Cyber-entrepreneurial intention among students in Public Universities: evidence from an Emerging Country

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the factors affecting cyber-entrepreneurial intentions among final-year students of public universities in Malaysia utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Theory of Self-Efficacy (TSE). The quantitative survey-based research method was adopted to conduct the study using both final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students from business and management schools to test the proposed research framework. A total of 364 useful responses were received to be analyzed for this study. Results showed that attitude toward entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial creativity, entrepreneurial knowledge, entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and opportunity recognition were positively correlated with cyber-entrepreneurial intentions except for personal innovativeness in technology and subjective norm, which was insignificant. This study provides insights into the way individual’s intention towards cyber-entrepreneurship could be ameliorated as a career choice, particularly for final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students of business and management schools in Malaysian public universities. It helps determine appropriate approaches to direct the government, educators, and policymakers. The findings from this study invaluably contribute to the existing literature by establishing correlation between TPB and TSE and inquiring into their ultimate influences on cyber-entrepreneurial intentions.

Appendix A. List of items by construct

Construct (references)	Items
Cyber – Entrepreneurial Intentions (Liñán & Chen, 2009)	CEI1: I am ready to do anything to be an internet-based entrepreneur.
	CEI2: My professional goal is to become an internet-based entrepreneur.
	CEI3: I will make every effort to start and run my own internet-based business.
	CEI4: I am determined to create an internet-based business in the future.
	CEI5: I have very seriously thought of starting an internet-based business.
	CEI6: I have the strong intention to start an internet-based business someday.
Entrepreneurial Knowledge (Roy et al., 2017)	EK1: To what extent do you understand the activity of a cyber-entrepreneur?
	EK2: To what extent you can differentiate between good or bad cyber-entrepreneurs?
	EK3: To what extent do you aware about the activities of e-business association Malaysia?
	EK4: To what extent do you know how business support bodies can help you to get loan and technical aid to start your internet-based business?
	EK5: To what extent do you know about specific training provided for cyber-entrepreneurs?
Subjective Norm (Roy et al., 2017)	SN1: If I were to start my own internet-based business, my parents would be supportive.
	SN2: If I were to start my own internet-based business, close friends of mine would be very supportive.
	SN3: My parents’ opinions are not at all important to me*.
	SN4: How important are the opinions of your close friends to you?
Attitude towards entrepreneurship (Shahab et al., 2019)	ATE1: A career as a cyber-entrepreneur is totally unattractive to me.
	ATE2: If I had the opportunity and resources, I would like to start an internet-based business.
	ATE3: Amongs various options, I would rather be anything but a cyber-entrepreneur.
	ATE4: Being a cyber-entrepreneur would provide me great satisfaction.
	ATE5: Being a cyber-entrepreneur implies more advantages than disadvantages to me.
Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (Burnette et al., 2019)	ESE1: I am confident in my ability to successfully perform the various roles and tasks of cyber-entrepreneurship.
	ESE2: I am confident in my ability to successfully identify new internet-based business opportunities.
	ESE3: I am confident in my ability to create new products.
	ESE4: I am confident in my ability to think creatively.
	ESE5: I am confident in my ability to successfully commercialize an idea or new development.
Entrepreneurial Orientation (Langkamp Bolton & Lane, 2012)	EO1: I like to take bold action by venturing into the unknown.
	EO2: I am willing to invest a lot of time and/or money on something that might yield a high return.
	EO3: I tend to act “boldly” in situations where risk is involved.
	EO4: I often like to try new and unusual activities that are not typical, and not necessarily risky.
	EO5: In general, I prefer a strong emphasis on unique, one-of-a-kind approaches, rather than revisiting tried and true ones previously used.
	EO6: I prefer to try my own unique way when learning new things rather than doing it like everyone else does.
	EO7: I favour experimentation and original approaches to problem solving rather than using methods others generally use for solving their problems.
	EO8: I usually act in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes
	EO9: I tend to plan ahead on projects.
	EO10: I prefer to “step-up” and get things going on projects rather than sit and wait for someone else to do it.
Entrepreneurial Creativity (Shahab et al., 2019)	EC1: I am a very creative person.
	EC2: I set aside a few minutes each day or week to be creative.
	EC3: I have plenty of ideas.
	EC4: I search for new solutions even when they are not needed.
	EC5: My ideas are often very original.
	EC6: I am sensitive to problems that others cannot see.
	EC7: It is easy for me to find proposals for improvement.
Personal Innovativeness in Technology (Dutta et al., 2015)	PIT1: If I hear about a new information technology, I would look for ways to try it.
	PIT 2: Among my peers, I am usually the first to try out new information technologies.
	PIT 3: In general, I am hesitant to try out new information technologies.
	PIT 4: I like to try out new information technologies.
Opportunity Recognition ( Zhang et al., 2020)	OR1: I frequently identify opportunities to start-up new internet-based businesses.
	OR2: I frequently identify ideas that can be converted into new products or services.
	OR3: I generally have ideas that may materialize into profitable enterprises.