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Purpose – The purpose of the present empirical study is to investigate the relationship between education in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial behaviour and compare the effectiveness of frequently used entrepreneurship education teaching approaches. Design/methodology/approach – Hypotheses are derived from the “Theory of Planned Behaviour” (“TPB”), which suggests that education in entrepreneurship is positively related to attitude (“A”), subjective norm (“SN”) and perceived behavioural control (“PBC”); that the effect on A, SN and PBC is stronger for extensive courses in entrepreneurship than for more superficial forms of educational efforts; and that education only influences entrepreneurial intentions indirectly through the effect on A, SN and PBC. The hypotheses are tested using data from two different surveys, one from Belgium and one from Norway. Findings – None of the hypotheses are supported. However, the findings from the study indicate a strong direct relationship between participation in extensive education programmes in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intention. Research limitations/implications – Additional empirical evidence would be required to confirm these results and help to improve our understanding of the validity bounds of the TPB in the field of entrepreneurship. Practical implications – The findings indicate that educational programs or events of limited duration have a rather limited usefulness and that efforts should rather be directed on programs of longer duration. This would, for instance, speak for a re-orientation of some policies like those financing short seminars on venture creation for unemployed people. Originality/value – Using data from two different surveys, one from Belgium and one from Norway, this study raises questions about the sufficiency of the TPB.

This qualitative study among 591 business students from four European countries investigated cross-country differences in the kind of barriers people perceive to business start-up. In line with institutional theory, the most important perceived barriers in all countries related to regulative structures (lack of money) and cognitive conditions (lack of skills). Normative structures, defined as national culture, did not explain cross-country differences in perceived risk as start-up barrier. In Norway and The Netherlands, students reported risk perceptions more often than in Romania and Russia, whereas the latter countries are known to be more uncertainty avoidant. These results aid in developing a theory of entrepreneurial barriers, which could be used to extend current entrepreneurial intentions theories in order to predict actual start-up behaviour better. Concerning practical implications, results indicate that business start-up can be stimulated through improving regulative and cognitive institutional structures, but national differences need to be taken into account.

Purpose – This paper aims to explore whether an integrated conceptual model (ICM) relating to factors drawn from entrepreneurial event theory (EET) (i.e. perceived desirability and perceived feasibility) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) (i.e. attitudes toward the behaviour, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control) explains more of the variance relating to the intention to become an entrepreneur than individual EET or TPB models.Design/methodology/approach – Survey information from 192 students from three universities in the Ukraine was hand collected. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses presented.Findings – Models relating to EET, the TPB and the ICM explained 40 per cent, 55 per cent and 60 per cent of the variance in the entrepreneurial intention dependent variable, respectively. Students reporting higher levels of perceived desirability, perceived feasibility, attitude toward the behaviour (i.e. enterprise) and perceived behavioural control were more likely ...

The level of self-employment varies significantly among immigrants from different countries of origin. The objective of this research is to examine the relationship between home-country national intelligence and self-employment rates among first generation immigrants in Norway. Empirical secondary data on self-employment among immigrants from 117 countries residing in Norway in 2008 was used. The relevant hypothesis was tested using hierarchical regression analysis. The immigrants’ national intelligence was found to be significantly positively associated with self-employment. However, the importance of national IQ for self-employment among immigrants decreases with the duration of residence in Norway. The study concludes with practical implications and suggestions for future research.

The present research focuses upon new businesses which are started from scratch. The theories of reasoned action and planned behavior are used to formulate hypotheses concerning self-employment intentions and subsequent entry into self-employment. The hypotheses are tested using longitudinal data from 297 Norwegian business founders. The results suggest that salient beliefs concerning self-employment determine attitudes toward self-employment, that attitude and subjective norm determine intentions to become self-employed, and that intentions to become self-employed determine actual entry into self-employment. The findings strongly support the theory of reasoned action, but provide no support for the extension of the theory represented by the theory of planned behavior.

Two competing models of innovation behavior in organizations are tested. The first model is derived from the corporate entrepreneurship literature, suggesting that the extent to which the organization has a deliberate entrepreneurship strategy determine employees' involvement in innovation and change (Kanter, 1984). The competing model is derived from the intrapreneurship literature, primarily Pinchot (1985) and Pinchot and Pellman (1999), where the emphasis is on the employee's individual personality measured by items derived from Pinchot's (1985) test: "Are you an intrapreneur?" Both models are compared to a base model that contains relevant control variables. Finally, a fourth model, which combines all variables are compared to the other three. The models are tested using a sample of 634 business graduates employed in a diverse set of occupations and organizations. The results indicate that both the strategy and personality models outperform the base model. Moreover, the model that combines the personality of the individual and the strategy of the organization performs even better than the each of the two models separately.

The present research investigated employment status choice intentions, defined as the decision to enter an occupation as a waged or salaried individual as opposed to a self-employed one. Hypotheses based on tracking models and the theory of planned behaviour were tested on a sample of 512 Russian students from three different universities in St. Petersburg. The results showed that the theory of planned behaviour, not tracking models or demographics, determined employment status choice intentions.

Despite an increasing trend in the number of females who start businesses in Western countries, the proportion of female compared to male entrepreneurs is still relatively low. Moreover, past research has found that females tend to start businesses with less potential for profitability and growth than men. Investigates gender differences among Norwegian entrepreneurs in the process of starting a new business. Tests the following three hypotheses: H1 ‐ during the business gestation process female entrepreneurs stress personal expectancies while male entrepreneurs stress economic expectancies; H2 ‐ during the business gestation process women perceive stronger social support than men do, and women put more emphasis on such support than men do; H3 ‐ female entrepreneurs perceive having less control and lower entrepreneurial abilities than their male counterparts. In support of H1 and H2, females were found to emphasize independence as a reason for start‐up, and to perceive a high degree of social support during the business gestation process. However, contrary to H3, females were found to perceive themselves as possessing higher entrepreneurial abilities than men.

This research developed a classification scheme of reasons given for preferring self-employment versus organizational employment. Using an open-ended approach, data were collected from persons who had obtained a master's degree in business from a Norwegian business school during the 1987–1994 period. The classification scheme that emerged questions the relevance of earlier models, which have been used to explain and predict occupational status choice.

The present research investigates whether the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991) and the model of the entrepreneurial event (Shapero and Sokol, 1982) can be integrated into one model of entrepreneurial intentions, and clarifies the differences between different types of entrepreneurial intentions. The model is tested using data from 324 Russian university business students. The results indicate that the two intentions models can be successfully integrated into one, where attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control determine desirability-feasibility, which in turn, determines intentions.