IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jglont/v8y2018i1d10.1186_s40497-018-0100-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beyond the Big Five: does grit influence the entrepreneurial intent of university students in the US?

Author

Listed:
  • Nikolaus T. Butz

    (University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point)

  • Sheila Hanson

    (University of North Dakota)

  • Patrick L. Schultz

    (University of North Dakota)

  • Marissa M. Warzynski

    (University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between grit and entrepreneurial intent. Grit involves maintaining effort and interest in the pursuit of long-term goals, despite adversity, stagnation, or failure. Entrepreneurial intentions are a well-established indicator that represents an individual’s conscious determination to start a new business. Secondary variables included the personality traits measured in the Big Five model (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism). Survey data were collected from over 500 undergraduate students at a Midwestern university in the United States. The results confirmed that there was a strong positive association between grit and entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore, independent samples t-tests revealed that high grit students showed greater entrepreneurial intent than low grit students. The data also indicated that grit fully mediated the predictive effect of conscientious and neuroticism on entrepreneurial intent. Overall, a better understanding of the influence of grit on entrepreneurial intent, given the presence of various diverse personality constellations, may help inform educators in preparing and delivering course content. The influence of grit may reduce the failure rate of new and young businesses launched by college-educated entrepreneurs.

Suggested Citation

  • Nikolaus T. Butz & Sheila Hanson & Patrick L. Schultz & Marissa M. Warzynski, 2018. "Beyond the Big Five: does grit influence the entrepreneurial intent of university students in the US?," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 8(1), pages 1-16, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jglont:v:8:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1186_s40497-018-0100-z
    DOI: 10.1186/s40497-018-0100-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s40497-018-0100-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s40497-018-0100-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Espíritu-Olmos, Roberto & Sastre-Castillo, Miguel A., 2015. "Personality traits versus work values: Comparing psychological theories on entrepreneurial intention," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 1595-1598.
    2. Alain Fayolle & Benoît Gailly, 2015. "The Impact of Entrepreneurship Education on Entrepreneurial Attitudes and Intention : Hysteresis and Persistence," Post-Print hal-02312771, HAL.
    3. Norris Krueger, 1993. "The Impact of Prior Entrepreneurial Exposure on Perceptions of New Venture Feasibility and Desirability," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 18(1), pages 5-21, October.
    4. Norris F. Krueger Jr. & Deborah V. Brazeal, 1994. "Entrepreneurial Potential and Potential Entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 18(3), pages 91-104, April.
    5. Edmund R. Thompson, 2009. "Individual Entrepreneurial Intent: Construct Clarification and Development of an Internationally Reliable Metric," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(3), pages 669-694, May.
    6. Nurdan Ozaralli & Nancy K. Rivenburgh, 2016. "Entrepreneurial intention: antecedents to entrepreneurial behavior in the U.S.A. and Turkey," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 6(1), pages 1-32, December.
    7. A. Fayolle & B. Gailly, 2015. "The Impact of Entrepreneurship Education on Entrepreneurial Attitudes and Intention: Hysteresis and Persistence," Post-Print halshs-00785012, HAL.
    8. Oosterbeek, Hessel & van Praag, Mirjam & Ijsselstein, Auke, 2010. "The impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurship skills and motivation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 442-454, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Neharika Vohra & Supriya Sharma & Nobin Thomas, 2022. "Experiencing Live Action of Business: Reflections on an Immersive Course in Entrepreneurship," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 31(1), pages 184-219, March.
    2. Nezameddin Faghih & Ebrahim Bonyadi & Lida Sarreshtehdari, 2021. "On the utility of the stochastic processes in modeling the nexus between entrepreneurship and innovation: a nonparametric application of Bayesian inference," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 11(1), pages 97-111, December.
    3. Francisco I. Vega-Gómez & Francisco J. Miranda González & Antonio Chamorro Mera & Jesus Pérez-Mayo, 2020. "Antecedents of Entrepreneurial Skills and Their Influence on the Entrepreneurial Intention of Academics," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(2), pages 21582440209, June.
    4. Chooi-Seong Lai & Mei-Yui Law & Chee-Seong Low & Mun-Keong Lai, 2020. "Personality Traits as Predictors to Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy with Gender and Family Background as Moderators," International Journal of Emerging Trends in Social Sciences, Scientific Publishing Institute, vol. 9(2), pages 51-62.
