INTRODUCTION
Research background
Entrepreneurship is important to the growth of society in the sense that it helps to create jobs and promote innovation (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000) Sobel and King
(2008) have also shown that entrepreneurship rate is directly proportional to economic growth rate Since the turning of the century, entrepreneurship has proved to be one of the stabilizer of economies’ financial states (Bohlmann, Rauch, & Zacher,
Not only influential in terms of finance or economics, entrepreneurship in general, and one of its branches called social entrepreneurship in particular, contribute greatly to social wellbeing by mobilizing social resources to resolve social issues (Beckmann,
Acknowledging that entrepreneurship would be a crucial engine driving the country forwards, Vietnam has applied various policies and initiatives to promote entrepreneurial spirit, especially among younger generations (Nguyen & Gillian,
2016) However, despite the efforts, it appears that entrepreneurship movement in Vietnam is not yet as strong as it is expected to be
As can be observed from the above Figure 1.1 below, Vietnam’s Entrepreneurial Intention Rate is lower than the average rate of Asia Pacific Region and rates of several neighbor countries Considering that entrepreneurship is one of the top development priorities of Vietnam, as reflected in the Government’s Initiative for Startup Ecosystem called National Program 844, the current rate of Entrepreneurial Intention is not up to the ambition of a so-called startup nation
To be specific, in 2017, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor evaluated Entrepreneurial start a business within 3 years from the time of survey” According to the findings Vietnam’s rate (25%) was lower than the average rate of Asia Pacific Region (26.2%), and also lower and those rates of neighbor countries such as Indonesia (28.1%) and Thailand (37.4%) (GEM Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2017)
Figure 1.1: Entrepreneurial Intention Rates in 2017
Source: GEM Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2017)
Therefore, there should be more measures to boost Vietnamese people’s eagerness to open new businesses, especially among younger generations Regarding this matter, one potential source of entrepreneurial motivation may come from role models Van Trang, Do, and Luong (2019) shows that those who have entrepreneurial role models would be significantly more confident in their start-up ability That is to say, further exploration of such correlation could be beneficial for stronger promotion of entrepreneurship in Vietnam
Entrepreneurial intention has been vastly researched over the last few decades
Vietnam Indonesia Thailand Malaysia Asia Pacific
2017; Bosma, Hessels, Schutjens, Praag, & Verheul, 2012; Brunel, Laviolette, &
Radu-Lefebvre, 2017; Farrukh, Alzubi, Shahzad, Waheed, & Kanwal, 2018; Krueger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000; etc.)
Trying to explore what is the origin of entrepreneurial intention, or what factors are able to ignite the desire of becoming business owners within individuals, many researches have identified role model as a notable determinants (Shapero, 1982;
Even though widely recognized as having influence over entrepreneurial intention, the mechanism by which role model exercises such influence is not yet fully understood, for example, whether the impact can be delivered directly, or must be channelled through a mediating factor (Krueger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000), or what kind of forces would moderate the impact process (Bosma et al., 2012) As such, this study aims to provide an answers, among many others, to the aforementioned questions.
Subject and scope of research
The research subject is entrepreneurial intention of undergraduate business-majored students in Hanoi
The data is collected from Foreign Trade University between 6/4/200 and 10/4/2020.
