The Relationship of Career Adaptability and Entrepreneurial Intentions: Moderating Effect of Risk Aversion and Entrepreneurial Opportunity

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(1)The Relationship of Career Adaptability and Entrepreneurial Intentions: Moderating Effect of Risk Aversion and Entrepreneurial Opportunity. by Yi-Hsin Lin. A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Major: International Human Resource Development. Advisor: Chu-Chen Rosa Yeh, Ph.D.. National Taiwan Normal University Taipei, Taiwan January, 2019.

(2) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Nothing is completely by oneself, especially while doing the research and pursuing for a master degree. I’d like to give you all a grand appreciation to those who helped me on the way of studying for the degree. First, the greatest appreciation to my lovely and optimistic advisor, Dr. Rosa. Without her, I won’t be able to finish my thesis. With her expertise and passionate on doing the research, I have more confidence and passion on doing the research that I’m more interested in. She is always patient on instructing and willing to give advice on doing the research. Meanwhile, thanks to my committees, Dr. Ted and Dr. Vera, who gave me a lot of suggestion on my research and my future career as well. Having them as my advisor and committees are the luckiest thing during my study in IHRD. No words can express how thankful I am to the friends I met in IHRD, Ainsley, Debby, Gilbert, Jasmine, Kimi, Marta, and Steven, you made my day during the time in IHRD. We had an unforgettable time on hanging out for fun, supporting IHRD events, taking courses and doing reports. Special thanks to Jasmine, for being a great listener and consultant while I stuck on my research, you always provide me with great suggestions and encourage me not to doubt on what I’m doing. Thank you for listening to my nonsense and mumbling and also teaching me statistics. Also thanks to IHRD staff, Jessica, Tracy and Victor, for helping out everything that has to do with school affairs. Thanks to my beloved friends. My lovely brothers and sisters in Christ, without your prayers, I won’t be able to keep on doing my research. Your encouragement, support, and caring gave me the persistence and passion. Thanks to my sisters of 3115107, ASK, SINBON, and P.U.S.H., for being forced to share my surveys, relieving my stress by asking me out, and accompanying me while I was writing my thesis in Starbucks Yi 14. Dearest Papa and Mama, I did it. Thank you for supporting everything while I was studying in my master, and bear to my willfulness and stress. Papa and Mama, you are always my great model and support in my life, thank you for providing me economically and giving a great learning environment. THANK YOU! Last but not least, thanks to my Lord Jesus, for such wonderful and grateful time during my graduate years, and for meeting so many people listed above and those I haven’t named in the here. Your words and hymns are my guidance, encouragement, and comfort. May I please you with my career and life. This thesis is for you, since you provide me the wisdom, knowledge, patience, persistence and passion on finishing it..

(3) ABSTRACT With the rapid evolution of technology and economy, individual accesses to the path of becoming self-employed is more diverse and the career structure is changing as well. Individual encounters more uncertainty in work and is forced to adapt and cope with the changes. Thus, career adaptability is considered to be an influencing factor in the construction of future career. A research on the relationship between career adaptability and entrepreneurial intention is proposed, with the effect of moderators, risk aversion and entrepreneurial opportunity. A total of 295 valid data responses were collected via a web-based survey. Descriptive analysis, Pearson Correlation, and Hierarchical Regression analysis were applied to test the Hypotheses. As the results, career adaptability is significantly related to entrepreneurial intention. However, the moderating effect of risk aversion and entrepreneurial opportunity were not found. In addition, males were found to have higher entrepreneurial intention than females, while nonfull-time workers possess higher entrepreneurial intention than full-time workers.. Keyword: career adaptability, entrepreneurial intention, risk aversion, entrepreneurial opportunity, self-employed. I.

(4) TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... I TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................... II LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................IV LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................. V CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 1 Background of the Study ....................................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................................... 3 Purpose of the Study .............................................................................................................. 6 Research Questions ................................................................................................................ 7 Significance of the Study ....................................................................................................... 7 Delimitation ........................................................................................................................... 8 Definition of Key Terms ........................................................................................................ 8. CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................... 11. Entrepreneurial Intention ..................................................................................................... 11 Career Adaptability .............................................................................................................. 16 Risk Aversion....................................................................................................................... 18 Entrepreneurial Opportunity ................................................................................................ 20. CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ................................................................... 23 Research Framework ........................................................................................................... 23 Research Procedure .............................................................................................................. 25 Research Design................................................................................................................... 26 Sampling and Data Collection ............................................................................................. 26 Questionnaire Design ........................................................................................................... 27 Measurement ........................................................................................................................ 28 Data Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 32 Validity and Reliability ........................................................................................................ 32. II.

(5) CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ................................... 37 Descriptive Analysis ............................................................................................................ 37 Pearson Correlation Analysis ............................................................................................... 39 Hypotheses Testing .............................................................................................................. 42 t-test...................................................................................................................................... 45 One-way ANOVA ............................................................................................................... 46. CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS & DISCUSSION ......................................... 49 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 49 Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 50 Theoretical Implications ...................................................................................................... 52 Practical Implications........................................................................................................... 53 Limitations and Suggestions ................................................................................................ 55. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 57 APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE OF CAREER ........................................... 67. III.

(6) LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Summary of Measurement Model Fit (N = 295) ..................................................... 33 Table 3.2 Summary of Average Variance Extracted and Composite Reliability (N = 295) ..... 35 Table 4.1 Descriptive Statistics on Sample Demographics (N = 295) ..................................... 38 Table 4.2 Mean, Standard Deviation, Correlation, and Reliability among the Variables (N = 295) .................................................................................................................................. 41 Table 4.3 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Result for the Moderating Effect of Risk Aversion for Variables Predicting Entrepreneurial Intention ........................................... 43 Table 4.4 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Result for the Moderating Effect of Entrepreneurial Opportunity for Variables Predicting Entrepreneurial Intention ............ 44 Table 4.5 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Result for Career Adaptability at Dimensional Level for Variables Predicting Entrepreneurial Intention ................................................ 45 Table 4.6 Summary of Independent t-test Result of Gender Difference in the Level of Entrepreneurial Intention ................................................................................................. 46 Table 4.7 Summary of One-way ANOVA Result of Career Status Difference in the Level of Entrepreneurial Intention ................................................................................................. 46 Table 4.8 Summary of Tukey HSD Comparisons in the Level of Entrepreneurial Intention from Four Career Status Groups ............................................................................................... 47. IV.

(7) LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1. Theory of planned behavior ................................................................................... 14 Figure 2.2. Shapero’s model of entrepreneurial event ............................................................. 15 Figure 3.1. Research framework .............................................................................................. 24 Figure 3.2. Research procedure ............................................................................................... 25 Figure 3.3. CFA measurement model fit with career adaptability (N= 295) ............................ 34. V.

