ENTREPRENEURIAL-CAREER-CHOICE RESEARCH STREAMS

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CHAPTER 2: Entrepreneurial-career-choice research streams

Introduction

In order to be able to identify an existing framework suited for validating the factors relating to entrepreneurial career choice within a sample of secondary school students, this chapter reviews past research on entrepreneurial career choice with a focus on the factors that relate to this choice.
In the analysis on entrepreneurial career choice, a plethora of theories and frameworks spanning the psychological, behavioural and career choice fields exists. However, the studies underlying such theories and frameworks have often been conducted in isolation, so that a unified and comprehensive picture of the research findings on entrepreneurial career choice and related factors is currently not available.
The present section of this paper reviews the most relevant authors and their research contributions and attempts to group the existing theories and frameworks in clearly identifiable research streams. At the same time, the literature review conducted in this chapter evaluates the analysis of the factors relating to entrepreneurial career choice performed by previous research, laying the foundation for identifying a comprehensive model of such factors that can be utilised to investigate them among secondary school students.
What follows is a description of relevant theories and frameworks on entrepreneurial career choice and related factors according to the authors that have devised them.

 Ajzen (Ajzen; Ajzen & Fishbein)

Ajzen (1985: 11) observes that human action follows, either explicitly or implicitly, well-formulated plans. Actions, in this perspective, are guided by intentions. Nevertheless, not all intentions are put into action, as some are abandoned altogether and others are revised. Ajzen examined the relations between intentions and actions, more specifically, the way in which goals and plans influence behaviour and how factors can induce people to change their intentions or hinder them in the successful execution of their behaviour.
The first theory that resulted from his research on intentions and actions is the Theory of Reasoned Action by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980). The main assumption behind this theory is that human beings decide on their courses of action according to a rational volitional process (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980: 5). Consistent with this view, the Theory of Reasoned Action identifies intentions as the main determinant of an individual’s actions or behaviour. In turn, the two basic determinants of a person’s intentions are attitude toward the behaviour and subjective norm (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980: 6). The factor attitude toward the behaviour corresponds to the person’s evaluation of the behaviour to be performed. In other words, the action to be carried out can be seen as either positive or negative, and this evaluation will influence the person’s intention to perform the action. The factor subjective norm encompasses the social pressure felt by the individual to execute or not to execute the behaviour in question. The weight exerted by each of the above two factors on the individual’s intention depends on the relative importance attributed by the individual to attitudinal considerations as opposed to societal normative considerations (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980: 7).
After understanding that behaviour is influenced by intentions and that intentions are affected by both attitude toward the behaviour and subjective norm, Ajzen and Fishbein further investigated what drives attitude toward the behaviour and subjective norm. They came to the conclusion that these two factors are a function of beliefs (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980: 7). Attitude toward the behaviour is influenced by the beliefs that the individual has regarding the positive or negative outcome of his or her behaviour. These beliefs are called behavioural beliefs. The more positive the behavioural beliefs, the more favourable a person’s attitude toward the behaviour. Conversely, subjective norm is influenced by normative beliefs, namely the beliefs that a person has about how society or specific groups of people view the behaviour that the individual is considering performing. A person will feel pressure to perform a certain action if he or she believes that the people with whom he or she identifies think that he or she should perform the behaviour.
The Theory of Reasoned Action excludes factors other than attitude toward the behaviour and subjective norm that may play a role in determining behaviour. These other factors are called external variables by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980: 9) and include personality traits and demographic characteristics. The authors believe that external variables may influence behaviour to the extent that they exert pressure on the determinants of that behaviour. Nevertheless, Ajzen and Fishbein have not included them in the Theory of Reasoned Action because they believe there is no necessary relation between any given external variable and behaviour (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980: 85). At the same time, while affirming that the relationship between external variables and the determinants of behaviour has little bearing on their theory, the authors recognise that investigation of the effects of external variables on behaviour can indeed enhance the understanding of a given behavioural phenomenon. Ajzen and Fishbein (1980: 59), for example, state that the strength with which attitude toward the behaviour and subjective norm impact on intentions can be influenced by demographic variables, personality traits or other individual differences.
The reasons for the authors’ non-inclusion of external variables in their theory are that, on one hand, the relation between external variables such as personality traits or demographic variables and behaviour is generally found to be weak and that, on the other hand, these relations change over time (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980: 85–87). From the point of view of the Theory of Reasoned Action, external variables do not feature in the theory because their effect on behaviour is always mediated by beliefs. Consequently, taking them into account would not improve how accurately attitudes and subjective norms predict behaviour. At the same time, nonetheless, Ajzen and Fishbein (1980: 91) admit that external variables can shed light on the factors determining the beliefs underlying a given behaviour and help researchers in their understanding of the behaviour in question, in so far as they are related to such beliefs.
Ajzen (1985: 18) prescribes exerting caution towards some caveats when using the Theory of Reasoned Action to predict behaviour. According to this theory, intention is the immediate antecedent of behaviour. However, the author acknowledges that the intention-behaviour relation can be disturbed by two instances: i) intentions may change over time, so that the intention initially measured is not the same as the one that influences behaviour when the action is close at hand, and ii) as behaviour must be under volitional control for the Theory of Reasoned Action to hold, when non-volitional factors exert a strong influence on the behaviour in question, the theory’s predictive validity is significantly compromised.
With regards to the issue of intentions changing over time, Ajzen (1985: 18–23) identifies the following determinants of intentions changing over time.

