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

Hanoi – 2022

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NGUYEN QUANG KHAI

ANTECEDENTS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL

INTENTION: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE IN VIETNAM

Specialization: BUSINESS AND ADMINISTRATION

Specialization code: 9340101

PhD DISSERTATION

Supervisor: Prof Dr NGUYEN THI TUYET MAI

Hanoi - 2022

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this dissertation is my own work, which I have never submitted for

a degree at this or any other educational institutions I also certify that all of the dissertation’s references have been properly credited

I have read and comprehended the University’s policy on plagiarism and academic integrity violations With my own honor, I certify that this research was carried out by

me and that it does not violate regulations of good academic practice

PhD candidate

(Signed)

Nguyen Quang Khai

CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

CONTENTS ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

TABLE LIST vi

FIGURE LIST vii

INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 8

1.1 Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Intention 8

1.1.1 Entrepreneurship 8

1.1.2 Entrepreneurial Intention 9

1.2 Research on Entrepreneurial Intention 10

1.3 Research Gaps 20

1.4 Research Questions 23

1.5 Theoretical Background 23

1.5.1 Entrepreneurial Learning Perspective 23

1.5.2 Theory of Planned Behavior 26

1.6 Antecedents of Entrepreneurial Intention 29

1.6.1 Entrepreneurial Education 29

1.6.2 Acculturation 30

1.6.3 Perception of Self 31

1.6.4 Attitude Toward Entrepreneurship 32

1.6.5 Prior Self-Employment Experience (PSE) 33

1.6.6 Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation 33

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 1 37

CHAPTER 2: STUDY 1- ANTECEDENTS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION AMONG MASTER STUDENTS 38

2.1 Research Context of Student Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Intention 38

2.2 Hypothesis and Model 38

2.2.1 Attitude Toward Entrepreneurship (ATE) 38

2.2.2 The Role of Entrepreneurial Education (EE) 39

2.2.3 The Moderating Role of Prior Self-Employment Experience (PSE) 40

2.2.4 Demographics 41

2.3 Methodology 42

2.3.1 Sample 42

2.3.2 Measures and Questionnaire Development 42

2.4 Research Results 43

2.4.1 Reliability and Validity of Scales 43

2.4.2 Descriptive Statistics of the Observed Variables of the Latent Variables in the Model 48

2.4.3 Structural Model Analyses 52

2.5 Discussion of the Results of Study 1 53

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 2 55

CHAPTER 3: STUDY 2- ANTECEDENTS OF EI AMONG ETHNIC MINORITIES IN MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS 56

3.1 Reasons for Studying Ethnic Minorities 56

3.2 Phase 1: Qualitative Study 56

3.2.1 Research Objectives 56

3.2.2 Research Method 56

3.2.3 Research Findings 59

3.3 Phase 2: Quantitative Study 64

3.3.1 Hypothesis and Research Model 64

3.3.2 Research Methods 69

3.3.3 Pilot Research 74

3.3.4 Research Results 79

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 3 105

CHAPTER 4 DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS 107

4.1 Discussion 107

4.1.1 Discussion on Study 2 Results 107

4.1.2 Discussion on the Overall Results of Study 1 and Study 2 110

4.2 Implications 112

4.3 Contributions, Limitations and Future Research Directions 113

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 4 117

CONCLUSION 118

LIST OF PUBLISHED WORKS 120

REFERENCES 121

APPENDICES 137

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations Full Name

TABLE LIST

Table 1.1: Main Themes and Sub-categories in Entrepreneurial Intention Research 11

Table 1.2: Entrepreneurial Intention Studies in Vietnam 19

Table 2.1: The Second Cronbach’s Alpha of Study 1 44

Table 2.2: KMO and Bartlett’s Test 45

Table 2.3: Total Variance Explained 45

Table 2.4: Pattern Matrix 46

Table 2.5: Standardized Regression Weights: Group Number 1—Default Model 47

Table 2.6: Correlation Matrix, Construct Reliability and Discriminant Validity 48

Table 2.7: Descriptive Statistics, Entrepreneurial Intention 48

Table 2.8: Descriptive Statistics, Attitude toward Entrepreneurship 50

Table 2.9: Descriptive Statistics, Entrepreneurial Education 51

Table 3.1: The Characteristics of the Subjects 58

Table 3.2: TPB Scales in Entrepreneurship 70

Table 3.3: Unidimensional Acculturation Scale 72

Table 3.4: TS and MS Scale 73

Table 3.5: IEO Scale 74

Table 3.6: EFA of Pilot Research 75

Table 3.7: Scale Reliability – Pilot Research 77

Table 3.8: KMO and Bartlett’s Test 79

Table 3.9: Coefficients of Eigenvalues and Extracted Variance 80

Table 3.10: EFA 81

Table 3.11: Scale Reliability 87

Table 3.12: CFA and Model Fit Indicators 91

Table 3.13: Reliability, Convergent and Discriminant Validity 92

Table 3.14: Descriptive Statistics of Entrepreneurial Intention 93

Table 3.15: Descriptive Statistics of Attitude Toward Entrepreneurship 94

Table 3.16: Descriptive Statistics of Acculturation 95

Table 3.17: Descriptive Statistics of Perception of Traditional Self 96

Table 3.18: Descriptive Statistics of Perception of Modern Self 97

Table 3.19: Descriptive Statistics of Risk-Taking 98

Table 3.20: Descriptive Statistics of Innovativeness 99

Table 3.21: Descriptive Statistics of Proactiveness 100

Table 3.22: SEM Model Fit Indicator 101

Table 3.23: Results of Hypothesis Testing 101

Table 3.24: Results of the Moderating Effect of PSE on ACC and EI 103

Table 3.25: Results of the Moderating Effect of PSE on ATE and EI 103

FIGURE LIST

Figure 2.1: Graphic Depiction of the Conceptual Framework 41

Figure 2.2: CFA Analysis 47

Figure 2.3: Structural Model 52

Figure 2.4: Research Model 69

Figure 2.5: CFA 92

Figure 2.6: Structural Equation Model 104

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Research on entrepreneurship is increasingly interested in practice because it is the basis of the economic development and happiness of countries (Kao, 1993) The interest in entrepreneurship in practice has attracted researchers to focus on this topic to elucidate relevant theories, thereby underpinning managers’ decisions (Nguyen et al., 2019a).Maalaoui et al (2018) has affirmed that the field of entrepreneurship studies is

a large area of research and there is still much to investigate, such as the influence of culture, the expansion of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), and the study of the transition from intention to action

Vietnam is a development success story Economic reforms since 1986 combined with favorable global trends have rapidly helped Vietnam grow from one of the poorest countries in the world to a lower-middle-income country in just one generation According to the World Bank (2022), from 2002 to 2020 the country’s GDP per capita increased 3.6 times, reaching nearly 3,700 USD The poverty rate (according to the standard of 1.9 USD/day) dropped sharply from more than 32% in 2011 to less than 2% With a solid foundation, Vietnam’s economy has shown remarkable resilience in times

of crisis, most recently during the COVID-19 pandemic GDP growth slowed to 2.58%

in 2021 due to the arrival of the Delta variant but is expected to recover to 5.5% in 2022 Vietnam has set out an ambitious development vision, aspiring to become a high-income country by 2045 (The World Bank, 2022) Therefore, the economy needs to grow at an average annual rate of approximately 5% per capita over the next 20 years Promoting entrepreneurship is one way to achieve this goal The Vietnamese government proposed many programs to support people of all ages in Vietnam to become entrepreneurs (e.g., Resolution 35/2016/NQ-CP), which had the goal of one million businesses operating by

