Antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence in Vietnam

Antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence in Vietnam.Antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence in Vietnam.Antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence in Vietnam.Antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence in Vietnam.Antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence in Vietnam.Antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence in Vietnam.Antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence in Vietnam.Antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence in Vietnam.Antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence in Vietnam.Antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence in Vietnam.Antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence in Vietnam.

THE RESEARCH PROJECT IS CONDUCTED AT MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY  Supervisor: Prof Dr NGUYEN THI TUYET MAI NGUYEN QUANG KHAI Reviewers: 1: ANTECEDENTS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE IN VIETNAM 2: 3: Specialization: BUSINESS AND ADMINISTRATION Specialization code: 9340101 The dissertation defense at the university level at National Economics University On: PHD DISSERTATION SUMMARY The dissertation is archived at: - The National Library of Vietnam Hanoi, 2022 - The Library of National Economics University INTRODUCTION Rationale Research on entrepreneurship is increasingly interested in practice because it is the basis of the economic development and happiness of countries (Kao, 1993) Vietnam has set out an ambitious development vision, aspiring to become a high-income country by 2045 Promoting entrepreneurship is one way to achieve this goal According to Fishbein & Ajzen (1975), intention is the best predictor of behavior, and an increasing number of studies show that intention has an important role in entrepreneurship (Liñán and Chen, 2009) Meanwhile, the intention of adult Vietnamese people to start a business (25%), according to a survey by GEM in 2017, is much lower than the average rate in developed countries based on the human resource (30.3%) (Gem and Vcci, 2018) Based on the above discussion, I decided to work on the research topic “Antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence in Vietnam” for my dissertation The research results as described in this dissertation have made some significant contributions, as follows: From a theoretical perspective: based on the perspective of entrepreneurial learning, the research has clarified the important role of entrepreneurial education and acculturation on entrepreneurial intention In addition, my research indicates that prior self-employment experience has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between the learning factor and EI From a practical perspective: based on the research results, the dissertation provides some policy implications that are suitable in the Vietnamese context, thereby promoting the startup movement and contributing to the goal of one million businesses in Vietnam Research Objectives, Objects and Scope of the Research 2.1 Research Objectives - To test the role of entrepreneurial learning (specifically entrepreneurial education) on entrepreneurial intention among master’s students (young and highly educated people) in Vietnam - To explore and test the research model pertaining to the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention among a group of ethnic-minority people, focusing on an entrepreneurial learning perspective - To present implications for policy makers and other relevant stakeholders to increase entrepreneurial intention in Vietnam 2.2 Research Objects The main research objects of this dissertation are the antecedents of (i.e., factors influencing) the intention to start a business in Vietnam, as well as their impact on entrepreneurial intention 2.3 Research Scope Research context: Master’s students and ethnic minorities Research space: students studying in master’s programs at universities in Vietnam and ethnic minority people in 10 mountainous provinces in the north of Vietnam Research period: Primary data (qualitative and survey data) was collected from 2020 to 2021; the study also employs secondary data from the years 2014 to 2021 Research Methodology To achieve the stated objectives, the dissertation uses both qualitative and quantitative research approaches Specifically, the quantitative approach was used in Study 1, and mixed methods were used in Study Structure of the Dissertation In addition to its Introduction, References and Appendices, the dissertation includes four main chapters Chapter 1: Literature Review and Theoretical Background Chapter 2: Study 1: Antecedents of EI Among Master’s Students Chapter 3: Study 2: Antecedents of EI Among Ethnic Minorities (EM) in Vietnam’s Mountainous Regions Chapter 