Researching Entrepreneurial Beliefs in Career Decision-making

Abstract

Abstract Entrepreneurship is suggested as a key-mechanism for endogenous growth and social cohesion in modern, knowledge-driven societies and economies. Whether the youth will develop entrepreneurial competencies and initiatives has been considered crucial for economic growth and development and a key-subject of education and career counseling. Despite an increasing body of theoretical and empirical literature which mainly emphasize the formation of entrepreneurial intention and the strengthening of entrepreneurial self-efficacy -usually as a result of some intervention-, the findings show deficiencies or relative ambiguity, in terms of explaining the complex factors (e.g. entrepreneurial mindset, dysfunctional beliefs) associated with entrepreneurial intention and behavior. The present conceptual paper presents a synthetic literature review aiming at a deeper understanding of entrepreneurial intention and behavior. Based on the emergence of new, more explanatory, models to predict entrepreneurial behavior we emphasize how relevant research could approach this topic through the lens of the Socio-Cognitive Career Theory - driven by self-efficacy, outcome expectations and goal-directed activity - given that to date few studies have used this theoretical framework. We also suggest that the traditional entrepreneurial self-efficacy concept is investigated along with a new framework (ASKO) to measure beliefs regarding success of new ventures. ASKO typology traces a variety of different entrepreneurial mindsets within the person-environment dichotomy. Moreover, the potential contribution of dysfunctional career beliefs and locus of control in the formation of entrepreneurial behavior is examined. Career decision process and entrepreneurial career choices are highly complex and entail elements of various theoretical perspectives. The present literature review sheds light to our understanding of entrepreneurial career choices and suggests holistic in-depth research that will provide rich explanatory information on a wide range of behaviors. Finally, the present review provides opportunities to get insights regarding the nature and potential influence of support interventions in the context of entrepreneurship education and career counseling. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, career beliefs, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, ASKO typology, career counseling, entrepreneurship education.