2020 (Government, 2016) However, it seems that the time it took to start a business in Vietnam had been underestimated, and as of 2020 only slightly more than 800,000 businesses were operating in Vietnam (An, 2021) The cause of the failure of the 2020 target of one million operating businesses (An, 2021) may have been low entrepreneurial intentions 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)

Section II.2.c of Resolution 35/2016/NQ-CP has pointed out that an important way to increase the number of enterprises in Vietnam is through the promotion of training programs for startups (Government, 2016) This solution is consistent with the theory of entrepreneurial learning However, the effectiveness of this solution depends

on many factors, including the role that entrepreneurial learning plays in the entrepreneurial intention of Vietnamese people Past research has suggested that entrepreneurship is a learning process, and learning shapes entrepreneurial behaviors (Rae and Carswell, 2001) It is also noted that all theories of entrepreneurship are associated with entrepreneurial learning (Minniti and Bygrave, 2001) Many researchers agree that potential entrepreneurs can learn entrepreneurship through experience (Rae and Carswell, 2001) even if they have never started a business (Hahn et al., 2017) Potential entrepreneurs can learn entrepreneurship through entrepreneurial education programs (Hahn et al., 2017) or contextual learning (Rae, 2005) Hahn et al (2017) assert that students benefit not just because they are instructed how to start a business; they benefit from an entrepreneurial education by being shown how to turn their ideas into action

This ability helps individuals to be more creative and more confident in the jobs they undertake, which is the most important human capacity (Hahn et al., 2017) Meanwhile, learning entrepreneurship through contextual learning helps potential entrepreneurs learn the “art” of entrepreneurial practice, something entrepreneurial education can hardly provide (Rae, 2005) Although each of the above learning methods will have different advantages and disadvantages, to the best of my knowledge there does not seem to be much research addressing the suitability of these learning paths in different contexts Meanwhile, in the context of startup activity in Vietnam, the people starting new businesses can be very different from each other Potential entrepreneurs may be people with high education and easy access to entrepreneurial education programs; they may also be people with low education and no easy access to startup training programs Therefore, research on entrepreneurship topics such as antecedents

of entrepreneurial intention from a learning perspective for different groups of people is essential and useful

In this dissertation, author conducted two studies investigating the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention among two different groups of subjects The first study was conducted with a group of subjects who are master students, who are generally young and highly educated and can easily access training programs on entrepreneurship This

is also the group that has received much research attention and in startup support policies both around the world (Seikkula-Leino et al., 2021) and in Vietnam particularly (Nguyen et al., 2019a) They also often live in areas with better living conditions and

more favorable conditions to start a business compared with the vulnerable groups in society The main aim of this study is to examine the important role of entrepreneurial learning through entrepreneurial education on entrepreneurial intention The second study was conducted with a group of subjects who are ethnic minorities in the northern mountainous provinces of Vietnam, who are often not trained in economics in general and in entrepreneurship in particular They often have low education levels, poor living conditions and limited opportunities to start businesses The fact is that in Vietnam most entrepreneurial learning programs, as well as books on entrepreneurship training, are written in the Kinh language, so fluency in the Kinh language will help ethnic minorities access entrepreneurial learning programs more easily, and it is acculturation that will help ethnic minorities know the Kinh language well Thus, author believe that acculturation with the Kinh people will help ethnic minorities access the sources of entrepreneurial knowledge and skills more easily and promote their entrepreneurial intentions In addition, being fluent in Kinh language also creates opportunities for ethnic minorities to join startup groups on social networks or meet with mentors, from which they can learn to start a business Also, acculturation is a process during which ethnic minorities can learn from others with entrepreneurial knowledge and skills in their network who come from the mainstream (i.e., ethnic Kinhs) However, to my knowledge, until now there have been very few studies on entrepreneurial intentions and the role of acculturation and other personal factors on entrepreneurial intention among people in this special group Therefore, Study 2 explores the influence of acculturation and some other personal factors on the entrepreneurial intention of ethnic minorities in Vietnam’s northern mountainous provinces In addition, to the best of my knowledge, it seems that research on the entrepreneurship intentions of indigenous minorities is still rare Previous studies on minority groups have often focused on immigrants (e.g., Xu et al., 2019; Evansluong et al., 2019; Falcão et al., 2022) who have recently migrated to a new country and settled there for several generations Meanwhile, immigrants and indigenous minorities differ in many aspects Unlike immigrants, indigenous ethnic minorities have often inhabited their land for a long time, for example, with a rich cultural heritage accumulated over many generations They are recognized as the real owners of the country in which they live In addition, research on entrepreneurship in Vietnam often pays a lot of attention to subjects such as young people (e.g., Nguyen et al., 2016; Nguyen et al., 2019a; Nasar et al., 2019; Yoon et al., 2020) or highly educated individuals (e.g., Nasar et al., 2019; Yoon et al., 2020; Nguyen et al., 2016b), but subjects such as indigenous ethnic minorities still rarely receive enough research attention

Based on the above discussion, author decided to work on the research topic

“Antecedents of entrepreneurial intention: Empirical evidence in Vietnam” for my dissertation This dissertation focuses on exploring some antecedents of entrepreneurial intention in Vietnam from the perspective of entrepreneurial learning through entrepreneurial education, acculturation, and past experience of self-employment, especially for the young, highly educated (i.e., master students) and ethnic minority groups The research results show that entrepreneurial learning plays an important role

in entrepreneurial intention For the target group of master students, entrepreneurial education has been suggested to play an important role in shaping the intention to start

a business However, the previous findings are inconsistent and there is a call for further investigation For the ethnic-minority groups author studied in the northern region of Vietnam The results of my qualitative research show that entrepreneurial education may not play an important role in their entrepreneurial intentions Instead, an entrepreneurial learning process through contextual learning plays a more significant role in fostering their entrepreneurial intentions In particular, acculturation plays an important role as a prerequisite for these ethnic minorities’ contextual learning, shaping their attitudes towards entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial behavior Specifically, individuals with a high degree of acculturation with Kinh people (cultural and exchanges and personal experiences with Kinh people) are more likely to support entrepreneurial activities and have high entrepreneurial intentions In addition, self-concepts (i.e., “traditional self” and “modern self”) that are specifically associated with Asian transition economies such as Vietnam and attitude towards entrepreneurship can also be seen to influence entrepreneurial intention Furthermore, the research results also suggest that personal factors such as individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO, i.e., risk-taking, proactiveness, and innovativeness) have significant impact on ethnic minorities’ willingness to start a business Both Study 1 and Study 2 suggest that past experience of self-employment is a significant moderator of the relationship between an entrepreneurial learning factor (i.e., entrepreneurial education in Study 1 and acculturation in Study 2) and entrepreneurial intention

