Institutional Profiles and Entrepreneurship Orientation: A Case of Turkish Graduate Students

In this study I aimed to describe and explain which factors affect entrepreneurship orientation. I expect that proactivity and entrepreneurial behavior is directly related, and country’s institutional factors play very important role on the entrepreneurship orientation. Therefore, I defined institutional profiles and entrepreneurship's characteristics. Institutional profiles are classified into three main dimensions which are based on Kostava’s (1997) research; cognitive, regulatory and, normative dimensions. On the other hand, following Kostova, I modified questionnaire to adopt Turkish culture and I articulated and measured these dimensions. To define operationally the perceived institutional profiles for entrepreneurship, I generated a large pool of items, as well. The institutional profile dimensions include thirty-four items; eleven for regulatory dimension, eight for cognitive dimension and fifteen items for normative dimension. On the other hand, my focus in this study is on the measurement and correlation of proactive behavior as a personal disposition relative to the stable behavioral tendency. Proactive person searches for opportunities, takes initiative, acts, but the proactive dimension of behavior is essentially rooted in people's needs to manipulate and control the environment. At the same time, the prospective entrepreneur's interpretation of the environment is also moderated by his/her beliefs about the environment. From this point of view, I selected my research sample among graduate students who are included 170 person, accepting them as potential investors. For the proactive personality measurement, which includes seventeen items, Bateman and Crant's (1993) questionnaire was used. Furthermore, data reliability was tested before the analysis has begun. To conclude, the findings of the research were discussed.