(8) CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. In this chapter, an overview of the background of the study is initiated, along with the problem statement, the purpose, the questions, the contribution and the limitations of this research. In the last part of this chapter, each definition of the key terms is presented as well.. Background of the Study In 1970s and 1990s, Taiwan experienced an economy improvement, the individuals had more intention to start up a firm, become an entrepreneur or self-employed. The regulation and policies had provided the individual with a friendly context for pursuing a career of entrepreneurship and there were more various new products to be manufactured, such as electronic components, textile, textile related instrument, plastic, and food industry. According to National Statistic R.O.C. (2017) surveyed, in the 80s and 90s, there were around 64% of Taiwanese working for others, in the public sector or private sector, and it has been increasing year by year. While for the self-employed individual, there are above 22% to 25% during those periods, which had more than 1.6 million individuals established a firm or became one-person company. According to the numbers shown in the statistic, although the trend of career seems to be working for other, there is a higher percentage of people working for themselves at that period. Nowadays, working for others is still the trend, and the percentage had risen to 79%, which is approximately 5 million workers difference since 1980 till 2017. The percentage of entrepreneurships have decreased to around 16%. This phenomenon shows that the individual, nowadays, chooses to work for others and is especially willing to work in well-branded enterprises, as comparing to the period of 80s and 90s, an individual has more willingness,. 1.

(9) options and opportunities to become an entrepreneur, rather than to get an offer from small, medium to large companies, regardless of private organization or public sector. A survey shows that 93.6% of individuals, whose age is above 20, possesses the dream to be self-employed or an entrepreneur in their future career (Yang, 2017). Attributed to the rapid development of technology, which provides a channel that is easy to access to the market, individual has more opportunity to become self-employed. Although the individual who intends to become start-up in the future, they may not carry out the plan without having certain criteria. Yang (2017) concluded that the top three factors that affect the individuals to become an entrepreneur are an attitude toward risk-taking (31.7%), a finance ability (29.6%), and a fine plan (27.8%). Due to the result of the survey, the motivation to start up, 56.5% of the individual is hoping to do what he/she is interested in and 50.6% of individual wants to earn more money; meanwhile, this survey exposes another phenomenon, that the individual may work on more than two jobs at the same time. According to the survey, 18.1% of full-time workers are having another part-time job at the same time and 87.3% of people are thinking of working on more than one job (Lee, 2017) Another survey reveal that till 2017, 7.11% of labor had nontraditional workers, which included contingent worker, part-time workers, freelancers, and seasonal workers. This result is 0.07% higher than in 2016 (Executive Yuan R.O.C., 2017). An article stated that Taiwanese who are nontraditional workers, they intent on starting a firm in the future, instead of working for others (Lee, 2017). Accordingly, these changes that happen throughout the career cause the individuals to be more likely in pursuing a career of becoming selfemployed. Moreover, the technology has provided the individual with more platforms or channels to access easily in becoming an entrepreneur, such as through social media or online business platforms. Despite a full-time labor still being a trend in this decade, Global 2.

(10) Entrepreneurship Index (Ács, Szerb, & Lloyd, 2018) discovered that Taiwan ranked in the third place in Asia-Pacific area of being a potential country on developing entrepreneurship, which presented that individuals in Taiwan have the potential of becoming his/her own boss in their career and also as changing the career structure of an individual instead of working for others.. Statement of the Problem Through these phenomena, the trend of working for others is changing, more and more workers are planning to become an entrepreneur. Due to the development of technology, globalization, diverse work, and changes of organizational structure, career development is influenced to be more flexible on work and self-directed to future career (Biemann, Zacher, & Feldman, 2012; Briscoe & Hall, 2006; Hirschi, Herrmann, & Keller, 2015; Sullivan, 1999; Sullivan & Arthur, 2006). Thus, the development of career is not happening only in one organization or a certain field (Sullivan, Carden, & Martin, 1998), the individuals are changing the career structure from promoting steadily in an organization to shifting the career as selfemployed. The dynamic changes in the economy and organizational structure increases the diversity of the task and work that individual encountered, which forced the individual to develop the related competences, skills, behaviors and characteristics in order to adapt the evolving environment. Thus, an individual develops a new competence, perceives experience and adapts toward changes in every stage, which influences the ability to adapt in the career to be important, nowadays. As career adaptability is defined to have the resources to cope with the problem and tasks in the career, which is considered to influence in developing an individual’s career; as career is mechanized by the adapting ability of ones working field (Quinn, 1992). An individual who possesses such ability will purse for a protean career or 3.

(11) boundaryless career rather than steadily promoted up through the organizational ladder, since there is more competitiveness in the market (Arthur, 1994; Ellig, 1998; Hall, 1996; London, 1983, 1993; Sullivan et al., 1998; Waterman Jr., Waterman, & Collard, 1994). Since entrepreneurship requires a planning behavior before devoted to entrepreneurial activity, the researcher is wondering whether the individual with career adaptability, able to utilize the resource in planning the future and adapting the changes, will facilitate in the intention of entrepreneurial path. However, before evoking the notion to become an entrepreneur, most of the individuals have the experience of working on more than two jobs or coping with other living issues while working as a full-time worker or temporary worker to gain crucial competences and experiences. While seeking the career, individuals have to think carefully on the possible opportunities and resources that facilitate in developing a new career status (Baruch & Bozionelos, 2011). Furthermore, becoming an entrepreneur, opportunity plays an influencing role in progressing this career (Alvarez & Busenitz, 2001). When the opportunity for entrepreneurship appears, the individual probably evokes the intention to pursue the career of becoming self-employed. Therefore, when the individuals are provided with environment and sufficient resources as an opportunity, these may cause the individuals to gain courage in higher possibility to have entrepreneurial intention. A huge body of literature talks about entrepreneurial topics. Studies of the antecedents of the entrepreneurial intention included personality, cognitive and behavior (Gielnik, Kramer, Kappel, & Frese, 2014), opportunity (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000), or gender (Sullivan & Meek, 2012). While the abilities have developed from work and life, the individuals are able to cope with challenges and sudden changes. The livings, working style, and the education are improved by the advanced technologies, the individuals are forced to accommodate the rapid 4.

(12) changes and keep up in the tide, in order to be competitive in the organization or labor market. Thus, the ability to adapt will also recompose the perspective on future career, career construct theory (CCT) argues that plenty of things happen in the career would affect the future career development (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012), whether it is the pressure of work, peer stress, organizational change, depression, or family changes, such as becoming a parent or losing of family member. Hence, the individual, who has career adaptability, is able to handle the situation caused from work and life to pursue own objectives. Scholars have advocated for the individual who has ability to adapt in the career does have self-regulatory ability to accommodate multiple situations and problems with the resources they gained (Savickas, 1997; Savickas & Porfeli, 2012). People who have career adaptability, are considered to have high self-efficacy, aim at personal target in the future, have beliefs to reach the goals, and attain a success even facing severe problem (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012). Thus, if the workers have the ability to cope with all problems and circumstances appear in the job, in the family, and in the status in family or work, they ought to have the potential to be self-employed. The researcher deemed that individuals with career adaptability will have the ability to deal with the difficulties they face and adapt those into a competence or experience; after that, through the adaption, the individuals are able and will probably adjust the future career plan according to the resource that one’s possess to cope with the dynamic working environment and transform into a situation that meet the career goal. Thus, the researcher proposed that the workers in Taiwan have career adaptability will also have a higher intention to become an entrepreneur. However, the individuals with less avoidance toward uncertainty possibly tend to have the notion of startup or self-employed (Zhao, Seibert, & Lumpkin, 2010). Studies mentioned that risk perception is being influenced by the difference of individual’s situation and culture 5.