Research objective
The study aims to explore by what mechanism role models could exert their influence on Vietnamese business-majored undergraduate students’ entrepreneurial intentions.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theoretical background
Entrepreneurship could be defined as the process by which individuals or groups utilizing resources such as finance, labor, and even risk, to create new goods or services (Kearney, Hisrich, & Roche, 2010) According to Shane and Venkataraman
(2000), entrepreneurship involves three main contents: the origin of entrepreneurial opportunities; the processes by which the aforementioned opportunities are discovered, evaluated, and exploited; and the people who carry out all the said actions
Also taking opportunities as the focal point of entrepreneurship, Venkataraman
(2019) points out that the differences among individual, especially differences in
‘possession of useful knowledge’, make each person to have unique pespective of what can be considered as enterprising opportunities and what are not, thus their subsequent methods of exploiting such opportunities would also vary
Even though still recognizing the role of opportunities when it comes to studying about entrepreneurship, Friedman and Aziz (2012) incline towards defining entrepreneurship as the action of initiating new corporates or renew existing ones
Those who conduct the aforementioned entrepreneurship activities are entrepreneurs
There are also a wide range of perspectives regarding what constitute an entrepreneur
Cunningham and Lischeron (1991) present six approaches for describing entrepreneurship, one of which is that “entrepreneurs are those who organize, own, manage, and assume the risk, and their core behavior is innovation” Partly sharing the sentiment regarding the innovation aspect, Schumpeter (1965) defines entrepreneurs as those who, with the tools of technical and/or organizational innovation, capitalize opportunities available in the market
However, despite numerous conducted studies on entrepreneurship, people’s understanding on how entrepreneurship is originated, or what factors contribute to individuals’ decision to start business, or to become entrepreneur, remains relatively underdeveloped (Markman, Balkin, & Baron, 2002)
From a certain perspective, entrepreneurship is considered a planned behavior (Katz
& Gartner, 1988) Krueger et al., (2000) states that “entrepreneurial intention is the subjective thinking and mental state of entrepreneurs before they implement entrepreneurial behavior” Understanding such preceding thoughts and notions would give a clearer view over the intended behavior called as entrepreneurship
There are various factors affecting entrepreneurial intention, which may come from external environment like opinions of surrounding society regarding entrepreneurship (Meek, Pacheco, & York, 2010), or elements existing within individuals such as talents, habits, desires, or perception of values (Lee & Wong, 2004) Similarly, perception of social support, structural support, family support, or other related perceptions, can be considered as internal and cognitive antecedents (Ajzen ,1991)
There have been several intention models put forward by researchers, of which the most widely used is Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) by Ajzen (1991)
Figure 2.1: Theory of Planned Behavior
TPB suggests three antecedents for intention The first one – “attitude towards the behavior” - is built upon the expectations about how the outcome of the behavior would effect individual who carries out the behavior Next, “subjective norms” refer to how related people think about that individual’s conducting a certain actions
Lastly, “perceived behavioral control” reflects how that individual think about the feasibility of performing the behavior (Krueger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000)
Based on TPB model, several intention models specifically applied for the field of entrepreneurship have been developed Below is one example among those
Adapting from TPB model’s “perceived behavioral control” variable, Liủỏn’s model’s “perceived feasibility” variable incorporates the element of perceived self- efficacy together with perceived feasibility Ajzen (2002) also updates TPB model to include this perceived self-efficacy component
According to Chen, Greene, and Crick (1998), ESE is a mental state in which a person feel that certain entrepreneurial tasks, often involving in establishing and managing one own’s business, are attainable with self-ability
ESE can predict entrepreneurial intention (Franke & Lüthje, 2004) It is also among most inportant deciding factors of entrepreneurial intention’s magnitude, as well as a reliable indicator of how likely such intention will be materialized (Boyd & Vozikis,
Researching the determinants of ESE, as part of an entrepreneurial intention model, Zhao, Hills, and Seibert (2005) point out several determinants as below
Source: Zhao, Hills, and Seibert (2005)
Meanwhile, Bandura (1986) claims that there are four processes effecting individual ESE, namely “enactive mastery, role modeling, social persuasion, and judgement of one’s own physiological states” Krueger, Reilly, and Carsrud (2000) also confirm that ESE is partly determined by role models
Role model could be understood as someone whose values and actions could be set as an example based on which other people make their own specific decisions in life (Basow & Howe, 1980) Bell (1970) indicates that there are both physical and cognitive sides of role modelship The physical side is called “interaction”, by which individuals could either directly or indirectly approach to role models in different domains such as professional or academic ones Meanwhile, the cognitive side, named as “identification”, means individuals can identify similarities between themselves and their role models regarding attitudes and characteristics
Limiting the concept of role model to the domain of entrepreneurship, Shapero (1982) states that children are likely to take their parents as entrepreneurial role models
