The Role of Social Influence, Culture, and Gender on Entrepreneurial Intent

Transcription

1 The Role of Social Influence, Culture, and Gender on Entrepreneurial Intent Robert L. Engle, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut Christopher Schlaegel, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany Servane Delanoe, Université de Toulouse Toulouse Business School, Toulouse France Abstract. This study examines the impact of the social influence of family, friends, and role models on entrepreneurial intent, as well as effects of parental entrepreneurial experience on entrepreneurial intent. It also examines how these social norms when combined with gender and national culture influence entrepreneurial intent. While finding significant variances between countries, using a sample of 2,164 university students from 14 countries, this study concludes that each of the three individual factors which comprise Ajzen s (1991) social norms contribute at a significant level to entrepreneurial intent across all countries, with the presence of parental experience contributing a small additional degree explanatory power. Culture is also found to influence entrepreneurial intent, with gender egalitarianism significantly impacting in particular the entrepreneurial intent of women. Résumé. Cette étude examine l impact de l influence social de la famille, des amis et des personnes modèles sur l intention de se lancer en affaires, ainsi que l impact de l expérience entrepreneuriale des parents sur l intention de se lancer en affaires. L étude examine aussi comment ces normes sociales, lorsque combinées au sexe et à la culture nationale, influencent l intention de se lancer en affaires. Bien qu il existe des variations significatives entre les pays, cette étude, se basant sur un échantillon de 2164 étudiants universitaires provenant de 14 pays, conclut que chacun des trois facteurs faisant partie des normes sociales de Ajzen (1991) contribue de façon significative à l intention de se lancer en affaires, et cela dans tous les pays. De plus, l expérience parentale contribue également à un faible degré à l intention. L étude révèle également que la culture influence l intention de se lancer en affaires, et que plus précisément, l égalitarisme des sexes a un impact significatif sur l intention des femmes de se lancer en affaires. Introduction The contribution of entrepreneurship to a nation s economic development and growth has been well recognized (Romer, 1994; Dana, 2004; Minniti, Allen, and Langowitz, 2006). Given this importance, a great deal of research has focused on the antecedents of entrepreneurial activity, with some of the most encouraging work examining the cognitive processes of the entrepreneur and, in particular, what triggers a person s entrepreneurial intent their intention to start a new venture (Shapero and Sokol, 1982; Bird, 1988; Scott and Twomey, 1988; Bandura, 1993; Krueger, 1996, Krueger, Reilly, and Carsrud, 2000; Van Auken, Fry and Stephens, 2006; Carr and Sequeira, 2007; Degeorge and Fayolle, 2008). Ajzen s (1988; 1991) theory of planned behavior is one of the frameworks that has been used by entrepreneurship scholars to analyze the precursors of entrepreneurial behavior (Krueger, Reilly, and Carsrud, 2000; Engle et al., 2010). This theory suggests that for intentional behaviors, among which scholars have long identified entrepreneurial undertakings (Bird, 1988; Katz and Gartner, 1988), action is preceded by intention, which is itself influenced by three antecedents (see Figure 1 below): attitude (degree of favorableness felt Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship 24.4 (2011): pp

2 472 engle, schlaegel and delanoe toward a behavior); subjective norms (perceived social pressure to (or not to) undertake a behavior); and perceived behavioral control (perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behavior) (Ajzen, 1991). Among these three antecedents of intention, the most controversial one seems to be subjective norms (Armitage and Conner, 2001). Figure 1. Ajzen s (1991) Model of Planned Behavior Attitude toward the behavior Subjective norms Intention Behavior Perceived behavioral control In this context, the purpose of this study is first to contribute to a better understanding of this subjective norm construct by investigating the respective influences of its underlying constituents (family, friends and role models influences) with regards to a person s intention to start a new business. Next, the study seeks to explore the impact of two personal characteristics also found in the literature to influence entrepreneurial intention: the entrepreneurial experience of the parents of the aspiring entrepreneurs and gender (Bird and Brush, 2002; Van Auken, Fry, and Stephens, 2006). Importantly, it examines these aspects within a global context, as the 14 countries chosen for this study represent all 10 global regional cultural clusters identified in the GLOBE project by House et al. (2004). In particular, this study provides some insight regarding the effect of the interaction of gender and cultural effects on entrepreneurial intent. This is the first study of which we are aware that not only addresses this set of relationships, but also does it across such a culturally diverse group of countries. The results of this study have a number of potential applications ranging from the theoretical to the practical. They may potentially be of interest to academics working with cognitive models of entrepreneurship and their similarities and differences across a culturally diverse group of countries. Teachers and mentors who are interested in nurturing entrepreneurial activity may potentially find further insight as to how this might be accomplished. Those individuals interested in public and economic policy may also find insights as to better promote and encourage the entrepreneurship that is so necessary for sustainable economic growth. In the rest of this paper, we first justify the choice of the variables selected for this study and present the theoretical framework. We then provide the methodology and give the results of the different analyses. Following this, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the results of the study.