(13) (Bontempo, Bottom, & Weber, 1997). The uncertainty avoidance of Taiwanese is higher than Westerners and seldom take risk to change the circumstances or to break the rule and harmony in the society (Bontempo et al., 1997). In the background, the survey by Yang (2017) shows that one of the top criteria are the attitude toward risk-taking. On the fact that becoming an entrepreneur has more elements to be considered, the researcher expects to discover that the attitude toward risk will cause the individual to be hesitating or disliking on starting a new career.. Purpose of the Study Through the statement of the study, the researcher desired to understand that if the workers in Taiwan have high career adaptability and also possess entrepreneurship in their mind. As Tolentino, Sedoglavich, Lu, Garcia, and Restubog (2014) mentioned that the further research can analyze the entrepreneurs or workers, to know whether if career adaptability and entrepreneurial intention is strongly significance and correlated. Meanwhile, the researcher deemed that the workers with high career adaptability will develop an intention of becoming a self-employee or entrepreneur. Under the effect of the individual who dislike or avoid taking risk, the relationship of the individual having high career adaptability and entrepreneurial intention will be weakened. Moreover, the researcher is wondering that if Taiwan has the sufficient resource and opportunity context to affect the individual with high career adaptability to have stronger intention of becoming an entrepreneur.. 6.

(14) Research Questions From the statement of problem and research purpose, the researcher derived the question for analyzing the relation of the career adaptability and intention to be entrepreneur in Taiwan as following: 1. Does the individual who has high career adaptability also has high inclination to become self-employed? 2. Whether the career adaptive individual having the fear toward risk will weaken the intention to be self-employed? 3. Do the opportunity and resources influence an individual with career adaptability to enhance the notion of becoming an entrepreneur? 4. Do gender and career status differ in having the intention to become an entrepreneur?. Significance of the Study The main contribution of this study will be a start for Taiwan to investigate about the antecedents of the entrepreneurial intention and more possibility that may affect the relation of the career adaptability and entrepreneurial intention. If the Hypotheses in this study are true, the result may help the organization to understand that the individuals who are scored higher in career adaptability are more eager in developing their career. Thus, the organization can consider to invest on those potential individuals for startup or other career development. Another possible contribution from this study, is that if all assumptions are true, more individual having high adaptability, lower risk aversion, and high intention are likely to be an entrepreneur, there is a possibility of developing new market and stimulate the economy of Taiwan. 7.

(15) Delimitation This research is mainly studying on the Taiwanese workers, regardless of the industries, job position and professions. However, the researcher will collect various types of occupation, traditional job and non-traditional job, these will include the part-time and seasonal worker, full-time worker, and dual-career professional. Tolentino et al. (2014) mentioned that further research can analyze the entrepreneurs or workers, whether if the Hypothesis of career adaptability and entrepreneurial intention is strongly significance and correlated. Nothing is perfect, including this study. The limitation of this study is the time of data collection is short and may not be able to represent each career status or profession in Taiwan. As the study will be done in Taiwan, the result may not be feasible to generalize to other nations or cultures. One limitation is that the research only considered the risk, opportunity, adaptability toward career, and intention of entrepreneurship, but more antecedents may be possible, in addition to the risk attitude, occupation, and demographics.. Definition of Key Terms Career Adaptability Career adaptability is defined as the level of readiness of an individual who has sufficient and useful resource to deal with his/her current and future working and living status, such as the tasks from the job, transformation of job position, and also the trauma happened in their life (Savickas, 1997, 2005; Savickas & Porfeli, 2012).. Risk Aversion Risk aversion can be used to describe an individual who considers risk as a bad thing, something to avoid it at all cost, and is less likely to take risk than individual who has more 8.

(16) risk propensity (Allen, Weeks, & Moffitt, 2005; Bell, 1995; Wiseman, Gomez-Mejia, & Fugate, 2000).. Entrepreneurial Opportunity Entrepreneurial Opportunity is the opportunity of how an individual exploit the knowledge to recognize the possibilities and discover new services and new methods in engaging a startup idea (Casson, 1982; McMullen, Plummer, & Ács, 2007; Plummer, Haynie, & Godesiabois, 2007; Shane & Venkataraman, 2000).. Entrepreneurial Intention Entrepreneurial Intention is an individual’s willingness to pursue the possibility of becoming an entrepreneur, self-employment, with the behavior to assess the external and internal context (Bird & Jelinek, 1988; Douglas & Shepherd, 2002; Krueger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000).. 9.

(17) CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW In this chapter, the framework of the study is constructed according to the literature review of each variables. The first part, the reviews of career adaptability are presented and also illustrated their relationship with the entrepreneurial intention. Then, the supportive literature of risk aversion is illustrated. Lastly, the entrepreneurial intention is defined and illustrated through various studies that form the framework of the study.. Entrepreneurial Intention Entrepreneurial Intention is an individual’s willingness to pursue the possibility of becoming an entrepreneur, self-employment, with the behavior to assess the external and internal context (Bird & Jelinek, 1988; Douglas & Shepherd, 2002; Krueger et al., 2000). In the past decades, plenty of researchers studied on the entrepreneurship and related activities topics. In previous studies, becoming an entrepreneur or self-employed consisted of several factors, such as opportunities, risk bearing, self-efficacy, cognitive abilities, and ambitions (Bird, 1988; Segal, Borgia, & Schoenfeld, 2005; Shane & Venkatarman, 2000) to achieve. Intention is considered to be the planned behavior to start a business or to be self-employed (Krueger et al., 2000). Nevertheless, Bagozzi, Baumgartner, and Yi’s (1989) study has an argument on the influence of the intention toward the entrepreneurship. Despite of that, to understand the causal influence of becoming an entrepreneur, the scholars found out that the intention of entrepreneurship is the most powerful predictor for entrepreneurial behavior, which predict the behavior and attitude of entrepreneurship (Ajzen, 1991; Bagozzi et al., 1989; Krueger et al., 2000). In the early decades, researchers were studying the factors of personality. 11.