• Salience of beliefs: beliefs about the negative consequences of an action as opposed to its positive outcomes may become increasingly salient as the time of the behaviour draws near.
• New information: new events and the new information they produce can cause an individual to revise his or her intentions.
• Confidence and commitment: intentions-behaviour correlations are more stable when intentions are held with more confidence and commitment, in which case the individual will offer more resistance to swaying from his or her initial intentions.
• Individual differences: individuals differ in the way they adjust their behaviour to either internal states or external situations. Some people tend to model their behaviour based on principle and inner disposition, whereas others are more influenced by situational contingencies or pragmatism. In the latter case, individuals’ behavioural intentions tend to be more susceptible to change in reaction to changes in the external environment.
• Long-range prediction: at the individual level, the correlation between intentions and behaviour is weaker over the long term (when the behaviour is far away in time from the intentions observed) than over the short term (when the behaviour occurs shortly after the intentions are expressed), because certain events which may occur over a period of time may result in the individual revising his or her intentions. However, the correlation between intentions and behaviour has proved to be stronger over time at the aggregate level, as the changes in intentions by different individuals roughly cancel out, thus allowing for the intentions of the aggregate group of people to remain unchanged.

Regarding the issue of behaviours that are not fully under volitional control, Ajzen (1985: 24–29) emphasises non-volitional internal and external factors which can exert an influence on the intention to perform a certain action.

• The following are internal factors that can influence the successful performance of an intended behaviour.
• Individual differences: people differ in terms of their ability to exercise control over their own actions. This concept, sometimes termed “locus of control”, describes how certain people perceive that they are significantly in control of their actions and the goals they want to attain, as opposed to people who believe that external factors control most events in their lives. Individuals with high locus of control tend to have a higher intentions-behaviour correlation.
• Information, skills and abilities: simply put, people who plan to execute an action, but do not have the necessary information available or the required skills and abilities, may change their intentions, or fail to perform the intendedn behaviour.
• Power of will: also commonly known as “will power” or “strength of character”, power of will is the strength of will needed to perform a certain action against the obstacles that may be encountered. Since power of will varies from person to person, some people turn out to be more determined in performing a certain behaviour than others who are overcome by fear or temptations of different kinds.
• Emotions and compulsions: whereas the above factors present problems of control that can be fairly overcome, some types of behaviour are often believed to be determined by forces beyond our control; such is the case when an individual’s emotions and compulsive behaviours are so strong that his or her voluntary intentions are heavily compromised.

DECLARATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
APPENDICES
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND
1.2. YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP
1.3. PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.4. IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY
1.5. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.6. DEFINITION OF TERMS
1.6.1. Entrepreneurial career choice
1.6.2. Antecedents of entrepreneurial career choice.
1.7. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.8. OUTLINE OF THE THESIS
CHAPTER 2: ENTREPRENEURIAL-CAREER-CHOICE RESEARCH STREAMS .
2.1. INTRODUCTION
2.2. AJZEN (AJZEN; AJZEN & FISHBEIN)
2.3. SHAPERO AND SOKOL
2.4. BANDURA
2.5. SCHERER (SCHERER, ADAMS, CARLEY &WIEBE; SCHERER, ADAMS &WIEBE)
2.6. LENT (LENT & BROWN; LENT, BROWN & HACKETT; LENT, PAIXÃO, SILVA & LEITÃO)
2.7. BIRD
2.8. BOYD AND VOZIKIS
2.9. ROBINSON, STIMPSON, HUEFNER AND HUNT
2.10. KRUEGER (KRUEGER; KRUEGER & BRAZEAL; KRUEGER & CARSRUD; KRUEGER, REILLY & CARSRUD)
2.11. DAVIDSSON.
2.12. DOUGLAS AND SHEPHERD
2.13. SCHEIN
2.14. DYER.
2.15. KOLVEREID (KOLVEREID; TKACHEV & KOLVEREID)
2.16. SOUTH AFRICAN AUTHORS.
2.16.1. Urban (Shaw & Urban; Urban; Urban & Barreira; Urban & Shaw; Urban, Van Vuuren& Owen)
2.16.2. Burger, Mahadea and O’Neill (Burger, Mahadea & O’Neill; Burger, O’Neill &Mahadea; Mahadea, Ramroop & Zewotir)
2.16.3. Nieuwenhuizen and Groenewald (Nieuwenhuizen & Groenewald; Nieuwenhuizen &Kroon; Van Vuuren & Groenewald)
2.16.4. Other South African authors
2.17. PLACING THE CURRENT STUDY INTO CONTEXT.
2.18. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 3: THE STATUS OF YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP
3.1. INTRODUCTION.
3.2. YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEFINED
3.3. YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT
3.4. THE EFFECTS ON YOUTH OF THE RECENT FINANCIAL CRISIS AND CURRENT RECESSION.
3.5. THE DYNAMICS OF EDUCATIONAL LEVELS AND YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT
3.6. TEMPORARY-EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS AND YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT
3.7. YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A WAY OUT OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT
3.8. THE PROPENSITY OF YOUNG PEOPLE TO BE ENTREPRENEURS
3.9. RESEARCH DILEMMA.
CHAPTER 4: ANTECEDENTS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL CAREER CHOICE: A CRITICAL THEORETICAL REVIEW AND FUTURE RESEARCH AGENDA 
4.1. INTRODUCTION
4.2. CURRENT THEORIES OF ENTREPRENEURIAL CAREER CHOICE
4.3. TOWARDS A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF ANTECEDENTS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL CAREER CHOICE
4.4. CONCLUSION
4.5. LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 5: ANTECEDENTS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL CAREER CHOICE: A CONCEPTUAL AND MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK 
5.1. INTRODUCTION
5.2. TOWARDS A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF ANTECEDENTS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL CAREER CHOICE
5.3. BUILDING A MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK FOR VALIDATING THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF ANTECEDENTS
5.4. CONCLUSION
5.5. LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 6: EXPLAINING ENTREPRENEURIAL CAREER CHOICE THROUGH ANTECEDENTS
6.1. INTRODUCTION
6.2. LITERATURE REVIEW
6.3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
6.4. FINDINGS
6.5. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
6.6. CONCLUSION
6.7. LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
REFERENCE
CHAPTER 7: THE STATUS OF YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SOUTH AFRICA
7.1. INTRODUCTION
7.2. LITERATURE REVIEW
7.3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
7.4. FINDINGS
7.5. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
7.6. CONCLUSION
7.7. LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
8.1. INTRODUCTION
8.2. CRITICAL REVIEW OF ENTREPRENEURIAL-CAREER-CHOICE RESEARCH
8.3. A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF ANTECEDENTS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL CAREER CHOICE
8.4. ANTECEDENTS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL CAREER CHOICE
8.5. THE STATUS OF YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SOUTH AFRICA
8.6. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
8.7. RECOMMENDATIONS
8.8. SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS
LIST OF REFERENCES
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