3 role of social influence, culture and gender on entrepreneurial intent 473 Planned Behavior, Entrepreneurial Intent, and Social Norms The intentional nature of entrepreneurial behavior has long been put forward by scholars (Shapero and Sokol, 1982; Bird, 1988; Katz and Gartner, 1988). As a result, a number of researchers, including Shapero and Sokol (1982), Bird (1988), Krueger (1993), Kolvereid (1996), Tkachev and Kolvereid (1999), Krueger, Reilly, and Carsrud (2000), Souitaris, Zerbinati, and Al-Laham (2007), and Boissin et al. (2009), have been using intentional frameworks to investigate the determinants of the entrepreneurial process. In particular, many have been using Ajzen s (1988, 1991) theory of planned behavior as a basis for their investigations (Figure 1 above). Ajzen suggests that three kinds of salient beliefs influence the antecedents of intention: (1) behavioral beliefs, which are assumed to influence attitudes towards the behavior; (2) normative beliefs, which constitute the underlying determinants of subjective norms (also referred to as social norms as will be used in this paper); and (3) control beliefs, which provide the basis for perceptions of behavioral control. The stronger the individual s beliefs about the personal and social desirability of doing something and whether they have the necessary skills and abilities (control) for it, the greater the likelihood they will behave a particular way. However, Ajzen (1991) also indicates that the relative importance of these beliefs is expected to vary across situations and across different behaviors. Thus, the role each of these beliefs plays in the formation of a particular intention to act may be very different for any given behavior. According to Ajzen (1991: 195), the subjective norms construct refers to the likelihood that important referent individuals or groups approve or disapprove of performing a given behavior. Measuring this construct involves asking the study participants: (a) the degree to which they believe each referent group would encourage them to engage in the behavior and (b) their motivation to comply with the referent group. In entrepreneurship research, the influences of close family, close friends and role models have been included in the analysis of the influence of social norms on start-up intentions (Krueger, Reilly, and Carsrud, 2000). Thus, the factors making up the model s social norms are identified as presented in Figure 2 below. Figure 2. Ajzen s (1991) Social Norms Model Family Role model Social norms Intent Friends The theoretical aspect of the social norms construct is supported by the social learning theory which suggests that individuals are more likely to adopt behavior observed in family

4 474 engle, schlaegel and delanoe and close friends or mentors, especially if the outcomes of such behavior are valued (Bandura, 1977). In addition, the importance of social influence with regards to entrepreneurial behavior is further strengthened by Cialdini and Trost (1998), whose research suggested social norms have the greatest impact when conditions are uncertain as is often perceived with entrepreneurial activity. Still, these social norms represent an ongoing point of debate among entrepreneurship scholars, as some detect a positive effect for it on intention (Carr and Sequeira, 2007; Souitaris, Zerbinati, and Al-Laham, 2007), while others fail to identify such an effect (Krueger, Reilly, and Carsrud, 2000; Autio et al., 2001; Boissin et al., 2009). The controversy about the importance that social norms carry in influencing a person s intention is also present in analyses involving other behaviors than company startup (Armitage and Conner, 2001). This element of Ajzen s (1991) model therefore appears to warrant specific attention. In addition, as suggested by Ajzen (1991), the normative beliefs composing social norms are usually studied by combining them into a common score that prevents the analysis of the influence of each individual subset (family, friends or professional role models). Van Auken, Fry, and Stephens (2006) concluded that further research is needed to compare the relative strength of different potential motivational influences. Therefore, in order to contribute to a better understanding of these subjective norms in entrepreneurial contexts, this study proposes to study each normative belief subset individually. A sample included in this study was previously reported to have shown that for each individual country and for the overall sample, the social norm variable appeared to be significant predictor of entrepreneurial intent (Engle et al., 2010). As a result, the focus in this study is placed on the analysis of each individual subset of normative beliefs composing the social norms construct. Thus, the first hypothesis tested in this study is: H1: Across all countries, each of the three social norm factors (family, friends, and professional role models) will be a significant predictor of entrepreneurial intent, with each country having at least one significant social factor. In implementing intention-based analyses, some scholars have highlighted the fact that some personal characteristics possibly influence entrepreneurial intention and its antecedents Kolvereid, 1996; Shook, Priem and McGee, 2003). Two aspects in particular have attracted the attention of researchers: the presence of entrepreneurial parents and gender (Bird and Brush, 2002; Kim, Aldrich, and Keister, 2006; Van Auken, Fry, and Stephens, 2006). We now discuss these. Impact of Entrepreneurial Experience of Parents Bandura (1982) argued that role model influence on an individual occurs via a number of paths, including the observation by the individual of the role model s behavior and by the role model s social persuasion skills (convincing the individual that various tasks can be performed). In most cultures, parents are in a unique position to exert both of these in influencing the future behavior of their children. With regards to entrepreneurial behavior, Shapero and Sokol (1982: 83) actually argued: The family, particularly the father and mother, plays the most powerful role in establishing the desirability and credibility of entrepreneurial action for the individual. While studies have examined the importance of family or role models or parental experience, on entrepreneurial intent and behavior within one or a few different cultures (Bowen and Hirsch, 1986; Cooper and Dunkelberg, 1986; Scott and Twomey, 1988; Dubini, 1989; Ray and Turpin, 1990; Deakin, 1996; Matthews and Moser, 1996; Crant, 1996; Raijman, 2001; Van Auken, Fry, and Stephens, 2006; Carr