4: Discussion and Implications CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Intention 1.1.1 Entrepreneurship Although there are numerous concepts of entrepreneurship (Popov et al., 2019), it appears that Shane and Venkataraman’s (2000) definition is the most detailed while also being the most well-known (Popov et al., 2019) According to Shane and Venkataraman, entrepreneurship is the scholarly examination of how, by whom, and with what effects opportunities for future goods and services are to be discovered, evaluated, and exploited I will use Shane and Venkataraman’s concept of entrepreneurship in both the dissertation and the questionnaire he will use to interview the research subjects 1.1.2 Entrepreneurial Intention (EI) Many researchers have defined entrepreneurial intention However, Liñán’s (2004) concept of entrepreneurial intention seems to have received the most attention Based on Fishbein and Ajzen’s definition, Liñán (2004) defines entrepreneurial intention as a measure of personal effort spent on performing business behavior, which is also the definition that the author uses in this dissertation Later, based on this concept, Liñán and Chen (2009) developed scale measuring Table 1.2: Entrepreneurial Intention Studies in Vietnam Factors entrepreneurial intention No 1.2 Research on Entrepreneurial Intention Although research on the factors affecting entrepreneurial intention has attracted many researchers’ attention, there are still many gaps in the literature (Donaldson, 2019) Synthesizing 409 studies from 2003–2013, Liñán and Fayolle (2015) have systematized five main themes and one for new topics of entrepreneurial intention studies (see Table 1.1) Table 1.1: Main Themes and Sub-categories in Entrepreneurial Intention Research No Main Themes Core entrepreneurial intention model Personal-lever variables Entrepreneurial education Role of context Intentionbehavior link New research areas No of Sub-Categories Papers General test of the theory 23 Specific intentions 18 New theoretical framework Additional variables Configuration of motivational antecedents Methodology Background factors 35 Personality/psychological factors 72 Gender issues 30 Specific subsamples Perceived barriers Characteristics of participants Entrepreneurial education program results 13 Entrepreneurial education program evaluation 30 Comparisons Program proposal 11 Cross-cultural studies 25 Institutional variables 40 Cultural backgrounds Ecological approach Longitudinal studies 24 Variables affecting the process 15 Social entrepreneurship intention Sustainable entrepreneurship intention Others Source: Liñán & Fayolle (2015) 3 Authors (year) Subject Nguyen (2015) Mai and Nguyen (2016) Nguyen et al (2016) Phong et al (2020) Student Student Student Student Young people Student Student Student Student Young people Nguyen et al (2019) Nasar et al (2019) Nguyen et al (2020) Nguyen et al (2021) Duong (2021) 10 Bui and Pham (2022) ATE SN PBC PSE EEN PFE PT PP DE CR ATM SoN EE X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X Gov FS SoP SoC ESE RD ND MF _Po X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X ATE: attitude toward entrepreneurship; SN: subjective norm; PBC: perceived behavioral control; PSE: prior entrepreneurial experience, EEN: external environment; PFE: perceived feasibility; PT: personal trait; PP: proactive personality; DE: desire for success and challenge; CR: creativity; ATM: attitude toward money; SoN: social norms; EE: entrepreneurship education; Gov_Po: government's supportive policies; FS: family support; SoP: society support; SoC: social capital; ESE: entrepreneurial self-efficacy; RD: regulatory dimension; ND: normative dimension; MF: mindfulness X 1.3 Research Gaps  Despite the important role of acculturation in the entrepreneurship research domain as discussed above, the impact of acculturation on entrepreneurial intention has not received enough attention, especially from the perspective of learning This calls for more research efforts to investigate the role of acculturation in relation to entrepreneurship  There is a lack of empirical evidence on the role of entrepreneurial education as an important component of entrepreneurial learning in shaping entrepreneurial intention  The extant literature has suggested the significant role of individual difference variables such as self-concept in shaping an individual’s behaviors In the context of entrepreneurship, the impact of self-concept as an important factor driving entrepreneurial behaviors has been neglected Moreover, to the author’s knowledge the role of traditional self and modern self, important and interesting individual difference variables that are specifically associated with the Asian transitional economies, has not been investigated in research on entrepreneurial behaviors in Vietnam This dissertation aims to fill in this gap by examining the role of TS