(18) and characteristics that cause an individual to be self-employed (Churchill & Lewis, 1986; Shaver & Scott, 1992). Although the discussion on the trait were reticence for a period of time; however, Zhao and the co-authors (2010) had conducted a meta-analysis to discuss about the personalities that influence the intention of entrepreneurship. Since entrepreneurial intention is influenced by several factors, the personality of an individual is a concern toward the intention, for until now, the published research on this topic is the second largest. The study stated that only Big Five Model to predict the entrepreneurial intention is not enough, as risk attitude plays a significant role that will affect the individual to pursue a self-employed career (Zhao et al., 2010). According to the result of the research, three out of the five factors are significantly influencing the intention of entrepreneurship, which are the conscientiousness, openness, and emotional stability. As the research of Zhao and the co-authors (2010) included risk propensity into the meta-analysis, they found that risk propensity is highly significant affecting the intention of the entrepreneurship. After the study of the relationship on trait and entrepreneurial intention was published, some researchers studied on the procedures of becoming entrepreneurs to conclude the major causal effects (Bird, 1988; Krueger, et al., 2000). Two well-known models had been issued, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991) and the Shapero’s Model of the Entrepreneurial Event (SEE; Shapero & Sokol, 1982). Both models have three antecedents of the intention. For the TPB model, the author stated that subjective norm, perceived self-efficacy, and attitude toward the behavior are the antecedents to predict entrepreneurial intention, as shown in Figure 2.1. Subjective norm, is how you perceived the people or society thought toward the intention of self-employment. While the attitude toward entrepreneurship is the personal belief of entrepreneurship. Last, the individual controls the behaviors in the given 12.

(19) circumstances to pursue the target is consider to be a perceived self-efficacy (Ajzen, 1991; Bandura, 1986; Segal et al., 2005; Shapero & Sokol, 1982). In a research about the motivation study of intention of being self-employed (Segal et al., 2005) declares that desire toward entrepreneurship and self-efficacy motives the intention to be entrepreneur. The author of this study believed that individual has desirability to entrepreneurship and planned behavior take great proportion in intention to entrepreneurship. Previous studies attribute self-efficacy and desire toward being an entrepreneur to career adaptability (Crant, 1996; McKenna, Zacher, Ardabili, & Mohebbi, 2016; Obschonka, Silbereisen, & Schmitt-Rodermund, 2010; Tolentino, et al., 2014; Zhao, Seibert, & Hills, 2005), as it is self-regulatory ability. Several research has shown the significant relation between career development, such as career adaptability, and entrepreneurial intention (Brown, Bimrose, Barnes, & Hughes, 2012; Drennan, Kennedy, & Renfrow, 2005; McKenna et al., 2016; Obschonka et al., 2010; Tolentino et al., 2014; Van Gelderen et al., 2008). Previous literatures declared that individual desired to be entrepreneur has to have control behavior, self-efficacy, and the career adaptability to pursue toward the final career goal and self-regulatory. Thus, career adaptability is to be discussed next.. 13.

(20) Attitude toward entrepreneurship. Subjective Norm. Entrepreneurial Intention. Self-efficacy Figure 2.1. Theory of planned behavior. Adapted from “The theory of planned behavior.” by I. Ajzen, 1991, Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 50(2), 179-211.. Although SEE model (Shapero & Sokol, 1982) issued earlier, which declares that the attitude desired to be an entrepreneur and perceived self-efficacy are significant predictors toward entrepreneurial intention, one antecedent was differed from TPB model, propensity to act, which was by then evoke more researchers to study on the opportunity influence on the intention to be entrepreneur, see Figure 2.2. The propensity to act and risk propensity are deemed to be the factors while start a new entrepreneurial career (Shane & Venkatarman, 2000). Scholars had addressed that the contextual and situational issues, such as the economy, work experience, reachable resources, governmental policies and sudden change in the job position, influence the intention to be an entrepreneur (Gorgievski & Stephan, 2016; Huang, Frideger, & Pearce, 2013; Krueger et al., 2000; Moore & Cain, 2007; Urbanaviciute, Pociute, Kairys, & Liniauskaite, 2016). According to the research, having opportunity is considered to influence the entrepreneurial intention, while spotted the possible method to be self-employed. 14.

(21) Attitude toward entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial Intention. Propensity to act. Self-efficacy. Figure 2.2. Shapero’s model of entrepreneurial event. Adapted from “The social dimensions of entrepreneurship.” By A. Shapero & L. Sokol, 1982, Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurship, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, p. 72-90.. 15.

(22) Career Adaptability Career adaptability is debuted by Super and Knasel (1981) in the study of Life Span, Life Space Theory, which the term is defined as the ability of an individual who is ready to deal with changes during work, colleague, and environment of work. By then, Savickas (1997) and researchers defined this term in CCT as the level of readiness of an individual who has sufficient and useful resources to deal with current and future working and living status, such as the tasks from the job, transformation of job position, and also the trauma happened in their life (Savickas, 1997, 2005; Savickas & Porfeli, 2012). CCT (Savickas, 2002, 2005) is a model that explains the integration of their perception toward the role in the vocation. The term career adaptability was developed from the CCT, which combine vocational personality, career adaptability, and life themes and represent, which the why, what, and of the vocational behaviors (Savickas, 2005). On account of the fact that career adaptability is the ability in pursuing the career of an individual, this variable will affect the aspect of life and work. Individuals with career adaptability are more likely to perform well on their work and life, and is likely to have more plans toward the future. In the study of CCT, Savickas (2005, 2013) delineated the concept of the 4 stage for adaptation, which are adaptive readiness, adaptability resources, adapting responses, and adaptation result. Adaptive readiness expounds that an individual is flexible and willing to make changes in career (Hartung & Cadaret, 2017; Savickas, 2013), which also foresees the behavior of adapting responses and adaptation result (Hartung & Cadaret, 2017; Perera & McIlveen, 2017; Savickas, 2013). Adaptation result is expressed as the product of adaptive readiness and adaptability resources (Hartung & Cadaret, 2017; Savickas, 2013). Career adaptability, in CCT, consisted of four dimensions, which denote the resources and methods to 16.

(23) adapt each circumstance occurs during constructing their personal career (Savickas, 2005); thus, to be expected the individual has more concerns toward the career development. The four dimensions in career adaptability are concern, control, curiosity, and confidence. Each of them represents an aspect of career adaptability, which the explicit explanation of each dimension is elaborated as follows. Concern in career adaptability is the sense of an individual orient oneself to the future and plan for tomorrow. Control is the beliefs of the individuals in the preparation of heading toward their career and knowledge to shape the future career. Curiosity refers to an individual’s competency and ability to discover the environment of work and their role, which means to explore the opportunity to develop their career. Last, confidence, is the self-efficacy to deal with the obstacles that appear in the work of an individual, and successfully react to the situation when choosing and implementing the needed education and profession (Savickas, 2005; Savickas & Porfeli, 2012). According to the definition of career adaptability and its dimensions, these resources are the aspect of career decision making which construct a person’s career. After the model is presented, several researchers studied the outcomes and antecedents of career adaptability. Rudolph and his partners had a meta-analysis research of the associated variables related to career adaptability (Rudolph, Lavigne, & Zacher, 2017). There are studies associated to the topic of the aspect of commitment (Rudolph et al., 2017), satisfactions (Chan & Mai, 2015; Maggiori, Rossier, & Savickas, 2017; Mckenna et al., 2016; Urbanaviciute et al., 2016), turnover intention (Chan & Mai, 2015), and entrepreneurship (Mckenna et al., 2016; Tolentino et al., 2014; Uy, Chan, Sam, Ho, & Chernyshenko, 2015). Scholars argued that the study of the individual possessing career adaptability to have the intention to leave the organization rather than to remain (Ito & Brotheridge. 2005). Since career adaptability improves the competence 17.

