Does entrepreneurial self-efficacy moderate effects of cognitive flexibility and entrepreneurial alertness on entrepreneurial intentions?

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this article is to empirically investigate whether entrepreneurial self-efficacy moderates the effects of cognitive flexibility, entrepreneurial alertness on entrepreneurial intentions. It is based on social cognitive theory and person-environment fit theory; the present study aimed to identify the impact of cognitive flexibility, entrepreneurial alertness on entrepreneurial intention.

Research Design & Methods: The sample of this study comprised 486 respondents from the public sector business schools of Pakistan. Data were gathered using a self-report administered questionnaire, and hypotheses were tested with structural equation modelling.

Findings: The results supported the structured hypotheses of the study where cognitive flexibility positively predicts the conditional direct relationship between entrepreneurial alertness and entrepreneurial intentions.

Implications & Recommendations: Our study has some practical implications for the researcher, educationist, and policymakers who are directly and indirectly involved in enhancing the growth of entrepreneurship.

Contribution & Value Added: A unique technique adopted to run a second-order moderated mediation model through AMOS v.26 in one-shot. This study contributes to the emerging research of cognitive psychology and entrepreneurship fields and concludes that individuals with a high level of cognitive flexibility, alertness, and self-efficacy are more inclined to pursue a career in entrepreneurship.

Keywords

entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial alertness, second-order moderated mediation, model 15, user-defined estimand, robust one-shot model, new venture creation

Author Biography

Shabeeb Ahmad Gill

Ph.D. scholar in Business Administration at Lyallpur Business School, Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan. His research areas are entrepreneurship, organizational development, organizational sustainability, and strategic human resource management. He did M. Phil (2015, NCBA&E Lahore); MPA (2011, GCUF). Currently leading Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) at Riphah International University, Faisalabad campus.

Nelly Bencheva

Ph.D. in Management and working as head of the department at the Agricultural University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Her research interest is in management, entrepreneurship, and strategy management. She has produced many qualities of research work.

Selcuk Karayel

He is a visiting professor at the University of South Carolina, Darla Moore School of Business. In addition, also working as an Assist. Prof. Dr. at Necmettin Erbakan University in Turkey, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences. He has been working for the private sector as a foreign trade consultant for many companies in Turkey for 15 years. His areas of interest are business administration and economics.

Muhammad Usman

Ph.D. scholar in Applied Mathematics at Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, Como Italy. His research is data analysis and applied mathematics.