    5. Heru KRISTANTO & Radhitya Wisnhu PRATAMA, 2020. "Effects of the Neuroticism and Agreeableness Personality Types on Entrepreneurial Intention with Subjective Norm as Moderator," Expert Journal of Business and Management, Sprint Investify, vol. 8(1), pages 57-66.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Colin Donaldson, 2019. "Intentions resurrected: a systematic review of entrepreneurial intention research from 2014 to 2018 and future research agenda," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 953-975, September.
    2. Olivier Brunel & Eric Michael Laviolette & Miruna Radu-Lefebvre, 2017. "Role Models and Entrepreneurial Intention: The Moderating Effects of Experience, Locus of Control and Self-Esteem," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 25(02), pages 149-177, June.
    3. Francesco Ceresia, 2018. "The Role of Entrepreneurship Education in Fostering Entrepreneurial Intentions and Performances: A Review of 30 Years of Research," Revista Equidad y Desarrollo, Universidad de la Salle, issue 31, pages 47-66, June.
    4. Syed Zaheer Abbas, Kazmi & Andras, Nabradi, 2017. "New Venture Creation – The Influence Of Entrepreneurship Education On Students’ Behavior (A Literature – Review Based Study)," APSTRACT: Applied Studies in Agribusiness and Commerce, AGRIMBA, vol. 11(1-2), September.
    5. Chen Fang & Liwen Chen, 2019. "Exploring the Entrepreneurial Intentions of Science and Engineering Students in China: A Q Methodology Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-16, May.
    6. Maria-Ana Georgescu & Emilia Herman, 2020. "The Impact of the Family Background on Students’ Entrepreneurial Intentions: An Empirical Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, June.
    7. Grigorios Asimakopoulos & Virginia Hernández & Javier Peña Miguel, 2019. "Entrepreneurial Intention of Engineering Students: The Role of Social Norms and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-17, August.
    8. Ben Youssef, Adel & Boubaker, Sabri & Dedaj, But & Carabregu-Vokshi, Mjellma, 2021. "Digitalization of the economy and entrepreneurship intention," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    9. Anca-Otilia Dodescu & Elena-Aurelia Botezat & Alexandru Constăngioară & Ioana-Crina Pop-Cohuţ, 2021. "A Partial Least-Square Mediation Analysis of the Contribution of Cross-Campus Entrepreneurship Education to Students’ Entrepreneurial Intentions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-26, August.
    10. Pham, Dung & Jones, Paul & Dobson, Stephen & Liñán, Francisco & Viala, Céline, 2021. "Entrepreneurial implementation intention as a tool to moderate the stability of entrepreneurial goal intention: A sensemaking approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 97-105.
    11. Natalie Brüne & Eva Lutz, 2020. "The effect of entrepreneurship education in schools on entrepreneurial outcomes: a systematic review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 70(2), pages 275-305, May.
    12. Aurora A. C. Teixeira & Rosa Portela Forte, 2017. "Prior education and entrepreneurial intentions: the differential impact of a wide range of fields of study," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 353-394, March.
    13. A. Arrighetti & F. Landini & L. Caricati & N. Monacelli, 2015. "Entrepreneurial intention in the time of crisis: a field study," Economics Department Working Papers 2015-EP05, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    14. Ángela González Moreno & Llanos López Muñoz & Rosario Pérez Morote, 2019. "The Role of Higher Education in Development of Entrepreneurial Competencies: Some Insights from Castilla-La Mancha University in Spain," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-24, February.
    15. Ana Iolanda Vodă & Nelu Florea, 2019. "Impact of Personality Traits and Entrepreneurship Education on Entrepreneurial Intentions of Business and Engineering Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-34, February.
    16. Juan-José Nájera-Sánchez & Cristina Pérez-Pérez & Thais González-Torres, 2023. "Exploring the knowledge structure of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 563-597, June.
    17. Mojtaba Shahin & Olivia Ilic & Christabel Gonsalvez & Jon Whittle, 2021. "The impact of a STEM-based entrepreneurship program on the entrepreneurial intention of secondary school female students," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1867-1898, December.
    18. Giuliano Sansone & Elisa Ughetto & Paolo Landoni, 2021. "Entrepreneurial intention: An analysis of the role of Student-Led Entrepreneurial Organizations," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 399-433, September.
    19. Ruijie Zhu & Guojing Zhao & Zehai Long & Yangjie Huang & Zhaoxin Huang, 2022. "Entrepreneurship or Employment? A Survey of College Students’ Sustainable Entrepreneurial Intentions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, May.
    20. Leonidas A. Zampetakis & Manolis Lerakis & Konstantinos Kafetsios & Vassilis S. Moustakis, 2016. "The moderating role of anticipated affective ambivalence in the formation of entrepreneurial intentions," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 815-838, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jglont:v:8:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1186_s40497-018-0100-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.