Entrepreneurial Intentions and Economic Crisis

Abstract

Economic crisis may inhibit the individual's intention to start a business. Yet, its study in entrepreneurship literature is overlooked. This observation does not come as a surprise, if one looks at how the role of environment has been slowly left out from the study of entrepreneurial intention. This article informs the current models of entrepreneurial intention by bringing back the role of environment and is a first step towards theorizing about the applicability of these predictive models under extremely adverse economic conditions. Using a fact-based approach and drawing upon a dataset of 618 graduates in Greece, the paper explores the role of perceived crisis both as an antecedent and a moderator in an extended model of entrepreneurial intention. Social support is introduced in the model as an additional determinant of entrepreneurial intention. Findings regarding the antecedent effects show that crisis affects all antecedents of intention, apart from attitude, while findings regarding the moderating effects show that crisis moderates only the desirability constructs - intention relationship and it does so in a rather unexpected way. Research and practical implications are discussed.