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 The research results show that different potential entrepreneurs seem to use different entrepreneurial learning paths For master students, learning entrepreneurship through entrepreneurial education programs plays

an important role in nurturing their intention to become entrepreneurs Meanwhile, for

ethnic minorities, contextual learning through acculturation is a crucial predictor of 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 Furthermore, this dissertation also includes research that explored the influence of important personal factors such as self-concept (i.e., perception of

“traditional self” and perception of “modern self”) and individual entrepreneurial orientations (IEO) on entrepreneurial intention Finally, this dissertation is one of the rare studies to investigate the entrepreneurial intentions and its antecedents among indigenous ethnic minorities, who seem to have not received enough attention in any prior research

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

- To examine the role of entrepreneurial learning in forming entrepreneurial intention, focusing on the role of entrepreneurial education and prior self-employed experience

- Explore factors driving entrepreneurial intention from the entrepreneurial learning perspective

- To develop and test the research model pertaining to the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention among a group of ethnic minority people in Vietnam, with the focus on the role of acculturation, prior self-employed experience, and some other personal factors

- To provide implications for policy makers and other relevant stakeholders to promote entrepreneurial intention in Vietnam

2.2 Research Objects

The main research objects of this dissertation are the antecedents of (i.e., driving factors) the intention to start a business in Vietnam, and their impact on entrepreneurial intention

2.3 Research Scope

Research context: In this dissertation, from the lens of entrepreneurial learning

perspective and TPB, two main studies were conducted on two important groups of Vietnamese people Specifically, Study 1 examines the role of entrepreneurial education and prior self-employed experience in forming entrepreneurial intention among master students, while Study 2 investigates antecedents of entrepreneurial intention, focusing

on the role of acculturation, prior self-employed experience and some other personal factors, among ethnic minorities in northern provinces of Vietnam

Scope of content: The study aims to explore and examine the factors affecting the

entrepreneurial intention of Vietnamese people from the perspective of entrepreneurial learning theory In which, 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

Research space: To study the topic among master students in Study 1, the

research was conducted on students studying in master programs at universities in Vietnam For Study 2, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from 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 employed secondary data from the years 2014 to 2021

3 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 2

In the first study, the research subjects are master students The study uses a

quantitative research method (i.e., a survey), from entrepreneurial learning perspective and the theory of the planned behavior In this study, entrepreneurial education is an element of entrepreneurial learning (Rae, 2005) that plays the role of a key factor affecting EI, and prior self-employed experience plays the role of moderating the relationship between entrepreneurial education and EI

The second study includes two phases The dissertation used a qualitative

research method in the first phase (in-depth interviews) to explore the factors driving EI

of ethnic minorities, especially acculturation, prior self-employed experience and some other personal factors using in-depth interview research method, author interviewed 12 ethnic minorities in two provinces representing the northern mountainous provinces of Cao Bang and Bac Kan

In Phase 2, a survey was conducted on 451 people from ten different minority groups, collected from ten northern mountainous provinces The study was based on the Entrepreneurial Learning Perspective, and the Theory of Planned Behavior (emphasizing the relationship between attitude and behavioral intention) as theoretical background Structural Equation Modeling was used to test all the hypothesized relationships in the research model

ethnic-4 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 In this chapter, author introduce the key concepts such as entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial intention, and the antecedents of EI This chapter also presents the theories employed in the dissertation

as theoretical background

Chapter 2: Study 1- Antecedents of EI among Master Students In this chapter, author present my study of the factors affecting entrepreneurial intention among master students, employing the entrepreneurial learning perspective as background

Chapter 3: Study 2- Antecedents of EI among Ethnic Minorities (EM) in Vietnam’s Mountainous Regions This chapter describes the study’s two main phases First, author introduce qualitative research to explore the factors affecting the intention

of ethnic minorities to start a business Next, quantitative research (i.e., a survey) was conducted to estimate the influence of factors on the entrepreneurial intention among ethnic minorities in the northern mountainous areas of Vietnam

Chapter 4: Discussion and Implications In this chapter, author discuss the research results and present theoretical and policy implications Contributions and limitations of the dissertation and future research directions are also presented

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL

on their individual understanding of the concept

Currently, the word “start-up” has not been clearly defined in Vietnamese Law Even in the law that is closest to start-up activities such as The Law supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (2017), does not provide a specific definition of a start-

up The Vietnamese dictionary of Hoang Phe et al (2003) also simply defines

"entrepreneurship as starting a career" Therefore, this thesis will use the concept of entrepreneurship widely accepted in academic research

It is noteworthy that there are discrepancies among scholars’ definitions of entrepreneurship that come from the different environmental situations from which these definitions have been developed (Popov et al., 2019) As suggested by Beugelsdijk and Noorderhaven (2005), the term “entrepreneurship” should be understood not only as regards to business activities but also in self-employment as well

as business ownership (Beugelsdijk and Noorderhaven, 2005) That entrepreneurship is

a set of behaviors embracing opportunity discovery, value creation, and invocation is another definition given by Shane and Venkataraman (2000) Miller (1983), for example, describes entrepreneurship as an activity that looks for redistributing or recombining resources with creativity, a risk-taking mindset, and a get-up-and-go spirit

to build up economic value (Miller, 1983) The definition also refers to a concept

whereby entrepreneurship is considered the power that prompts everyone to make use

of creativity and innovation to search for solutions in a dynamic business climate Moreover, the definition offered by Stevenson and Jerillo-Mossi in 1986 describes the concept as related to the motivation to take advantage of available resources to seal a detected market gap, one that the businessman regards as a worth-exploiting business opportunity (Stevenson and Jarrillo-Mossi, 1986)

As a way of agreeing with the definition of Stevenson and Jarrillo-Mossi that grasping existing market opportunities is an essential foundation of business activity, Adams et al (2016) highlight the necessity for an entrepreneur to utilize innovation, foresight, and specific leadership to recognize possible market opportunities and develop effective business strategies (Adams et al., 2016) Unlike Hisrich et al (2016), they argue that entrepreneurship is a psychological mindset embodied by an enterprising individual Also, it is a delineation that the entrepreneur deems requisite for building value in a scarce and unstable environment (Hisrich et al., 2016) Above are notions of entrepreneurship given by various scholars, who nevertheless agree on its relevance and impact on the economic strength of a country

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 (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000) According to this definition, entrepreneurship is the process by which a person or organization identifies, assesses, and takes advantage of chances to introduce goods, services, procedures, and techniques

to enter new markets (Popov et al., 2019) author 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

Many researchers have defined entrepreneurial intention, in the context of entrepreneurship, as a mental state that directs and guides a person’s experience, attention, goal-setting, commitment, organization, communication, and other types of work toward the implementation of entrepreneurial behavior (Boyd and Vozikis, 1994; Bird, 1988; Fini et al., 2012) Thompson (2009) defined entrepreneurial intention (EI)

as a self-acknowledged conviction that a person intends to build a new business and

purposely plans to carry out acts to achieve it in the future According to Thompson (2009), entrepreneurial intention is not a binary decision of yes or no; instead, it expands along a continuum ranging from a preference for self-employment over paid-employee work to a commitment to an entrepreneurial venture finally to nascent entrepreneurship The process of venture creation is referred to as the final stage in entrepreneurial intention formation and was the transition from commitment to creating an organization (Reynolds et al., 2005; Zwan et al., 2010) These activities include building social and financial capital, planning for equipment and facilities, shaping and refining an idea for

a new product or service, and gathering knowledge by attending seminars on entrepreneurship (Aldrich and Martinez, 2000; Korunka et al., 2003; McGee et al., 2009; Reynolds, 1997) Some other scholars have defined entrepreneurship as a process and entrepreneurial intention as the first step of venture creation (Nishantha, 2018)

