Relationship between role models and entrepreneurial intentions

Keywords: entrepreneurial intentions, role models, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, perceived similarity, previous entrepreneurial experience... EI Entrepreneurial Intention ESE Entreprene

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

Hanoi, 2020

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

ABBREVIATION

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research background

1.1.1Practical motivation

1.1.2Theoretical motivation

1.2 Subject and scope of research

1.2.1Subject of research

1.2.2Scope of research

1.3 Research objective

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Theoretical background

2.1.1Entrepreneurship

2.1.2Entrepreneurial intention

2.1.3Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy

2.1.4Role model

2.2 Previous related research

2.2.1Mediating role of ESE

2.2.2Moderators of role models’ impact on ESE

2.3 Research gap 11

2.4 Research questions 12

2.5 Hypotheses 12

2.6 Research model 14

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16

3.1 Procedure 16

3.2 Data collection 17

3.3 Measurements 17

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS 19

4.1 Descriptive statistics 19

4.2 Analysis 19

4.2.1 Reliability test 19

4.2.2 Exploratory factor analysis 20

4.2.3 Regression 23

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION 28

5.1 Discussion 28

5.2 Theoretical and practical implications 30

5.2.1 Theoretical implications 30

5.2.2 Practical implications 31

5.3 Limitations and directions for future researches 32

REFERENCES .33

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisors – Associate Prof Dr

Vu Anh Dung and Associate Prof Dr Kodo Yokozawa for generous and carefulguidance

I would also like to thank Mr Nguyen Anh Hao and Ms Pham Thi Xuan Thoa fortheir enthusiastic support during my research

A very special thanks go to MBA program’s teachers and staff, my friends, and myfamily for great companion and encouragement

A considerable amount of studies on the influence of role models on entrepreneurialintentions have been conducted However, the specific mechanism by which rolemodels exercise such influence is not yet fully discovered This paper attempts toexplore such mechanism, with the possible mediating effect from entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and expected moderating effect from perceived similarity and previousentrepreneurial experience The author used quantitative method with a sample of

205 undergraduate business-majored students of Foreign Trade University inVietnam The results show that role models positively impact students’

entrepreneurial intentions, both directly and indirectly via the mediator which isentrepreneurial self-efficacy Contrary to the expectations, perceived similarity andprevious entrepreneurial experience appear to have no significant moderating impact

on how role models alter respondents’ self-evaluation of their business-relatedcompetency This research contributes to the literatures regarding antecedents ofentrepreneurial intentions, backing up the idea that entrepreneurial self-efficacy could

be an efficient mediating variable in models related to entrepreneurial intentions

Keywords: entrepreneurial intentions, role models, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, perceived similarity, previous entrepreneurial experience

EI Entrepreneurial Intention

ESE Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy

PEE Previous Entrepreneurial Experience

PS Perceived Similarity

RM Role Model

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Previous researches related to mediating role of ESE 9

Table 4.1: Cronbach’s Alpha Test results 20

Table 4.2: KMO and Barlett’s Test results 20

Table 4.3: Total Variance Explained 21

Table 4.4: Rotated Component Matrix 21

Table 4.5: Correlations 22

Table 4.6: Result of hypothesis testing 27

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: Entrepreneurial Intention Rates in 2017 2

Figure 2.1: Theory of Planned Behavior 5

Figure 2.2: Entrepreneurial Intention Model 6

Figure 2.3: Determinants of ESE 7

Figure 2.4: Proposed research framework 14

Figure 3.1: Mediation analysis by PROCESS Macro 16

Figure 4.1: Gender ratio 19

Figure 4.2: Model of mediating effect 23

Figure 4.3: RM’s impact over ESE 24

Figure 4.4: RM and ESE’s impacts over EI 24

Figure 4.5: RM’s total, direct, and indirect impact over EI 25

Figure 4.6: Result for model of mediating effect 25

Figure 4.7: Moderate effect of PS 26

Figure 4.8: Moderating effect of PEE 26

Figure 4.9: Result for both mediating and moderating effect 27

Figure 5.1: Role Models’ impact on individual’s ESE in relation with amount of time working together 30

Figure 5.2: Role Models’ impact on individual’s EDE in relation with Role Models’ successfulness 30

to be one of the stabilizer of economies’ financial states (Bohlmann, Rauch, &Zacher, 2017).

