Endings and visions of new beginnings: The effects of source of unemployment and duration of unemployment on entrepreneurial intent

This study adopts the push-entrepreneurship perspective and develops a conceptual framework grounded in prospect theory, in order to investigate whether source of sunemployment, layoff in particular, and duration of unemployment stimulate entrepreneurial intent. We also propose that fear of failure and risk propensity moderate the source/duration–entrepreneurial intent relationships. We test our hypotheses using survey data from a sample of unemployed individuals. Results show that both layoff and duration of unemployment are stimuli for higher entrepreneurial intent, and the source of unemploymentintent relationship is moderated by fear of failure and risk propensity. We discuss the implications of these results. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/erj-2012-0005 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-88022 Published Version Originally published at: Wood, Matthew; McKinley, William; Engstrom, Craig L (2013). Endings and visions of new beginnings: The effects of source of unemployment and duration of unemployment on entrepreneurial intent. Entrepreneurship Research Journal, 3(2):171-206. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/erj-2012-0005 Matthew Wood*, William McKinley, and Craig L. Engstrom Endings and Visions of New Beginnings: The Effects of Source of Unemployment and Duration of Unemployment on Entrepreneurial Intent Abstract: This study adopts the push-entrepreneurship perspective and develops a conceptual framework grounded in prospect theory, in order to investigate whether source of sunemployment, layoff in particular, and duration of unemployment stimulate entrepreneurial intent. We also propose that fear of failure and risk propensity moderate the source/duration–entrepreneurial intent relationships. We test our hypotheses using survey data from a sample of unemployed individuals. Results show that both layoff and duration of unemployment are stimuli for higher entrepreneurial intent, and the source of unemployment-intent relationship is moderated by fear of failure and risk propensity. We discuss the implications of these results. This study adopts the push-entrepreneurship perspective and develops a conceptual framework grounded in prospect theory, in order to investigate whether source of sunemployment, layoff in particular, and duration of unemployment stimulate entrepreneurial intent. We also propose that fear of failure and risk propensity moderate the source/duration–entrepreneurial intent relationships. We test our hypotheses using survey data from a sample of unemployed individuals. Results show that both layoff and duration of unemployment are stimuli for higher entrepreneurial intent, and the source of unemployment-intent relationship is moderated by fear of failure and risk propensity. We discuss the implications of these results.