Rachel S. Shinnar

Entrepreneurial Perceptions and Intentions: The Role of Gender and Culture

This paper examines how culture and gender shape entrepreneurial perceptions and intentions within Hofstedes cultural dimensions framework and gender role theory. We test whether gender differences exist in the way university students in three nations perceive barriers to entrepreneurship and whether gender has a moderating effect on the relationship between perceived barriers and entrepreneurial intentions across nations. Findings indicate significant gender differences in barrier perceptions. However, this gap is not consistent across cultures. Also, a moderating effect of gender on the relationship between barriers and entrepreneurial intentions is identified. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Explaining entrepreneurial intentions of university students: a cross‐cultural study

Purpose – In order to extend the literature on predicting entrepreneurial intentions this study aims to test a model incorporating cultural, social, and psychological factors.Design/methodology/approach – The paper surveyed over 1,000 students at universities in the USA, Spain, and China.Findings – Across cultures, university students share generally similar views on motivations and barriers to entrepreneurship, but with some interesting differences. Further, while cultural and social dimensions explain only a small portion of intentions, psychological self‐efficacy (disposition) is an important predictor.Research limitations/implications – The study was restricted to university students. It generated focused conclusions and recommendations, but these may not be more widely generalizable. The study suggests directions for continued work on the relationship between cultural and psychological factors in entrepreneurship.Practical implications – Entrepreneurship education may serve students better by increas...

Hispanic Immigrant Entrepreneurs in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area: Motivations for Entry into and Outcomes of Self‐Employment*

This study examined business ownership among foreign‐born Hispanic entrepreneurs. Through semistructured face‐to‐face interviews, the researchers examined motivations to enter business ownership as well as different business practices and the possible relationship between these practices and viability. It appears that in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, pull factors have a stronger impact on entrepreneurship than do push factors, drawing individuals into entrepreneurship. In addition, the importance of preparing a business plan and investing in advertising for business viability is identified.

Coping With Negative Social Identity: The Case of Mexican Immigrants

Social identity theory suggests that an individuals self-concept is shaped through group identification and positive social identities are established by favorably comparing the individuals in-group against an out-group. When unfavorable intergroup comparisons occur, individuals perceive a negative social identity. Because of the motivation to maintain a positive self-concept, this perception creates a need to cope. On the basis of face-to-face interviews with Mexican immigrants, the author examined the ways in which negative social-identity perceptions triggered different coping mechanisms. The findings offer support for two coping mechanisms—individual mobility and social creativity, with social creativity used more often than individual mobility.

Implementing and Sustaining Service-Learning at the Institutional Level.

In this study, we offer insights regarding the tactics used by institutions to implement and sustain service-learning at various levels of commitment as identified by Holland (1997). An analysis of data collected from 12 directors of service-learning centers provides a description of common practices associated with implementing and sustaining service-learning initiatives at the institutional level, focusing on organizational tactics associated with funding, administration, faculty recruitment and support, and student involvement and assessment.

SEGMENTING THE POPULATION OF ENTREPRENEURS: A CLUSTER ANALYSIS STUDY

This paper contributes to our understanding of minority entrepreneurs in the US by showing that ethnicity alone should not be used to describe or categorize small business owners. We examine a sample of 508 entrepreneurs from three minority groups (African, Mexican, and Korean Americans) and a white group using cluster analysis to explore a categorization pattern that best describes the differences among these entrepreneurs. Our findings suggest that minority entrepreneurs are in fact a very heterogeneous group on a multitude of dimensions such as motivations for entry, satisfaction with the business, nature of problems experienced, and demographics of the business such as its size and gross income. Based on our findings, we recommend that educational and support programs targeting minority entrepreneurs should consider other variables rather than focusing on ethnicity alone.

IMMIGRANT AND US-BORN MEXICAN-OWNED BUSINESSES: MOTIVATIONS AND MANAGEMENT

In this study, we seek to understand the key differences between the entrepreneurial experience for Mexican immigrant and US-born Mexican entrepreneurs. We focus on differences in motivation for start-up, reliance on ethnic enclaves and business management practices. Using data from the 2005 National Minority Business Owner Survey, our sample consisted of 156 Mexican American entrepreneurs (55 immigrants and 101 US-born). Results suggest that even within a particular minority group, there are key distinctions between immigrant and US-born entrepreneurs. For example, US-born Mexican entrepreneurs are more motivated by the individualistic financial benefits of being an entrepreneur, while Mexican immigrant entrepreneurs are more motivated by serving society and their co-ethnic community. Implications are discussed.

Student entrepreneurial optimism and overconfidence across cultures

In this article, we examine whether university students are optimistic and/or overconfident about entrepreneurship, and the impact this has on their entrepreneurial intentions. We do so in three different nations corresponding to three different cultural clusters. Findings suggest that, students are optimistic—with American students being the most optimistic in comparison to their Spanish and Indian peers—but not overconfident. In addition, we find family support to moderate the relationship between entrepreneurial optimism, entrepreneurial overconfidence and entrepreneurial intentions. However, this moderating effect is not uniform across countries.

Entrepreneurial intentions and start-ups: Are women or men more likely to enact their intentions?:

While empirical data clearly show that women are underrepresented among entrepreneurs, the causes of this gap are entirely not clear. This article explores one potential cause: that women might be less likely to act on their entrepreneurial intentions. Building on Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour, we propose that intentions predict start-up behaviours, that is, that there is an intention–behaviour link. We then apply social role theory to propose that the intention–behaviour link is moderated by sex. Analysing data drawn from a sample of US-based management students during their first session in an introductory entrepreneurship course, at the end of the course, on their graduation and at a point up to three years after graduation, we find support for the intention–behaviour link and moderation of this link by sex. We identify additional contributions from our study and implications of our findings for addressing the sex gap in entrepreneurship.

Immigrant Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy: The Case of Turkey: JOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

This paper examines motivations for, and paths to, entrepreneurship among immigrants in Turkey based on interviews with 22 immigrant entrepreneurs in Istanbul. Findings suggest that immigrant entrepreneurs in a developing economy may be different from their counterparts in well‐established economies. First, immigrant entrepreneurs rely on their unique human and social capital in the process of starting businesses thanks to their ability to identify opportunities based on insider knowledge of the market in their home and host countries. Second, their ability to foster trusting relationships thanks to language, cultural, and religious knowledge permits immigrant entrepreneurs in an emerging economy to engage in less economically marginal activities.