However, Liñán’s (2004) concept of entrepreneurial intention seems to have received the most attention This is a definition built on the basis of the widely accepted definition of behavioral intention by researchers Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) According

to Fishbein and Ajzen (1975), behavioral intention is defined as an individual’s effort to perform a certain action 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 entrepreneurial intention

According to psychological studies, the best indicator of planned behavior is intention (Ajzen, 1991) Studies have indicated that entrepreneurial intentions are among the best predictors of new business starts because entrepreneurs often start with intention before starting their business (Krueger et al., 2000) Since there is a high correlation between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurship, as demonstrated and verified by several empirical investigations, many scholars contend that this relationship exists (Krueger et al., 2000)

1.2 Research on Entrepreneurial Intention

Although research on entrepreneurial intention and its antecedents 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

Source: Liñán & Fayolle (2015)

In the research classification of Liñán and Fayolle (2015), the theme “general test

of the theory” has 23 studies This theme includes studies that test the fit of a theoretical model, mainly TPB or EEM, using different samples, such as high school students, university students, or the general population Four studies compare and/or integrate both models Studies have shown that TPB and EEM are suitable models to explain the entrepreneurial intention

The theme “specific intentions” has 18 studies This theme includes studies on specific intentions in entrepreneurial intention, such as the intention to grow, the intention to exit, the intention to internationalize, and corporate entrepreneurial intention Several other studies compare alternative entrepreneurial intentions, such as the intention to grow versus independence intentions and the intention to start various types of ventures

The theme “new theoretical framework” has nine studies This theme gathers studies looking at alternatives to older models (TPB and EEM) This theme also considers significant modifications of the established models grouped Some proposed theories or ideas include expectancy theory; social cognitive career theory; distinction between impulsive and deliberate entrepreneurial intentions; and the intention/action/ circumstance condition as a new path to studying entrepreneurship

The theme “additional variables” has five studies Since models often explain only 40% to 60% of the variation in entrepreneurial intention, several studies have suggested additional variables, such as the proclivity for improvisation The remaining studies are empirical

The theme “configuration of motivational antecedents” has seven studies Other studies on entrepreneurial intention often assume that independent variables directly explain entrepreneurial intention Therefore, the authors studying this theme have suggested alternative configurations such as mediation; moderator; the interaction between desirability; and feasibility

The theme “methodology” has three studies These studies focus on concept development and scale

The theme “personality/psychological factors” has 72 studies These studies focus on studying the influence of personality traits on entrepreneurial intention, such

as the big-five personality traits, risk perceptions, locus of control, innovativeness, narcissism, cognitive styles, career anchors, creativity, and emotional intelligence

The theme “background factors” has 35 studies The studies grouped under this theme analyze the role of several situations, which are usually family background, education, and experience—for example, a parent’s occupation, the family’s business background, educational background, experience, and its social capital

The theme “gender issues” has 30 studies which mainly analyze the influence of gender on entrepreneurial intention

The theme “specific subsamples” has eight studies, which focus on particular subgroups of populations, such as secondary-school students, Dutch farmers, or indigenous Turkish entrepreneurs

The theme “perceived barriers” has only three studies, which are quite general, examining the effect of such factors as lack of capital, lack of skills, and operational problems on entrepreneurial intention

The theme “characteristics of participants” has eight studies, which focus on studying students’ characteristics in entrepreneurial education programs

The theme “entrepreneurial education program (EEP) results” has 13 studies These studies focus on analyzing the influence of entrepreneurial education programs

on entrepreneurial intention Most researchers with this focus investigate the entrepreneurial intention of participants and non-participants in entrepreneurial education programs and then attribute this result to the program Only one seven-year study by Degeorge and Fayolle (2008) assessed the change of entrepreneurial intention before and after joining the entrepreneurial education program

The “EEP Evaluation” theme has 30 studies, which aim to evaluate specific EEPs and whether they impact participants’ entrepreneurial intention Most of the studies show a positive effect of EEPs on entrepreneurial intention In addition, some also show the moderating role of prior exposure to entrepreneurship on the influence of entrepreneurial education on entrepreneurial intention

The theme “comparisons” has six studies, which compare different groups of people participating in EEPs These groups can vary by country, regions within a country, or schools in a single location

The theme “program proposal” has 11 studies Research on this topic often proposes some content and pedagogical method to improve EEP

The theme “cross-cultural studies” has 25 studies These studies focus on differences in entrepreneurial intention across countries The study samples mainly

compared two countries; some recent studies have extended the sample to six, seven,

12, or even 13 countries

The theme “institutional variables” has 40 studies The studies in this theme analyze the role of “the rules of the game” in an organization or milieu influencing entrepreneurial intention Organizations and milieus commonly studied include universities, social networks, regional contexts, the media representation of entrepreneurs, and culture

The theme “cultural backgrounds” has six studies that focus on the influence of the new cultural environment on entrepreneurial intention The impact of cultural changes on entrepreneurial intention often occurs with immigrants, international students, or students of different ethnic backgrounds in the same country

The theme “ecological approach” has just one study The only research on this topic affirms that “environmental munificence promotes entrepreneurial alertness which, in turn, increases entrepreneurial intention.” (Liñán and Fayolle, 2015),

The theme “longitudinal studies” has 24 studies Studies on this topic suggest that tracked responses over time are useful for analyzing intention-behavior links and entrepreneurial processes Therefore, some studies on this topic focus on the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and behavior in the long run Others focus on explaining venture growth or test alternative theories, such as career decision-making, the intentionality, resources, boundary, and exchange theory, or the interaction between people, processes, resources, and the environment

The theme “variables affecting” the process has 15 studies The studies under this theme study entrepreneurship from the perspective of a process in which entrepreneurial intention still plays a significant role Some studies focus on specific aspects and their influence on entrepreneurial stages, such as barriers to growth and/or the decreasing influence of personality traits

The remaining topics are “social entrepreneurship intention” (comprising seven studies), “sustainable entrepreneurship intention” (four studies), and “others” (six studies); these focus on the intention towards particular entrepreneurial activities, such

as social entrepreneurship intention, sustainable entrepreneurship intention, the transgenerational intent in family business leaders, the valuation of opportunities, and the entrepreneurial commitment (Liñán and Fayolle, 2015)

Donaldson (2019) has used the Liñán and Fayolle (2015) classification framework to classify 163 papers on entrepreneurial intention between 2014 and 2018