and MS in the entrepreneurial research model  A number of previous studies around the world have emphasized the role of IEOs as important antecedents of entrepreneurial intention However, studies in Vietnam have not paid enough attention to the role of these factors This dissertation aims to fill in this gap by examining the role of IEO in the entrepreneurial research model  The attitudes and behaviors of indigenous ethnic minorities have rarely been examined or only given very modest research attention in previous studies; most previous studies on minorities have often targeted immigrants rather than indigenous ethnic populations Meanwhile, these two groups have relatively different characteristics The study of indigenous ethnic minorities, especially in the context of entrepreneurship, is an important and intriguing topic This dissertation, in addition to examining factors influencing master’s students’ entrepreneurial intention, investigates antecedents of EI among ethnic minorities in Vietnam, which has an emerging economy 1.4 Research Questions This dissertation aims to address the following research questions to achieve all major research objectives: RQ1: What are the key antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions from the entrepreneurial learning perspective in the context of Vietnam? RQ2: Do and how entrepreneurial education and prior self-employed experience play roles in shaping entrepreneurial intentions of Vietnamese, specifically those of master students? RQ3: Do and how acculturation and prior self-employed experience play roles in shaping entrepreneurial intention of ethnic minorities? In addition, self-concept (i.e., traditional self and modern self) as well as individual entrepreneurial orientation (innovativeness, risk taking and proactiveness) have an impact on the intention to start a business among ethnic minorities? 1.5 Theoretical Background 1.5.1 Entrepreneurial Learning Perspective Over the last decade, there has been a remarkable increase in scholarly interest in entrepreneurship learning (Jones et al., 2014), transforming entrepreneurial learning from one of the most understudied areas of study (Harrison and Leitch, 2005) to an accepted and integral part of entrepreneurship (Tseng, 2013) “Entrepreneurship is a process of learning, and a theory of entrepreneurship requires a theory of learning” (Minniti and Bygrave, 2001) The change “from a static perspective, i.e., a trait-based approach, to a dynamic view, i.e., a learning-based approach” (Secundo et al., 2017) of entrepreneurship has been aided by increased attention to entrepreneurial learning Thus, although there are many different views on entrepreneurial learning, researchers all agree that entrepreneurial learning is the equipping of the potential entrepreneur with the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes for him or her to recognize and act on opportunities and social interactions to initiate, organize and manage ventures This is the same concept of entrepreneurial learning that I will use in my dissertation 1.5.2 Theory of Planned Behavior Although several different theories have been used to measure EI, TPB is considered to be the most complete and widely accepted theoretical framework to account for EI in experimental studies (Munir et al., 2019), as well as in Vietnam (Nguyen et al., 2016) Similarly, Koe et al (2012) also confirmed that the TPB model was a crucial awareness process model for assessing entrepreneurial intention (Koe et al., 2012) because TPB has been used to explain the entrepreneurship process very clearly (Schlaegel and Koenig, 2014) 1.6 Antecedents of Entrepreneurial Intention 1.6 Antecedents of Entrepreneurial Intention 1.6.1 Entrepreneurial Education According to Coetzer et al (2017), fostering future entrepreneurs can be based on entrepreneurial learning through entrepreneurial education programs (Coetzer et al., 2017) Jones and English (2004, p 2) define entrepreneurship education as a process through which individuals learn to recognize and perceive opportunities, and reinforce self-esteem, knowledge, and skills to perform entrepreneurship activities Meanwhile, Hahn et al (2017) defined entrepreneurial education as any pedagogic program or educational process that teaches start-up attitude and abilities (Hahn et al., 2017) The entrepreneurial education concept of Jones and English (2004) is geared towards training and focuses on the teaching of academic teachers Hahn et al (2017) refer to entrepreneurial education as a process in which both learners and teachers are involved; this definition is more suitable for this dissertation, since the research object is entrepreneurship learners Therefore, this is also the concept that the dissertation will use in the research 1.6.2 Acculturation Acculturation has not been comprehensively defined, and there are several conceptions of acculturation