Entrepreneurship barriers and entrepreneurial inclination among Malaysian postgraduate students

Abstract

Purpose -Postgraduate students who are more mature and have greater job experience are more likely to be inclined towards entrepreneurship. However, postgraduate students face various barriers such as lack of funds, fear of failure and lack of social networking that may hinder their entrepreneurial inclination. The barriers faced by these postgraduate students may also exhibit different dimensions compared with barriers faced by existing entrepreneurs. This study aims to examine the relationship between perceived barriers to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial inclination. Design/methodology/approach -Based on a survey-based methodology, data were collected from a sample of 267 postgraduate students from various Malaysian universities. Respondents' perception towards five barriers to entrepreneurship (aversion to risk, fear of failure, lack of resources, lack of social networking, and aversion to stress and hard work) and their entrepreneurial inclination were assessed. Findings -The model R-squared indicated that 31.5 percent of the variation in the entrepreneurial inclination is explained by the five perceived barriers. The highest ranked barrier to entrepreneurship was lack of social networking followed by lack of resources and aversion to risk.Research limitations/implications -The findings in this study cannot be generalized to non-student populations since it covers only postgraduate students. The quantitative approach used was unable to uncover in-depth information on the various barriers. A qualitative approach may be more appropriate to obtain further details. Originality/value -This research provides interesting insights into the entrepreneurship barriers faced by postgraduate students from a developing nation where such research is lacking.

Encouraging Female Entrepreneurship in Jordan: Environmental Factors, Obstacles and Challenges

“…In addition to personal traits, factors in the micro and macro environment that can encourage or hinder entrepreneurship have also been investigated (Franco et al, 2010;Franke & Luthje, 2003). Some of these environmental factors are: market structure and dynamics (Boccardelli & Magnusson, 2006;Van Stel, Storey, & Thurik, 2007); access to financing (Sara Carter, Shaw, Lam, & Wilson, 2007;Itani, Sidani, & Baalbaki, 2011a;Kim, Aldrich, & Keister, 2006;Sandhu, Sidique, & Riaz, 2011;Welsh, Memili, Kaciak, & Al Sadoon, 2014); government policy (Ahmad & Xavier, 2011;N. Carter, Brush, Greene, Gatewood, & Hart, 2003;Goby & Erogul, 2011;Minniti, 2008);political and economic stability (Lerner, 2010;Movahedi & Yaghoubi-Farani, 2012;Taylor & Plummer, 2003);culture and society's views on entrepreneurship (C. C. Baughn et al, 2006;C.…”

“…Carter, Brush, Greene, Gatewood, & Hart, 2003;Goby & Erogul, 2011;Minniti, 2008);political and economic stability (Lerner, 2010;Movahedi & Yaghoubi-Farani, 2012;Taylor & Plummer, 2003);culture and society's views on entrepreneurship (C. C. Baughn et al, 2006;C. Baughn & Neupert, 2003;Gupta, Turban, Wasti, & Sikdar, 2009;Light & Dana, 2013;Ramadani, Gërguri, Dana, & Tašaminova, 2013;Shinnar, Giacomin, & Janssen, 2012);business information (Ettl & Welter, 2010;Sandhu et al, 2011);support mechanisms and networking opportunities (Ahmad & Xavier, 2011;Al-Alak & Al-Haddad, 2010;Caputo, Mehtap, et al, 2015;De Vita et al, 2014;Goby & Erogul, 2011);access to formal education and training (Dabic et al, 2012;Dickson, Solomon, & Weaver, 2008;Lüthje & Franke, 2002;Packham, Jones, Miller, Pickernell, & Thomas, 2010;Pruett, 2012).…”

“…Personal factors, such as aversion to risk, fear of failure and aversion to stress and hard work are also common barriers faced by aspiring entrepreneurs (Taormina & Lao, 2007;Wang & Wong, 2004). In fact a "fear of failure" has been cited as the top reason given worldwide for not starting a business (Sandhu et al, 2011). …”

Students’ perceptions of barriers to entrepreneurship

“…Personality traits like motivation (Iakovleva et al, 2014), courage and volition (Birdthistle, 2008), self-efficacy (Boyd & Vozikis, 1994;Zhao, 2005), confidence and fear, either in financial terms (Finnerty & Krzystofik, 1985) or in terms of risk avoidance (Giacomin et al, 2011;Singh Sandhu et al, 2011), are examined by many authors and are found to act either as drivers or as impediments to entrepreneurial intentions. For example, lack of motivation, lack of courage, lack of self-efficacy or confidence can act as personality constraints to one's engagement to self-employment.…”

“…It is a measure of one's commitment to the target of establishing and running a new business (Kolvereid & Isaksen, 2006). Negative attitude towards entrepreneurship was declared as a barrier to entrepreneurship by many authors (Ledyaeva et al, 2008;Singh Sandhu et al, 2011;Smith & Beasley, 2011).…”