(24) of an individual, no matter in the organization or out of the organization, the employability is higher (Arthur, 1994; Ellig, 1998; Hall, 1996; Ito & Brotheridge, 2005; London, 1983, 1993; Rudolph et al., 2017; Waterman Jr et al., 1994). However, the researchers stated that with the involvement of organizational support, the employees are expected to commit to the organization than to possess the regard of career transition or leave current career (Ito & Brotheridge, 2005). At all, the individuals have the ability adjusting to the changes happened in the work and diverse working environment may navigate their career. In consequence, this has become relevant to the career development of an individual. With the possibility of career adaptability to transform the career, the concept has been considered relevant to boundaryless career, protean career, and entrepreneurship. Research on entrepreneurship had found a significant relationship with career adaptability (Rudolph et al., 2017). From the study of Uy et al. (2015), the curiosity dimension of the career adaptability is positively and strongly associated with the entrepreneurial intention. Career adaptability was also found to have a significant effect toward the decision-making of career status (Guan et al., 2013). Nonetheless, not much research has been done to link career adaptability to the topic of entrepreneurial related issues. Moreover, few research investigated the topic on Taiwanese workers; therefore, this research investigates this issue as the first Hypothesis: Hypothesis 1: Career adaptability is positively related to entrepreneurial intention.. Risk Aversion Risk aversion can be used to describe an individual who considers risk as a bad thing, something to avoid at all cost, and is less likely to take risk than an individual who has more risk propensity (Allen et al., 2005; Bell, 1995; Wiseman et al., 2000). As Tversky and. 18.

(25) Kahneman (1992) mentioned that risk aversion happens when the economy is under ambiguity. Since every option in each decision consists risks, starting up a firm or becoming self-employed consists a certain degree of risk. To become an entrepreneur, individual is more likely to have risk-tolerance than the individual who is risk averse while choosing a career (Ahmed, 1985; Begley & Boyd, 1987; Carland, Carland Jr., Carland, & Pearce, 1995; Hull, Bosley, & Udell, 1980; Stewart, Watson, Carland, & Carland, 1999). Risk-averse individual tends to think of the negative consequences of decision making than the positive outcomes (Schneider & Lopes, 1986). Hence, the research done by Kanbur (1979), Kihlstrom and Laffont (1979), Cramer, Hartog, Jonker, and Van Praag (2002), and Kan & Tsai (2006) indicated that the intention to become an entrepreneur or decide to be an employer or self-employed, is negatively influenced by risk aversion. Despite there is study saying that the attitude toward risk is not the effect that dominate the intention of entrepreneurship (Tucker, 1988), more and more studies about entrepreneurship discovered that the propensity and tolerance of risk is an antecedent of entrepreneurial intention (Caliendo, Fossen, & Kritikos, 2009; Fairlie, 2002). Nowadays, risk is considered to be a critical influence for individual to pursue an entrepreneurial career (Zhao et al., 2010). In Prospect Theory, Tversky and Kahneman (1992) revised that the risks happened while the desired choice was decided through gain and loss. Since the individuals who dislike risk are considering risk to be having greater failure rather than having profit or success. Thus, such individuals seldom desire to become the entrepreneurs, who encounter more risky decisions. Moreover, going out of the comfort zone, such as working in an organization for a long period of time, without having a concrete outcome is definitely a risky behavior (Allen et al., 2005). Thus, the researcher hypothesizes that risk aversion may be. 19.

(26) a negative moderating effect to the relationship between career adaptability and entrepreneurial intention. The second Hypothesis of the study is as follow: Hypothesis 2: Risk aversion will weaken the relationship of career adaptability and entrepreneurial intention.. Entrepreneurial Opportunity In Cambridge Dictionary, opportunity is defined as a situation that provides an individual with the possible resources or chances, while pursuing the goal or target they eager. Speaking of starting up a firm, the opportunity is defined to be a possibility for individuals to put an action toward entrepreneurship. Several researchers had discussed about the process and definition of entrepreneurial opportunity. Kirzner’s (1997) definition of entrepreneurial opportunity is the situation when an individual discovers opportunity in the environment and exploits it. However, another scholar, Schumpeter (1942), thinks that it is the situation that new good, new service, new resource and new means is recognized by the individual. In this study, the researcher explicates entrepreneurial opportunity as an opportunity for an individual to exploit the knowledge and to discover new services and new methods in engaging a startup idea (Casson, 1982; McMullen et al., 2007; Plummer et al., 2007; Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). Opportunity is derived or evoked from routine means and is a novel thought that derived from the individual’s knowledge (Baron, 2006; Eckhardt & Shane, 2003). Several scholars and researchers attempted to find a way and to develop models to assess opportunity; however, opportunity is the judgement through an individual’s knowledge and cognitive experience (Uygur, 2016). Entrepreneurial opportunity is also a perception through which an individual discovers opportunity in the social network and knowledge (Aldrich, Zimmer, & Jones, 1986; 20.

(27) Coviello & Munro, 1997; Loane & Bell, 2006; Meyer & Skak, 2002; Sharma & Blomstermo, 2003; Sullivan Mort & Weerawardena, 2006; Venkataraman, 1997). Thus, opportunity is considered a new thought or resource to develop the idea of entrepreneurship, which, as a result, can force an individual to become an entrepreneur suddenly without any structured plan (Krueger et al., 2000). In contrast, if an individual lacks opportunity, such as timing, resource and funds, or discovering means to startup, the individual may not have a strong intention to start up a firm or become self-employed (Ajzen, 1987; Boyd & Vozikis, 1994; Krueger, 1993; Tubbs & Ekeberg, 1991). Having the opportunity, may enhance the possibility of a person with high career adaptability to pursue entrepreneurship. Opportunity is an essential element in our daily life and is also a combination of routineneed throughout the business domain (Uygur, 2016). In a company, although an individual possesses the required qualification, getting a job promotion still requires opportunities. McMullen et al. (2007) mention that opportunity is how an individual reacts to the benefit provided by the environmental context. Therefore, if the individual has all possible criteria but without the opportunity, the individual may not become an entrepreneur (Alvarez & Busenitz, 2001). Thus, entrepreneurial opportunity will make the individual who possesses career adaptability to have a stronger intention to become an entrepreneur, such as having the proper key to open the door toward a startup. Therefore, the researcher presents the third Hypothesis of this study as follow: Hypothesis 3: Entrepreneurial opportunity will strengthen the relationship of career adaptability and entrepreneurial intention.. 21.

(28) CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY This chapter provides the image of the research framework of the assumption for the four constructs, which are the career adaptability, risk aversion, entrepreneurial opportunity, and entrepreneurial intention. The content is mainly describing the instruments that were selected to analyze the hypothesis, participants for analyzing the assumption and the reason to collect data from the targeted participants. After the data collection, the approaches for analyzing the data are listed in this chapter to reveal the relation of the constructs and the phenomenon of the selected participants.. Research Framework Along with the definition of each constructs in the literature review, the research framework discloses the potential antecedents that could predict the entrepreneurial intention of selected participants. As mentioned in the hypothesis, the predictor is career adaptability, which is assumed to be predicting the criterion, entrepreneurial intention. With the moderating effect of risk aversion, a weakened relationship of the predictor and the criterion is proposed. On the other hand, considering the moderating effect of the entrepreneurial opportunity, a strengthened relationship of predictor and criterion is hypothesized. The research framework is shown as Figure 3.1.. 23.