proposed by researchers Acculturation is the adaptive process of cultural adjustment from direct contact and interaction between two distinct cultural groups (Mena et al., 1987; Berry, 1990) It is the “process” and “state” from first-hand contact with the host culture (Searle and Ward, 1990; Ward and Searle, 1991; Ward and Kennedy, 1992; Ward and Kennedy, 1994), and hence a process of intercultural adaptation Intercultural adaptation can be divided into two categories: psychological adaptation—found in the stress and coping framework—and sociocultural adaptation—found in the culture-learning framework (Zhou et al., 2008) In line with the aim of this study, in the context of ethnic minorities, acculturation refers to the degree to which the ethnic minority people adapt to/assimilate with the new culture (i.e., the mainstream culture of Kinh people) such as exposure to the mainstream culture, willingness to seek language education, and frequency of contact with people from the mainstream culture 1.6.3 Perception of Self Perception of modern self (MS) and perception of traditional self (TS) were first defined by Nguyen et al (2009) MS and TS are characteristic factors of people in countries with economies in transition such as Vietnam and China (Nguyen et al., 2009) MS was defined as the degree to which an individual’s self-concept is consistent with the norms, values, and beliefs imported from more developed countries after the economic transition began (Nguyen et al., 2009) TS is defined as the degree to which an individual’s self-concept is consistent with the Confucian norms, values, and beliefs prevalent before the economic transition began (Nguyen et al., 2009) In order to be suitable for the research subjects who are ethnic minorities, TS is understood as “the degree to which an individual’s self-concept is consistent with the norms, values, and beliefs of their ancestors before the economic transition began.” 1.6.4 Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation 1.6.4.1 Entrepreneurial orientation Rauch et al., (2009) stated that “EO may be viewed as the entrepreneurial strategy-making processes that key decision-makers use to enact their firm’s organizational purpose, sustain its vision, and create competitive advantage(s)” Though the five-dimensional definition of EO was firstly given by Lumpkin and Dess (1996), other researchers (Miller, 1983) have utilized three dimensions when measuring EO in their studies: risk-taking, innovativeness, and proactiveness Below is the threedimensional definition of EO: Risk-taking Risk-taking is “the degree to which managers are willing to make large and risky resource commitments.” Individual risk-takers are ready to spend considerable levels of resources to chase entrepreneurial opportunities which may not succeed (Rauch et al., 2009) Innovativeness Innovativeness is the degree to which an individual is relatively early in adopting innovations regarding others in a social system, as defined by Rogers (2010) Innovative individuals find creative solutions to problems or needs (Rauch et al., 2009) Proactiveness Proactiveness means “acting in anticipation of future problems, needs of changes.” Proactive people seek opportunities, display initiative, take action, and take all needed steps to complete an entrepreneurial opportunity (Rauch et al., 2009) 1.6.4.2 Individual entrepreneurial orientation Researchers have noticed that research on emerging entrepreneurs has still concentrated on individuals in the higher levels of the organization, though attention has shifted from individual entrepreneurial behavior to firm-level EO and organizational entrepreneurial behavior (Lumpkin and Dess, 1996) Recently, the extension of the concept of EO to the individual level, called individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO), has attracted more and more attention from researchers According to Covin et al (2020) IEO is “a tendency held by individual employees of the organization towards innovative, proactive, and risk-taking behaviors in the workplace.” This concept of Covin et al seems to be closely related to the context of a business Individuals (in individual entrepreneurial orientation) are employees of the enterprise It seems that Covin et al did not consider individuals who were not members of any organizations In line with the research objectives, the concept of IEO in this dissertation has been adapted based on the concept of Covin et al (2020) to mean IEO that is “a tendency held by individuals towards innovative, proactive, and risk-taking behaviors when they start up.” CHAPTER 2: STUDY 1: ANTECEDENTS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION AMONG MASTER’S STUDENTS 2.1 Research Context of Student Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Intention In this study, I conduct research on the entrepreneurial intention of master’s students, to