5 role of social influence, culture and gender on entrepreneurial intent 475 and Sequeira, 2007), we have found none to have examined the role of family and parental experience within the framework of Ajzen s social norms construct across a broad range of culturally different countries. In addition, these previous studies have not always found positive relationships between social influences and entrepreneurial orientation. For example, in their U.S. sample, Kim, Aldrich, and Keister (2006) did not find any evidence of intergenerational influences on entrepreneurial entry. Similarly, in the UK, Henley (2007) found the presence of entrepreneurial parents to have an impact on the transformation of intentions into actions, but less so on intentions themselves. In other words, he found the impact of the presence of entrepreneurial parents to be more pronounced at a later stage than the one on which our study focuses. This suggests the need for more investigation regarding this parental influence on the formation of intentions. This is the objective of the next set of hypotheses. Given the preponderance of data supporting the significance of family influence and, in particular, parental experience with regards to entrepreneurial intent, a positive impact is hypothesized for it on intention directly and on normative beliefs: H2: Across all countries and within each country studied, parental experience with small business ownership will have a positive effect on entrepreneurial intent. Gender Entrepreneurship has historically been considered a male-dominated activity with men s rates of entrepreneurial activity reaching levels three times that of women in some countries (Bird and Brush, 2002; Minniti, Allen, and Langowitz, 2006). This gender gap seems to be widespread as suggested by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study with 41 participating countries in which Allen et al. (2008) found that men dominate entrepreneurial activity in a majority of countries (the four exceptions among the 41 countries studied being Japan, Thailand, Peru, and Brazil). This gender gap also seems to be already apparent at the earlier intention stage, as a number of researchers have found women reporting lower levels of entrepreneurial intent than men (Tkachev and Kolvereid, 1999; Kolvereid, 1996; Matthews and Moser, 1996; Scherer, Brodzinski, and Wiebe, 1990; Crant, 1996; Zhao, Seibert, and Hills, 2005). Although women have been shown to be similar to men in many ways regarding their motivations for starting a new business (Brush, 1992), it has been argued that one fundamental reason for a gap between men and women s entrepreneurial involvement is that girls are socialized differently than boys, leading to differences in career aspirations, including the desire to be an entrepreneur (Scherer, Brodzinski, and Wiebe, 1990; Mueller, 2004). In addition, it has been suggested that men and women are not influenced in the same way by exposure to entrepreneurship-related factors, either in the form of own experience (Kickul et al., 2008) or as vicarious experience of role models (Van Auken, Fry, and Stephens, 2006). For example, using a sample of subjects from New Zealand and a qualitative methodology, Van Auken, Fry, and Stephens (2006) found differences in how men and women were influenced by their parents. In their study, a higher percentage of women than men expressed a positive parental influence on their entrepreneurial activity perhaps giving support to an earlier suggestion by Shaver and Scott (1991) that the motivations and factors which lead to successful entrepreneurship may be different between men and women. Thus, the following hypotheses aim to test first whether the gender gap is also apparent in our study with regards to entrepreneurial intent and then to assess whether the presence of entrepreneurial parents may have an impact on it:

6 476 engle, schlaegel and delanoe H3: Across all countries and within each country studied, men will have greater entrepreneurial intent than will women. H4: Across all countries and within each country studied, men whose parents have small business ownership experience will have greater entrepreneurial intent than will women in the same situations. With the objective of focusing on other possible influences on female entrepreneurship, the last set of hypotheses turns to investigating how the culture in which women evolve may impact their intention to get involved in entrepreneurial ventures. Culture Culture represents the shared motives, values, beliefs, identities, and interpretations or meanings of significant events that result from common experiences of members of collectives and are transmitted across age generations (House et al., 2004: 57). A number of models have been developed by researchers that attempt to define and classify the similarities and differences of cultural characteristics within and between countries. Hofstede (2001) identified five cultural dimensions that people tend to share, including the dimensions of power distance, individualism-collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity and femininity, and long-term versus short-term orientation. Using the work of Hofstede (2001) as a foundation, along with that of many other researchers, the GLOBE project (House et al., 2004) identified nine cultural dimensions: uncertainty avoidance, future orientation, power distance, human orientation, performance orientation, in-group collectivism, institutional collectivism, gender egalitarianism, and assertiveness. Furthermore, building on the work of Ronen and Shenkar (1985), House et al. (2004) used these nine dimensions, along with other factors such as language, geography, religion, and history, to group these 62 societies into 10 regional cultural clusters based on their similarities and differences with other countries. Such a grouping, the GLOBE researchers believe, will allow researchers to better work with the complexities of multicultural research. While a number of researchers have overcome many of the challenges of doing crosscultural research across larger groups of countries with regards to entrepreneurship (Griffiths, Kickul, and Carsrud, 2009; Linán, and Chen, 2009; McGrath, McMillan, and Scheinberg, 1992; Moriano et al., 2011; Mueller and Thomas, 2001), there are a relatively limited number found in the literature and none to date that examine entrepreneurial intent across countries from all 10 regional clusters a gap in the literature that is addressed within this study. In addition, the need for research combining cognitive analyses with cultural influences has been identified in the literature (Hayton, George, and Zahra, 2002). Mueller (2004) used economic development indicators as a surrogate for entrepreneurial activity and Hofstede s (2001) dimensions to examine across genders some personal characteristics often associated with entrepreneurial behavior (innovativeness, risk-taking propensity, and internal locus of control). He concluded that the number of female entrepreneurs relative to male entrepreneurs would be expected to be greatest in cultures with higher masculinity, collectivism, and uncertainty avoidance. Each of these dimensions has one or more parallel dimensions that can be found in the GLOBE project research. For example Hofstede s (2001) uncertainty avoidance is virtually the same as the GLOBE s uncertainty avoidance defined as the extent to which members of an organization or society strive to avoid uncertainty by relying on established social norms, rituals, and bureaucratic practices (House et al., 2004: 11). Hofstede s (2001) collectivism dimension as it applies

