The interaction between culture and sex in the formation of entrepreneurial intentions

Rotem Shneora*, Selin Metin Camgo¨zb,1 and Pinar Bayhan Karapinarb,2 aFaculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Institute of Economics, University of Agder, Gimlemoen 25 H, 4604 Kristiansand, Norway; bDepartment of Business Administration, Hacettepe University,

06800 Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey (Received 5 November 2012; accepted 9 October 2013)

This study aims to reveal the effect of an interaction between culture and sex on the formation of entrepreneurial intentions, while building on notions of a cultural construction of gender. The study adopts the theory of planned behaviour as the setting for such exploration, as it has been proven to be robust across national contexts. The analysis is based on survey data collected from business students in Norway and Turkey. Both countries were selected as two distinct and opposite cultural constellations in accordance with the dissatisfaction approach to entrepreneurship. Turkey representing a relatively masculine, high power distance, uncertainty avoiding and collectivistic society; while Norway representing the opposite. Results show that Turkish students, regardless of sex, exhibit significantly higher levels of entrepreneurial intentions and self-efficacy. Male students, regardless of national background, exhibit higher levels of entrepreneurial intentions, self-efficacy and social norms. Finally, our study shows that the extent to which males differ from females in terms of their entrepreneurial intentions is contingent on the national cultural context from which they originate. Keywords: entrepreneurial intentions; culture; sex; gender; Turkey; Norway

Introduction Motivated by the interest to understand supportive conditions for entrepreneurial behaviour, entrepreneurship scholarship has seen an exponential growth in studies of entrepreneurial intentions and their antecedents. Entrepreneurial intentions are defined as the intent to start a business and/or to launch a new venture (Krueger 2009). Its antecedents have been robustly anchored in a number of intentionality models (Hindle, Klyver, and Jennings 2009; Iakovleva and Kolvereid 2009; Krueger and Carsrud 1993; Krueger, Reilly, and Carsrud 2000), at the core of which are elements from Shapero and Sokol’s (1982) model of the entrepreneurial event (EE) and/or Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behaviour (TPB).