have a clearer view of the role of entrepreneurial learning in entrepreneurial intention The research aims to confirm that acquiring entrepreneurial knowledge is an important antecedent of entrepreneurial intention The study also examined the role of prior self-employment experience on entrepreneurial intention These research results will be used as a premise to conduct further research on the entrepreneurial intention of ethnic minorities in the next chapter 2.2 Hypothesis and Model 2.2.1 Attitude Toward Entrepreneurship (ATE) Most of the studies on EI have found a positive influence of ATE on entrepreneurial intention (Solesvik, 2013; Feder and Niţu-Antonie, 2017; Munir et al., 2019; Nguyen et al., 2019a) Therefore, to examine the influence of ATE on EI in the context of research on the entrepreneurship of master’s students in Vietnam, I hypothesize: H1: Attitude toward entrepreneurship positively affects entrepreneurial intention 2.2.2 The Role of Entrepreneurial Education (EE) Some previous studies have shown the influence of entrepreneurial education on entrepreneurial intention in different subjects, such as high-school students (Kusumojanto et al., 2021) and higher-education students (Duong, 2021) Studies on the role of entrepreneurial education in entrepreneurial intention also take place in different contexts, both in countries with economies in transition, such as Vietnam (e.g., Duong, 2021b; Nguyen, 2019a) and in countries with developed economies (Duong, 2021) Therefore, I propose the following hypothesis to test the relationship between entrepreneurial education and the entrepreneurial intention of master’s students in Vietnam H2 Entrepreneurial education has positive impacts on entrepreneurial intention 2.2.3 The Moderating Role of Prior Self-Employment Experience (PSE) Prior self-employment experiences are expected to significantly influence a person’s intention to become an entrepreneur (Bignotti and Le Roux, 2020) The moderating role of prior self-employment experience with the relationship between antecedents (e.g., entrepreneurial education, attitude toward entrepreneurship) to entrepreneurial intention is often neglected (Walter and Heinrichs, 2015) Therefore, we propose the following hypothesis to test the moderating role of prior selfemployment experiences on the paths from entrepreneurial education to entrepreneurial intention: H3 Prior self-employment experience (PSE) moderates the paths from (a) entrepreneurial education and (b) attitude toward entrepreneurship to entrepreneurial intention 2.2.4 Demographics ATE H1(+) H3a(+) PSE EE EI H3b(+) H2(+) Control variables Figure 2.1: Graphic Depiction of the Conceptual Framework 2.3 Methodology 2.3.1 Sample 398 questionnaires were used for further analysis The 398-response sample comprised 182 males (45.7% of respondents) and 216 females (54.3%); two age groups were represented, consisting of students from 24–27 years old and students more than 27 years old, which accounted for 48.7% and 51.3% respectively A little more than half of the respondents did not have prior self-employment experience (55.3%) 137 students had parents who were self-employed or entrepreneurs (34.4%), while 261 respondents (65.6%) indicated that neither parent was selfemployed or an entrepreneur 2.3.2 Measures and Questionnaire Development The scales used in the questionnaires have been adapted from previous studies The scale of entrepreneurial education has been adapted from study of Walter and Block (2016) and included five items The scale of entrepreneurial intention has been adjusted from Liñán and Chen (2009) and included six items All items were scored on a 5-Point Likert scale from (strongly disagree) to (strongly agree) 10 2.4 Research Results 2.4.1 Reliability and Validity of Scales Table 2.2: KMO and Bartlett’s Test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy Approx Chi-Square Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity df Table 2.3: Total Variance Explained Initial Eigenvalues Factor Total … 13 EI1 EI3 EI5 EI6 ATE1 ATE2 ATE3 ATE4 ATE5 EE1 EE2 EE3 EE4 5.00 2.89 1.49 … 0.17 % of Variance 38.492 22.219 11.422 … 1.293 Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings Cumulative % of Total % Variance 38.492 4.68 35.976 60.712 2.53 19.433 72.134 1.13 8.691 … 100 Cumulative % 35.976 55.409 64.1 0.868 3049.692 78 Rotation Sums of Squared Loadingsa Total 3.524 3.89 3.005 Source: Author’s survey data Table 2.4 and 2.1: EFA and Cronbach’s Alpha Corrected Item-Total Cronbach's Alpha If Factor loading Correlation Item Deleted EI’s Cronbach’s Alpha = 916 0.752 0.909 0.779 0.799 0.893 0.858 0.85 0.875 0.896 0.829 0.883 0.868 ATE’s Cronbach’s Alpha = 895 0.63 0.896 0.675 0.796 0.86 0.864 0.747 0.871 0.778 0.766 0.867 0.818 0.774 0.865 0.827 EE’s Cronbach’s Alpha = 818 0.539 0.817 0.519 0.709 0.74 0.76 0.67 0.757 0.813 0.647 0.768 0.769 Source: Author’s survey data 