ENTREPRENEURIAL SELF-EFFICACY AND BUSINESS SUCCESS OF ENTREPRENEURS IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA: A PILOT STUDY

Abstract

The entrepreneurial self-efficacy is generally considered to be an important determinant of the entrepreneurship as a career choice. Another stream of the research on entrepreneurial self-efficacy is focused on exploring the link between this construct and the entrepreneurs’ business performance. Present study tries to fill the gap within this research field in the Serbian context by examining the relations of the entrepreneurial self-efficacy of entrepreneurs operating in the Republic of Serbia to their business performance. The study explores the nature of the relationship between the entrepreneurs’ business success and their general entrepreneurial self-efficacy (captured by one holistic measure), but also between business success and different dimensions of the entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Results show that general entrepreneurial self-efficacy and different dimensions of this construct are positively correlated to business success both measured by net profit and by a composite indicator of business success. The exception is the entrepreneurial self-efficacy in finance which is negatively correlated to the composite index of business success. Nevertheless, in the majority of cases, the results show the existence of the hypothesized directions of the relationship.