7 role of social influence, culture and gender on entrepreneurial intent 477 to this study is closely paralleled by the GLOBE s in-group collectivism defined as the degree to which individuals express pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness in their organizations or families (House et al., 2004: 12). In order to capture the major elements of the masculinity dimension as defined by Hofstede (2001), we chose two of the GLOBE s dimensions: gender egalitarianism, which is defined as the degree to which an organization or society minimizes gender role differences while promoting gender equality (House et al., 2004: 12); and assertiveness, which is defined as the degree to which individuals in organizations or societies are assertive, confrontational, and aggressive in social relationships (House et al., 2004: 12). In this study we chose to use the GLOBE dimensions in order to allow us to also better link this work to the GLOBE regional cultural clusters in our analysis. In addition, similar to the approach proposed by Mueller (2004), we choose to focus on their possible influence on intention measured at the individual level. Specifically, we investigate whether specific cultural influences can be found to influence the level of entrepreneurial intent of women in different countries. Therefore, the following hypotheses are: H5: Women in countries with high uncertainty avoidance will have greater entrepreneurial intent than those in countries with low uncertainty avoidance. H6: Women in countries with high in-group collectivism will have greater entrepreneurial intent than those in countries with low in-group collectivism. H7: Women in countries with high gender egalitarianism will have greater entrepreneurial intent than those in countries with low gender egalitarianism. H8: Women in countries with high assertiveness will have greater entrepreneurial intent than those with low assertiveness. By answering the eight above-listed hypotheses, this paper seeks to provide a better understanding of the social norm impact on entrepreneurial intention by providing a detailed analysis of each underlying belief. In addition, it aims to provide a better understanding of the impact of personal (presence of entrepreneurial parents and gender) and cultural influences on intent. The sample and data analysis method used to answer the hypotheses are described in the following methodology section. Sample and Data Collection Procedure Methodology In the GLOBE project, House et al. (2004) identified 10 regional clusters of societal cultures from a group of 62 countries. These clusters were developed based upon their research as well as previous empirical studies and other factors such as common language, geography, religion, and history. In this study, we identified at least one country from each of the clusters identified by House et al. (2004) based on available university contacts. Four additional countries were added for differing reasons. In the Latin Europe cluster both France and Spain were chosen for inclusion in this study. This is due to Ronen and Shenkar s (1985) suggestion that France (and Belgium) may be questionable members of the Latin European cluster, and might be seen to constitute a separate group. House et al. (2004) also found that while France did fit with the overall Latin Europe regional cluster, it did significantly vary with regards to a number of cultural values. According to these researchers, all cultural values of Spain did fit within the identified cultural values for this