Scherer et al., (1989) also find out that parental role model would exert significant influence on their children’s ESE Meanwhile, Van Auken et al., (2006) predicate that business-owners, rather than non-business-owners, would be a bigger source of influence over people aiming to become entrepreneurs
Previous related research
Based on models explaining EI, many researchers have moved ESE’s original position as a direct determinant of entrepreneurial intention, to another position as the mediator, which mediates the impact of other factors on EI
Notable findings include those of Zhao, Hills, and Seibert (2005), in which ESE
“mediates the effectss of perceptions of formal learning, previous entrepreneurial experience, and risk propensity” on EI Entrepreneurial Education (EE) is also observed to have its impact mediated by ESE (Oyugi, 2015; Malebana & Swanepoel,
Table 2.1: Previous researches related to mediating role of ESE
Author Type Sample Mediating effect of ESE
Empirical 265 MBA students ESE mediates the effects of perceptions of formal learning, PEE, and risk propensity on EI
Empirical 4292 high school students and 933 MBA students
ESE mediates the effect of gender on EI
Empirical 307 academic employees in Iran
ESE mediates the effect of mentoring on career advancement
Oyugi (2015) Empirical 281 university final year students in Uganda
ESE partially mediates the effect of EE on EI
Empirical 355 4 th year undergraduate in South Africa
ESE mediates the effect of
Empirical 249 students of introductory entrepreneurship courses
ESE mediates the effect of
Empirical 727 universities students in China
ESE mediates the effect of entrepreneurial passion and
Source: Author’s summary 2.2.2 Moderators of role models’ impact on ESE
As mentioned earlier, many researches have shown that role model can pose a significantly positive impact on entrepreneurial self-efficacy (Bosma et al., 2012;
Douglas & Shepherd, 2014) However, there also exist researches refuting the opinion that role model can influence individual’s belief in their own entrepreneurship related capability (Hou et al., 2019; Laviolette & Radu Lefebvre,
From conflicting results, it could be expected that certain moderating variables are involved in the process As a matter of fact, many researches have digged deeper to explore what factors could be such moderators
Karimi et al., (2013) indicate that role models’ impact on people’s thoughts and feelings towards entrepreneurship is greater when the influenced are women rather than men Part of this result is confirmed by BarNir, Watson, and Hutchins (2011), which suggests that interaction with role models would have a stronger effect of increasing perceived self-efficacy for female
Besides gender, subjects’ characteristics are also considered Having lower self- esteem and external locus of control would make the subject’s self-confidence more influenced by the people they admire (Brunel, 2017) Risk taking propensity also has positive association with start-up aspiration (Farrukh et al., 2018)
Liu, Ma, and Li (2019) examine the moderating effect of role model’s successfulness and the distance between subjects and role models The result shows that the more successful role models are, the bigger impact their stories can pose on subjects’ entrepreneurial intention Meanwhile, idol role models – regarded as having far distance to subjects – tend to be more influential than peer role models – regarded as having short distance to subjects
Also analyzing the aspect of distance, but the distance is measured by actual interactions – activities in which role models and subjects can participate and interact with each other, Van Auken et al., (2006) state that if role models can involve subjects in more business discussions and professional activities, subjects’ entrepreneurial intention will become higher
Not only distance, but similarity between subjects and role models can also be higher level of similarity in terms of gender, sector, and nationality would create stronger influence over subjects
Another factor being put under consideration is previous entrepreneurial experience
According to Carr and Sequeira (2007), entrepreneurial experience involves participation in business environment such as doing internship at companies Besides, entrepreneurial experience may also mean prior engagement in entrepreneurial activities, including identifying business opportunities or preparing and providing financial and human resources for business operations (Brunel, Laviolette, & Radu- Lefebvre, 2017)
Bosma et al., (2012) take into account the role of previous entrepreneurial experience, stating that the enhancing effect that role model presence can have on perceived self- efficacy is lower for subjects of abundant entrepreneurial experience This result is also shared by Brunel (2017).
Research gap
A few researches have used entrepreneurial self-efficacy as mediator in explaining entrepreneurial intention However, in most of those researches, independent variables are mostly entrepreneurship education or learning Even though role models also carry out relatively similar educational functions (inspire and motivate, increase self-efficacy, provide guidelines for action, provide direct support or advice (Bosma et al., 2012)) only in a very limited number of cases, role model, or partly similar factor such as mentor, is brought in as independent variable This research will fill in that gap by analyzing the ESE’s mediation effect upon the relationship between role model and entrepreneurial intention
Besides, in Vietnam, even though there are researches studying the impact of role models on entrepreneurial intentions or antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions of Vietnamese people (Van Trang, Do, & Luong, 2019; Tran & Korflesch, 2017), none of the researches have explored what factors would influence the strength of such impact This research would fill in that gap by exploring two moderators namely previous entrepreneurial experience and perceived similarity with role models.
Research questions
Research question 1: How the impact of Role Model on Entrepreneurial Intention is mediated by Entrepreneurial self-efficacy?
Research question 2: The mediation relationship mentioned in Research question 1 will be moderated by what factors?
