The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of self-efficacy in the development of students' intentions to become entrepreneurs. The authors used structural equation modeling with a sample of 265 master of business administration students across 5 universities to test their hypotheses. The results showed that the effects of perceived learning from entrepreneurship-related courses, previous entrepreneurial experience, and risk propensity on entrepreneurial intentions were fully mediated by entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Contrary to expectations, gender was not mediated by self-efficacy but had a direct effect such that women reported lower entrepreneurial career intentions. The authors discuss practical implications and directions for future research.

/pdf/the-mediating-role-of-self-efficacy-in-the-development-of-4m6s3xjdb6.pdf

The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy in the Development of Entrepreneurial Intentions.

Drawing on the theoretical insights from the resource-based view of strategic management, this article explores the potential of human resource systems to facilitate or inhibit the development and utilization of organizational competencies. These competencies — managerial, input-based, transformational, and output-based—are presumed to yield sustained competitive advantage for a firm. The competency-based perspective, by focusing attention on the HR activities, functions, and processes that enhance or impede competency accumulation and exploitation, complements the behavioral perspective (Schuler & Jackson, 1987) and, thus, potentially enhances the understanding of strategic human resource management.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/258742.pdf

Human Resource Systems and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Competency-Based Perspective

Research articles on women's entrepreneurship reveal, in spite of intentions to the contrary and in spite of inconclusive research results, a tendency to recreate the idea of women as being secondary to men and of women's businesses being of less significance or, at best, as being a complement. Based on a discourse analysis, this article discusses what research practices cause these results. It suggests new research directions that do not reproduce women's subordination but capture more and richer aspects of women's entrepreneurship.

/pdf/why-research-on-women-entrepreneurs-needs-new-directions-namkn8lf7t.pdf

Why research on women entrepreneurs needs new directions

Scientific study of marital satisfaction attracted widespread attention in the 1990s from scholars representing diverse orientations and goals. This article highlights key conceptual and empirical advances that have emerged in the past decade, with particular emphasis on (a) interpersonal processes that operate within marriage, including cognition, affect, physiology, behavioral patterning, social support, and violence; (b) the milieus within which marriages operate, including microcontexts (e.g., the presence of children, life stressors and transitions) and macrocontexts (e.g., economic factors, perceived mate availability); and (c) the conceptualization and measurement of marital satisfaction, including 2-dimensional, trajectory-based, and social-cognitive approaches. Notwithstanding the continued need for theoretical progress in understanding the nature and determinants of marital satisfaction, we conclude by calling for more large-scale longitudinal research that links marital processes with sociocultural contexts, for more disconfirmatory than confirmatory research, and for research that directly guides preventive, clinical, and policy-level interventions.

Research on the Nature and Determinants of Marital Satisfaction: A Decade in Review

The career reasons of nascent entrepreneurs

Women-owned businesses are a powerful force in today's American economy Twenty-nine percent of all businesses are owned by women (Census Bureau 1991) Women employ over fifteen million American workers, over one-third more than all the Fortune 500 companies worldwide (National Foundation for Women Business Owners [NFWBO] and Dunn and Bradstreet Information Services 1995) Operating in all industries, female entrepreneurs have more than tripled in number from 25 million in 1980 to 77 million in 1994, representing a rate of increase which is double that of male-owned businesses (NFWBO 1995) The Committee on Small Business (1988) estimated that by the year 2000 about half of all businesses will be owned by women Nearly 31 percent of these women have had previous executive/management or supervisory experience prior to starting their own businesses (Census Bureau 1991) Few researchers have examined this highly-trained group of women entrepreneurs who leave corporate environments to start businesses of their own This study investigates four important issues: (1) What motivational influences affect former managerial or professional women's entrepreneurial decisions; (2) What role family concerns play in these former corporate women's entrepreneurial motivation; (3) How these female entrepreneurs measure success in their ventures; and (4) Whether the women's entrepreneurial motivation is related to the ways they measure success in their own businesses The findings of this research are important for several reasons Women's career motivation currently receives little research attention Investigation of women's entrepreneurial motivation and success measures will provide needed insight into women's career development Consultants to women considering entrepreneurship would better understand their clients' motivation and would be better able to help the women make informed career decisions The results could also help women who seek greater self-awareness about their motivation and its influence on their personal and professional success This awareness would help them integrate the work and personal dimensions of their lives Past Research on Entrepreneurial Motivation and Success Measures While investigations into the reasons women start businesses have been sparse, over the past twenty years a number of studies have examined the reasons men initiate ventures (Birley and Westhead 1994; Cooper and Dunkelberg 1981; Denison and Alexander 1986; Dubini 1988; Scheinberg and MacMillan 1988; Shane, Kolvereid, and Westhead 1991; Shapero 1975) In general, researchers have found that men start their businesses primarily as a result of such "pull" factors as the opportunity to work independently, to have greater control over one's work, and to earn more money There is a lesser influence from such "push" factors as limited advancement opportunities, job frustration, and avoiding an unreasonable boss or unsafe working conditions With one exception, in none of these studies were women entrepreneurs addressed separately or did they constitute more than ten percent of the sample The exception, Shane, Kolvereid, and Westhead (1991), studied non-US entrepreneurs, including women, and reported that the male entrepreneurs were most motivated by the need to improve their positions in society for themselves and their families, while the female entrepreneurs were most motivated by the need for achievement However, the authors cautioned that cultural differences across samples precluded generalizing findings to US entrepreneurs Research on Women's Entrepreneurial Motivation In one study of women's entrepreneurial motivation, Hisrich and Brush (1985) asked their women business-owner respondents for the reasons they started their businesses Most frequently cited were "push" factors of frustration and boredom in their previous jobs, followed by interest in the business, with "pull" factors such as autonomy a distant third …

Women's Organizational Exodus to Entrepreneurship: Self-Reported Motivations and Correlates with Success

Dorothy P. Moore and E. Holly Buttner, in their book ‘Women Entrepreneurs: Moving Beyond the Glass Ceiling,’ explore the increasingly popular choice of exiting the organization and creating one's own business by examining the occupational transitions of 129 highly accomplished women entrepreneurs from across the United States. Although not intended as a study of the new boundaryless career concept (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996), their book provides a detailed picture of how some individuals are crossing organizational and occupational boundaries and designing careers that better match their own values and needs.

Women Entrepreneurs: Moving Beyond the Glass Ceiling

Intensive investigations into female entrepreneurships are a relatively recent research phenomenon. Advances in the past five years, while dramatic, find the field in an initial stage of paradigm development. Individual studies appear fragmented, unrelated, and seem to describe only small segments of the female entrepreneurial population and more frequently than not apply theoretical tools developed in other areas which are neither reliable or valid. This article examines a number of current research and methodological issues, presents a descriptive analysis of the traditional and modern female entrepreneur, suggests focal areas for research oriented toward the establishment of typologies, models and theory development.

An examination of present research on the female entrepreneur — Suggested research strategies for the 1990's

As women continue to enter into businesses of their own, this guide offers lessons from leading women entrepreneurs on building a career without boundaries.

Dorothy P. Moore

Papers

Women's Organizational Exodus to Entrepreneurship: Self-Reported Motivations and Correlates with Success

Women Entrepreneurs: Moving Beyond the Glass Ceiling

An examination of present research on the female entrepreneur — Suggested research strategies for the 1990's

Careerpreneurs: Lessons from Leading Women Entrepreneurs on Building a Career Without Boundaries

Women Entrepreneurs: Approaching a New Millennium