Not only influential in terms of finance or economics, entrepreneurship in general,and one of its branches called social entrepreneurship in particular, contribute greatly

to social wellbeing by mobilizing social resources to resolve social issues(Beckmann, 2012)

Acknowledging that entrepreneurship would be a crucial engine driving the countryforwards, Vietnam has applied various policies and initiatives to promoteentrepreneurial spirit, especially among younger generations (Nguyen & Gillian,2016) However, despite the efforts, it appears that entrepreneurship movement inVietnam is not yet as strong as it is expected to be

As can be observed from the above Figure 1.1 below, Vietnam’s EntrepreneurialIntention Rate is lower than the average rate of Asia Pacific Region and rates ofseveral neighbor countries Considering that entrepreneurship is one of the topdevelopment priorities of Vietnam, as reflected in the Government’s Initiative forStartup Ecosystem called National Program 844, the current rate of EntrepreneurialIntention is not up to the ambition of a so-called startup nation

To be specific, in 2017, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor evaluated EntrepreneurialIntention Rates, calculated as “percentage of population aged 18-64 who intend to

start a business within 3 years from the time of survey” According to the findingsVietnam’s rate (25%) was lower than the average rate of Asia Pacific Region(26.2%), and also lower and those rates of neighbor countries such as Indonesia(28.1%) and Thailand (37.4%) (GEM Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2017).

Indonesia Thailand Malaysia Asia Pacific Region

Figure 1.1: Entrepreneurial Intention Rates in 2017

Source: GEM Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2017)

Therefore, there should be more measures to boost Vietnamese people’s eagerness

to open new businesses, especially among younger generations Regarding thismatter, one potential source of entrepreneurial motivation may come from rolemodels Van Trang, Do, and Luong (2019) shows that those who haveentrepreneurial role models would be significantly more confident in their start-upability That is to say, further exploration of such correlation could be beneficial forstronger promotion of entrepreneurship in Vietnam

1.1.2 Theoretical motivation

Entrepreneurial intention has been vastly researched over the last few decades(Bandura, 1986; BarNir, Watson, & Hutchins, 2011; Bohlmann, Rauch, & Zacher,

2017; Bosma, Hessels, Schutjens, Praag, & Verheul, 2012; Brunel, Laviolette, &Radu-Lefebvre, 2017; Farrukh, Alzubi, Shahzad, Waheed, & Kanwal, 2018;Krueger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000; etc.)

Trying to explore what is the origin of entrepreneurial intention, or what factors areable to ignite the desire of becoming business owners within individuals, manyresearches have identified role model as a notable determinants (Shapero, 1982;Bosma et al., 2012)

Even though widely recognized as having influence over entrepreneurial intention,the mechanism by which role model exercises such influence is not yet fullyunderstood, for example, whether the impact can be delivered directly, or must bechannelled through a mediating factor (Krueger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000), or whatkind of forces would moderate the impact process (Bosma et al., 2012) As such,this study aims to provide an answers, among many others, to the aforementionedquestions

1.2 Subject and scope of research

The study aims to explore by what mechanism role models could exert their influence

on Vietnamese business-majored undergraduate students’ entrepreneurial intentions

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Theoretical background

2.1.1 Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship could be defined as the process by which individuals or groupsutilizing resources such as finance, labor, and even risk, to create new goods or services(Kearney, Hisrich, & Roche, 2010) According to Shane and Venkataraman (2000),entrepreneurship involves three main contents: the origin of entrepreneurialopportunities; the processes by which the aforementioned opportunities are discovered,evaluated, and exploited; and the people who carry out all the said actions

Also taking opportunities as the focal point of entrepreneurship, Venkataraman(2019) points out that the differences among individual, especially differences in

‘possession of useful knowledge’, make each person to have unique pespective ofwhat can be considered as enterprising opportunities and what are not, thus theirsubsequent methods of exploiting such opportunities would also vary

Even though still recognizing the role of opportunities when it comes to studyingabout entrepreneurship, Friedman and Aziz (2012) incline towards definingentrepreneurship as the action of initiating new corporates or renew existing ones.Those who conduct the aforementioned entrepreneurship activities areentrepreneurs There are also a wide range of perspectives regarding what constitute

an entrepreneur Cunningham and Lischeron (1991) present six approaches fordescribing entrepreneurship, one of which is that “entrepreneurs are those whoorganize, own, manage, and assume the risk, and their core behavior is innovation”.Partly sharing the sentiment regarding the innovation aspect, Schumpeter (1965)defines entrepreneurs as those who, with the tools of technical and/or organizationalinnovation, capitalize opportunities available in the market

However, despite numerous conducted studies on entrepreneurship, people’sunderstanding on how entrepreneurship is originated, or what factors contribute toindividuals’ decision to start business, or to become entrepreneur, remains relativelyunderdeveloped (Markman, Balkin, & Baron, 2002).