8 478 engle, schlaegel and delanoe regional cluster. For these reasons, we examined samples for both Spain and France. For Nordic Europe we were not sure we would get a sufficient sample size from our contact in one country and as a result decided to choose two countries from this cluster (Sweden and Finland). Bulgaria and Mexico were both added because of the changes taking place in their regions due to European Union and NAFTA memberships. Therefore, the countries in this study (with the cluster name in parentheses) are: Germany (Germanic Europe); France and Spain (Latin Europe); Ghana (Sub-Sahara Africa); Russia and Bulgaria (Eastern Europe); Sweden and Finland (Nordic Europe); Egypt (Middle East); China (Confucian Asia); Bangladesh (Southern Asia); Costa Rica and Mexico (Latin America); and the United States (Anglo). The participants in this study are business school students and all citizens of their respective countries. Krueger, Reilly, and Carsrud (2000) argue the importance of studying entrepreneurial phenomena before they occur, and in order to be able to differentiate between groups, to include non-entrepreneurial intending subjects. In other words, the sampling of current entrepreneurs introduces biases that are not representative of the related behavioral complexity, especially in relatively uncommon phenomena such as entrepreneurial activity. Krueger, Reilly, and Carsrud (2000) also suggest that samples of university business students with an orientation towards business but with a broad range of intentions and attitudes toward entrepreneurship will reveal vocational preferences at a time when they face important career decisions. We agree with them that such a sample as used in this study is not only appropriate, but also preferable, for the testing of entrepreneurial intent. Moreover, to ensure that cross-country differences and similarities are due to hypothesized relations rather than to other types of factors and to ensure sample equivalence, we used a matched and homogeneous sample of university business students (Van de Vijver and Leung, 1997). As a result, the usable sample in this study consisted of 2,164 undergraduate and graduate business students in 14 countries. All subjects came from one business school in each country. To ensure the equivalence and consistency across samples in terms of survey formats and the data collection procedure, in all 14 countries, surveys were administered in a classroom setting. The data was collected simultaneously for the majority of countries. The participation rates varied from 96% to 100%, although in each country a very small percentage (less than 3%) of the collected questionnaires were eliminated due to incomplete data or subject nationality. Measurement Social norms. The construct social norm was evaluated by six questions previously utilized by Krueger, Reilly, and Carsrud (2000). The focus of these questions was the degree of encouragement to start a new business, and the importance of the opinion (two separate questions) of the family, mentor/role model, and friends (e.g., To what degree would your family encourage you to start your own business? and How important would your family s opinion be regarding you starting your own business?). As described by Krueger, Reilly, and Carsrud (2000), these questions were scored by taking the degree of encouragement score for each of the three social referents (family, role model/mentor, and friends) and multiplying each score respectively by the corresponding importance of their opinion score. Using a five-point Likert scale (1 = little encouragement/low importance and 5 = strong encouragement/very high importance), the sum of the three results was used to represent the social norm score for each subject. Parental experience. Parental experience was determined through a single item ( Has either of your parents ever owned their own business? ).

9 role of social influence, culture and gender on entrepreneurial intent 479 Entrepreneurial intent. Three questions were used to measure entrepreneurial intent ( To what extent have you considered starting your own business? ; To what extent have you prepared to start your own business? ; and How likely is it that you are going to start your own business within the next 5 years? ). Consistent with previous studies, the score for this measurement was obtained by summing the responses to all three five-point questions (De Noble, Jung, and Ehrlich, 1999; Krueger, Reilly, and Carsrud, 2000). Gender. Gender was measured by a dichotomous variable, with 0 designating men and 1 designating women. Cultural dimensions. Although the GLOBE study (House et al., 2004) contains evidence for nine cultural dimensions, only four are relevant to our study. Other cultural values such as societal collectivism, human orientation, and power distance are less likely to be related to entrepreneurial intent. We used the score of each of the cultural dimension used in this study (uncertainty avoidance, in-group collectivism, assertiveness, and gender egalitarianism). Given that we are interested in actual cultural effects, we used the overall Globe as is means, which reflect the factual component of individuals cultural values. Three countries in this study were not part of the GLOBE project (Bulgaria, Bangladesh, and Ghana), and were not included in this cultural analysis. This resulted in the use of 11 countries from eight different regional cultural clusters as identified in the GLOBE project for the test of Hypotheses 5 to 8. Controls. We included two control measures to remove the influences of other variables in the test of Hypotheses 1 to 4. First, given that greater age has been associated with higher entrepreneurial intent (Autio et al., 2001), we controlled individuals age. Age was measured in years. Second, we also controlled for gender because gender may impact individuals entrepreneurial intent (e.g., BarNir, Watson, and Hutchins, 2011). Gender was measured as described above. In the test of Hypotheses 5 to 8 we included age as a control variable. In addition to these control variables, citizenship and citizenship at birth were included in the questionnaire to ensure the homogeneity of the country samples as well as the national cultural dimension. An initial pilot study was conducted with 95 university business students in the United States. This study did not reveal any significant problems with the instrument used. We followed the procedure suggested by Brislin (1980) to translate the original questionnaire, which was in English, to eight additional languages (Chinese, Spanish, German, French, Russian, Finnish, Swedish, and Bulgarian) using native speakers and then back-translated to check for understanding. The translations were independently done by two people whose mother tongue was the respective target language and who were additionally fluent in English. After the translators had translated the questionnaires, they compared the two versions. In case of deviations, these were discussed and a final version was agreed upon. Three countries (Spain, Mexico, and Costa Rica) used the Spanish versions but were adjusted for Latin American and Spanish language differences. The United States, Bangladesh, Egypt, and Ghana all used the English version, as the latter three countries samples were in universities where classes were taught in the English language. To ensure convergent validity, discriminant validity, and reliability, we conducted various confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), calculations of composite reliability and the average variance extracted (Fornell and Larcker, 1981), as well as reliability analysis. According to Cheung and Rensvold (2002) among others, the chi-square (χ 2 ) statistic is not an adequate test of model fit given small sample sizes (< 200) such as the individual country samples in this study or large samples sizes (>250) such as the women sample in this study. Therefore, the results of the χ 2 test were not considered critical in evaluating model fit