Hypotheses
Shapero (1982) argue that entrepreneurial intention is influenced by role model This sentiment is also shared by Scherer et al., (1989), Busenitz and Barney (1997) This kind of influence gets stronger when the distance between two parties shrink (Davidsson, 2016) There is evidence to a certain level that role model can exert its influence directly on entrepreneurial intention However, other researchers believe that role model could only make an impact on entrepreneurial intention via mediator such as ESE (Krueger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000) There is possibility that role model is just an antecedence of entrepreneurial intention’s antecedences, of which notable one is ESE Brunel (2017) show that when students can interact more with those they look up to, their ESE tends to increase Because of such conflicting results, the writer would like to find out whether RM’ influence on EI is mediated by ESE or not
Source: Author H1: Role models has positive impact on Entrepreneurial Intention
H3: Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy has positive impact on Entrepreneurial intention
H4: Role models has indirect positive impact on Entrepreneurial Intention
Considering the interaction between RM and ESE, Previous Entrepreneurial Experience (PEE) could potentially be a moderator On one hand, when an individual spends much time working with his or her role models, for whom the admiration might arise either before or after the working relationship begins, there is a considerable possibility that the role models’ impact would increase Such increase could be explained by more interaction between the admirers and their role models (Bell, 1970), or by closer observation those admirers can have on behaviors conducted by role models (Morgenroth, Ryan, & Peters, 2015) That is to say, entrepreneurial experience when individuals can work with role models could amplify the impact link between role models and individuals’ entrepreneurial self- efficacy However, not everyone can have opportunity to work with their role models, and besides, working experience could also reduce individual’ need for external motivational sources, as such individual would gradually become more capable of solving business problems by themselves and making their own business decisions (Brunel, Laviolette, & Radu-Lefebvre, 2017) Bosma et al., (2012) state that
“individual with greater level of entrepreneurship specific human capital, which is acquired through previous experience, would be less effected by role models” From the above analysis, it could be expected that at earlier stage working with role models, such working experience would have positive impact on the relationship between role models and individual’s entrepreneurial self-efficacy; however, in later stage, such impact would gradually turn into negative Also, in the cases that the entrepreneurial experience doesn’t involve in working with role models whatsoever, the negative impact could be expected
H5: Previous Entrepreneurial Experience has negative impact on the
Another moderator that would be put into consideration is perceived similarity
Similarity, from factual or objective perspective such as similarity in gender or nationality, has been frequently analyzed Basow and Howe (1980) indicates that subjects would be more influenced by role models of same gender rather than by those of the opposite gender Bosma et al., (2012) further explore the effect of similarity between subjects and role models, as such similarity is measured in terms of gender, sector, and nationality However, similarity in a more subjective term, or perceived similarity, is not frequently included in the models Considering that perceived similarity as long been found out to increase the strength of attraction one person has for other individuals (Secord & Backman, 1964; Curry & Kenny, 1974), and there exist a few researches recognizing the effect of perceived similarity on the strength of role model’s influence (Allen & Collisson, 2020), it could be expected that perceived similarity could be a plausible moderator
H6: Perceived Similarity has positive impact on the relationship between Role models and Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy.
Research model
The proposed research model is as below
H1: Role models has positive impact on Entrepreneurial Intention
H2: Role models has positive impact on Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy
H3: Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy has positive impact on Entrepreneurial intention
H4: Role models has indirect positive impact on Entrepreneurial Intention
H5: Previous Entrepreneurial Experience has negative impact on the relationship between Role Model and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy
H6: Perceived Similarity has positive impact on the relationship between Role models and Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Procedure
The study would adopt quantitative approach, aiming to test the hypotheses developed from previous literature with empirical evidence The data used for analysis is primary one, collected from questionnaire of which measurements are adapted from acknowledged measurements from other studies The questionnaires were distributed online to 4 th year business students of Foreign Trade University, Hanoi After being collected, the data were analyzed with SPSS software for Reliability test, Exploratory factor analysis, Correlation test For Regression, an SPSS’ add-on called PROCESS Macro, which is developed by Andrew F Hayes, would be used to test the mediating and moderating effects
Mediation analysis and Moderation analysis using PROCESS Macro in SPSS
PROCESS Macro has built-in models to run Mediation analysis (Model 4 in PROCESS) and Moderation analysis (Model 1 in PROCESS) Interface for running Model 4 is as below
Figure 3.1: Mediation analysis by PROCESS Macro
Data collection
Foreign Trade University (FTU) is a renowned Vietnamese university which covers business major Compared to other universities, FTU has quite a strong promotion of entrepreneurship among students The university has its own Innovation and Incubator Space, established to provide a launching pad for start-ups Besides,
“Kawai Business Start-up” is an annual competition organized by FTU’s Tomorrow Entrepreneurs Club and endorsed by Japan Embassy in Vietnam The total number of participants over 14 years is over 16,000 students (Kawai Business Start-up, 2020)
Therefore, it could be expected that FTU has relatively strong entrepreneurial culture, making itself a suitable sample for entrepreneurship related studies Via online survey service provided by FTU’s Institute of Economics and International Trade, the questionnaires were distributed to 4 th year business major students, and 205 valid answers were collected.
