From macroeconomics to entrepreneurial intention formation in Kenya

: a two folded perspective of macro-and behavioral economics

Abstract

This paper presents a two folded perspective of macro and behavioural economics on entrepreneurial activities in developing countries. First, it will examine the macroeconomic perspective and explore the impact of entrepreneurship in developing countries. Second, it will present an empirical analysis from a behavioural economics perspective that investigates the individual factors influencing entrepreneurial intentions. The results indicate a positive correlation between entrepreneurship and socio-economic development. However, the review reveals that there is a significant research gap between developed and developing countries, and further studies are necessary to fully comprehend this relationship. For the empirical part of the dissertation, structural equation modeling was employed to understand the relationship between entrepreneurial culture, entrepreneurial education, and entrepreneurial intention. The study involved 235 university students who had taken at least one entrepreneurship course. The data was collected through a questionnaire that operationalized the constructs evaluated by the model. Hereby, the construct used were based on well-established items from earlier research to ensure the psychometric qualities of the instruments. The findings reveal that entrepreneurial culture has a direct impact on entrepreneurial intention, while entrepreneurial education does not show a significant influence. However, entrepreneurial mindset mediates both relationships, explaining an indirect effect of entrepreneurial culture and entrepreneurial education. Finally, by combining both fields of research, recommendations for future research in this area are presented. It consolidates the main contributions of the thesis by reflecting on the previous work and examining the limitations that hinder the ability to draw inferences from the two studies. Recommendations for future researchers to bridge the research gap and gain a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between macro- and behavioural economics is provided.

Date of Award	21 Jun 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Leonor Almeida (Supervisor)