The majority of Entrepreneurial Intention studies attempt to foretell the potential undertaking of entrepreneurial
action, by people, who are not in business for themselves. A considerable number of people however, who are already in business, can and do think of the possibility of starting a new enterprise, or otherwise create new value, while a fraction of them, the so-called “serial entrepreneurs” goes as far as opening several businesses. The purpose of this study is to record these people’s attitudes toward new venture formation, because, having the experience of self-employment and small business ownership differentiates this group from the remaining population, which may be considering a start-up as a move into un chartered territory vis-à-vis the experienced individuals.
The study is important since it tries to delve into the motivational dynamics that drive the entrepreneurial behavior of small business owners and the self-employed, aiming to help fully tap the potential of this dynamic group and assist in the creation of even more value, wealth and new jobs by those individuals.
The causal relationship among the variables of the study was analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling
(SEM). The chi-square statistic together with a variety of alternative goodness-of-fit indices is used to test the null hypothesis that the model fits the data and the individual parameter estimates were examined for statistical significance.
The test of individual parameter estimates for statistical significance is based on the ratio of the parameter estimate to its standard error estimate (often called z-value or t-value). The dependant variable is defined by the Entrepreneurial Intention (El) that shows individual’s thoughts about the business creation and is measured with a one item seven-point Likert scale. The independent variables used are integrated by Personal Attraction (PA), Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC) and Social Norms and Valuations (SNV), measured through a seven-point Likert scale with 4, 5 and 6 items respectively. Anchors ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” were used for all belief items to ensure statistical variability among survey responses for all items measured. In addition, the way that several “demographic” factors, known as individual differences, are affecting directly or indirectly El is being investigated. For this reason, the dichotomic variable “gender”, the categorical variables “education”, “father’s occupation” and “mother’s occupation” and the scale variables “age”, “time of work experience” and ‘time of self employment experience” are included as explaining El, PA, SN and PBC.
The findings indicate that, there is a strong link between the Personal Attraction and Entrepreneurial Intention
(El), similar to the literature findings with other types of samples and also a strong relationship between Perceived Behavioral Control or Self-Efficacy and (El). Finally, again as previously found in several studies Social Norms and Valuations are expected to affect both directly and indirectly El.