Entrepreneurship as a career choice: The impact of locus of control on aspiring entrepreneurs’ opportunity recognition

Eric Adom Asante, Emmanuel Affum-Osei

Research output: Journal PublicationArticlepeer-review

160 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The ability of individuals to recognize entrepreneurial opportunities is the decisive factor in their decision to pursue entrepreneurship as a career. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate the role of locus of control on opportunity recognition (OR) among aspiring entrepreneurs. With a two-wave survey data of 270 aspiring entrepreneurs, our results suggest that internal and external locus of control have positive and negative relationships with aspiring entrepreneurs’ OR, respectively. The findings also show that entrepreneurial intention mediates the positive and negative relationships of internal and external locus of control on OR. Entrepreneurial searching self-efficacy (ESSE) provides an interesting moderating effect. The study sheds light on an important but rarely explored research area: OR among aspiring entrepreneurs. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)227-235
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Business Research
Volume98
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Entrepreneurial intention
  • Entrepreneurial self-efficacy
  • Locus of control
  • Opportunity recognition

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Marketing

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