65 Third, individuals in countries with more postmaterialist values are more likely to hold sustainable entrepreneurial goals over commercial entrepreneurial goals compared to those in countries with more materialist values. These results are supported by the findings of Hechavarria et al. (2017) who showed that social and sustainable goals are enhanced by postmaterialist culture, while economic goals are hindered by it. To conclude, young adults with higher education levels in countries with postmaterialist values are most likely to have sustainable entrepreneurial goals over commercial entrepreneurial goals.
The results of the publication contribute to sustainable entrepreneurship literature in three ways. First, the results provide evidence of the connection between age and sustainable entrepreneurial goals using the generation subculture and life stage theories. The results show that the generation subculture theory is applicable for explaining the preference for sustainable entrepreneurial goals over commercial entrepreneurial goals, while the life stage theory partially explains preferences between different types of sustainable entrepreneurial goals compared to commercial entrepreneurial goals. Second, prior literature examining different entrepreneurial goals has examined each element of sustainable entrepreneurship separately (Hechavarria et al., 2017), while this publication examines all three value creation elements simultaneously. Third, the results show that university students in Western countries are an appropriate context for studying sustainable entrepreneurship.
4.2
Publication II: Socially-oriented entrepreneurial goals and intentions: the role of values and knowledgeOverall objectives
The publication focuses on social entrepreneurial goals and socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions. As discussed in the introduction, in this doctoral thesis the concepts of socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions and social entrepreneurial goals are used interchangeably with sustainability-oriented entrepreneurial intentions and sustainable entrepreneurial goals. As a result, contributions are discussed in relation to both social and sustainable entrepreneurship. The theoretical model of the publication is presented below in Figure 6.
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Notes: Country (Finland=0, other=1), age, gender (male=0, female=1), field of study (business=0, other=1) and entrepreneurial parents (No=0, Yes=1) were controlled for.
Figure 6: Theoretical model of publication II
The aim of the publication was to examine the factors impacting social entrepreneurial goals and socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions. More specifically, the publication aimed to show how work values and general self-efficacy influence social entrepreneurial goals. Additionally, the publication aimed to provide evidence of the differences between drivers of general entrepreneurial intentions and drivers of socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions. This aim was realised by examining differences in the roles of work values, specific knowledge and general self-efficacy as drivers of general and socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions.
4.2 Publication II: Socially-oriented entrepreneurial goals and intentions: the role of values and knowledge
67 Main findings
The results of the publication show that work values influence general entrepreneurial intentions differently than socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions. First, altruism plays an important role in social entrepreneurial goals and socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions, while it does not have a significant impact on general entrepreneurial intentions. This result is supported by the findings of prior literature showing the importance of altruism and empathy in social and sustainable entrepreneurship (London, 2010; Smith et al., 2010; Patzelt and Shepherd, 2011; Dees, 2012). Second, intrinsic reward has a negative, partially significant effect on social entrepreneurial goals and does not have any connection to socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions, although it enhances general entrepreneurial intentions. This contradicts the suggestion that sustainable entrepreneurs are drivers of change (Cohen and Winn, 2008; Hockerts and Wüstenhagen, 2010) but aligns with the findings of entrepreneurship literature regarding the drivers of entrepreneurial intentions (Berings et al., 2004; Hirschi and Fischer, 2013). Third, security has a negative influence on both general and socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions. These results follow the findings of prior literature regarding the role of security in entrepreneurial intentions (Brenner et al., 1991; Berings et al., 2004; Hirschi and Fischer, 2013). However, it ought to be noted that during data collection, economic distress in Europe may have heightened the role of security.
Surprisingly, general self-efficacy is not connected to social entrepreneurial goals or general or socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions. Contrary to the publication results, prior literature has suggested that self-efficacy has a positive influence on entrepreneurial intentions across contexts (e.g., Boyd and Vozikis, 1994; Judge et al., 1998; Smith and Woodworthy, 2012). This may be due to the nature of general self-efficacy, and hence its influence is mediated by other factors, for example, intrinsic and extrinsic reward.
Moreover, specific knowledge plays a role in entrepreneurial intentions. Entrepreneurial experience has a positive influence on general entrepreneurial intentions, while environmental knowledge has a positive impact on socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions. These results are supported by the entrepreneurship literature that has proposed that knowledge plays an important role in recognising entrepreneurial opportunities, regardless of the context (Venkataraman, 1997; Shepherd and Patzelt, 2011; Shepherd et al., 2015). However, it seems that entrepreneurial experience cancels out the positive impact of environmental knowledge by making it insignificant. These results are in line with the findings of Kuckertz and Wagner (2010), which show that business experience weakens the influence of sustainability orientation on entrepreneurial intentions.
The publication’s contribution to the entrepreneurship literature is threefold. First, the results show that general entrepreneurial and socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions are driven by different work values. Comparing the drivers of general entrepreneurial intentions with those of socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions provides new information about entrepreneurial intentions. Second, the results of the study shed more
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light on the role of perceived knowledge level in intention formation. The entrepreneurship literature is extended to show the effect that entrepreneurial experience has on socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions and how it seems to influence the environmental knowledge-socially-oriented entrepreneurial intention relationship. Third, the results provide evidence about the role of general self-efficacy in entrepreneurial intention formation. The results show that general self-efficacy is not directly connected to general or socially-oriented entrepreneurial intentions; however, it seem that its influence is mediated through other factors.