The results of Donaldson’s classification confirm that Liñán and Fayolle’s 2015 framework is helpful for research into entrepreneurial intention (Donaldson, 2019) The framework of Liñán and Fayolle’s research themes (2015) shows that studies on the learning of potential entrepreneurs mainly focus on entrepreneurial education However, entrepreneurial education programs are usually only designed for individuals who already have a certain level of education For individuals with low levels of education

or who can’t even read and write (for example, ethnic minorities in the northern mountains of Vietnam), it seems that entrepreneurial education is not for them In addition, Rae (2005) affirmed that entrepreneurial education is essential and valuable in providing knowledge about entrepreneurship However, “the ‘art’ of entrepreneurial practice is learned experientially in business rather than the educational environment” (Rae, 2005) Meanwhile, the classification results of Liñán and Fayolle (2015) and Donaldson (2019) seem to indicate that there is no empirical study addressing learning experientially

Current research on entrepreneurial intention in Vietnam, to the best of my knowledge, also seems to be very limited in its consideration of the role of entrepreneurial education and learning experientially Here are some studies on entrepreneurial intention in Vietnam:

Nguyen (2015) researched the entrepreneurial intention of 250 business graduates and final-year students in Ho Chi Minh City The author’s research results show that attitude towards entrepreneurship, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control positively affects entrepreneurial intention (Nguyen, 2015) Mai and Nguyen (2016) researched the entrepreneurial intention of 401 students at Vietnam National University; their results show that prior entrepreneurial experience, external environment, perceived feasibility, personal traits, and attitude towards entrepreneurship influence entrepreneurial intention (Mai and Nguyen, 2016) Nguyen

et al (2016) studied the entrepreneurial intention of 382 business administration students at universities of economics and business in Hanoi; the authors used the TPB model with three antecedents of entrepreneurial intention, namely attitude toward entrepreneurship, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control Their research results show that attitude towards entrepreneurship and perceived behavioral control intention positively influence entrepreneurial intention, whereas the subjective norm does not have a statistically significant effect on entrepreneurial intention (Nguyen et al., 2016)

Phong et al (2020) researched the entrepreneurial intention of 396 students in Vietnam Research results show that attitude towards entrepreneurship, subjective norms and proactive personality positively affect entrepreneurial intention; author contrast, perceived behavioral control had no statistically significant association with entrepreneurial intention (Phong et al., 2020) Research by Nguyen et al (2019) examined the entrepreneurial intention of young people aged 18 to 24 years old in ten provinces of Vietnam Research results show that desire for success and challenge, attitude towards entrepreneurship, perceived behavioral control, experiences in entrepreneurship, and creativity positively influence entrepreneurial intention; meanwhile, attitude toward money, social norms, entrepreneurship education, and the government's supportive policies did not statistically affect entrepreneurial intention (Nguyen et al., 2019a) Research by Nasar et al (2019) compared short-term and long-term entrepreneurial intention between Pakistani and Vietnamese students Research results show that the attitude toward entrepreneurship and perceived behavioral control positively affect the short-term entrepreneurial intention of Vietnamese students At the same time, subjective norms do not have a statistically significant influence on their short-term entrepreneurial intention For long-term entrepreneurial intention, neither attitude towards entrepreneurship nor subjective norms were found to have a statistically significant effect, whereas perceived behavioral control had a positive impact on long-term entrepreneurial intention (Nasar et al., 2019) Research by Nguyen et al (2020) compared Korean and Vietnamese students’ entrepreneurial intentions The authors relied on TPB to build and propose hypotheses Research results show that attitude toward entrepreneurship and subjective norms have no statistically significant influence

on entrepreneurial intention Only perceived behavioral control positively affects the entrepreneurial intention of Vietnamese students In this study, the authors also mentioned the role of entrepreneurial education, family support, and social support However, these factors serve as antecedents of attitude toward entrepreneurship, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control Research results also show that entrepreneurial education does not indirectly affect entrepreneurial intention (Nguyen et al., 2020) In research by Nguyen et al (2021) on the entrepreneurial intention of 247 students in Hanoi, the authors also rely on TPB to build research hypotheses and to examine the role of the creativity factor Research results show that attitude towards entrepreneurship, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control positively affect entrepreneurial intention Meanwhile, the results did not record a statistically significant effect of creativity on entrepreneurial intention (Nguyen et al., 2021) Duong (2021) researched the entrepreneurial intention of 2,218 final-year students from fourteen

universities in two significant Vietnam regions In this study, the author has extended TPB by adding factors such as social capital, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, regulatory dimension, university education, and normative dimension Research results show that attitude towards entrepreneurship, perceived behavioral control, university education, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and regulatory dimension positively affect entrepreneurial intention Meanwhile, subjective norms, normative dimension, and social capital have

no statistically significant influence on entrepreneurial intention (Duong, 2021b) Bui and Pham (2022) conducted research on social entrepreneurial intention of young people

in Vietnam Along with the study by Nguyen et al (2019), this is a rarity, one of only two studies in Vietnam on non-students Although the study is based on the theory of planned behavior, the authors only include the attitude factor model towards entrepreneurship The authors then extended TPB by adding mindfulness, perceived social support, and self-efficacy Research results show that all four factors have a positive influence on entrepreneurial intention (Bui and Pham, 2022) Research by Dao

et al (2021) also followed the direction of expanding TPB, with a sample of 1,844 engineering students and business students In addition to the factors belonging to TPB, the authors studied the influence of the Expected value factors; Normative belief; Perceived self-efficacy; and Perceived risks to Vietnamese students' entrepreneurial intentions Research results show that factors such as attitude, perceived behavior control and extended factors all have a direct or indirect influence on the intention to start a business Only subjective norms did not have a statistically significant effect on entrepreneurial intention (Dao et al., 2021) Another study by Loan (2022) focuses on understanding the factors affecting the transition from entrepreneurial intention to entrepreneurial behavior In this study, the authors also propose to use TPB model to test the influence of attitude, subjective norms, and Perceived Behavior Control on the intention to start a business of 2006 graduate students in Vietnam The results show that attitude and Perceived Behavior Control positively affect entrepreneurial intention Meanwhile, subjective norms have not a statistically significant influence on intention (Loan, 2022) Research by Doanh (2019) with a sample of 2,218 students majoring in economics and engineering The results show that their entrepreneurial intention is influenced by attitude; perceived behavior control; government's supportive policies'; entrepreneurial self-efficacy; and entrepreneurship education Meanwhile, social capital; The normative dimension has not a statistically significant effect on entrepreneurial intention (Doanh, 2019) Table 1.2 is a summary of studies on antecedent factors of entrepreneurial intention in Vietnam

There have been many studies researching on the entrepreneurial intention in the world in general and Vietnam in particular The previous research mainly focuses on 6 areas including core entrepreneurial intention model, personal-lever variables, entrepreneurial education, role of context, intention – behavior link and new research areas (Liñán and Fayolle, 2015) This dissertation focuses on the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention from the entrepreneurial learning perspective, therefore author will explore the factors related to theme of entrepreneurial education Additionally, Vietnam is an emerging economy, and people in emerging economy has some typical characteristics that might impact to their entrepreneurial intention Thus, the factors related to personal factors are also further investigated in this dissertation