Measurements
Based on Liủỏn and Chen (2009), measurement of entrepreneurial intention includes
6 questions as below The response format is from 1 (total disagree) to 5 (total agree)
1 (Item Code: EI1) I am ready to do anything to be an entrepreneur
2 (EI2) My professional goal is to become an entrepreneur
3 (EI3) I will make every effort to start and run my own firm
4 (EI4) I am determined to create a firm in the future
5 (EI5) I have a very seriously thought of starting a firm
6 (EI6) I have the firm intention to start a firm someday
Based on (Zhao, Hills, & Seibert, 2005), ESE is measured by the below questions whose response is a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (total disagree) to 5 (total agree):
1 (ESE1) I am capable of identifying new business opportunities
3 (ESE3) I am capable of thinking creatively
4 (ESE4) I am capable of commercializing an idea or new development
Based on Zhao, Hills, and Seibert (2005), previous entrepreneurial experience is measured via 3 items with 5-point Likert scale response from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much)
1 (PEE1) I have participated in new business venture start-up
2 (PEE2) I have participated in new market development work
3 (PEE3) I have participated in new product development work
4 (PEE4) I have participated in internships that helped me to understand better about entrepreneurship
5 (PEE5) I have participated in a family member’s business
A set of 3 items is adapted from Valero, Keller, and Hirschi (2019) Response is Likert scale from 1 (total disagree) to 5 (total agree)
1 (RM1) In the academic or career path I am pursuing, there is someone I admire
2 (RM2) I know of someone who has a career that I would like to pursue
3 (RM3) There is someone I am trying to be like in my academic or career pursuits
A set of 4 items is adapted from McCroskey, McCroskey, and Richmond (2006), Tidwell, Eastwick, Finkel (2012), Street, O'Malley, Cooper, Haidet (2008) Response is 5-point Likert scale from 1 (total disagree) to 5 (total disagree)
1 (PS1) My role model and I have a lot in common
2 (PS2) My role model has thoughts and ideas that are similar to mine
3 (PS3) My role model has personalities that are similar to mine
4 (PS4) My role model has styles of communication that are similar to mine.
DATA ANALYSIS
Descriptive statistics
The sample only includes 4 th year, business majored undergraduate students of Foreign Trade University in Hanoi This method guarantees a relatively high level of similarity regarding demographics In general, those students are of similar age (approximately 22 years old), similar educational background (majoring in business administration), and similar entrepreneurship-related experience (as all students are required to participate in 3-month internship in their 3 rd year) Besides, it could be expected that most students of Foreign Trade University Hanoi come from the North and North Central Region of Vietnam, implying a certain degree of cultural similarity
Total sample includes 205 students, with the female to male ratio is 3:2, which is quite balanced These similar demographics allow better analysis of the variables within the proposed research models
Analysis
The standards required for each variable when it comes to reliability test is that Cronbach’s Alpha is greater than 0.6 and no Corrected Item – Total Correlation is
Male Female less than 0.3 (Nunnally, 1978) As such, variables of RM, PS, and ESE are verified to be reliable without having to omit any items
However, for EI variable, item EI1 – “I am ready to do anything to be an entrepreneur”
- and EI2 – “My professional goal is to become an entrepreneur” - have Corrected Item – Total Correlation less than 0.3 (0.145 & 0.060 respectively), therefore those items are not qualified to be included After removing EI1 and EI2, EI variable satisfies the standards as explained earlier For similar reason, item PEE5 – “I have participated in my family or a family member’s business” in PEE variable is removed
Table 4.1: Cronbach’s Alpha Test results
* EI variable after removing item EI1, EI2
** PEE variable after removing item PEE5
Source: Author’s summary 4.2.2 Exploratory factor analysis
EFA was test using SPSS Table 4.2 shows that KMO result for each variable is above 0.7 and below 1, while the Barlett’s Test (Sig.) has the value of 0
Table 4.2: KMO and Barlett’s Test results
RM PS EI ESE PEE
For the Total Variance Explained table, Cumulative % of Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings is over 50% for all variables, thus the factors are accepted (Merenda, 1997)
RM PS EI ESE PEE
“Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings – Cumulative %” 78.628 82.169 70.939 71.355 72.613
As for Rotated Component Matrix with Varimax Rotation, all of the loading values are greater than 0.7
The result shows that 19 items are allocated into 5 groups of variables The first 4 item constitute Perceived Similarity variable (Component 1), and the next 4 items belong to Previous Entrepreneurial Experience variable (Component 2) Component
3 represents Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy which composes of 4 items Similarly, Component 4 (4 items) and Component 5 (3 items) represents the variables of Entrepreneurial Intentions and Role Models respectively
