The role of affect in the development of entrepreneurial intentions

Abstract

Advances on the study of entrepreneurial intention among students from universities motivate to further investigate the factors behind this intention. In this paper, we focus on the effect of affective traits (positive and negative) on the entrepreneurial intention antecedents proposed by Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior drawing on the arguments of affect priming. Using a sample of 597 students from Spain, we use structural equation model to test our hypotheses. Our results show that positive affective traits have a positive impact on the attitude toward entrepreneurship (ATE), perceived behavioral control of entrepreneurship (PBC), and social norms toward entrepreneurship (SN). Negative affective traits negatively influence ATE and SN, but not PBC. In addition, using a K-means clustering analysis and an analysis of variance, our study further explores how different affective personalities relate to a particular level of entrepreneurial intention. Our results contribute to understand of the psychological processes that influence entrepreneurial intention. Overall, our research contributes to the literature on affect and entrepreneurial cognition by evaluating the interaction of affect and the cognitive antecedents of entrepreneurial intention.