Table 1.2: Entrepreneurial Intention Studies in Vietnam

No Authors (year) Subject

Factors

ATE SN PBC PSE EEN PFE PT PP DE CR ATM SoN EE Gov

_Po FS SoP SoC ESE RD ND MF EV NB PE PR

1 Nguyen (2015) Student X X X

2 Mai and Nguyen (2016) Student X X X X X

3 Nguyen et al (2016) Student X X X

4 Phong et al (2020) Student X X X X

5 Nguyen et al (2019) Young

people X X X X X X X X X

6 Nasar et al (2019) Student X X X

8 Nguyen et al (2020) Student X X X X X X

9 Nguyen et al (2021) Student X X X X

1.3 Research Gaps

The review of research studies on entrepreneurial intention in the world and in Vietnam in particular show that previous studies on entrepreneurial intention often focus

on entrepreneurial education and training These studies have not paid much attention

to the entrepreneurial learning of potential entrepreneurs This may be due to the fact that previous studies often used students as their sample due to the convenience of finding students to sample (Donaldson, 2019) Meanwhile, access to entrepreneurial education programs often requires potential entrepreneurs to have a certain level of education This situation raises the following questions:

First, what is the role of entrepreneurial education in other research samples (e.g.,

in ethnic minorities, who often have low levels of education and have difficulty accessing entrepreneurial education programs)? and the role of entrepreneurial education varies among different audiences (master's students and ethnic minorities) in the same research context (countries with economies in transition)?

Second, if entrepreneurial education is not suitable for the ethnic-minorities study sample, what factors will play a substitute role in their learning to become entrepreneurs?

Third, what factors will influence the ethnic minorities’ learning to become entrepreneurs?

According to Rae (2005), a potential entrepreneur can accumulate entrepreneurial knowledge and experience through entrepreneurial education programs

or entrepreneurial learning Rae (2005) proposed “the triadic model of entrepreneurial learning” with three main pillars of entrepreneurial learning, including personal and social emergence, the negotiated enterprise, and contextual learning While access to entrepreneurial education programs often requires potential entrepreneurs to have a certain level of education, participating in entrepreneurial learning is often simpler For example, potential entrepreneurs can contextual learn through “participation in community, industry and other networks in which individual experiences are related, compared, and shared meaning is constructed” and “develop intuition and the ability to recognize opportunities.” (Rae, 2005)

It is a fact that the ethnic minorities in the northern mountainous areas of Vietnam currently have strong acculturation with the Kinh people, the majority ethnic group in Vietnam This acculturation makes it easier for ethnic minorities to participate in cultural participation (Berry, 2005) with the Kinh and to perceive business opportunities

(Evansluong et al., 2019) from the broader market of the Kinh Moreover, some previous researchers have also confirmed that acculturation has an important role and needs to be studied more fully in research on entrepreneurship (e.g., Nwankwo, 2005; Robertson & Grant, 2016) “Acculturation is likely to have a determinant effect on the success of ethnic entrepreneurship—another area that deserves further probing" (Nwankwo, 2005) Acculturation of immigrants to the indigenous culture affects their business behavior (Robertson and Grant, 2016) and entrepreneurial skills (Abodohoui et al., 2020)

On the other hand, although numerous studies have focused on and have widely accepted the role of culture in entrepreneurship, previous studies seem to have not paid due attention to the role of acculturation Several previous studies have addressed the effect of acculturation on behavior or the intention to perform the behavior, such as violent behavior (Tahira et al., 2019), use of condoms (Ebrahim et al., 2016), purchase behavior (Kizgin et al., 2018), and exclusively breastfeeding behavior (Mendoza et al., 2016) The studies on entrepreneurship that refer to acculturation are, to my knowledge, still very limited The above arguments show the potential of acculturation in studies of entrepreneurship behavior, and studies in this area should explore the role of acculturation in intention as well as entrepreneurship behavior

In addition, similar to the role of acculturation in entrepreneurship research, the role of some distinguishing factors of people in countries with transition economies, such as perception of traditional self (TS) and perception of modern self (MS), has not yet been received enough attention in the research field of entrepreneurial intention, although TS and MS have also been proven to have influential roles in studies on the behavior of individuals in countries with transition economies (e.g., Vietnam, China), such as on consumption behavior, ethnocentrism in behavior (Nguyen et al., 2009), and organic food purchase behavior (Nguyen et al., 2019b; Nguyen et al., 2018) Therefore,

in the context of research in Vietnam, a country with a transitional economy, TS and

MS may play an essential role in research in general individual behavior and, in particular, in individuals’ entrepreneurship behavior

Finally, the influence of the individual’s entrepreneurial orientation on entrepreneurial intention has been studied for at least a decade (Bolton and Lane, 2012) Many researchers have agreed that individual characteristics are the key predictors of initiating business behavior This stems from the fact that even though the start-up entity

is an enterprise, the decision to begin a business is still made by an individual (Levenburg and Schwarz, 2008; Fellnhofer et al., 2016), and individual entrepreneurial orientation is a potential construct to explain entrepreneurial action (Goktan and Gupta,

2015) A number of studies have confirmed the role of individual entrepreneurial orientation to entrepreneurship behavior Research by Forcadell and Úbeda (2020) has shown that individual entrepreneurial orientation positively affects international entrepreneurship (Forcadell and Úbeda, 2020) Research by Martins and Perez (2020) also confirms that individual entrepreneurial orientation positively affects the entrepreneurial intention of Colombian students (Martins and Perez, 2020) Therefore, more researchers have begun to focus increasingly on entrepreneurial orientation areas

at the individual level (Bolton and Lane, 2012; Fayolle and Liñán, 2014) However, studies in Vietnam do not seem to have paid much attention to these antecedents of entrepreneurial intention Although there have been some studies that have mentioned some aspects similar to the components of IEO, for example proactive personality (e.g., Phong et al., 2020), creativity (e.g., Nguyen et al., 2019; Nguyen et al., 2021), it can be said that studies in Vietnam that comprehensively examine the influence of IEO on entrepreneurial intention are still rare

Based on the literature review and the above discussion, several research gaps can be identified:

• 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 students’ entrepreneurial intention, investigates antecedents of EI among ethnic minorities in Vietnam, an emerging economy

RQ3: Do and how acculturation and prior self-employed experience play roles in shaping entrepreneurial intention of ethnic minorities?