This study uses Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient to measures correlations between independent variable (Role model – RM), dependent variable (Entrepreneurial Intention – EI), and Mediator (Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy -ESE)
EI_mean RM_mean PS_mean PEE_mean ESE_mean
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)
Source: Analysis by SPSS20 for this study
As observed in Table 4.5, between RM and EI, Pearson Correlation Coefficient is 309, with p-value being 000, indicating that there exists significantly positive correlation between the two variables Besides, between ESE and EI, Pearson Correlation Coefficient is 401, with p-value being 000, also implying positive correlation Similarly, between RM and ESE, Pearson Correlation Coefficient is 282, with p-value being 000
Mediating effect of ESE on the relationship between RM and EI
Regression was conducted by an SPSS’s add-on called PROCESS, which is created by Andrew F Hayes
Figure 4.2: Model of mediating effect
In which: a: direct effect of RM on ESE b: direct effect of ESE on EI c: total effect of RM on EI c’: direct effect of RM on EI a*b: indirect effect of RM on EI o Measuring a
Figure 4.2 shows the direct effect of RM on ESE It could be observed that RM significantly effects ESE with coefficient = 29 and p = 000
Figure 4.3: RM’s impact over ESE
Source: Analysis by SPSS20 for this study o Measuring b and c’
Figure 4.3 shows the direct effect of RM and ESE on EI Both RM and ESE significantly have positive impact on EI with coefficient as 22 and 34 respectively
Figure 4.4: RM and ESE’s impacts over EI
Source: Analysis by SPSS20 for this study o Measuring c and a*b
Figure 4.4 shows the total effect of RM on EI (c), with coefficient = 31, p = 000
For the indirect effect of RM on EI with ESE as the mediator (a*b) The indirect effect is estimated at effect = 1 With the confidence interval of 95%, the true value of this indirect effect falls between 0.0427 and 0.1693 This range does not include 0,
Figure 4.5: RM’s total, direct, and indirect impact over EI
Source: Analysis by SPSS20 for this study
From the above measurement, result of the mediating effect model can be presented as below, confirming that all the first four hypotheses are accepted
Figure 4.6: Result for model of mediating effect
Source: Author’s summary from SPSS analysis
Moderating effect of PS and ESE
As can be observed from figure 4.5 and figure 4.6, p-value for (RM x PS) is 7636, while p-value for (RM x PEE) is 3015 Both p-value is greater than 05, meaning that there is no evidence for moderating effect created by either PS or PEE
Figure 4.7: Moderate effect of PS
Source: Analysis by SPSS20 for this study
Figure 4.8: Moderating effect of PEE
Source: Analysis by SPSS20 for this study
Thus, hypothesis 5 and 6 are rejected
After regression, result is shown as below While the anticipated moderating effects was not verified, the mediating effect was indeed found out and appeared to be a partial mediation
Figure 4.9: Result for both mediating and moderating effect
Source: Author’s summary from SPSS analysis
Table 4.6: Result of hypothesis testing
Hypothesis Beta t-value p-value Result
H1: RM has positive impact on EI .31** 4.6220 0000 Accepted
H2: RM has positive impact on ESE
H3: ESE has positive impact on EI .34** 5.2056 0000 Accepted
H5: PEE has negative impact on the relationship between RM and ESE
H6: PS has positive impact on the relationship between RM and ESE
Hypothesis Beta BootLLCI BootULCI Result
H4: RM has indirect positive impact on EI
DISCUSSION
Discussion
Attempting to explain how Role Models could affect individual’s Entrepreneurial Intention, this study takes Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy as potential mediating variable, with Perceived Similarity and Previous Entrepreneurial Experience as moderating variables
By conducting a survey on 4 th year business major undergraduate students at Foreign Trade University, the study arrives at the result confirming significant mediating role of ESE on the impact of RM to EI This result provides evidence that role models are capable of igniting start-up aspiration within students via not only direct channel, in the sense that students want to become like role models or achieve similar entrepreneurial achievements like role models’, but also via indirect channel, as having role models would boost students’ self-confidence in their entrepreneurial capabilities, which in effect encourages students to become business owners in the future
This result offers support for the idea that entrepreneurial self-efficacy could cast itself as a significant mediator between entrepreneurial intentions and certain determinants (Zhao, Hills, & Seibert, 2005; Kickul et al., 2009; Parsa, Parsa, & Parsa, 2016; Oyugi, 2015)
However, in those previous similar researches, such determinants rarely include role models Hou et al., (2019) did test the mediating capability of ESE on the link between RM and EI, with the subjects as university students in Pearl River Delta in China That research’s outcome shows that there is no evidence supporting such kind of mediating effect This study shows different result, implying that the mediating effect does exist This difference can be explained by the definition of models of the two researches While Hou et al., (2019) only limits role models as family members broader term, which is someone who the individual admires, aspires to become like, or has a career path that the individual wants to follow