11 Figure 2.2: CFA Analysis Table 2.6: Correlation Matrix, Construct Reliability and Discriminant Validity 1ATE 2EI 3EE CR AVE MSV MaxR(H) 0.896 0.916 0.807 0.635 0.733 0.515 0.106 0.3 0.3 0.905 0.926 0.842 1ATE 2EI 3EE 0.797 0.326*** 0.856 0.139* 0.548*** 0.717 Source: Author’s survey data 2.4.2 Descriptive Statistics of the Observed Variables of the Factors in the Model 2.4.3 Structural Model Analyses Hypothesis H1 and H2 are accepted Hypothesis H3b is supported, and hypothesis H3a is not supported Figure 2.3: Structural Model Source: Author’s survey data 12 2.5 Discussion of the Results of Study Research results show that attitude towards entrepreneurship positively affects entrepreneurial intention However, prior self-employment experience does not moderate the relationship between attitude towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intention This result can come from the characteristics of the master’s student object They are well-trained people, and may consider the knowledge gained from previous self-employment experience minor, fragmented, and unlikely to help them run a better business The important role of entrepreneurial education with entrepreneurial intention is consistent with some previous studies around the world (e.g.,Walter and Block, 2016) and in Vietnam in particular (e.g., Hoang et al., 2020) The results of hypothesis testing also support the above arguments that individuals with prior self-employment experience will quickly grasp entrepreneurial knowledge because they have previous experience in management and entrepreneurship CHAPTER 3: STUDY 2: ANTECEDENTS OF EI AMONG ETHNIC MINORITIES IN MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS 3.1 Reasons for Studying Ethnic Minorities Ethnic minorities in the northern mountainous region of Vietnam play an important role in national security, but most people living there still have a low standard of living (The World Bank, 2022) In order to effectively support ethnic minorities’ startups, it is necessary to better understand the factors affecting the ethnic minorities’ EI 3.2 Phase 1: Qualitative Study 3.2.1 Research Objectives In this phase, the author explored some main factors influencing intention to start a business among the ethnic minorities in the northern mountainous region of Vietnam, from an entrepreneurial learning perspective Specifically, I explored the role of acculturation, past experience in self-employment, self-concept (i.e., traditional self or modern self), and IEO, and their influence on EI 3.2.2 Research Methods This study used a qualitative research approach Specifically, the in-depth interview method was employed as the main method of data collection In addition, field visits were conducted and observation methods also helped to add more data to interview data 13 3.2.2.1 The subjects Table 3.1: The Characteristics of the Subjects 3.2.2.2 Data collection and analysis In this study, ten out of twelve subjects were interviewed at their homes, for their convenience Two interviews were conducted at cafés since the subjects were out of their hometowns 3.2.3 Research Findings Several themes emerged from the interviews with ethnic minority people that are presented in the following 3.2.3.1 The role of acculturation and past experience in self-employment Our informants often expressed that they learned to recognize opportunities and the ways to start and run a business through their contacts and interactions with experienced people (i.e., “experts”) in their networks who are Kinh people All the informants with entrepreneurial intention participating in interviews demonstrated a significant level of cultural interference such as in the language they use daily The Role of Prior Self-Employment Experience Several informants in our study suggested the important role of experience in self-employment in fostering one’s intention to become an entrepreneur The following is an example 3.2.3.2 The role of IEO Risk-Taking When I asked about some of the defining characteristics of people who intend or have started a business, some of the terms commonly mentioned by our respondents were “take the risk,” “accept the risk,” and “reckless.” 