PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test the ability of Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior to predict entrepreneurial intent in 12 countries representing all ten of the global regional clusters as identified in the GLOBE project.Design/methodology/approachAjzen's model was operationalized to address entrepreneurial intent and a questionnaire was developed consisting of previously used scales, as well as a new measure of entrepreneurial autonomy. A total of 1,748 usable questionnaires were collected from university business students in 12 countries.FindingsThe results suggest that Ajzen's model of planned behavior, as operationalized in this study, does successfully predict entrepreneurial intent in each of the study countries, although as foreseen by Ajzen, the significant contributing model elements differ by country as does the percent of the variance explained by the model, although one model element, social norms, was a significant predictor of entrepreneurial intent in each country.Originality/valueThis is the first paper to provide insight to the role of cognition in the entrepreneurial process by examining a model of planned behavior in countries representing all global regional culture clusters. The paper also provides guidance for future entrepreneurial research and individual development of entrepreneurs.

This study examines a number of proposed relationships between formal and informal institutional factors that impact the entrepreneurial intent (EI) of 477 university business students in Germany, Russia and the United States, as well as similarities and differences in these relationships between countries. This is the first study, of which we are aware, to develop an instrument to measure the impact of formal institutional factors on EI based upon the World Bank's Doing Business Report. Overall, the results give only minor support for the influence of formal institutional factors on EI with the greater impact appearing to come from the informal institutions of need, social norms and parental experience. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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