2.1.2 Entrepreneurial intention

From a certain perspective, entrepreneurship is considered a planned behavior (Katz

& Gartner, 1988) Krueger et al., (2000) states that “entrepreneurial intention is thesubjective thinking and mental state of entrepreneurs before they implement

entrepreneurial behavior” Understanding such preceding thoughts and notionswould give a clearer view over the intended behavior called as entrepreneurship.There are various factors affecting entrepreneurial intention, which may come fromexternal environment like opinions of surrounding society regarding entrepreneurship(Meek, Pacheco, & York, 2010), or elements existing within individuals such as talents,habits, desires, or perception of values (Lee & Wong, 2004) Similarly, perception ofsocial support, structural support, family support, or other related perceptions, can beconsidered as internal and cognitive antecedents (Ajzen ,1991)

There have been several intention models put forward by researchers, of which themost widely used is Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) by Ajzen (1991)

Figure 2.1: Theory of Planned Behavior

Source: Ajzen (1991)

TPB suggests three antecedents for intention The first one – “attitude towards thebehavior” - is built upon the expectations about how the outcome of the behaviorwould effect individual who carries out the behavior Next, “subjective norms” refer

to how related people think about that individual’s conducting a certain actions.Lastly, “perceived behavioral control” reflects how that individual think about thefeasibility of performing the behavior (Krueger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000)

Based on TPB model, several intention models specifically applied for the field ofentrepreneurship have been developed Below is one example among those

Figure 2.2: Entrepreneurial Intention Model

Source: Liñán (2004)

Adapting from TPB model’s “perceived behavioral control” variable, Liñán’smodel’s “perceived feasibility” variable incorporates the element of perceived self-efficacy together with perceived feasibility Ajzen (2002) also updates TPB model

to include this perceived self-efficacy component

2.1.3 Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy

According to Chen, Greene, and Crick (1998), ESE is a mental state in which aperson feel that certain entrepreneurial tasks, often involving in establishing andmanaging one own’s business, are attainable with self-ability

ESE can predict entrepreneurial intention (Franke & Lüthje, 2004) It is also amongmost inportant deciding factors of entrepreneurial intention’s magnitude, as well as

a reliable indicator of how likely such intention will be materialized (Boyd &Vozikis, 1994)

Researching the determinants of ESE, as part of an entrepreneurial intention model,Zhao, Hills, and Seibert (2005) point out several determinants as below

Figure 2.3: Determinants of ESE

Source: Zhao, Hills, and Seibert (2005)

Meanwhile, Bandura (1986) claims that there are four processes effecting individualESE, namely “enactive mastery, role modeling, social persuasion, and judgement ofone’s own physiological states” Krueger, Reilly, and Carsrud (2000) also confirmthat ESE is partly determined by role models

2.1.4 Role model

Role model could be understood as someone whose values and actions could be set as

an example based on which other people make their own specific decisions in life(Basow & Howe, 1980) Bell (1970) indicates that there are both physical andcognitive sides of role modelship The physical side is called “interaction”, by whichindividuals could either directly or indirectly approach to role models in differentdomains such as professional or academic ones Meanwhile, the cognitive side,

named as “identification”, means individuals can identify similarities betweenthemselves and their role models regarding attitudes and characteristics.

Limiting the concept of role model to the domain of entrepreneurship, Shapero(1982) states that children are likely to take their parents as entrepreneurial rolemodels Scherer et al., (1989) also find out that parental role model would exertsignificant influence on their children’s ESE Meanwhile, Van Auken et al., (2006)predicate that business-owners, rather than non-business-owners, would be a biggersource of influence over people aiming to become entrepreneurs

In terms of function, role models could carry out the following tasks: inspire andmotivate, increase self-efficacy, provide guidelines for action, provide directsupport or advice (Bosma et al., 2012)

The impact of role model has long been utilized by Entrepreneurship EducationPrograms (EEP) By telling stories of role models to learners, EEP ignite theentrepreneurial spirit and give guidance for subsequent entrepreneurial behaviorsfor the potential business owners (Gibson, 2004) Success role model stories alsohelps to foster positivity within listeners, thus stimulating their entrepreneurialintention (Gnyawali & Fogel, 1994)

2.2 Previous related research

2.2.1 Mediating role of ESE

Based on models explaining EI, many researchers have moved ESE’s originalposition as a direct determinant of entrepreneurial intention, to another position asthe mediator, which mediates the impact of other factors on EI

Notable findings include those of Zhao, Hills, and Seibert (2005), in which ESE

“mediates the effectss of perceptions of formal learning, previous entrepreneurialexperience, and risk propensity” on EI Entrepreneurial Education (EE) is alsoobserved to have its impact mediated by ESE (Oyugi, 2015; Malebana &Swanepoel, 2014; Shinnar, Hsu, & Powell, 2014)

Table 2.1: Previous researches related to mediating role of ESE

2.2.2 Moderators of role models’ impact on ESE

As mentioned earlier, many researches have shown that role model can pose asignificantly positive impact on entrepreneurial self-efficacy (Bosma et al., 2012;Douglas & Shepherd, 2014) However, there also exist researches refuting theopinion that role model can influence individual’s belief in their own

entrepreneurship related capability (Hou et al., 2019; Laviolette & Radu Lefebvre,2008).

From conflicting results, it could be expected that certain moderating variables areinvolved in the process As a matter of fact, many researches have digged deeper toexplore what factors could be such moderators

Karimi et al., (2013) indicate that role models’ impact on people’s thoughts andfeelings towards entrepreneurship is greater when the influenced are women ratherthan men Part of this result is confirmed by BarNir, Watson, and Hutchins (2011),which suggests that interaction with role models would have a stronger effect ofincreasing perceived self-efficacy for female

Besides gender, subjects’ characteristics are also considered Having lower esteem and external locus of control would make the subject’s self-confidence moreinfluenced by the people they admire (Brunel, 2017) Risk taking propensity alsohas positive association with start-up aspiration (Farrukh et al., 2018)

self-Liu, Ma, and Li (2019) examine the moderating effect of role model’ssuccessfulness and the distance between subjects and role models The result showsthat the more successful role models are, the bigger impact their stories can pose onsubjects’ entrepreneurial intention Meanwhile, idol role models – regarded ashaving far distance to subjects – tend to be more influential than peer role models –regarded as having short distance to subjects

Also analyzing the aspect of distance, but the distance is measured by actualinteractions – activities in which role models and subjects can participate andinteract with each other, Van Auken et al., (2006) state that if role models caninvolve subjects in more business discussions and professional activities, subjects’entrepreneurial intention will become higher

Not only distance, but similarity between subjects and role models can also be involved

as a moderating variable Bosma et al., (2012) find out that role models with

higher level of similarity in terms of gender, sector, and nationality would createstronger influence over subjects.

Another factor being put under consideration is previous entrepreneurialexperience According to Carr and Sequeira (2007), entrepreneurial experienceinvolves participation in business environment such as doing internship atcompanies Besides, entrepreneurial experience may also mean prior engagement inentrepreneurial activities, including identifying business opportunities or preparingand providing financial and human resources for business operations (Brunel,Laviolette, & Radu-Lefebvre, 2017)

Bosma et al., (2012) take into account the role of previous entrepreneurialexperience, stating that the enhancing effect that role model presence can have onperceived self-efficacy is lower for subjects of abundant entrepreneurial experience.This result is also shared by Brunel (2017)

2.3 Research gap

A few researches have used entrepreneurial self-efficacy as mediator in explainingentrepreneurial intention However, in most of those researches, independentvariables are mostly entrepreneurship education or learning Even though rolemodels also carry out relatively similar educational functions (inspire and motivate,increase self-efficacy, provide guidelines for action, provide direct support or advice(Bosma et al., 2012)) only in a very limited number of cases, role model, or partlysimilar factor such as mentor, is brought in as independent variable This researchwill fill in that gap by analyzing the ESE’s mediation effect upon the relationshipbetween role model and entrepreneurial intention

Besides, in Vietnam, even though there are researches studying the impact of rolemodels on entrepreneurial intentions or antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions ofVietnamese people (Van Trang, Do, & Luong, 2019; Tran & Korflesch, 2017), none ofthe researches have explored what factors would influence the strength of such

impact This research would fill in that gap by exploring two moderators namelyprevious entrepreneurial experience and perceived similarity with role models.