Besides testing the aforementioned mediating effect of ESE, the study also examines whether or not there exists moderating effect of perceived similarity and previous entrepreneurial experience According to the research’s result, such factors have non- significant moderating impact
For perceived similarity, it could be argued that the more specific and tangible similarities (such as nationality, gender, business sector) are, the more likely those similarities could have significant impact on the strength of link between role models and entrepreneurial efficacy Perceived similarity, as the name itself suggests, is a subjective value which is relatively difficult to measure and susceptible to changes
For example, individuals are likely to identify themselves with role models of certain level of success However, when those role models’ accomplishments get greater and go further towards the extreme, the sense of being dissimilar to role models will growth stronger (Lockwood & Kunda, 1997]
For previous entrepreneurial experience, it appears that the chosen sample of 4 th year undergraduate students are not quite suitable to test such variable There is a high possibility that the students do not have concrete understanding about entrepreneurship yet Even though they did participate in compulsory internships in their 3 rd year, the internships’ content may have little to do with new venture establishment, or new market development, or new product development, which are considered the key elements in entrepreneurial experience
Even though this research doesn’t find out significant moderating effects caused by perceived similarity and previous entrepreneurial experience, one notable point that can be observed from the regression results is that Beta for previous entrepreneurial experience is 1, and for perceived similarity is -.02 Both of the numbers are close to
0, indicating the possible existence of a U-shape type of moderating effects, which
Figure 5.1: Role Models’ impact on individual’s ESE in relation with amount of time working together
Figure 5.2: Role Models’ impact on individual’s EDE in relation with Role Models’ successfulness
Theoretical and practical implications
This study enriches researches on antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions It provides empirical support for the idea that role models can exert significant impact
Amount of time working with Role Models
Role models’ impact of individual’s ESE
Role Models’ successfulness Role models’ impact of individual’s ESE on students’ desire of establishing a business venture (Basow & Howe, 1980; Shapero,
The results also back up the notion that ESE could be a crucial mediator between EI and many determinants (Zhao, Hills, & Seibert, 2005) In most of the existing researches, determinants are often closely and clearly connected to entrepreneurship, such as entrepreneurship education or entrepreneurial intention (Oyugi, 2015;
Malebana & Swanepoel, 2014; Shinnar, Hsu, & Powell, 2014)
This study, however, shows that role models – a factor that is not exclusive to the field entrepreneurship – could also become a significant determinant, implying that other non-entrepreneurship-specific factors have the capability of affect individual entrepreneurial intentions both directly and indirectly through of ESE
As for the tested moderating effects of perceived similarity and previous entrepreneurial experience, this study doesn’t provide evidence for existence of such moderating effects As very few studies have provided comprehensive explanation of by what mechanisms role models could affect entrepreneurial intention (Van Auken et al., 2006), it leaves out much room for research regading this matter
This study’s findings encourage entrepreneurship education program, or activities of similar purpose of promoting entrepreneurship, to include the element of role models in their teaching contents To ignite the interest of start-up within students, telling stories about role models or organizing activities in which students can interact with role models could be effective methods (Liu, Ma, & Li, 2019)
Also, in constructing teaching contents, it is not always necessary to put entrepreneurial intention as the absolutely required output of the programs Granted that the ultimate goal is often the ignited or boosted students’ aspiration for startups, an improvement in learners’ confidence in their entrepreneurial capability could be
As entrepreneurial self-efficacy is firmly established as an efficient mediator between various antecedents and entrepreneurial intentions, a wide range of contents could be added to entrepreneurship education programs such as creativity workshops or problem-solving simulation (Huq & Gilbert, 2017)
Even though in this research, no moderating effect from perceived similarity or previous entrepreneurial experience was found, it is still highly likely that there would be certain factors moderating the link between RM and ESE Therefore, for educational programs to better utilize the power of role models, deeper understanding about those possible moderators is recommended.
