Ghulam Nabi

Graduate entrepreneurship: intentions, education and training

Purpose – The papers purpose is to present an introduction to the special issue is that positions and explores some of issues and challenges in the field of graduate entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines a range of issues and themes and introduces papers of six authors/author teams. The introductory paper is divided into three sections: what is graduate entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial intentions; and education and training.Findings – The paper finds that, despite increasing attention on graduate entrepreneurship, there remains a lack of research on entrepreneurial intentions and enterprise/entrepreneurship education and training in varied and multiple contexts. This special issue includes research from a number of countries, including England, Ireland, Australia and the USA.Originality/value – The paper provides the basis for a more nuanced understanding of entrepreneurial intentions and related education and training – of interest to both researchers and policy makers in te...

The relationship between HRM, social support and subjective career success among men and women

Most previous research on career success has examined the differential importance of predictors of objective career success (e.g. salary) between men and women. The aim of the present paper is to investigate hypotheses pertaining to male‐female differences in subjective career success (SCS) prediction. Two measures of SCS, intrinsic job success (IJS) and perceived career success (PCS), were employed as criteria and a range of organisational policy perceptions and social support strategies as predictors. Questionnaire data was collected from 439 administrative full‐time employees in the UK. Results provided modest support for the differential predictive power of the above predictors of SCS for men and women. The main results suggested that peer support was a more powerful predictor of men’s SCS, whereas personal support was a more powerful predictor for women’s SCS. The implications of these findings are discussed, together with avenues for further research.

Graduate career‐making and business start‐up: a literature review

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to provide a selective review of literature on the career‐related decision‐making processes in terms of the transition from student to business start‐up, and the nature and influence of support and guidance.Design/methodology/approach – Primarily, a critical review of a range of recently published literature (1995‐2005) addressing the theoretical and practical aspects of the journey from student to start‐up. The literature is divided into sections: the graduate labour market: a state of flux; Conceptual and definitional issues; Career choice and decision‐making; and Start‐up training and support.Findings – The paper finds that despite an increasing body of theoretical and empirical literature on career choice in general and on the career choice to start‐up a business in the form of intention models, there remains a lack of in‐depth research on the stories, circumstances, contexts and complexities of graduates on their journey from student to business start‐up. A tr...

An investigation into the differential profile of predictors of objective and subjective career success

This research examined the different profile of individual, opportunity structure, and career strategy variables related to both objective (salary) and subjective (self‐perceived) career success. Questionnaire data were obtained from a stratified sample of 723 full‐time employees at several higher education institutions in the north of England. Controlling for age, tenure, gender, and occupation, a different profile of factors predicted objective and subjective career success. The highest objective career success was reported by employees with a high level of education, who worked in larger organizations with well‐structured progression ladders and invested considerable effort in their work role. In contrast, the highest subjective career success was reported by employees who were high on work centrality, who worked in organizations with well‐structured progression ladders and employment security, and who networked frequently yet reported a lack of ambition. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed, together with avenues for further research.

Graduates' Perceptions of Transferable Personal Skills and Future Career Preparation in the UK.

A sample of 1996 undergraduate students from the University of Central Lancashire were surveyed soon after graduation. Responses were obtained from 143 graduates of the University from an initial census of 315 (45 per cent) drawn from six departments. Although the initial purpose of the survey was to assess the usefulness of survey methodology as a means of assessing graduates’ skills development, the research also addressed a number of key questions relating to the importance and quality of graduates’ generic transferable skills and competencies. Basic findings in terms of skills development are threefold: graduates tend to rate the importance of particular skills more highly than their own ability in those skills; graduates tend to rate their level of ability lowest in IT skills and highest in their ability to work without supervision; and there are possible differences between the views of males and females. The research has implications for undergraduates, employers and careers advisers. Furthermore, ...

Graduate Employment and Underemployment: Opportunity for Skill Use and Career Experiences amongst Recent Business Graduates.

