Botha Melodi
Department of Business Management, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Front Psychol. 2020 May 26;11:922. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00922. eCollection 2020.
While the differences between men and women with regard to entrepreneurial activity is well-acknowledged, few scholars have explored models explaining the differences through an objectivist lens. This research addresses this gap by investigating the relationship between prior entrepreneurial exposure and entrepreneurial action, moderated by entrepreneurial competencies (ECs). This paper draws from two psychology theories to develop and test a three-factor model of entrepreneurial action. The structuration theory formulates a theoretical model that explains how entrepreneurs' interaction with their environment, and their concomitantly learned behavioral scripts (i.e., entrepreneurial competencies), impacts a newly formulated typology of entrepreneurial gestation activities based on the mindset theory of action phases. Furthermore, the ECs in this paper are drawn from a systematic framework of entrepreneurship competency development, which categorizes ECs into (1) entrepreneurial attitudes and personal characteristics and (2) entrepreneurial motives. By dividing entrepreneurial action into a predecisional, preactional, and actional phase, a novel approach is used in taking the context of the entrepreneurial process into account. It is proposed that prior entrepreneurial exposure is a significant and positive predictor of future entrepreneurial action in the predecisional and preactional phases. However, once entering the actional phase, this factor is no longer important, as women entrepreneurs have crossed the entrepreneurial Rubicon. The sample consists of South African entrepreneurs of which 346 women entrepreneurs and a sample of 804 male entrepreneurs are used to compare the results of the first hypothesis. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to model the relationship between prior entrepreneurial exposure and entrepreneurial action. Results confirm that prior entrepreneurial exposure in the form of role models, entrepreneurial parents, or any other form of exposure to entrepreneurship before starting a business is particularly important to encourage women to pursue business start-up (action). Furthermore, the development of certain ECs is crucial for improving the strength of the relationship between prior entrepreneurial exposure and entrepreneurial action for women entrepreneurs. These results have important implications for women entrepreneurs, educators, as well as entrepreneurship models, which have been traditionally male dominated.
虽然男性和女性在创业活动方面的差异已得到广泛认可，但很少有学者从客观主义视角探索解释这些差异的模型。本研究通过调查先前创业经历与创业行动之间的关系（以创业能力（ECs）为调节变量）来填补这一空白。本文借鉴两种心理学理论来开发和测试一个创业行动的三因素模型。结构化理论构建了一个理论模型，解释企业家与其环境的互动以及他们随之习得的行为脚本（即创业能力）如何影响基于行动阶段思维理论新构建的创业孕育活动类型。此外，本文中的创业能力源自一个系统的创业能力发展框架，该框架将创业能力分为（1）创业态度和个人特征以及（2）创业动机。通过将创业行动分为决策前、行动前和行动阶段，采用了一种新颖的方法来考虑创业过程的背景。研究提出，在决策前和行动前阶段，先前的创业经历是未来创业行动的一个重要且积极的预测因素。然而，一旦进入行动阶段，这个因素就不再重要，因为女性企业家已经越过了创业的难关。样本由南非企业家组成，其中346名女性企业家和804名男性企业家的样本用于比较第一个假设的结果。结构方程模型（SEM）用于模拟先前创业经历与创业行动之间的关系。结果证实，榜样、有创业经历的父母或创业前任何其他形式的创业经历对鼓励女性追求创业（行动）尤为重要。此外，发展某些创业能力对于增强女性企业家先前创业经历与创业行动之间的关系强度至关重要。这些结果对女性企业家、教育工作者以及传统上由男性主导的创业模式具有重要意义。
