The Impact of Access to Finance and Environmental Factors on Entrepreneurial Intention: The Mediator Role of Entrepreneurial Behavioural Control
Abstract
Objective: The objective of the article is to test the direct and indirect impact of environmental and individual determinants on entrepreneurial intention with perceived entrepreneurial behavioural control as a mediating variable.
Research Design & Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative research was conducted using structural equation modelling analysis with a sample consisting of 635 students in 11 universities in Vietnam.
Findings: The results reveal that perceived environmental factors are significantly related to students’ perceived entrepreneurial behavioural control so that entrepreneurial behavioural control becomes a mediator through which those environmental factors influence entrepreneurial intention. Access to finance is insufficient to influence entrepreneurial intention unless combined with entrepreneurial behavioural control.
Implications & Recommendations: The research findings have implications for policy-makers in fostering graduates’ entrepreneurship in emerging countries.
Contribution & Value Added: The survey provides evidence supporting the theoretical arguments that exogenous factors affect perceived entrepreneurial behavioural control and impact entrepreneurial intention through the individual’s perceptions of behavioural control.
Keywords
access to finance; entrepreneurial intention; perceived environment barriers; perceived behavioural control; university environment; SEM
References
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179-211.
Bae, T.J., Qian, S., Miao, C., & Fiet, J.O. (2014). The Relationship between Entrepreneurship Educa-tion and Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Meta-Analytic Review. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38(2), 217-254.
Benhabib, A., Merabet, A., Benachenhou, M., Grari, Y., Boudia, F., & Merabet, H. (2014). Environ-mental and Individual Determinants of Female Entrepreneurship in Algeria: Applying the Struc-tural Equation Modeling. Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 2(1), 65-80.
Brice, J., & Spencer, B. (2007). Entrepreneurial profiling: A decision policy analysis of the influence of entrepreneurial self-efficacy on entrepreneurial intent. Academy of Entrepreneurship Jour-nal, 13(2), 47-67.
Cha, M., & Bae, Z. (2010). The entrepreneurial journey: From entrepreneurial intent to opportunity realization. Journal of High Technology Management Research, 21(1), 31-42
Clercq, D.D., Lim, D.S.K., & Oh, C.H. (2011). Individual-Level Resources and New Business Activity: The Contingent Role of Institutional Context. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 37(2), 303-330.
Dolce, V., Molino, M., Cortese, C.G., & Ghislieri, C. (2018). Personality and social support as deter-minants of entrepreneurial intention. Gender differences in Italy. PLOS ONE, 13(6), 1-19.
Fayolle, A., & Liñán, F. (2014). The future of research on entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Business Research. Elsevier, 67(5), 663-666.
Fini, R., Meoli, A., Sobrero, M., Ghiselli, S., & Ferrante, F. (2016). Student Entrepreneurship: De-mographics, Competences and Obstacles. Technical Report - Almalaurea Consortium, February 2016, 1-35.
Florin, J., Karri, R., & Rossiter, N. (2007). Forstering entrepreneurial drive in business education: an attitudinal approach. Journal of Management Education, 31(1), 17-42.
Franke, N., & Lüthje, C. (2004). Entrepreneurial intentions of business students: a benchmarking study. International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, 1(3), 269-288.
Gnyawali, D., & Fogel, D. (1994). Environments for entrepreneurship development: key dimensions and research implications. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 18(4), 43-62.
Guerrero, M., & Urbano D. (2015). The effect of university and social environments on graduates’ start-up intentions: an exploratory study in Iberoamerica. In R. Blackburn, U. Hytti, & F. Welter (Eds), Context, Process and Gender in Entrepreneurship: Frontiers in European Entrepreneurship Research (pp. 55-86). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Hadjimanolis, A. (2016). Perceptions of the institutional environment and entrepreneurial intentions in a small peripheral country. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 28(1), 20-35.
Hair, J.F.J., Black, W.C., Anderson, R.E., & Babin, B.J. (2009). Multivariate Data Analysis. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
Khan, M.R. (2013). Mapping entrepreneurship ecosystem of Saudi Arabia. World Journal of Entre-preneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 9(1), 28-54.
Kristiansen, S., & Indarti, N. (2004). Entrepreneurship intentions among Indonesian and Norwegian students. Journal of Enterprising Culture, 12(1), 55-78.
Krueger, N.F., Reilly, M.D., & Carsrud, A.L. (2000). Competing models of entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Business Venturing, 15(5/6), 411-432.
Kwong C., Jones-Evans, D., & Thompson, P. (2012). Differences in perceptions of access to finance between potential male and female entrepreneurs: Evidence from the UK. International Jour-nal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 18(1), 75-97.
Lim, D.S.K., Morse, E.A., Mitchell, R.K., & Seawright, K. (2010). Institutional environment and entre-preneurial cognitions: A comparative business systems perspective. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 34(3), 491-516.
Liñán, F., & Chen, Y.W. (2009). Development and Cross-Cultural Application of a Specific Instrument to Measure Entrepreneurial intentions. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33(3), 593-617.
Lüthje, C., & Franke, N. (2003). The ‘making’ of an entrepreneur. Testing a model of entrepreneurial intent among engineering students at MIT. R & D Management, 33(2), 135-47.
Pham, T.L. (2019). The Relationship between Perceived Access to Finance and Social Entrepreneur-ship Intentions among University Students in Vietnam. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 55(1), 63-72.
Preacher, K.J., & Hayes, A.F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and com-paring indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behaviour Research Methods, 40, 879-891.
Robertson, M., Collins, A., Medeira, N., & Slater, J. (2003). Barriers to start-up and their effect on aspirant entrepreneurs. Education & Training, 45(6), 308-316.
Schwarz, E., Wdowiak, M., Almer-Jarz, D., & Breitenecker, R. (2009). The Effects of Attitudes and Perceived Environment Conditions on Students Entrepreneurial Intent. Education + Training, 51(4), 272-291.
Sesen, H. (2013). Personality or environment? A comprehensive study on the entrepreneurial inten-tions of university students. Education + Training, 55(7), 624-640.
Shahid, M.S., Imran, Y., & Shehryar, H. (2017). Determinants of entrepreneurial intentions: An insti-tutional embeddedness perspective. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 30(2), 139-156.
Smith, K., & Beasle, M. (2011). Graduate entrepreneurs: intentions, barriers and solutions. Educa-tion & Training, 53(8/9), 722-740.
Turker, D., & Selcuk, S.S. (2009). Which Factors Affect Entrepreneurial Intention of University Stu-dents?. Journal of European Industrial Training, 33(2), 142-159.
Urban, B., & Ratsimanetrimanana, F.A. (2019). Access to finance and entrepreneurial intention. An empirical study of Madagascan rural areas. Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 13(4), 455-471.
Verzat, C., & Bachelet, R. (2006). Developing and Entrepreneurial Spirit among engineering college students: what are the educational factors?. In A. Fayolle, H. Klandt, & E. Elgar (Eds.), Entre-preneurship education (pp. 191-217). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Wach, K., & Wojciechowski, L. (2016). Entrepreneurial Intentions of Students in Poland in the View of Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour. Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 4(1), 83-94.
Yurtkorua, S.E., Kuşcub, Z.K., & Doğanayc, A. (2014). Exploring the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention on Turkish university students. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 150(2014), 841-850.
National Economics University Viet Nam

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a CC BY-4.0 licence that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are asked to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) only the final version of the article, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access). We advise using any of the following research society portals: