Predicting self-employment intentions and entry in Germany and East Africa: an investigation of the impact of mentoring, entrepreneurial attitudes, and psychological capital

Abstract

Self-employment is a feasible and in some contexts the most available form of employment especially for new entrants into the labor market. Understanding student’s willingness to go into self-employment and the factors important to the process of becoming self-employed is therefore important. This paper explores the role of entrepreneurial mentoring, attitudes, and psychological capital in development of self- employment intentions among students. A two-year longitudinal survey of final year university students (288 German and 498 East African) was conducted. The follow-up survey (T2) of 103 participants was conducted within 6 months and 2 years after graduation. Results suggest that entrepreneurial mentoring, attitudes, and psychological capital are directly related to self-employment intentions. Attitudes mediated the relationship between mentoring and intentions. Furthermore, psychological capital moderated the effects of mentoring and attitudes on self- employment intentions. East African participants reported higher intentions (T1) and higher rate of entry into self-employment (at T2) compared to the German participants. Contrary to our assumption, however, psychological capital did not have substantial effects on self-employed entry. The implications of these findings are discussed.

RÉSUMÉ

Le travail indépendant est une forme d'emploi réalisable qui, dans certains contextes, est la plus disponible, en particulier pour les nouveaux arrivants sur le marché du travail. Il est donc important de comprendre la disposition des étudiants á se lancer dans cette activité non salariée, ainsi que les facteurs essentiels du processus de transformation en travailleur indépendant. Cet article explore le rôle du mentorat, des attitudes et du capital psychologique entrepreneuriaux dans le développement des intentions en matière de travail indépendant parmi les étudiants. Une enquête longitudinale de deux ans a été conduite parmi des étudiants (288 Allemands et 498 Est-Africains) au cours de leur dernière année universitaire. L'enquête de suivi (T2) parmi 103 participants a été conduite dans une période de six mois, et deux ans après l'obtention du diplôme. Les résultats suggèrent que le mentorat, les attitudes et le capital psychologique entrepreneuriaux sont directement liés aux intentions en matière de travail indépendant. Les attitudes jouaient un rôle médiateur entre le mentorat et les intentions. En outre, le capital psychologique modérait les effets du mentorat et des attitudes sur les intentions en matière de travail indépendant. Comparativement aux participants allemands, les participants est-africains ont rapporté de plus fortes intentions (T1) et un taux plus élevé d'engagement dans le travail indépendant (á T2). Cependant, contrairement á notre hypothèse, le capital psychologique n'a pas eu d'effets substantiels sur l'engagement dans le travail indépendant. Les implications de ces résultats sont discutées.

Keywords:

• Cultural context
• entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions
• mentoring
• psychological capital
• self-employment entry

Mots-clés:

• Contexte culturel
• attitudes et intentions entrepreneuriales
• mentorat
• capital psychologique
• entrée sur le marché du travail indépendant

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Martin Mabunda Baluku

Martin Mabunda Baluku is a PhD Student at Philipps Universität-Marburg, Germany; and Assistant Lecturer at Makerere University, department of Educational, Organizational and Social Psychology. His current research interests are: psychological attributes and entrepreneurship; career development; the psychology of cheating and corruption; retirement and psychological wellbeing; and organizational politics and change.

Peter Onderi

Peter Onderi is a Lecturer of Psychology at Maseno University, Kenya. His research interests include: personality assessment, cognitive development, career development and employability counseling.

Kathleen Otto

Kathleen Otto (PhD) is a Professor of Organizational and Work Psychology at Philipps Universität-Marburg, Germany. Her research interests are job insecurity; organizational justice; self-employment; and career success.