Limitations and directions for future researches
First, the sample size is relatively small and students coming from one same university may influence the experiment’s results A more extensive study with bigger sample of more diverse background could help to deliver better results Also, a better data collection and analysis of sample’s demography would allow more control variables, increasing the reliability of the research’s result
Second, undergraduate students may not be the best choice to test the hypothesis regarding previous entrepreneurial experience Even though items such as participation in internships and participation in family members’ businesses are included in the questionnaire to increase the possibilities of students’ having relevant experience, it appears that not too many students have substantial and concrete entrepreneurial experience A possible improvement for future research would be taking samples of students belonging to master programs who have working experience
Lastly, perceived similarity is a relatively new concept in general, and in study about entrepreneurial intention in particular Therefore, analyzing this factor by quantitative method only may not be sufficient Qualitative approach could be applied so that better insights or explanations could be found regarding the role and impact of
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QUESTIONNAIRE ON ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION OF
My name is Hoang Duc Trung, and I am currently studying Master of Business Administration at Vietnam Japan University I am conducting this survey as a mean of gathering data for my master thesis regarding entrepreneurial intention of Vietnamese students All the information collected will be kept confidential and used for academic purpose only Thank you for your understanding and cooperation
“Indicate your level of agreement with the following statements, value them from
1 (total disagreement) to 5 (total agreement).”
1 In the academic or career path I am pursuing, there is someone
2 I know of someone who has a career that I would like to pursue
3 There is someone I am trying to be like in my academic or career pursuits
4 My role model and I have a lot in common
5 My role model has thoughts and ideas that are similar to mine
6 My role model has personalities that are similar to mine
7 My role model has styles of communications that are similar to mine
8 I am ready to do anything to be an entrepreneur
9 I am capable of identifying new business opportunities
10 My professional goal is to become an entrepreneur
11 I am capable of creating new products
12 I will make every effort to start and run my own firm
13 I am capable of thinking creatively
14 I am determined to create a firm in the future
15 I am capable of commercializing an idea or new development
16 I have a very seriously thought of starting a firm
17 I have the firm intention to start a firm someday
8 I have participated in new business venture start-up
9 I have participated in new market development work
0 I have participated in new product development work
I have participated in internships that helped me to understand better about entrepreneurship
2 I have participated in my family or a family member’s business
BẢNG CÂU HỎI VỀ DỰ ĐỊNH KHỞI NGHIỆP CỦA
Tôi tên là Hoàng Đức Trung, sinh viên cao học ngành Quản trị Kinh doanh tại Đại học Việt Nhật Khảo sát này được tiến hành nhằm phục vụ cho việc viết khóa luận về đề tài dự định khởi nghiệp của sinh viên Việt Nam Mọi thông tin được thu thập sẽ được bảo mật và chỉ sử dụng cho mục đích nghiên cứu Xin chân thành cảm ơn sự hợp tác của Anh Chị
Nêu mức độ đồng ý của bạn với các phát biểu dưới đây, đánh giá theo thang điểm như sau: 1 (hoàn toàn không đồng ý); 2 (không đồng ý); 3 (phân vân); 4 (đồng ý); 5 (hoàn toàn đồng ý)
1 Trên con đường học thuật hoặc sự nghiệp, có người mà tôi ngưỡng mộ
2 Tôi biết một vài người có sự nghiệp mà tôi muốn theo đuổi
3 Có người mà tôi đang cố gắng trở nên giống như trên con đường học thuật hoặc sự nghiệp
4 Hinh mẫu có nhiều điểm tương đồng với tôi
5 Hình mẫu có suy nghĩ và ý tưởng tương đồng với tôi
6 Hình mẫu có tính cách tương đồng với tôi
7 Hình mẫu có cách giao tiếp tương đồng với tôi
8 Tôi sẵn sáng làm bất cứ điều gì để trở thành một doanh nhân
9 Tôi có khả năng xác định được cơ hội kinh doanh mới
10 Mục tiêu sự nghiệp của tôi là trở thành một doanh nhân
11 Tôi có khả năng tạo ra sản phẩm mới
12 Tôi sẽ nố lực hết sức để thành lập và vận hành công ty riêng
13 Tôi có khả năng suy nghĩ sáng tạo
14 Tôi quyết tâm thành lập công ty riêng trong tương lai
15 Tôi có khả năng thương mại hóa một ý tưởng
16 Tôi có suy nghĩ rất nghiêm túc về việc thành lập công ty riêng
17 Tôi có ý định vững chắc về việc thành lập công ty riêng tại một thời điểm nào đó