10 480 engle, schlaegel and delanoe for this study and we complement the χ 2 statistic with other, more appropriate measures of fit (Byrne, 2010). As suggested by Browne and Cudeck (1993), we used several fit indexes in combination to provide a complete assessment of model adequacy. More specifically, we used comparative fit index (CFI) and root-mean square error of approximation (RMSEA). Models resulting in CFI values of.90 or higher are considered acceptable (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988). For the RMSEA index, values below.08 are considered indicative of good fit and values below.1 may be considered acceptable (Browne and Cudeck, 1993). We examined the measurement model fit within the individual countries as well as the gender groups. As presented in Table 1, the CFA results provided support for all measurement scales for the 14 individual country samples and both gender groups. All items show good factor loadings (above.5), composite reliabilities (above.7), average variance extracted (above.5), and the scales have a satisfactory reliability (above.6) for the respective samples (detailed information for all countries as well as the gender groups are available from the authors upon request). Following the recommendations by Bentler (2007), we tested an additional one-factor model for those countries with very small sample sizes (<100) to test whether or not the one-factor model has a significant better fit than our measurement model. The results show that our measurement model shows a significant better fit than the one-factor model. Therefore, it may be concluded that the small sample sizes have no effect on the results. Overall, our measurement model provided an adequate representation of the data in all countries and both gender groups. Assessing Measurement Equivalence and Common Method Variance Every study that tests hypotheses across different groups, such as nationality and gender, has to test whether the measurement of constructs can be interpreted in the same way across groups (Van de Vijver and Tanzer, 2004). Measurement equivalence is a precondition to ensure that the same measurement structure holds in each country and that individual country results can be meaningfully compared across countries (Steenkamp and Baumgartner, 1998). In our study, measurement variance may occur if the constructs measured are not identical across countries or gender groups. Following the recommendations of studies that examined methodological aspects of the entrepreneurship and emerging international entrepreneurship literature (Engelen, Heinemann, and Brettel, 2009; Mullen, Budeva, and Doney, 2009; Coviello and Jones, 2004), we conducted multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) in addition to individual country and women subsample CFA to test for measurement invariance across countries. Following the procedure suggested by Steenkamp and Baumgartner (1998), we tested configural, metric, and scalar invariance in two steps: (1) we tested measurement invariance across the 14 countries, and (2) we tested measurement invariance across gender. Several authors (e.g., Byrne, 2010; Cheung and Rensvold, 2002) suggest that the χ 2 difference test (Δ χ 2 ) is not a good indicator of measurement invariance when the sample size is as large as in the present study (>250). Therefore, the results of the χ 2 difference test were not considered critical in comparing the model fit for this study. Following Cheung and Rensvold (2002), we used the difference in CFI between models to statistically compare the measurement models. Specifically, the difference in CFI between (successive) equivalence models might not be higher than.01 (Cheung and Rensvold, 2002). As indicated in Table 1, metric equivalence was supported for the respective MGCFA of the 14 countries as well as the gender groups. The difference in CFI between the configural model and the metric model is consistently below the critical difference in both MGCFAs (see Table 1: M2 vs. M1).

11 role of social influence, culture and gender on entrepreneurial intent 481 The next model comparison involved a statistical comparison between the metric equivalence model and the scalar equivalence model (See Table 1: M3 vs. M2). Because there was a significant increase in the CFI between the metric model and the scalar model for the respective MGCFA of the 14 countries, we did not find support for scalar invariance. We therefore conclude that scalar equivalence is not supported across the 14 countries. The comparison of the metric model and the scalar model (see Table 1: M3 vs. M2) of the MGCFA of the gender groups shows that the increase in the CFI was smaller than.01 and, therefore, we find support for scalar invariance for this group. Overall, the MGCFA results support the conclusion that the measurement of constructs can be interpreted in the same way across the 14 countries at the metric level (including the regression analysis applied in testing Hypotheses 1 and 2 as well as 5 to 8) and across gender at the scalar level (including the mean comparisons applied in testing Hypotheses 3 and 4). Table 1. Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Multiple-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis CFA Results n χ 2 DF CFI RMSEA ΔCFI Countries Bangladesh Bulgaria China Costa Rica Egypt Finland France Germany Ghana Mexico Russia Spain Sweden U.S Gender Female Male MGCFA Results Country Configural model (M1) Metric model (M2) Scalar model (M3) Gender Configural model (M1) Metric model (M2) Scalar model (M3)