(29) Risk Aversion. (Mo1). H2 -. Career Adaptability. Entrepreneurial Intention. H1+. (X). (Y) H3+. Entrepreneurial Opportunity. (Mo2). Control Variable Age Gender. Figure 3.1. Research framework. Research Hypothesis Base on chapter of literature review, which indicates that relationship between variables, the researcher proposes the following Hypotheses: Hypotheses 1: Career adaptability is positively related to entrepreneurial intention. Hypotheses 2: Risk aversion will weaken the relationship of career adaptability and entrepreneurial intention. Hypotheses 3: Entrepreneurial opportunity will strengthen the relationship of career adaptability and entrepreneurial intention.. 24.

(30) Research Procedure In order to investigate the study of the stated Hypotheses comprehensively, the study followed the eight-step research procedure, as shown in Figure 3.2. First, the researcher reviewed the literature for the specific topics. After the literature of the related topic is reviewed, the next step is to identify the research gap and the research problem. Then, the research purposes and questions were developed. Once the questions were stated, the research framework was established for the study, with the instrument based on mature measurements found in the literature review. Before the data collection, the pilot test was conducted to ensure the instrument was valid and reliable. Based on the analyzed data, the last procedure was to provide the results and findings in the study.. Review Literature Identify Research Topic Develop Research Purpose and Questions. Develop Research Framework Develop Research Instrument. Conduct Expert Review and Pilot Test Collect and Analyze Data Conclude Research Findings Figure 3.2. Research procedure. 25.

(31) Research Design The research is giving insight to the entrepreneurial intention of Taiwan’s workers in different career status, including part-time and seasonal workers, contractors, temporary workers, full-time workers and dual-career professional workers. Thus, the Hypotheses of this study stated that career adaptability is the independent variable predicting the dependent variable, entrepreneurial intention; while the researcher also considered that risk aversion causes a weakening effect and entrepreneur opportunity a strengthening effect to the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable, according to the previous literature and theories. In order to test these Hypotheses, the study applied the quantitative method, by administering the questionnaires as the approach to collect the data. As to ensure the validity and reliability of the measurements of the questionnaire, the study conducted a pilot test before massive data collection.. Sampling and Data Collection The data collection was conducted from September till the end of November of 2018. The channel for collecting was web-based via social media. Several researchers studied the entrepreneurial intention antecedent and most research collect the data from undergraduate students or master students who participated in an entrepreneurship or leadership course, with the assumption that the individuals who have the knowledge of entrepreneurship tend to evoke a startup idea or self-employ concept. This study is probably the first to investigate various types of career status of the workforce, unlike the previous studies that used students as the sample. The study widely collected from workers in Taiwan using a convenience sampling approach, including part-time and seasonal workers, contractors, temporary workers, full-time 26.

(32) workers and dual-career professional workers. A question is needed to screen out the participants who were either an entrepreneur or a freelancer, by asking what their current career status was. The reason of screening out the entrepreneur and the freelancers was because that their responses to the questionnaire may cause a distortion on the scale of the entrepreneurial intention asking how strong the intention to be an entrepreneur, since they were certainly high on their intention to be an entrepreneur, when in fact they are. The data collection was done through the method of using online survey, which was distributed through social media, such as personal Facebook and personal Line. In order to avoid the participant that was not qualified to fill out the questionnaire, the requirements were set as following: Taiwanese; currently not a student, and currently working or had working experiences. In addition, the questionnaire is distributed on the fan page for freelancers or startups on Facebook, besides posting on the page with the three requirements as stated above, the participants could not be an entrepreneur. The research also used the snowball approach to collect more data by requesting those in the personal network to approach the individuals who were working as a temporary worker, contractor, or part-time worker who met the requirements. In the end, a total of 320 participated in the study, however, there were 2 duplicate responses, in addition to a total of 23 participants who were screened out for being an entrepreneur or a freelancer. Therefore, only 295 responses for the study were valid for inclusion in the data analysis.. Questionnaire Design The questionnaire survey was designed with well-developed scale. The instruments were initially designed in English and published in Western journals. However, the participants of 27.

(33) the study are Taiwanese, whose official language is Mandarin; for this reason, the questionnaire was translated into Mandarin, to ensure the participants were able to understand each item properly. Since the questionnaire had to be translated into Mandarin, to remain the initial meaning of each items, the study used a translator who was fluent in English, with a TOEIC score above 860. After the translation, the questionnaire was reviewed by experts and backward translated by a peer who was proficient in both Mandarin and English, in order to ensure that the translation is consistent to English meaning. Moreover, the data collection used selfreported method, which has the possibility of Common Method Variance (CMV) that might affect the result of the studies (Podsakoff & Organ, 1986). In order to avoid CMV, the following procedures were taken. First, the questionnaire stated in the first page that all survey is anonymous and there is no definite answer for each question (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003); second, the range of each scale point was different; and finally, unidimensionality of the measures was verified with exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis.. Measurement Data collection was designed through questionnaire, and the measurement for each variable are listed below. The questionnaire is as shown in Appendix: Questionnaire of Career designed by the chosen instruments of each variables, with clear instructions for the questionnaire and the demographic that were required.. 28.

(34) Career Adaptability To collect data on career adaptability of the participants, the study used CAAS-Short Form, including 12 items, which was developed by Maggiori et al. (2015). The 12-items scale categorized into four dimensions, which are concern, control, curiosity, and confidence. The initial Cronbach alpha for the CAAS-SF was .90, as for the reliability of the four dimensions, .81 of concern, .82 of control, .77 of curiosity, and .83 of confidence (Maggiori et al., 2015). Each dimension has the item asking such as for concern dimension “thinking about what my future will be like,” control dimension “taking responsible for my actions,” curiosity dimension “looking for opportunities to grow as a person,” and confidence dimension “working up to my ability” with a 7-point Likert scale, where 1equals not strong and 7 equals strongest.. Risk Aversion The scale for measuring the risk aversion in this study is the Risk Aversion Measurement which was modified by Judge, Thoresen, Pucik and Welbourne (1999), with 8 items asking the perception of risk, and one item is a reversed question “I like to play the lottery.” Risk Aversion Measurement had a Cronbach alpha of .76 (Judge et al., 1999). Each item was designed to use a 5-point Likert scale, having 1 as strongly disagree to 5 as strongly agree.. Entrepreneurial Opportunity Opportunity consists of various possibility in the context of the individual. To measure the entrepreneurial opportunity of the individual, the study adapted the scale of opportunity identification (Ucbasaran, Westhead, & Wright, 2009). The items asked about the probability 29.