14 Innovativeness When asked about the characteristics of people who intend to start a business or have started a business, the terms “idea,” “think,” and “difference” appeared a lot in the interviewees’ responses Proactiveness Interviewees also often mentioned proactiveness terms such as “myself,” “herself,” and “stand on my two feet.” These terms are consistent with the proactiveness characteristics of individual entrepreneurship orientation (Rauch et al., 2009) 3.2.2.4 The role of traditional self and modern self When asked about common characteristics of those people who have intention or willing to start a business, our informants often mentioned some terms such as “being open-minded,” “having a wide network,” and “being able to recognize the business opportunities.” These characteristics are in line with the concept of the modern self as developed by Nguyen et al (2009) In contrast, from our interviews, those who are associated with low or no intention to start up a business often stick to tradition, closely follow the traditional customs and habits, and hesitate to change They perhaps share some common characteristics of people holding a high level of traditional self (Nguyen et al., 2009) The following is an example 3.3 Phase 2: Quantitative Study 3.3.1 Hypothesis and Research Model 3.3.1.1 Attitude toward entrepreneurship (ATE) Similar to study 1, I propose following hypothesis H1: Attitude toward entrepreneurship positively affects entrepreneurial intention 3.3.1.2 Acculturation and entrepreneurial intention Nwankwo (2005) suggested that “acculturation is likely to have a determinant effect on the success of ethnic entrepreneurship – another area that deserves further probing” Acculturation affects EI in two ways The first is indirect influence through ATE The second is the direct influence on EI From another angle, Evansluong et al (2019) have shown that ethnic minorities entrepreneurs often integrate with locals through communication in the native language to better understand the needs and wants of local customers From another angle, Rae (2005) has pointed out that potential entrepreneurs can learn entrepreneurship by contextual learning, specifically opportunity recognition through cultural participation, and thereby promote their entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions (Rae, 2005) Based on the above arguments, I propose the following hypothesis: H2: Acculturation positively affects ATE H3: Acculturation positively affects EI 3.3.1.3 Perception of modern self (MS) and perception of traditional self (TS) Meanwhile, entrepreneurship is a complex process involving many activities, involving high risk and uncertainty (Shirokova et al., 2016) but brings entrepreneurs autonomy (Gelderen, 2016; Shir et al., 2019) Thus, we argue that an individual with a highly modern self-perception will have a positive attitude toward entrepreneurship In other words, for people with a modern self, entrepreneurship can be a desirable career choice In addition, individuals with high modern self are often young They prefer to explore new experiences (Nguyen et al., 2019b) Consequently, they will tend to be more open to other cultures Thus, they will have a higher level of acculturation From the above arguments, we formulate the following: H4 Perception of modern self positively affects (a) attitude towards entrepreneurship, (b) acculturation Individuals who hold a higher perception of traditional self often appreciate a thrifty and stable life (Nguyen et al., 2009), and are afraid of change and risks Accordingly, they prefer to be an employee than be an entrepreneur Therefore, individuals with higher perception of traditional self may have a negative attitude toward entrepreneurship Furthermore, individuals with high traditional self are often older people In Asian culture, older people tend to be afraid of change and they prefer a stable life (Nguyen et al., 2019b) Thus, they are likely to disagree with the acculturation process Based on these arguments, we propose the following hypotheses: H5 Perception of traditional self negatively affects (a) attitude towards entrepreneurship, (b) acculturation 3.3.1.4 Individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) Many studies on entrepreneurial intention have shown that individual entrepreneurial orientation plays an important role in influencing entrepreneurial intention (Ferreira et al., 2017; Lindberg et al., 2017; Sahoo and Panda, 2019; Falcão et al., 2022) I propose the following hypotheses: H6: (a) innovativeness, (b) Proactiveness, and (c) Risk-taking positively affects entrepreneurial intention 3.3.1.5 The moderating role of prior self-employment experience Similar to Study 1, in this study I propose the following hypotheses: H7 Prior self-employment experience (PSE) moderates the paths from (a) acculturation and (b) attitude toward entrepreneurship to entrepreneurial intention 3.3.1.6 Demographics Demographic characteristics are often used as control variables in studies on human behavior in general and on entrepreneurship behavior in particular 15 16 3.3.1.7 Research model Innovativeness H6a (+) H4a (+) ATE MS H4b (+) TS H5b (-) Acculturation H6b (+) H6c (+) H1 (+) H5a (-) H2 (+) Risk-taking Proactiveness H7b (+) PSE H7a (+) H3 (+) EI Control variables Figure 2.4: Research Model 3.3.2 Research Methods 3.3.2.1 Sample and data collection A convenience/quota sample was collected from IEMs in 10 mountainous provinces in northern Vietnam, including Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Dien Bien, Cao Bang, Son La, Yen Bai, Bac Kan, Tuyen Quang, Phu