Abstract
Entrepreneurial opportunities are very important in the decisions people make to choose entrepreneurship as their career. This makes one’s ability to recognize entrepreneurial opportunities very important. The current study explored how aspiring entrepreneurs recognize entrepreneurial opportunities. We conducted a two-wave study among 270 aspiring entrepreneurs in Ghana. Results of structural equation model provided support for our hypothesized model. We proposed and found that internal and external locus of control had positive and negative relationships with aspiring entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial opportunity recognition, respectively. We also found that the positive and negative relationships of internal and external locus of control on entrepreneurial opportunity recognition were mediated by entrepreneurial intentions. Again, we found that entrepreneurial searching self-efficacy played an interesting moderating role. Specifically, entrepreneurial searching self-efficacy strengthens the positive relationship between entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial opportunity recognition as well as the positive indirect relationship between internal locus of control and entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. In contrast, entrepreneurial searching self-efficacy weakens the negative indirect relationship between external locus of control and entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
| Original language | English |
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| Publication status | Published - Dec 2018 |
| Event | 2018 AIB Southeast Asia Regional Conference: Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Markets - Lingnan University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Duration: 6 Dec 2018 → 8 Dec 2018 https://www.ln.edu.hk/aibsear/conferences/past.html |
Conference
| Conference | 2018 AIB Southeast Asia Regional Conference |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | 2018 AIBSEAR |
| Country/Territory | Hong Kong |
| City | Hong Kong |
| Period | 6/12/18 → 8/12/18 |
| Other | The 2018 Academy of International Business (AIB) Southeast Asia Regional Conference is organized by AIBSEAR during 6-8 December 2018, in Hong Kong. In particular this year, it will be co-organized by Lingnan University as a tribute to Lingnan University 50th Anniversary of reestablishment in Hong Kong. The theme of the 2018 AIBSEAR Hong Kong Conference is “Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Markets”. |
| Internet address |
Keywords
- Locus of control
- entrepreneurial intentions
- entrepreneurial self-efficacy
- entrepreneurial opportunity recognition
- career decision