(35) of individual in perceiving the surrounded opportunity, as one of the items stated, “How many opportunities for creating a new business have you pursued, that is committed time and resources to, within the last 6 months?” However, the researcher considered that pursuing a career of entrepreneur is a long-term plan, while the initial items asked the individual about perceiving opportunity within the past 6 months. Thus, the researcher adapted the scale by modifying the interval of perceiving opportunity from 6 months to 2 years. The questionnaire used a 5-point Likert scale to evaluate the entrepreneurial opportunity, 1 represents strongly disagree to 5 as to strongly agree. In study of Ucbasaran et al. (2009), the scale of opportunity identification had a reliability of .72.. Entrepreneurial Intention Plenty of measurements were developed to measure entrepreneurial intention, whereas this study focused not only on the entrepreneurs who wished to start up a firm, but also on those who had the possibility of becoming a freelancer. Hereby, the Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EIQ) was considered to be the instrument to gather data on the intention to become an entrepreneur (Liñán & Chen, 2009). The EIQ consists of the antecedents of the entrepreneurial intention and the intention itself. According to the scale developed by Linan and Chen (2009), the questionnaire had collected data in Taiwan, and found that the antecedent personal attitude could significantly predict the intention to become an entrepreneur and another antecedent, perceived behavioral control, could predict the intention too. While the antecedent, subjective norm, was found to be not significant in Taiwanese sample. The EIQ had a Cronbach alpha of .943 (Liñán & Chen, 2009). The questionnaire is set to be a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 as strongly disagree to 5 as strongly agree.. 30.

(36) Control Variable Age, and gender served as the control variable in this study, according to the following study and literatures. Age. Age is debated on its relationship to entrepreneurial intention, as scholars have different perception on it. Some said that the youngster is likely to have lower intention to be an entrepreneur (Schwarz, Wdowiak, Almer-Jarz, & Breitenecker, 2009). On the other hand, several scholars debated on this observation with studies showing that the older people are less likely to have the desire to start a new firm or be self-employed (Kautonen, Luoto, & Tornikoski, 2010; Levesque & Minniti, 2006). Regardless the conflict on the literature of age toward the intention of entrepreneurship, as the career development in Taiwan firms is stable and fixed, the researcher assumed that younger people tend to develop entrepreneurial intention. To collect the information of age, an item “What is your age,” was asked with the selection of age ranges. Gender. There is a conflict on gender toward the topic of entrepreneurial intention. Some found that males tend to have higher intention to start up a firm and females have less intention to be an entrepreneur (Schwarz et al., 2009); while others said that this might be caused by a stereotype society that females grown under (Herrington & Kew, 2016). Under the gender balanced view in the society, there is physical and mental differences between males and females in their intention to be an entrepreneur. Thus, this study assumed that gender might affect the intention of becoming an entrepreneur or freelancer. Using one item, “What is you gender,” this question asked participants to identify themselves whether they are male (coded as 1) or female (coded as 0). 31.

(37) Data Analysis This study used the statistic software IBM SPSS 22.0 for Window and AMOS to analyze and examine the collected data. First, the measures were tested through the validity and reliability analysis by using the exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and internal consistency reliability analysis, in order to verify the construct validity and reliability of the measurement in this study before proceeding to the analysis for examining the relationship of each variables and the Hypotheses of this study. Next, the demographic data of the study was compiled with descriptive analysis. Then, the data was analyzed with Pearson correlation analysis to present the relation of each variables. Lastly, the research performed hierarchical regression analysis to examine the Hypotheses of this study.. Validity and Reliability Since the chosen instruments of the study was adapted from the developed measures, confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify the construct validity of the measures. As the study of Jöreskog and Sörbom (1989) stated that confirmatory factor analysis should be used to ensure the validity of the measurement construct by an assessment of the fit of the data to the measurement model of this research. The sample size to examine the validity of the adopted measurement model was 295. The result of the model fit is shown in Table 3.1. Four competing models were analyzed in AMOS, in order to compare the goodness of fit of the one-factor, two-factor, three-factor, and four-factor models. As a result, the four-factor model, which was the adopted measurement model, appeared to have the best model fit. The 𝜒2/df of the measurement model was 2.13. Gefen, Straub, and Boudreau (2000) stated that 𝜒2/df shall be below the threshold of 3. RMSEA was .06, which are suggested to be below the threshold 32.

(38) of .08 (Steiger, 1990). In this model, GFI was .84 and CFI was .91, as suggested that GFI over .80 and CFI over .90 are preferable (Byrne, 1994); TLI and IFI of this measurement were over the value of .90 (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988; Hu & Bentler, 1999). As a conclusion, the result revealed that the adopted four-factor measurement model was appropriate in this study.. Table 3.1. Summary of Measurement Model Fit (N = 295) Model One-factor Model Two-factor Model. 𝜒2. df. 𝜒2/df. GFI. NFI. CFI. 3689.17. 377. 9.78. 0.41. 0.33. 0.35. 0.17. 0.30. 0.36. 1502.13. 376. 3.99. 0.70. 0.73. 0.78. 0.10. 0.76. 0.78. 1049.11. 374. 2.80. 0.79. 0.81. 0.80. 0.07. 0.85. 0.87. 367. 2.13. 0.84. 0.85. 0.91. 0.06. 0.91. 0.92. RMSEA TLI. IFI. Three-factor Model Four-factor Model 783.45 Note. The One-factor Model combined items of career adaptability, risk aversion, entrepreneurial opportunity, and entrepreneurial intention into one single factor. The Two-factor Model combined items of risk aversion, entrepreneurial opportunity, and entrepreneurial intention into one factor against career adaptability as another factor. The Three-factor Model combined items of entrepreneurial opportunity and entrepreneurial intention into one factor against career adaptability and risk aversion as two other factors. The Four-factor Model was the proposed model.. 33.

(39) Figure 3.3. CFA measurement model fit with career adaptability (N= 295). 34.

(40) The CR and AVE of each item is listed in Table 3.2. Based on previous studies, when the value of CR exceeded 0.70 and value AVE over 0.50 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981), the measurement model is considered acceptable on the convergent validity. Thus, the CR and AVE of this measurement for entrepreneurial intention (CR = 0.95; AVE = 0.77), entrepreneurial opportunity (CR = 0.87; AVE = 0.70), and career adaptability (CR = 0.92; AVE = 0.50) were above the required value; yet, the AVE value of risk aversion (CR = 0.74; AVE = 0.32) was below 0.50. This seems to be a slight convergent validity issue for the variables, but scholars have stated that the construct is still considered adequate, when the AVE is above 0.40 or the CR value has exceeded 0.70 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981).. Table 3.2. Summary of Average Variance Extracted and Composite Reliability (N = 295) AVE. CR. Entrepreneurial Intention. 0.77. 0.95. Career Adaptability. 0.50. 0.92. Risk Aversion. 0.32. 0.74. Entrepreneurial Opportunity. 0.70. 0.87. 35.

