The Role of Resilience in Entrepreneurship Student Intentions to Start a Business

Abstract

Approach/Methods Our sample consisted of five hundred and nine undergraduate students enrolled in several different entrepreneurship programs in the U.S. Multiple programs employing experientially based learning were included by design as our objective was to explore student learning processes and not the influence of any one specific pedagogical technique (c.f., Liguori & Vanevenhoven, 2013). All subjects were provided a questionnaire packet to complete in person at the end of the semester that included relevant measures. The reliability and validity of measures were tested and supported. The sequence of effects was modeled for resilience, self-efficacy, identity, and intention (along with controlling for gender, prior start-up and failure experience) (c.f., Hayes, 2013; Preacher, Rucker, & Hayes 2007; Duchek, 2018). Discussion/Lessons Resilience was found to have significant indirect and direct effects on entrepreneurial efficacy perceptions and identity in explaining student start-up intentions. The model is parsimonious and explained 50% of the variability in start-up intention which compares very favorably with prior models in the literature. In terms of educational interventions, it appears that resilience is a resource that is important in the learning “chain of effects” for entrepreneurial students (and probably implicated in the learning of students in other applied/professional programs that require coping with unexpected events). Our findings are consistent with the work of Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker (2000) and imply that resilience should be viewed as part of a dynamic learning process and not purely as an immutable trait. Resilience has been conceptualized as a dynamic construct that can be encouraged (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2013). This research answers the call for studies of resilience in entrepreneurial education (Gonzalez-Lopez, Perez-Lopez, & Rodriguez-Ariza, 2019) and “sets the stage” for future research in the scholarship of teaching and learning exploring antecedents and classroom interventions than bolster student resilience. References Duchek, S., (2018). Entrepreneurial resilience: a biographical analysis of successful entrepreneurs. International Entrepreneurship Management Journal, 14, 429-455. Fletcher, D., & M. Sarkar, (2013). Psychological resilience: a review and critique of definitions, concepts, and theory. European Psychologist, 18 (1), 12-23. Gonzalez-Lopez, M.J., M.C. Perez-Lopez, & L. Rodriguez-Ariza, (2019). Clearing the hurdles in the entrepreneurial race: the role of resilience in entrepreneurship education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 18 (3), 457-483. Hayes, A. F., (2013). Introduction to meditation, moderation, and conditional process analysis, Builford Press, New York, NY. Korber, S., & R.B. McNaughton, (2017). Resilience and entrepreneurship: a systematic literature review, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 24 (7), 1129-1154. Liguori, E., & J. Vanevenhoven, (2013). The impact of entrepreneurship education: introducing the entrepreneurship education project. Journal of Small Business Management, 51 (3), 315-328. Luthar, S.S., D. Cicchetti, & B. Becker, (2000). The construct of resilience a critical evaluation and guidelines for future work. Child Development,71 (3), 543-562. Preacher, K. J., D.D. Rucker, & A.F. Hayes, (2007). Addressing moderated meditation hypotheses: Theory, methods, and prescriptions. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 42, 185-227.