Entrepreneurs as rulers? Insights from the relationship between social dominance orientation and entrepreneurial intention

Abstract

Can individuals’ preference for social hierarchies and inequality affect their intention to pursue entrepreneurship? We surveyed university students in two countries and discovered that the answer may be context‐dependent. Findings suggest that the respondents’ views toward hierarchy and group‐based dominance in society, as indicated by social dominance orientation‐dominance (SDO‐D), is related to their Entrepreneurial Intentions (EI) for starting for‐profit companies. Perceived behavioral control (PBC) mediated the relationship between SDO‐D and EI, implying that higher SDO‐D influences people to think more positively about their own capabilities which in turn leads to higher EIs. These general patterns held in the U.S. sample. However, in South Korea's hierarchical society, respondents’ SDO‐D had little effect on EI as SDO‐D did not significantly affect PBC. Our findings suggest that individuals' SDO is an important and overlooked personality trait that may offer additional insights when added to models of EI.

Women empowerment and entrepreneurial intention: A pathway to achieve sustainable development goal (SDG‐5)

“…Questions related to the third independent variable, financial support, are adapted from (Aragon‐Sanchez et al, 2017). The fourth independent variable is social dominance orientation, which includes six questions adapted from (Choi et al, 2018).…”

“…Groups at the top of the social hierarchy possess valuable resources, such as highly ranked occupations, wealth, political power, and the best healthcare. At the same time, the groups at the bottom of the social hierarchy are characterised by low‐status jobs and low incomes (Choi et al, 2018). Muldoon et al (2019) investigated the influence of SDO on the entrepreneurial intentions of women.…”

“…They observed that although SDO impacts entrepreneurial intention among women, it has been overlooked in previous studies. Choi et al (2018) studied the impact of SDO on the entrepreneurial intentions of two people from the U.S. and South Korea. They found a positive correlation between SDO and entrepreneurial intentions.…”