In addition, do 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

In this dissertation, author employ the Entrepreneurial Learning Perspective as a theoretical background to investigate antecedents of entrepreneurial intention In addition, to serve the specific purposes of the dissertation, author also take the Theory

of Planned Behavior (TPB model) into consideration (examining the important link between attitude – behavioural intention)

1.5.1 Entrepreneurial Learning Perspective

Over the last decade, there has been a remarkable increase in scholarly interest

in entrepreneurship learning (Soetanto, 2017; Jones et al., 2014; Wang and Chugh,

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) This demonstrates not only a good response to calls for a better understanding of learning in entrepreneurship but also a recognition within the field of entrepreneurship research that effective learning has a significant positive impact on entrepreneurs’ success and achievement (Soetanto, 2017; Rae and Carswell, 2001) It also supports the widely held belief that “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 A static, trait-based approach

to entrepreneurship asserts that entrepreneurs have fixed personality traits and characteristics that allow them to be entrepreneurs, whereas a learning approach allows for a dynamic view of the entrepreneur, affirming that entrepreneurs are developed rather than fixed (Secundo et al., 2017) This implies that entrepreneurs acquire and develop their entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, and abilities over time, and portrays the entrepreneur as flexible and dynamic (Secundo et al., 2017)

Up to now, many researchers have proposed different concepts of entrepreneurial learning Entrepreneurial learning is defined as “the acquisition and development of the propensity, skills, and abilities to find, join, or grow a venture” (Hamilton, 2011) and

“the acquisition or alteration of skills, knowledge, habits, and necessary attitudes to deal with all aspects of running a business” (van Gelderen et al., 2005) Rae (2005) redefined entrepreneurial learning, proposing that it means learning to recognize and act on opportunities and social interaction to initiate, organize and manage ventures (Rae, 2005) 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 concept of entrepreneurial learning that author use in my

dissertation

According to the education literature, learning has varied degrees of formality depending on the context and design of the learning (Coetzer et al., 2017) Instruction and training are part of formal learning; it takes place within the context of an official program (context) and is highly structured (design) (Marsick and Watkins, 2015) Formal learning has the advantage of providing learners with predetermined learning

outcomes, implying that learning is intentional and can aid in the solution of predefined problems Informal learning, on the other hand, is usually learner-directed and occurs in ordinary situations (context) with little or no structure (design) (Marsick and Watkins, 2015) Such learning can be beneficial since it occurs when it is desired, eliminating the need for the learner to wait for a formalized program to become available The learner’s level of intention can then be used to further classify informal learning While some informal learning has a high level of intention because the learner chooses to learn something or some skill in particular, incidental learning has a very low level of intention and is considered as a byproduct of other activities (Marsick and Watkins, 2015; Coetzer et al., 2017) Eraut (2000) divides learning into three categories: implicit (no aim to learn), reactive (various levels of intent), and deliberate (high level of intention to learn) Entrepreneurs are believed to prefer informal learning since they

“typically do not have the financial resources or the time to engage in much formalized training” (Coetzer et al., 2017; Keith et al., 2016) Brett et al (2012, p 126) agree, stating that an entrepreneur's top concern is “the day-to-day operation of the actual firm,” and that due to time restrictions, entrepreneurs rely on their own experiences It’s also suggested that this learning is unintentional rather than purposeful (Cope and Watts, 2000) This does not, however, imply that all entrepreneurial learning is informal; entrepreneurs may participate in formal learning programs as well

As for entrepreneurship, researchers also believe there are two ways to learn to

be an entrepreneur: through entrepreneurial education programs and experiential learning Entrepreneurial education programs are often more formal (Seikkula-Leino et al., 2021) because they are taught in schools with clear assessment criteria (Rae, 2005) Meanwhile, experiential entrepreneurial learning activities often take place through practical activities such as establishing and operating a business (Zamani and Mohammadi, 2018) Through the process of starting a business, entrepreneurs will learn their entrepreneurial lessons, so it can be said that experiential learning is less formal than entrepreneurial education Researchers who support entrepreneurial education argue that entrepreneurship education aims at stimulating entrepreneurial learning (Hahn et al., 2017), and entrepreneurial learning is a way to transform entrepreneurial education into entrepreneurial knowledge However, entrepreneurial education is often suitable only for those with enough formal education and training (Seikkula-Leino et al., 2021), so it seems that it is not for everyone Not denying the role of entrepreneurial education, researchers who advocate for experiential learning argue that

“Entrepreneurial education can provide cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills for

entrepreneurship.” However, the “art” of entrepreneurial practice is learned experientially in business rather than in the educational environment (Rae, 2005) Rae (2005) proposed “the triadic model of entrepreneurial learning,” which includes personal and social emergence, the negotiated enterprise, and contextual learning; contextual learning includes learning through immersion within the industry, practical theories of entrepreneurial action, and opportunity recognition through cultural participation (Rae, 2005) Therefore, it can be concluded that contextual learning is suitable for a wider audience because this method does not require learners to be formally trained, nor does it require training facilities such as schools or libraries

In this present study, with the research object being master students, the entrepreneurial education variable will play a key role affecting the factors in the model Since master students are linguistically competent, it is relatively easy for them to participate in entrepreneurial education programs In addition, they are also trained and educated more formally, so entrepreneurial education programs seem to be more suitable for them (Seikkula-Leino et al., 2021) In contrast, ethnic minorities in the northern mountainous areas of Vietnam often have low levels of education, and some of them do not even know the official Vietnamese language (the Kinh language), or they can speak it but not use the language to read Meanwhile, books about business in general and entrepreneurship in particular in Vietnam are mostly written in Vietnamese,

so the participation of ethnic minorities in entrepreneurial education programs in particular and entrepreneurial learning in general seems to be unfeasible This can be solved if ethnic minorities acculturate with Kinh people, which can affect their entrepreneurial learning in two ways First, through the acculturation process they will

be more fluent in Vietnamese and find it easier to participate in formal entrepreneurial education programs Second, acculturation will help them to deeply participate in Kinh society, have more relationships and be able to learn entrepreneurship from these relationships (Rae and Carswell, 2000) In another words, acculturation is considered as

a factor of contextual learning Therefore, in the study of the entrepreneurial intention

of ethnic minorities, the acculturation factor will be included as the key antecedent of entrepreneurial intention in the model

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) Researchers have viewed most entrepreneurship

as the formation of an intention to commence deliberate behavior as a step in establishing an organization Either the theory of planned behavior or the event model

of entrepreneurship has been applied by research on business startup intention when such research used a pre-existing theoretical framework (Kautonen et al., 2015) The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), which links the strength of intention to an antecedent of behavior, is the most applied theoretical framework in this stream of research, as noted by Schlaegel and Koenig (2014) The TPB has become the most influential theory of human behavior applied in important fields related to human behavior, a one-of-a-kind business behavior (Aloulou, 2016) Accordingly, the TPB is

an indispensable tool to model entrepreneurial intention that cannot be missed (Ferreira

et al., 2012)

Krueger et al (2000) assert that entrepreneurship is made up of intentional and planned behavior Intentions are helpful in terms of mediating the control and norms influencing behavior, according to TPB The popular TPB theory has been widely used

to elucidate and anticipate human behavior in various aspects of life The validity of TPB for forecasting entrepreneurial intention and behavior has been proven in the research undertaken by Schlaegel and Koenig (2014) The TPB allowed Liñán (2008)

to delineate the decision to establish a firm and the intention to be a businessman An individual’s control over his or her company-creation behavior, the perceived social strain to become an entrepreneur and personal attitude are what the objective to become

an entrepreneur depends on The individual’s intention to take part in each behavior is a key factor of TPB

The TPB has replaced the suggestion of self-effective belief and/or perceived behavioral control with a more general framework of correlations among beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors (Ajzen, 1991) Antecedents of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control are what the Theory of Planned Behavior copes with Ajzen (1991) defined the three antecedents as the degree to which one has a favorable or unfavorable outcome or appraisal of the mentioned behavior The attitude

is claimed as an important factor in elucidating intention towards entrepreneurship and leads to an essential relationship between entrepreneurial intention and attitude (Fini et al., 2009) Other authors have stated that it seems very hard to make the entrepreneurial intention clear without such positive attitudes Attitude was cited by Liñán and Chen

