Evaluating the impact of prior experience in entrepreneurial intention

Although entrepreneurial behavior is proposed as part of the solution to fragile labor markets, in particular in periods of economic and social change, policy makers are struggling to find the right levers to promote it. Despite the extant prior research on entrepreneurial behavior, little is known on the entrepreneurial behavior drivers for the individuals of working age with experience. Prior research explores the influence of entrepreneurial knowledge to study the drivers of experienced individuals evaluating whether or not to engage in an entrepreneurial behavior. This research introduces entrepreneurial knowledge to study the impact of prior experience on entrepreneurial intention. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this research work analyzes the relationship between entrepreneurial knowledge and entrepreneurial intention, and the mediating effects of the TPB perceptual variables: personal attitude (PA), social norm (SN), and perceived behavioral-control (PBC). A structural equation model (SEM) has been used to analyze the responses of a sample of 431 experienced individuals of working-age that completed a questionnaire based on Lian & Chen's, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 593-618, (2009) Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EIQ). The results showed that entrepreneurial knowledge positively influences entrepreneurial intention and that this influence is mediated by the perceptual variables of the TPB model (PA, SN, PBC). These findings contribute to the understanding of the entrepreneurial intention for experienced individuals and consolidate the use of the TPB model to study individual entrepreneurial intention. The findings suggest that policy makers should pay more attention to individual entrepreneurial knowledge, and strengthen the attractiveness of an entrepreneurial career, if they are interested in fostering entrepreneurial behavior among individuals of working age with experience.