12 482 engle, schlaegel and delanoe Following the recommendation by Chang, van Witteloostuijn, and Eden (2010), we applied several procedures recommended by Podsakoff et al. (2003) to reduce and evaluate whether common method variance is present in our data. First, following Podsakoff and Organ (1986), we used Harman s one-factor test to assess the influence of common method variance. The factor analysis based on the dependent, independent, and control variables revealed more than one factor with an Eigenvalue greater than one, and no single factor explained most of the variance, thus alleviating common method variance concerns (Podsakoff et al., 2003; Podsakoff and Organ, 1986). Second, using additional CFA for each individual country, we tested a model loading all of the items on a common method factor, a model loading all items on their theoretically assigned variables, and a model loading items on their respective latent variable as well as on an additional method factor (Stam and Elfring, 2008). All item loadings on the common method factor were insignificant for all 14 country samples. Overall, the results from the two different tests suggest that common method variance is probably not a significant issue in this study. Results As can be seen in Table 2, there were 2,194 subjects from 14 countries with an average age of 23.3 consisting of 46% males and 54% females, with 49% of the men and 46% of the women having parents with business ownership experience. As would be expected, the varying education systems in each country contribute to differences in ages, as do the participation of a number of older full- and part-time graduate students in some countries such as Ghana and Mexico, and the larger number of graduate students in Spain. The overwhelming majority of the sample (approximately 85%) consisted of undergraduate students within two years of graduating. It should also be noted that differences in the percentage of students who were exposed to parental business ownership experience varied greatly by country, ranging from highs of 72% (Costa Rica) and 63% (Egypt) to lows of 14% (China) and 26% (Finland). Table 2. Sample Composition and Demographic Data Country Overall Mean age Gender Parental entrepreneurial experience Male Female Male Female Bangladesh 144 (7%) (66%) 49 (34%) 33 (23%) 32 (22%) Bulgaria 117 (5%) (49%) 60 (51%) 30 (26%) 23 (20%) China 185 (9%) (30%) 125 (70%) 8 (4%) 17 (9%) Costa Rica 98 (5%) (49%) 50 (51%) 41 (42%) 30 (31%) Egypt 136 (6%) (56%) 60 (44%) 48 (35%) 37 (27%) Finland 86 (4%) (28%) 62 (72%) 5 (6%) 18 (21%) France 164 (8%) (54%) 80 (46%) 47 (29%) 34 (21%) Germany 192 (9%) (46%) 104 (54%) 32 (17%) 39 (20%) Ghana 185 (9%) (63%) 69 (37%) 64 (35%) 49 (27%) Mexico 203 (9%) (44%) 113 (56%) 51 (25%) 64 (32%) Russia 227 (10%) (28%) 165 (72%) 34 (15%) 101 (45%) Spain 139 (6%) (35%) 90 (65%) 23 (17%) 36 (26%) Sweden 70 (3%) (43%) 40 (57%) 13 (19%) 20 (29%) U.S. 218 (10%) (58%) 91 (42%) 67 (31%) 40 (18%) Full sample 2164 (100%) (43%) 1224 (57%) 496 (23%) 540 (25%)

13 role of social influence, culture and gender on entrepreneurial intent 483 Table 3 provides descriptive statistics and correlations for our variables for the full sample (including women and men) as well as for the full women sample. The descriptive statistics for the individual countries are available from the authors upon request. Table 3. Descriptive Statistics and Correlations Variables Mean s.d Full sample 1 Age Gender Family Role models Friends Parental experience Entrepreneurial Intent Women sample 1 Age Social norms Uncertainty avoidance In-group collectivism Assertiveness Gender egalitarianism Entrepreneurial Intent Note: Full sample n = 2164; correlations.04 are significant at p <.05. Women sample n = 991; correlations.04 are significant at p <.05. Table 4 presents the results of the hierarchical regressions analysis used to test the first two hypotheses, respectively investigating the role of different sources of social norm and that of parental small business ownership experience. As can be seen in Table 4, Hypothesis 1, suggesting all three social groups (family, friends, and role models) across all countries would have a positive influence on entrepreneurial intent with at least one significant social factor in each country, was supported. The regression results for family were significant in 11 of the 14 countries, while role model/ mentor was significant in 9 of the 14 countries, and friends was significant in 6 of the 14 countries. All three groups were significant predictors of entrepreneurial intent in Costa Rica and the United States, while two groups were significant predictors in six countries, and one group was significant in five countries. All 14 countries had at least one social group as a significant predictor of entrepreneurial intent. Hypothesis 2 which stated that across all countries and within each country, parental small business ownership experience would have a positive influence on entrepreneurial intent was only partially supported. As presented in Table 4, it was supported for the full sample analysis, but only in four of the 14 individual countries. Table 5 presents the results of heteroscedastic t-test in testing Hypotheses 3 and 4. These investigated the influence of gender combined with that of parental small business ownership experience.