H2: Role models has positive impact on Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy.

H3: Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy has positive impact on Entrepreneurial intention.

H4: Role models has indirect positive impact on Entrepreneurial Intention.

Considering the interaction between RM and ESE, Previous EntrepreneurialExperience (PEE) could potentially be a moderator On one hand, when anindividual spends much time working with his or her role models, for whom theadmiration might arise either before or after the working relationship begins, there

is a considerable possibility that the role models’ impact would increase Suchincrease could be explained by more interaction between the admirers and their rolemodels (Bell, 1970), or by closer observation those admirers can have on behaviorsconducted by role models (Morgenroth, Ryan, & Peters, 2015) That is to say,entrepreneurial experience when individuals can work with role models couldamplify the impact link between role models and individuals’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy However, not everyone can have opportunity to work with their rolemodels, and besides, working experience could also reduce individual’ need forexternal motivational sources, as such individual would gradually become morecapable of solving business problems by themselves and making their own businessdecisions (Brunel, Laviolette, & Radu-Lefebvre, 2017) Bosma et al., (2012) statethat “individual with greater level of entrepreneurship specific human capital, which

is acquired through previous experience, would be less effected by role models”.From the above analysis, it could be expected that at earlier stage working with rolemodels, such working experience would have positive impact on the relationshipbetween role models and individual’s entrepreneurial self-efficacy; however, in laterstage, such impact would gradually turn into negative Also, in the cases that theentrepreneurial experience doesn’t involve in working with role models whatsoever,the negative impact could be expected

H5: Previous Entrepreneurial Experience has negative impact on the

relationship between Role Model and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy.

Another moderator that would be put into consideration is perceived similarity.Similarity, from factual or objective perspective such as similarity in gender ornationality, has been frequently analyzed Basow and Howe (1980) indicates thatsubjects would be more influenced by role models of same gender rather than bythose of the opposite gender Bosma et al., (2012) further explore the effect ofsimilarity between subjects and role models, as such similarity is measured in terms

of gender, sector, and nationality However, similarity in a more subjective term, orperceived similarity, is not frequently included in the models Considering thatperceived similarity as long been found out to increase the strength of attraction oneperson has for other individuals (Secord & Backman, 1964; Curry & Kenny, 1974),and there exist a few researches recognizing the effect of perceived similarity on thestrength of role model’s influence (Allen & Collisson, 2020), it could be expectedthat perceived similarity could be a plausible moderator

H6: Perceived Similarity has positive impact on the relationship between Role models and Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy.

2.6 Research model

The proposed research model is as below

Figure 2.4: Proposed research framework

Source: Author’s analysis

H1: Role models has positive impact on Entrepreneurial Intention.

H2: Role models has positive impact on Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy

H3: Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy has positive impact on Entrepreneurial intention.H4: Role models has indirect positive impact on Entrepreneurial Intention

H5: Previous Entrepreneurial Experience has negative impact on the relationship between Role Model and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy

H6: Perceived Similarity has positive impact on the relationship between Role models and Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Procedure

The study would adopt quantitative approach, aiming to test the hypothesesdeveloped from previous literature with empirical evidence The data used foranalysis is primary one, collected from questionnaire of which measurements areadapted from acknowledged measurements from other studies The questionnaireswere distributed online to 4th year business students of Foreign Trade University,Hanoi After being collected, the data were analyzed with SPSS software forReliability test, Exploratory factor analysis, Correlation test For Regression, anSPSS’ add-on called PROCESS Macro, which is developed by Andrew F Hayes,would be used to test the mediating and moderating effects

 Mediation analysis and Moderation analysis using PROCESS Macro in SPSSPROCESS Macro has built-in models to run Mediation analysis (Model 4 inPROCESS) and Moderation analysis (Model 1 in PROCESS) Interface for runningModel 4 is as below

Figure 3.1: Mediation analysis by PROCESS Macro

Source: Author

205 valid answers were collected.