Graduate underemployment continues to be a serious and growing problem in the UK. Yet, there is a scarcity of research that has attempted to identify the nature, extent and specificity of the problem. This study examines the opportunity for skill use (skill requirements of the job, personal skill levels, congruence between these two measures) and intrinsic (job, career, life satisfaction) and extrinsic career success (salary, promotion) amongst underemployed graduates. Appropriately employed graduates (those who were in jobs for which they required their degree) were used as a comparison group. Questionnaire data were collected from 203 business graduates in the UK. The key findings suggested that underemployed graduates reported significantly lower levels of opportunity for skill use and intrinsic (job, career, life satisfaction) and extrinsic career success (salary). The implications of these findings and avenues for further research are discussed.

Situational characteristics and subjective career success

This paper examined the role of career‐enhancing strategies (CESs) as mediators of the relationship between situation‐centred characteristics (e.g. career prospects) and subjective career success. CESs included self‐nomination, networking behaviour and consultation with mentors. Subjective career success was measured using two criteria, intrinsic job success and perceived career success. Questionnaire data was collected from 283 full‐time support personnel in the UK. Results provided partial support for the mediating role of CESs between situational characteristics and subjective career success. Specific CESs played a mediating role in the relationship between specific situation‐centred variables and intrinsic job success. Self‐nomination and networking played a mediating role between career prospects and intrinsic job success. Networking also played a mediating role between security and intrinsic job success. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed, together with avenues for further research.

Entrepreneurial intentions among students: towards a re‐focused research agenda

Purpose – This paper aims to address the need for a re‐focused research agenda in relation to graduate entrepreneurship. An important theme for some years has been the effort to monitor attitudes and intentions of students towards starting up their own businesses. It is timely, however, to raise some questions about both the impact of this research and likewise the general approach it has taken in understanding the phenomenon of graduate entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on a large data set (over 8,000 students) from one UK region. Specifically, it presents data from the 2007/2008 Entrepreneurial Intentions (EI) survey within the Yorkshire and Humberside region and reflects back over previous iterations of this research.Findings – The paper identifies three key outcomes. First, it establishes that across all years of the survey a substantial minority of students consistently hold relatively strong start‐up intentions. Second, the paper highlights that, despite considerable eff...

Graduate entrepreneurship in the developing world: intentions, education and development

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue by positioning and examining some of the key issues, tensions and challenges in graduate entrepreneurship in the developing world.Design/methodology/approach – The paper recognises the complexity and diversity of approaches considered by the different authors, highlighting a range of issues and challenges in their contributions. The paper is divided into the following sections: entrepreneurial intentions, attitudes and motivations; the role of higher education; and contextual cases, opportunities and challenges in graduate entrepreneurship.Findings – The paper suggests that there is a lack of research in the field of graduate entrepreneurship in the developing world, and that further research in developing countries may help to understand and shed light on the issues evolving around graduate entrepreneurial intentions, business start‐up and education. Some preliminary themes emerge from research included in this special issue. First, en...

Cultural values and entrepreneurship

Preface Alistair Anderson Introduction: Cultural values and entrepreneurship Francisco Linan and Ghulam Nabi and Norris Krueger 1. Is there an entrepreneurial culture? A review of empirical research James C. Hayton and Gabriella Cacciotti 2. National culture and cultural orientations of owners affecting the innovation - growth relationship in five countries Andreas Rauch, Michael Frese, Zhong-Ming Wang, Jens Unger, Maria Lozada, Vita Kupcha and Tanja Spirina 3. How culture moulds the effects of self-efficacy and fear of failure on entrepreneurship Karl Wennberg, Saurav Pathak and Erkko Autio 4. The interaction between culture and sex in the formation of entrepreneurial intentions Rotem Shneor, Selin Metin Camgoz and Pinar Bayhan Karapinar 5. Bourdieuian approaches to the geography of entrepreneurial cultures Ben Spigel