the existing research, this study explores the relationship between ATEE, the post-pandemic entrepreneurship environment, and ESE through a questionnaire survey. A total of 910 university students from three universities in Zhejiang Province, China participated, with an effective rate of 92.9%. The data collection focused on the period from August to December 2020. In this study, Stepwise Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze university students' ATEE and its impact on ESE, as well as the moderating effect of the post-pandemic entrepreneurial environment. The results show that the gender of university students and the entrepreneurial experience of their family members exist significant differences in their ATEE and also on their ESE. Furthermore, ATEE exert a significant and positive impact on their entrepreneurial self-efficacy, while the post-pandemic entrepreneurial environment plays a positively moderating role in this influential process.

Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Prosocial Tendency in the Relation Between College Students' Post-traumatic Growth and Entrepreneurial Intention in the Post-COVID-19 Era.

In this study, we explore the psychological mechanisms underlying the relation between college students' post-traumatic growth and their entrepreneurial intentions in the post-COVID-19 era. Using the post-traumatic growth, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, prosocial tendency, and entrepreneurial intention scales, we tested 690 valid samples of Chinese undergraduates (including 445 men and 245 women). The results revealed that post-traumatic growth of college students in the post-COVID-19 era will have a significant and positive effect on their entrepreneurial intentions. Additionally, the results indicated that students' entrepreneurial self-efficacy and prosocial tendencies play a partial mediation role between post-traumatic growth and entrepreneurial intentions in the post-COVID-19 era and that there is a chain mediating effect between students' entrepreneurial self-efficacy and prosocial tendencies. This study provides valuable insights into the influence of post-traumatic growth on entrepreneurial intentions among college students in the post-COVID-19 era and suggests that colleges and universities can improve students' entrepreneurial intentions by adopting measures to foster their post-traumatic growth, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and prosocial tendencies.

The effect of mobile business simulation games in entrepreneurship education: a quasi-experiment

Purpose During the current global epidemic, e-learning and mobile learning have been rapidly developed in the field of entrepreneurship education. The effect of these learning methods remains to be confirmed. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of mobile business simulation games in entrepreneurship education. Design/methodology/approach From May 2020 to July 2020, the authors adopted a quasi-experimental design to explore the effect of mobile business simulation games in entrepreneurship education. The authors set up an experimental group to participate in mobile business simulation games, with a total of 105 students, and set up a control group of 100 students. At the beginning and end of the experiment, data on entrepreneurial attitude, self-efficacy, entrepreneurial intention and other related variables were collected. Paired sample T-test and regression analysis were used to analyze the results. Findings The authors found that mobile business simulation games can improve entrepreneurial attitudes and self-efficacy, but cannot change entrepreneurial intentions. The paired sample T-test in the experimental group showed that the entrepreneurial attitude and entrepreneurial self-efficacy of the participants were significantly improved, but the entrepreneurial intention did not change significantly. The above three variables did not change significantly in the control group. The research results also show that flow experience is very important in mobile business simulation games, which can improve entrepreneurial attitude and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Originality/value The authors' findings confirm the positive effects of mobile business simulation games in entrepreneurship education, which can improve entrepreneurial attitudes and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. But the disadvantage of mobile business simulation games is that they cannot increase entrepreneurial intention. In addition, the flow experience needs to be valued in mobile business simulation games. The research in this paper has implications for how mobile learning can be used in entrepreneurship education during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, research is of great value on how mobile business simulation games can be improved.

Impact of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Motivation on Micro and Small Business Success for Food and Beverage Sector in East Java, Indonesia

The research aims to examine the impact of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial motivation on the success of the food and beverage (F&B) sector’s micro and small enterprises (MSEs). The sample was selected using purposive sampling techniques from 267 MSE owners in the F&B businesses in Madiun City, Madiun Regency, and Magetan Regency, East Java, Indonesia. The test results of the hypothesis showed that: (1) partially, self-efficacy entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial motivation are significantly positive on business success in micro and small F&B businesses in East Java, Indonesia;(2) entrepreneurial motivation acts as a partial mediation of the influence of self-efficacy entrepreneurship on the business success of micro and small businesses in the field of food and beverage in East Java, Indonesia;abd (3) simultaneously, self-efficacy entrepreneurship and the influence of entrepreneurial motivation are significantly positive on business success in micro and small businesses in the food and beverage fields of East Java, Indonesia. The results showed that self-efficacy and motivation in entrepreneurship are necessary because they affect business success, particularly in micro and small F&B businesses in Indonesia. Further research can explore other factors that influence business success by expanding the research area and other types of creative industry businesses. Further research could explore other factors influencing business success by expanding research areas, such as entrepreneurial leadership and innovative work behavior.

Gender and Entrepreneurship in Pandemic Time: What Demands and What Resources? An Exploratory Study.

Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, global economies have suffered an exogenous shock never seen before with a strong economic and psychosocial impact on organizations. Italy, in the context of the research, has been severely affected. The economic crisis has mainly affected women. In this scenario, entrepreneurial perceived success (objective and subjective) is influenced by increasingly burdensome job demands that entrepreneurs have to face up. Using the job demand-resources model, the study aims to broaden the knowledge of the determinants of entrepreneurial perceived success in the current emergency moment. In particular, as regards of the demands, alongside the specific entrepreneurial demands (time demands, uncertainty and risk, and responsibility), we also decided to include the negative interface family-work in both directions from-family-to-work (NEGWIF) and from-work-to-family (NEGFIW). Regarding the resources, we considered entrepreneurial self-efficacy (researching, planning, marshaling, implementing people, and implementing financial), proactive and elaborate social strategies (SS), and both directions of the positive interface: from-family-to-work (POSWIF) and from-work-to-family (POSFIW). All participants are women entrepreneurs (N = 137) who have completed a self-report questionnaire. We explored the associations between demands, resources, and the dimensions of success through hierarchical regressions. As for the demands, time demands, uncertainty and risk, NEGWIF, and NEGFIW negatively influenced the perceived entrepreneurial success. Regarding resources, planning, implementing financial, proactive and elaborate SS positively influenced the perceived entrepreneurial success.

Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Mediates the Impact of the Post-pandemic Entrepreneurship Environment on College Students' Entrepreneurial Intention.

The mechanism of how the COVID-19 global pandemic has affected the entrepreneurial intentions of college students remains unknown. To investigate the impact of the entrepreneurial environment on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions in the post-pandemic era, 913 college students were invited to complete a questionnaire. The data were analyzed with structural equation models. The conclusions revealed by the questionnaire are as followed: college students have retained some entrepreneurial intention in the post-pandemic era; the factors influencing the entrepreneurial intention include sex, family entrepreneurial history, major, and education background; and entrepreneurial self-efficacy can play a major role to mediate the impact caused by the post-pandemic entrepreneurial environment on entrepreneurial intentions. The research conclusions provide important insights to improve college students' entrepreneurial intentions in the post-pandemic environment.