Content area
Abstract
In former planned economies of Central Asia, a major correlate of the transformation to a market economy is the resurgence and development of entrepreneurship. As a result, both theory building and research becomes important for better understanding and the more effective practice of entrepreneurship in these countries. The purpose of this study is to propose and test a new theoretical model of international entrepreneurship. Based on social cognitive theory, this multidimensional process model incorporates personal, environmental, and performance variables of entrepreneurship. In accordance to social cognition, self-efficacy plays a central role in the model. Specifically, the model tested how both external environmental variables (dynamism and hostility) and personal variables (achievement, locus of control, and self-efficacy) relate to and influence the outcome measures of entrepreneurs' firms (effectiveness, profit, and growth).
For this study, entrepreneurs were defined as those who started their own business which is officially registered for at least three years. One hundred thirty-three entrepreneur-managers from the two Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan participated. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the questionnaire survey data. SEM allows for joint determination of the adequacy of a study's construct measures, and the estimation of the causal relationship among the constructs. Important to this social cognitive model, SEM also allows estimation of reciprocal (bidirectional) relationships between the variables.
The results of the analysis showed that environmental dynamism and hostility negatively influenced both entrepreneurial personal characteristics (need for achievement and internal locus of control) and performance outcomes. On the other hand, personal efficacy did have a direct positive impact on performance and also significantly mediated the positive relationship between personal (need for achievement and locus of control) and performance (organizational effectiveness, profit, and growth).
This study provides beginning empirical support for a social cognitive model of entrepreneurship. The analysis indicated entrepreneurship to be a complex process of reciprocal relationships between environmental and personal variables and their influence on performance. In particular, the important role that personal self-efficacy has on entrepreneurial success in the unfavorable, hostile environment of transitionary economies was clearly demonstrated. Implications for future research and more effective international entrepreneurial practice are discussed.