(2006) as a level of individual judgment to determine whether a venture is lucrative (positive) or non-lucrative (negative) from the perspective of a business owner Perceived social strain (whether to display the behavior or not) defined the antecedent social norm, which was vital in explaining intention towards entrepreneurship as stated

by researchers The positive relationship between social norms and entrepreneurial intention was discovered by Kautonen et al (2009) in their study By defining subjective norms as a measure of social pressure, Liñán and Chen (2006) helped entrepreneurs in deciding whether to join in entrepreneurial behavior or not Social pressure refers to the awareness of a specific group (reference group) that approves or opposes the idea of the individual becoming an entrepreneur That individual usually finds the approval from that group Perceived challenge or ease of showing the behavior is what is denoted by perceived behavioral control (PBC) Some authors refer to PBC as self-efficacy The strongest predictor of entrepreneurial intention is nothing but the TPB, where it was regarded as a valuable entrepreneurial resource in the entrepreneurial process by researchers (Sommer and Haug, 2011) According to Liñán and Chen (2009), whether

or not one becomes an entrepreneur depends on many factors, both learned and innate, including one’s beliefs and how one perceives oneself

Entrepreneurship researchers have argued that the Planned Behavior Theory serves as an appropriate theoretical framework for understanding the effect of personality on entrepreneurial intention (Obschonka et al., 2010) There are two referenced models for studying entrepreneurial intention: the entrepreneurial event model and planned behavior (Osman and Rahim, 2014) The theory derived considerable empirical support and, in recent studies, utilized the theoretical framework for anticipating entrepreneurial intention (Krueger et al., 2000) The Theory of Planned Behavior has identified resiliency to confirm the cognitive connection between the antecedent of entrepreneurial intention to entrepreneurial intention itself, and gradually into entrepreneurial action (Zhang et al., 2014) In particular, in 2014, Schlaegel and Koenig conducted a meta-study comparing the two most used theoretical models to measure EI, the Entrepreneurial Event Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior Based on 98 studies using either TPB, EEM, or both theories in 30 countries, the authors confirm that TPB is the predominant model used to explain EI, and TPB explains EI better (R2 = 28) versus EEM (R2 = 21) (Schlaegel and Koenig, 2014) In addition, Maalaoui et al (2018) suggested that studies on EI follow three main directions: developing antecedents of intention (motivation, values, personal characteristics, culture, etc.), examining what motivates an entrepreneur to convert an intention into

concrete action, and extending Ajzen's TPB (Maalaoui et al., 2018) Because the aim of this study is to explore the influence of cultural factors such as acculturation, TS, and

MS on EI of ethnic minorities, TPB seems to be a more relevant theory than EEM

In this study, author did not use all three motivational elements (attitude towards entrepreneurship, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) of entrepreneurial intentions in the TPB Not all studies necessarily apply the full TPB framework to investigate the effects of different variables on entrepreneurial intention (Cui and Bell, 2022; Maheshwari and Kha, 2022); most of the previous studies confirmed that

“attitudes towards entrepreneurship” is identified as the strongest predictor of entrepreneurial intention (Duong et al., 2022; Zaremohzzabieh et al., 2019) In addition, the main objective of this dissertation is to explore the influence of factors from entrepreneurial learning perspective such as entrepreneurial education, acculturation, prior self-employed experience, and other personal factors (individual entrepreneurial orientation and self-concept (i.e., perception of traditional self and the perception of modern self) on entrepreneurial intention Therefore, the use of the full TPB framework

is not necessary and, at the same time, can dilute the focus on the important objectives

of the dissertation

1.6 Antecedents of Entrepreneurial Intention

Although previous studies on entrepreneurial intention have employed different theoretical frameworks and corresponding antecedents, as outlined above, previous studies have not taken much attention to the role of entrepreneurial learning in forming entrepreneurial intention Therefore, this study, through the lens of entrepreneurial learning perspective, will focus on examining the role of entrepreneurial education and acculturation In addition, such important personal factors as perception of self and individual entrepreneurial orientation are also investigated as the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention In the following section, author will review these key concepts

as antecedents of EI

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 One of the earliest definitions of acculturation, by Redfield, Linton, and Herskovits (1936), posits that acculturation occurs when groups of individuals from different cultures come into firsthand and continuous contact with a different cultural group, resulting in cultural pattern changes

to either one or both groups This definition suggests that there must be contact with a different cultural group and that contact must result in changes in beliefs and behaviors

A shortcoming of this definition is that it fails to address variances in specific cultural contexts; decades later, the definition was extended to recognize the contextual features of the acculturation process—the interaction between individual factors and social context—in the understanding of individual differences in the process Therefore, Allport (1954) highlighted the role of individual differences in his study of the role of social interactions as a conduit for the transfer of cultural values between groups and individual to individual Friendships and acquaintanceships came to be regarded as mechanisms of acculturation, possessing the potential to not only quell prejudicial conceptions but also provide an insightful view of different cultures (Allport, 1954)

Therefore, acculturation is the adaptive process of cultural adjustment from direct contact and interaction between two distinct cultural groups (Berry, 1990; Mena et al., 1987) It is the “process” and “state” from first-hand contact with the host culture (Searle and Ward, 1990; Ward and Kennedy, 1992; Ward and Kennedy, 1994; Ward and Searle, 1991), 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)

According to Berry (2005), “Acculturation is a process of cultural and psychological changes that involve various forms of mutual accommodation, leading to

some longer-term psychological and sociocultural adaptations between both groups”

(Berry, 2005) However, this interpretation of acculturation indicated that a person becomes acculturated over time by letting go of their native culture (Sam, 2015) This technique has been condemned for thinking that individuals do not adopt their new host culture together with preserving their heritage and home culture (Sam, 2015), or for expecting migrants to give up their original culture in favor of the host culture (Tanenbaum et al., 2015)

However, criticism of Berry’s concept seems to be inaccurate thanks to his acculturation model Berry’s two-dimensional model of acculturation, which examines both the desire to maintain one’s heritage and home cultural identity as well as the desire

to approach and engage in the bigger community, is one model of acculturation that fits the modern definition (Berry, 2006) Acculturation occurs in one of four ways, according to Berry’s model: assimilation, separation, integration, or marginalization Assimilation is the process of an individual giving up his or her heritage culture and adopting the host culture; separation entails retaining the heritage culture while rejecting the host culture; integration entails preserving the heritage culture while adopting features of the host culture that are compatible; and marginalization is the loss of heritage culture without the adoption of host culture (Berry, 2005)

In Berry’s acculturation model, assimilation and integration represent a high degree of cultural variation of individuals according to the culture of the group to which they are exposed Meanwhile, separation and marginalization represent a low degree of cultural variation of individuals with the culture of the group to which they are exposed The transition from separation (or marginalization) to integration (or assimilation) represents the desire to approach and engage in the bigger community (see Berry, 2005, Figure 3 on p 705) In this study, the author focuses on researching how the degree of cultural change of ethnic minorities according to their acculturation to Kinh culture affects their entrepreneurial intention Therefore, 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