The influence of entrepreneurial desire and self-efficacy on entrepreneurial intention: A study in the context of tourism and hospitality students

Abstract

Tourism is one of the most important industries in New Zealand and is the country’s biggest export earner, employer, and its fastest-growing economic generator (Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA), 2017). The industry is dominated by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which account for 85% of businesses (TIA, 2017). Therefore, the growth of the tourism industry is directly linked with the continued year on year growth of tourism SMEs in New Zealand. One of the approaches used to promote the development of this sector is through the engagement in entrepreneurship. For that reason, entrepreneurial intentions should be the initial focus in the promotion of entrepreneurship in the tourism and hospitality industry because it explains why and how the process of new venture creations occur (Baron, 2004). The literature on entrepreneurial intentions is converging on two dominant models, the entrepreneurial event model (Shapero & Sokol, 1982) and the theory of planned behaviours (Ajzen, 1991). However, the models were shown to have overlooked a motivational impetus that explains the process and conditions leading to intentions. On the other hand, personal desires are a critical driver of intentions that can explicate the motivational mechanism of intentional acts (Bagozzi, 1992). Therefore, the inclusion of entrepreneurial desires in entrepreneurial intention models is vital in predicting the intentions, especially in the context of tourism and hospitality industry whereby lifestyle aspiration is one of the primary motives of many founding businesses. Likewise, the motivational functions of entrepreneurial self- efficacy (ESE), entrepreneurial role models, and anticipated emotions should also be investigated as the drivers of entrepreneurial intentions. The study used a quantitative method to understand and predict entrepreneurial intentions of the tourism and hospitality students in New Zealand. A survey was conducted at Queenstown Resort College, a tourism and hospitality institution based in Queenstown, New Zealand. The survey was designed with five validated scales adopted from the literature on entrepreneurial intention, ESE, desire, and anticipated emotions, which is divided into positive and negative emotion scales. Data from 177 responses were then analysed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling to test seven hypotheses about the relationships between entrepreneurial intention and its motivational drivers. The results found that ESE and entrepreneurial desires directly influenced entrepreneurial intentions. Additionally, the relationship between entrepreneurial desires and entrepreneurial intentions were partially mediated by ESE. Also, entrepreneurial role models not only had a positive and significant effect on ESE but also on entrepreneurial desires. Finally, entrepreneurial desires were found to be predicted by positive anticipated emotions. These findings contribute to the current understanding of the motivational mechanism that leads to entrepreneurial intentions, especially in the tourism and hospitality (T&H) context. Different from the previous two entrepreneurial models, the results of the study highlighted the importance of motivational elements, i.e. entrepreneurial desires, as a predictor of entrepreneurial intentions. Therefore, developing T&H student’s intentions for an entrepreneurial career needs to start from stimulating their desires for tourism entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the positive impacts of entrepreneurial desires on ESE provide new knowledge to ESE theory by including the motivational influence of entrepreneurial desires as a new determinant of ESE in the attempt to achieve entrepreneurial goals. Taken together, these findings suggest that future studies on entrepreneurial intentions in the T&H context should include the examination of entrepreneurial desires and ESE as key drivers of intentions for becoming entrepreneurs. Additionally, the study underlined the importance of motivational aspects of entrepreneurial role models and positive anticipated emotions that stimulate T&H student’s desires for entrepreneurial careers.