The impact of story bound entrepreneurial role models on self‐efficacy and entrepreneurial intention

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of positive and negative same-gender fictional role models on students' self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. Design/methodology/approach -The authors conducted an experimental research on 276 French students. Structural equation modeling techniques were employed to measure role model identification, attitude toward the role model, emotional arousal, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. Findings -Exposure to fictional role models favorably impacts self-efficacy and behavioral intentions if students identify with role models, hold favorable attitudes toward the message, and experience positive emotional arousal. Successful role models reinforce role model identification and generate favorable attitudes toward the message, thus enhancing self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. Unsuccessful entrepreneurial role models also favorably reinforce the relationship between self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. Message framing and role models' gender exert a moderating effect on these results. Practical implications -Several implications for entrepreneurship education are discussed. The predominance of masculine models in entrepreneurship discourse should be inverted in the agenda of entrepreneurship education. The authors question the overall predominance of positive models in entrepreneurial education and more deeply explore the learning value of negative models. Originality/value -Entrepreneurial literature mainly focuses on mastery experience and positive real-life role models as antecedents of entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Negative role models are rarely examined as potential favorable sources of self-efficacy beliefs, and little is known about the impact of emotional arousal, another source of self-efficacy beliefs, as theorized by Bandura.

The impact of role models on entrepreneurial intentions and behavior: a review of the literature

“…Results highlight that entrepreneurial feasibility is higher for groups who watched videos. In addition, Laviolette et al (2012) show that observing a fictional role model-'entrepreneurs' testimonials and narratives'-positively influences entrepreneurial self-efficacy and intentions. They find that as long as role models provide the possibility for an individual to identify with them, they can stimulate a positive attitude toward entrepreneurship and increase entrepreneurial activities.…”

“…Moreover, the authors find that stories about successful fictional role models had greater effects compared to stories of unsuccessful 'real-life' role models. Therefore, it has been suggested that telling stories about entrepreneurs be used in entrepreneurship education programs to influence entrepreneurial intentions (Fellnhofer 2017b;Laviolette et al 2012). In this respect, Radu and Loué (2008) suggest that using social media could create a greater impact if it exposes young generations to more similar idealistic (and realistic) role models instead of heroic role models that could fulfill social and/or family requirements.…”

“…From the literature, we know that there are various types of ERMs (e.g., Bosma et al 2012;Laviolette et al 2012;Boissin et al 2011) and that these different types of role models affect entrepreneurial intentions and behavior differently (e.g., Schoon and Duckworth 2012;Eesley and Wang 2017;Nanda and Sørensen 2010).…”

“…Our literature review reveals that past studies mainly used cross-sectional research designs (e.g., Lafuente et al 2007;Díaz-García and Jiménez-Moreno 2010;Karimi et al 2014;Lafuente and Vaillant 2013;Criaco et al 2017;Laspita et al 2012). Although this design fits the datasets and surveys used, it does not allow to assess longer-term effects and actual entrepreneurial behavior (e.g., Fellnhofer 2018; Huyghe and Knockaert 2015;Laviolette et al 2012;Du Toit and Muofhe 2011). Longitudinal data could help close this gap and not only measure entrepreneurial intentions but also investigate actual behavior (Davidsson and Honig 2003;Karimi et al 2014).…”

Modeling entrepreneurial decision-making process using concepts from fuzzy set theory

“…From another optic, several scholars have analyzed the relationship between gender and attitudes with new venture creation (Delmar & Davidsson, 2000;Laviolette et al, 2012), and have found that males have a higher preference for entrepreneurship behavior than females. According to Hindle et al (2009), it has been suggested that female entrepreneurs are disadvantaged compared to men with respect to most forms of human capital and also because of a lack of suitable and effective social networks.…”