The Relationship of Achievement Goal Orientations and 21st Century Skills Acquisition with the Entrepreneurship of Pre-Service Teachers

Teachers' goal orientations and their adaptation to the 21st century determine many questions in teacher training and professional development. One of these aspects is entrepreneurship, such that the achievement goal orientations and 21st century skills of pre-service teachers have a positive role in entrepreneurship. The present study aimed to investigate the predictive role of the achievement goal orientations and 21st century skills of pre-service teachers in relation to entrepreneurship. To this end, a correlational design was conducted to analyze relationships between variables. The sample in the current study consisted of 282 pre-service teachers studying at a Faculty of Education in Anatolia Province, Turkey. The instruments were the Achievement Goal Orientations Scale, 21st Century Learning Skills Acquisition Scale, and The Scale of Entrepreneurship of College Students. The data obtained from these scales were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results showed that the structural model of the relationships between achievement goal orientations, 21st century skills, and entrepreneurship had an adequate goodness of fit, so that most of the achievement goal orientations and 21st century skills of pre-service teachers predicted either directly or indirectly their entrepreneurship skills. The conclusion was that entrepreneurial education activities related to teacher entrepreneurship can be planned by considering 21st century skills and achievement goal orientations in teacher education.

Learning Goal Orientation and Academic Performance: A Dynamic model

Drawing on the reciprocal determinism of self-regulation system, a process-based model is used to examine the relationship of learning goal orientation (LGO) among university students with their academic performance, via reciprocal relationships between initial status and change trajectories in academic self-efficacy and feedback-seeking behaviors. A longitudinal study of 316 Chinese university students throughout their first year in college reveals that students who have high LGO in their first month after entering the university generally have higher academic self-efficacy and seek more feedback. Moreover, initial levels of feedback seeking are positively related to academic performance via linear change in academic self-efficacy over time. Limitations of the study and practical implications are discussed.

Personality trait differences across types of entrepreneurs: a systematic literature review

The personality traits that define entrepreneurs have been of significant interest to academic research for several decades. However, previous studies have used vastly different definitions of the term “entrepreneur”, meaning their subjects have ranged from rural farmers to tech-industry start-up founders. Consequently, most research has investigated disparate sub-types of entrepreneurs, which may not allow for inferences to be made regarding the general entrepreneurial population. Despite this, studies have frequently extrapolated results from narrow sub-types to entrepreneurs in general. This variation in entrepreneur samples reduces the comparability of empirical studies and calls into question the reviews that pool results without systematic differentiation between sub-types. The present study offers a novel account by differentiating between the definitions of “entrepreneur” used in studies on entrepreneurs’ personality traits. We conduct a systematic literature review across 95 studies from 1985 to 2020. We uncover three main themes across the previous studies. First, previous research applied a wide range of definitions of the term “entrepreneur”. Second, we identify several inconsistent findings across studies, which may at least partially be due to the use of heterogeneous entrepreneur samples. Third, the few studies that distinguished between various types of entrepreneurs revealed differences between them. Our systematic differentiation between entrepreneur sub-types and our research integration offer a novel perspective that has, to date, been widely neglected in academic research. Future research should use clearly defined entrepreneurial samples and conduct more systematic investigations into the differences between entrepreneur sub-types.

Positive Psychological Attributes and Entrepreneurial Intention and Action: The Moderating Role of Perceived Family Support

Recent research illustrates substantial gaps between entrepreneurial intentions and behavior. This is a challenge for entrepreneurship promotion interventions that have primarily focused on stimulating entrepreneurial intentions. However, extant literature suggests that implementation intentions enhance the likelihood of acting congruently to the behavioral intention. Furthermore, theory also suggests the condition effects of situations and the perceived control over them. We therefore hypothesized that implementation intentions mediate the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and action, while perceived family support moderates the movement from implementation intention to entrepreneurial action. Using two-wave survey data from a sample of students at an African university, we measured two psychological attributes (proactive personality and psychological capital) as important precursors of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intentions present before undertaking an innovations and entrepreneurship course. Implementation intentions regarding entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial actions, and perceived parental support for entrepreneurial activities were also measured 2 weeks after completion of the course. Our results demonstrate support for the proposed moderated double mediation model in which the effects of the two psychological attributes on entrepreneurial actions are explained via entrepreneurial intentions and implementation intentions. We further find moderation effects of perceived family support indicating that implementation intentions more likely predicted entrepreneurial actions in cases of higher family support.

Exploring the Link Between Mentoring and Intangible Outcomes of Entrepreneurship: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy and Moderating Effects of Gender

Entrepreneurship education is increasingly becoming a focal strategy for promoting entrepreneurship, particularly to foster entrepreneurial intentions and startups. However, learning and support are equally important after startup for novice entrepreneurs to gain a good level of confidence to manage their business and achieve the desired outcomes. Using a sample of 189 young self-employed individuals in Uganda, this study examines the differential impact of mentoring and self-efficacy on the achievement of intangible outcomes of entrepreneurship including satisfaction of need for autonomy, work satisfaction and the intention to stay in self-employment. We found self-efficacy to mediate the effects of mentoring on these intangible outcomes. In addition, the results showed substantial gender differences. Whereas women's satisfaction of the need for autonomy and intention to stay in self-employment were strongly associated with the direct effects of mentoring, their male counterparts seemed to benefit more if mentoring resulted in increased self-efficacy. Overall, our findings suggest that whereas mentoring improves the competence of small business owners and consequently achievement of superior outcomes, mentoring should also focus on boosting self-efficacy which in turn is essential for the application of the entrepreneurial competencies.

Entrepreneurial intentions: the role of family factors, personality traits and self-efficacy

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of family background, big five personality traits and self-efficacy on entrepreneurial intentions (EIs) of business students in private universities in Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected with the help of structured questionnaires, 500 questionnaires were distributed among the students and 306 useable questionnaires were received and analyzed. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the relationship among the study variables. SmartPLS was utilized to run the analysis.

Findings

The findings revealed a strong relationship between the exogenous and endogenous variables. The variance accounted by the independent variables was 74.3 percent in the EIs of the students. Family background was found to have a positive impact on the EIs of students. The findings also showed a positive relationship between self-efficacy and EIs. Consciousness, extroversion and openness to experience are positively linked with EIs while neuroticism and agreeableness did not show any relationship.

Originality/value

The study’s findings attract the attention of the academicians to take note of the factors examined while training the students the art of entrepreneurship. This is because this study has revealed that if these factors are not present the intention of the students to start a business venture may prove to be weak. Entrepreneurial activities are one of the biggest ways to reduce unemployment, thus, it is suggested that academicians should develop psychological plans and training to motivate the students to convert their intentions into actions.