Traits and entrepreneurial intention: testing the mediating role of entrepreneurial attitude and self-efficacy

Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intention phenomenon have been a subject-matter across the world of academia and many researches have been undertaken to unfold the mystery of entrepreneurial intention. While hypothesising the theoretical framework, in this study, the authors have endeavoured to instrument entrepreneurial traits and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) with the application of mediation mechanism. The cross-sectional study design was adopted to collect the data from 663 students (368 male and 295 female) of three different universities in India using the convenience sampling technique. Convergent and discriminant validity of the data, along with its model fitness, were ensured and tested using CFA while for testing the hypotheses, SEM technique was employed. Results revealed that traits and underlying factors of TPB have a direct and positive relationship with the entrepreneurial intention. Moreover, entrepreneurial traits were found significantly affecting entrepreneurial attitude and self-efficacy directly while having a significant indirect relationship with the entrepreneurial intention through the mediation of entrepreneurial attitude and self-efficacy. This study significantly contributes to the existing literature in the domain of entrepreneurial intention by cognising the mediating role of entrepreneurial attitude between traits and entrepreneurial intention.