3.3 Measurements

 Entrepreneurial intentions

Based on Liñán and Chen (2009), measurement of entrepreneurial intention includes 6questions as below The response format is from 1 (total disagree) to 5 (total agree)

1. (Item Code: EI1) I am ready to do anything to be an entrepreneur

2. (EI2) My professional goal is to become an entrepreneur

3. (EI3) I will make every effort to start and run my own firm

4. (EI4) I am determined to create a firm in the future

5. (EI5) I have a very seriously thought of starting a firm

6. (EI6) I have the firm intention to start a firm someday

 Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy

Based on (Zhao, Hills, & Seibert, 2005), ESE is measured by the below questions whose response is a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (total disagree) to 5 (total agree):

1. (ESE1) I am capable of identifying new business opportunities

2. (ESE2) I am capable of creating new products

3. (ESE3) I am capable of thinking creatively.

4. (ESE4) I am capable of commercializing an idea or new development

 Previous Entrepreneurial Experience

Based on Zhao, Hills, and Seibert (2005), previous entrepreneurial experience ismeasured via 3 items with 5-point Likert scale response from 1 (not at all) to 5 (verymuch)

1. (PEE1) I have participated in new business venture start-up

2. (PEE2) I have participated in new market development work

3. (PEE3) I have participated in new product development work

4. (PEE4) I have participated in internships that helped me to understand better about entrepreneurship

5. (PEE5) I have participated in a family member’s business

 Role models

A set of 3 items is adapted from Valero, Keller, and Hirschi (2019) Response is Likert scale from 1 (total disagree) to 5 (total agree)

1. (RM1) In the academic or career path I am pursuing, there is someone I admire

2. (RM2) I know of someone who has a career that I would like to pursue

3. (RM3) There is someone I am trying to be like in my academic or career pursuits

 Perceived similarity

A set of 4 items is adapted from McCroskey, McCroskey, and Richmond (2006),Tidwell, Eastwick, Finkel (2012), Street, O'Malley, Cooper, Haidet (2008).Response is 5-point Likert scale from 1 (total disagree) to 5 (total disagree)

1. (PS1) My role model and I have a lot in common

2. (PS2) My role model has thoughts and ideas that are similar to mine

3. (PS3) My role model has personalities that are similar to mine

4. (PS4) My role model has styles of communication that are similar to mine

18

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Descriptive statistics

The sample only includes 4th year, business majored undergraduate students ofForeign Trade University in Hanoi This method guarantees a relatively high level ofsimilarity regarding demographics In general, those students are of similar age(approximately 22 years old), similar educational background (majoring in businessadministration), and similar entrepreneurship-related experience (as all students arerequired to participate in 3-month internship in their 3rd year) Besides, it could beexpected that most students of Foreign Trade University Hanoi come from the Northand North Central Region of Vietnam, implying a certain degree of culturalsimilarity Total sample includes 205 students, with the female to male ratio is 3:2,which is quite balanced These similar demographics allow better analysis of thevariables within the proposed research models

40%

60%

Male FemaleFigure 4.1: Gender ratio

Source: Author’s summary

4.2 Analysis

4.2.1 Reliability test

The standards required for each variable when it comes to reliability test is that Cronbach’s Alpha is greater than 0.6 and no Corrected Item – Total Correlation is

less than 0.3 (Nunnally, 1978) As such, variables of RM, PS, and ESE are verified

to be reliable without having to omit any items

However, for EI variable, item EI1 – “I am ready to do anything to be an entrepreneur”

- and EI2 – “My professional goal is to become an entrepreneur” - have Corrected

Item – Total Correlation less than 0.3 (0.145 & 0.060 respectively), therefore those

items are not qualified to be included After removing EI1 and EI2, EI variable

satisfies the standards as explained earlier For similar reason, item PEE5 – “I have

participated in my family or a family member’s business” in PEE variable is removed

Table 4.1: Cronbach’s Alpha Test results

Previous Entrepreneurial Experience**

* EI variable after removing item EI1, EI2

** PEE variable after removing item PEE5

Source: Author’s summary

4.2.2 Exploratory factor analysis

EFA was test using SPSS Table 4.2 shows that KMO result for each variable is

above 0.7 and below 1, while the Barlett’s Test (Sig.) has the value of 0

Table 4.2: KMO and Barlett’s Test results

KMOBarlett’s Test (Sig.)

Source: Author’s summary