Gender, Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy, And Entrepreneurial Attitude Orientations: The Case Of The Caribbean

Abstract

Women owned business is increasingly becoming an important part of the entrepreneurial process.  As such, there is an ongoing effort in the entrepreneurial field to understand the factors that shape their entrepreneurial attitude orientations (EAOs) and by extension, their entrepreneurial behavior.  Given such importance, this paper advances local research in this field through the application of the integrated social cognitive theory to the understanding of the interplay between gender, entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE), and students’ EAOs.  Using a survey of 539 Caribbean students from higher education institutions in Trinidad, the study found that while gender acts as a weak  determinant of students ESE (r=0.115, p=0.08), it has insignificant associations with EAOs (r=0.45, p=.305).  Furthermore, the study did not find any support for expected variations in students’ perception of their ESE and EAOs based on gender.  On the other hand, ESE as a personal and social construct proved to have both indirect and indirect effects on students’ perceptions of the EAOs.  In that regard, it produced a Pearsons r of (.0464, p=0.01) and showed mediating and inverse effect on the relationship between gender and EAOs.  Implications of these findings for researchers and policy makers are discussed and areas for further research are outlined.