Tho, and Thai Nguyen Variables Frequency Percentage Men 245 54.3 Gender Women 206 45.7 Youngest respondent 19 Age (Range from 18 to 60 Oldest respondent 59 years old) Average age 32.73 not graduated from high school 156 34.8 graduated from high school 184 40.8 Education graduated from university 87 19.3 graduated from post-university 24 2.3 education 166 36.8 Prior Self-employment Yes experience No 285 63.2 Over one million: Hmong, 282 62.5 Muong, Nung, Tay, and Thai Population Less than one million: Dao, Kho Mu, Lu, San Chi, and San 169 37.5 Diu 17 3.3.2.2 Questionnaire development Attitude Toward Entrepreneurship (five items) and Entrepreneurial Intention (six items) scale adapted from Liñán and Chen (2009) Acculturation Scale (ten items) adapted from Ryder (2000) TS (five items) and MS (five items) scale from Nguyen et al (2009) IEO scale (ten items) from Bolton and Lane (2012) 3.3.3 Pilot Research 3.3.4 Research Results 3.3.4.1 Reliability and validity of scales Exploratory factor analysis by EFA and reliability testing by Cronbach’s alpha TS’s AVE did not pass, with only 0.475 < 0.5 The software recommended removing the observation variable TS1; after removing this observation, EFA and Cronbach’s alpha were performed again KMO and Bartlett’s test Table 3.8: KMO and Bartlett’s Test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy 0.912 Approx Chi-Square 12561.5 Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Df 780 Sig Source: Author’s survey data Table 3.9: Coefficients of Eigenvalues and Extracted Variance Initial Eigenvalues Factor Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings % of Cumulative % of Cumulative Total Variance % Variance % 11.673 29.182 29.182 11.373 28.433 28.433 3.689 9.222 38.404 3.38 8.45 36.882 3.111 7.778 46.182 2.733 6.832 43.715 2.953 7.381 53.564 2.534 6.335 50.05 2.079 5.197 58.761 1.719 4.298 54.347 2.000 5.000 63.761 1.583 3.958 58.305 1.576 3.939 67.7 1.151 2.877 61.182 1.452 3.629 71.329 1.011 2.527 63.709 0.773 1.933 73.262 … … … 0.099 0.248 100 Total … 40 18 Rotation Sums of Squared Loadingsa Total 9.339 7.323 7.425 4.818 3.939 3.126 2.343 2.134 Table 3.10 and 3.11: EFA and Scale Reliability Corrected Corrected Factor Factor Items Item–Total Items Item–Total loading loading Correlation Correlation Risk-Taking Cronbach’s Alpha = Acculturation Cronbach’s Alpha = 955 757 ACC1 0.742 0.788 RT1 0.631 0.799 ACC2 0.715 0.687 RT2 0.527 0.668 ACC3 0.832 0.832 RT3 0.612 0.678 Innovativeness Cronbach’s Alpha ACC4 0.824 0.83 = 812 ACC5 0.852 0.875 INO1 0.612 0.653 ACC6 0.807 0.854 INO2 0.635 0.713 ACC7 0.826 0.864 INO3 0.658 0.786 ACC8 0.85 0.887 INO4 0.617 0.733 Proactiveness Cronbach’s Alpha = ACC9 0.836 0.841 787 ACC10 0.785 0.741 PRO1 0.601 0.708 PRO2 0.672 0.808 ATE Cronbach’s Alpha = 920 ATE1 0.687 0.669 PRO3 0.611 0.714 Traditional Self Cronbach’s Alpha ATE2 0.839 0.897 = 795 ATE3 0.798 0.833 TS2 0.518 0.658 ATE4 0.811 0.774 TS3 0.663 0.792 ATE5 0.83 0.858 TS4 0.627 0.676 TS5 0.625 0.705 EI Cronbach’s Alpha = 949 Modern Self Cronbach’s Alpha = INT1 0.734 0.736 846 INT2 0.816 0.878 MS1 0.684 0.796 INT3 0.882 0.876 MS2 0.642 0.649 INT4 0.889 0.93 MS3 0.714 0.769 INT5 0.861 0.874 MS4 0.6 0.685 INT6 0.877 0.882 MS5 0.63 0.714 Table 3.12: CFA and Model Fit Indicators χ2 df χ2/df RMSEA CFI TLI Pclose 1523.36 712 2.14 0.05 0.933 0.927 0.434 19 Table 3.13: Reliability, Convergent and Discriminant Validity CR AVE MSV MaxR(H) ACC ACC 0.96 0.69 0.32 0.959 0.829 INT ATE MS INO TS PRO INT 0.95 0.76 0.27 0.959 0.421*** 0.871 ATE 0.92 0.7 0.32 0.928 0.561*** 0.521*** 0.837 MS 0.85 0.53 0.22 0.853 0.317*** 0.358*** 0.338*** INO 0.81 0.52 0.16 0.814 0.273*** 0.238*** 0.390*** 0.238*** TS 0.8 0.5 0.22 0.812 0.175** 0.209*** 0.091† 0.473*** 0.200** 0.708 PRO 0.79 0.56 0.05 0.801 0.116* 0.230*** 0.207*** 0.139* 0.110† 0.073 0.747 0.76 0.52 0.16 0.781 -0.136* -0.004 -0.119* -0.004 -0.400*** -0.04 -0.188** RT 0.725 0.722 3.3.4.3 Structural model analyses Table 3.22: SEM Model Fit Indicator χ2 df χ2/df RMSEA CFI TLI Pclose 1739.119 822 2.116 0.044 0.942 0.936 0.998 Table 3.23, 3.24 and 3.25: Results of Hypothesis Testing H4b (+) ACC < - MS 0.312 tvalue 5.02 H5b (-) ACC < - TS 0.034 0.56 H4a (+) H5a (-) H2 (+) H1 (+) H3 (+) ATE ATE ATE INT INT < < < < < - MS TS ACC ATE ACC 0.245 -0.107 0.499 0.38 0.175 4.296 -1.974 9.265 6.577 3.313 H6a (+) INT < - INO 0.089 1.668 H6b (+) H6c (+) INT INT < - PRO < - RT 0.162 0.127 3.316 2.325 INT < - Sex 0.022 0.514 INT < - Age -0.079 -1.88 INT < - Edu -0.017 -0.417 INT INT < - Interact_PSExACC < - Interact_PSExATE 0.276 0.484 0.041 0.073 Hypothesis H7a (+) H7b (+) β, γ 20 RT P Results *** Supported Not 0.575 supported *** Supported 0.048 Supported *** Supported *** Supported *** Supported Not 0.095 supported *** Supported 0.02 Supported Not 0.608 supported Not 0.06 supported Not 0.677 supported 6.78 Supported 6.644 Supported 0.72 Structural Equation Model 245*** 089 (p