14 484 engle, schlaegel and delanoe Table 4. Results of Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Entrepreneurial Intent Model and Variables Bangladesh Bulgaria China Costa Rica Egypt Finland France Germany Ghana Mexico Russia Spain Sweden U.S. Full sample Model 1 (M1) Constant 7.31* 11.45*** 11.82* 10.02*** 12.22** 6.65* *** 11.99*** 14.90*** 8.86*** 12.97** 4.67** 9.61*** Age *.02 Gender * * -1.84* -1.63** -1.50** *** -1.75* *** R Adjusted R F-Value * ** 5.73** *** 3.93* 4.41* 18.43*** Model 2 (M2) Constant 5.76* 9.73*** 10.10** 4.41** 9.76* *** 9.01*** 11.73*** 4.45*** 6.97* *** Age Gender * -1.28** * -2.25** -1.78*** -1.46** * -1.85*** -1.87** -.96** -1.06*** Family.13***.10*.21***.13** ***.19*** ***.07**.17***.11.11**.17*** Role models.10**.14** *.01.07**.17**.12.17***.08*** Friends ** **.06* **.13***.04*** R Adjusted R ***.26 ΔR 2 (M2-M1).27***.13***.34***.41***.07*.21***.16***.17***.17**.24***.17***.40***.27***.37***.24*** F-Value 10.59*** 4.03** 20.97*** 14.06*** 3.03* 6.03*** 10.03*** 11.17*** 4.08** 12.57*** 9.51*** 27.41*** 8.35*** 29.47*** *** Model 3 (M3) Constant 5.82* 8.89** 11.58** ** *** 8.94*** 11.73*** 5.84*** * 5.14*** Age * * Gender ** * -2.31** -1.70*** -1.43** * -1.81*** -1.87** -.83* -.99*** Family.13***.09.20***.11** ***.17*** ***.07**.16***.10.09**.16*** Role models.09**.13***.05.09* *.01.07**.16**.12.17***.08*** Friends ** **.06* **.12**.04*** Parental experience ** * *** 1.05*** R Adjusted R ΔR 2 (M3-M2).00.02***.00.05** *.00.03***.02*** F-Value 8.81*** 3.83** 17.82*** 13.85*** 2.92* 5.26*** 8.87*** 9.67*** 3.69** 10.50*** 7.88*** 24.42*** 6.88*** 27.99*** *** N Note: Unstandardized regression coefficients are reported. Standard errors are available from the authors upon request. p >.10 * p >.05 ** p >.01 *** p >.001

15 role of social influence, culture and gender on entrepreneurial intent 485 Table 5. Hypotheses and Results Country Entrepreneurial Intent Entrepreneurial Intent Male Mean Female Mean Significance Male Mean (Parental Experience) Female Mean (Parental Experience) Significance Bangladesh ns ns Bulgaria * ns China *** na Costa Rica * ns Egypt *** * Finland ns na France *** ** Germany *** *** Ghana ns * Mexico ns ns Russia ns ** Spain *** ** Sweden *** ns U.S * ns Full Sample *** *** Note: Results of T-tests are presented. Numbers in bold are those for which the mean value for the respective group is significantly higher. ns denotes not significant. na denotes not available due to the small sub-sample size. p >.10 * p >.05 ** p >.01 *** p >.001 Hypothesis 3, stating that across all countries and within each country, men will have greater entrepreneurial intent than will women, was partially supported. Support for it was found for the overall sample and for nine out of the 14 individual countries considered. The five countries in which support for this hypothesis was not found were: Bangladesh, Finland, Ghana, Mexico, and Russia. The entrepreneurial intent scores for men ranged from 7.3 (Finland) to 12.5 (Russia), while those for women ranged from 6.3 (Sweden and Germany) to 12.4 (Mexico). Hypothesis 4, suggesting that across all countries and within each country, men who do have parents with small business ownership experience will have greater entrepreneurial intent than will women in the same situation, was partially supported. Only 12 countries had sufficient sample sizes for analysis. Among these, significant positive relationships were found in only four countries, but the hypothesis was also supported for the overall sample. Table 6 presents the results of OLS regression analysis in testing Hypotheses 5 to 8. We used 11 countries in this analysis, as cultural dimension scores were not available for three countries (Bulgaria, Bangladesh, and Ghana). To avoid multicollinearity problems, separate regression models (Models 3 to 6) were used to test the influence of the four cultural dimensions on entrepreneurial intent. We also tested one model (Model 7) including all four cultural dimensions. Given low variance inflation factors (<5) and correlation coefficients, we nevertheless found that assertiveness and uncertainty avoidance show multicollinearity in Model 7, resulting in a change in the sign of the assertiveness coefficient and an insignificant effect of assertiveness on entrepreneurial intent compared to the individual

16 486 engle, schlaegel and delanoe Table 6. Results of Regression Analysis of Entrepreneurial Intent Variable Women sample Men Sample Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model 5 Model 6 Model 7 Model 8 Model 9 Constant 8.69*** 4.05*** 12.50*** -5.42*** 9.84*** -5.67*** *** -8.58** 2.17 Age ***.04*.07***.04*.05*.06**.06* Social norms.11***.10***.10***.11***.10***.09***.09***.10** Uncertainty avoidance -2.20*** -.67*** In-group collectivism 1.94*** 1.60*** 1.62*** 1.07*** Assertiveness -1.64***.47 Gender egalitarianism 2.89*** 2.21*** 2.19*** 1.06** UAI - ASS -.74* -1.49** R Adjusted R Δ R 2 (M2 vs. M3 - M8).19***.15***.03***.10***.25***.24***.15*** F-value *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 97.87*** Note: Eleven countries are included in this subsample. Women sample: n = 991, men sample: n = 744. UAI-ASS denotes the combined dimension of uncertainty avoidance and assertiveness. R 2 =.25 and adjusted R 2 =.25 in Model 2 for the men sample. Unstandardized regression coefficients are shown. Standard errors are available from the authors upon request. p >.10 * p >.05 ** p >.01 *** p >.001