(41) CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS In this chapter, the data analysis result is presented in regards to the framework of the research. First, the descriptive analysis presents the demographic information of the samples. Then, the mean, standard deviation, correlation between variables, and reliability of each variables are shown in the second section. Next, three stated Hypotheses are analyzed by using the hierarchical regression to test the influence of each independent variables on the dependent variable. Lastly, a comparison is proceeded by using t-test and One-way ANOVA on gender and career status groups in the level of entrepreneurial intention.. Descriptive Analysis A preview of demographic profile of the sample for the valid data is presented through descriptive analysis and to confirm whether there are errors, outliers and the distribution among the valid data. The study collected 295 valid samples, and the career status among the data are full-time workers 73.9% (n = 218,), full time and part-time workers 10.8% (n = 32), part-time/ contractor/ seasonal/ temporary workers 6.1% (n = 18), and unemployed 9.2% (n = 27). The majority gender in this sample is female, 196 (66.4%) out of 295. There are 166 participants (56.3%) having a bachelor degree among the 295, and 104 with a master degree (35.3%), 18 graduated high school or below, and 7 a Ph.D. degree. The age of the data ranges from 20 to 54 years old. Age below 30 years old consisted 58.4% of the data, while 28.2% of participants were between 30-40 years old, and 13.6% above 40 years old.. 37.

(42) Table 4.1. Descriptive Statistics on Sample Demographics (N = 295) Variable. Category. Frequency. Percentage. Full time. 218. 73.9. Full time & Part time. 32. 10.8. 18. 6.1. Unemployed. 27. 9.2. Male. 99. 33.6. Female. 196. 66.4. 20~25. 68. 23.1. 26~30. 104. 35.3. 31~35. 48. 16.3. 36~40. 35. 11.9. 41~45. 26. 8.8. 46~50. 10. 3.4. Above 50. 4. 1.4. High School. 18. 6.1. Bachelor Degree. 166. 56.3. Master Degree. 104. 35.3. 7. 2.4. Career Status Part time/ Contractor/ Seasonal/ Temporary. Gender. Age. Educational Level. Ph. D. 38.

(43) Pearson Correlation Analysis The purpose of Pearson correlation analysis is to test the strength of hypothesized relationship of the study and to understand the relationship among the variables. In the correlation result, if the number is positive, it represents a positive relationship between the correlated variables; on the other hand, when the number is shown with a negative sign, the relationship between the correlated variables is negatively related. The correlation, mean, standard deviation, and reliability of each variables are presented in Table 4.2. As shown in Table 4.2, career adaptability (r = .15, p < 0.01), entrepreneurial opportunity (r = .61, p < 0.01), and risk aversion (r = -.12, p < 0.05) are significantly correlated with the dependent variable, entrepreneurial intention. However, risk aversion is negatively related to the dependent variable, while career adaptability and entrepreneurial opportunity are positively correlated with the dependent variable. Although career adaptability is correlated to entrepreneurial intention, the r value is not high, that is, career adaptability has a low correlation with the dependent variable. In the initial measurement of career adaptability, the variable was composed of four dimensions, which are concern, control, curiosity, and confidence, so the study also analyzed the relation among the variables with the four dimensions. However, only concern (r=.22, p<0.01) and curiosity (r=.15, p<0.05) are correlated with entrepreneurial intention, while concern (r=-.19, p<0.01), control (r=-.16, p<0.01), curiosity (r=-.23, p<0.01), and confidence (r=-.19, p<0.01) are negatively related to risk aversion; concern is significantly correlated to entrepreneurial opportunity (r=.15, p<0.01). Meanwhile, risk aversion is negatively related to career adaptability (r = -.23, p < 0.01) and entrepreneurial opportunity (r = -.21, p < 0.01). As for the control variables, gender and age, only gender has a relation with certain variables, such as entrepreneurial intention (r = .24, 39.

(44) p < 0.01) and entrepreneurial opportunity (r = .25, p < 0.01). In the study, female was coded as 0, while male as 1. Therefore, the result indicates a higher association of male to entrepreneurial opportunity and intention.. 40.

(45) Table 4.2. Mean, Standard Deviation, Correlation, and Reliability among the Variables (N = 295) Variables. Mean. S.D.. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 1. Gender. .34. .47. 2. Age. 31.54. 7.23. .09. 3. EI-Entrepreneurial Intention. 2.35. 1.08. .24**. -.02. (.95). 4. CA-Career Adaptability. 5.51. .80. .07. .01. .15** (.91). 5. Concern. 5.22. .92. .07. -.02. .22**. .85**. (.62). 6. Control. 5.56. .90. .04. .01. .07. .88**. .64**. (.73). 7. Curiosity. 5.60. .90. .10. .04. .15*. .92**. .71**. .75**. (.80). 8. Confidence. 5.63. .87. .04. .02. .08. .90**. .66**. .73**. .83**. (.77). 5. EO-Entrepreneurial Opportunity. 2.08. .97. .25**. .06. .61** .09. .15**. .02. .10. .04. (.87). 6. RA-Risk Aversion. 3.20. .58. -.04. .03. -.23** -.19*. -.15**. -.15**. -.19**. -.18**. -.13*. Note: Number in the parentheses represent the Cronbach’s Alpha value of the variables. *p < 0.05 **p < 0.01; Gender: Male = 1, Female = 0.. 41. (.70).

(46) Hypotheses Testing In this study, hierarchical regression analysis is selected to test the Hypotheses. Hierarchical regression is applied in the analyzing process to test the relationship among the variables and verifies the relation of independent variable and dependent variable under the moderating effect. First, to control the effect of the covariates, which are age and gender, the control variables will be placed in the first model of each hierarchical regression analysis. According to Table 4.3, in the second model, the relation of career adaptability and entrepreneurial intention is presented, which shows career adaptability significantly and positively predicts the dependent variable, entrepreneurial intention (β = .132, p < .05). The first Hypothesis, which states career adaptability is positively related to entrepreneurial intention, is supported. The second Hypothesis states that the effect of risk aversion weakens the relationship of career adaptability and entrepreneurial intention. Corresponded to the second Hypothesis, as shown in Table 4.3, the moderator shows a significant and negative impact on the criterion, entrepreneurial intention (β = -.203, p < .001); however, as shown in model 4, the interaction of career adaptability and risk aversion does not have a significant impact on entrepreneurial intention (β = -.064, n.s.). Therefore, Hypothesis 2 is not supported.. 42.

(47) Table 4.3. Summary of Hierarchical Regression Result for the Moderating Effect of Risk Aversion for Variables Predicting Entrepreneurial Intention Entrepreneurial Intention Variables. Model 1. Model 2. Model 3. Model4. Gender. .254***. .244***. .236***. .238***. Age. -.044. -.046. -.038. -.038. .132*. .093. .0.90. -.203***. -.227***. Control Variables. Main Effects CA-Career Adaptability RA-Risk Aversion Interaction of CA & RA. -.064. F. 9.990***. 8.599***. 9.996***. 8.239***. R2. .064. .081. .121. .125. Adj. R2. .058. .072. .109. .110. 𝛥R2. .064. .017. .040. .004. 295. 295. 295. 295. N. Note: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.. The result of the third Hypothesis of the study, which states that entrepreneurial opportunity will strengthen the relationship of career adaptability and entrepreneurial intention, is shown in Table 4.4. In model 4, career adaptability is not related to entrepreneurial intention (β =.088, n.s.), but entrepreneurial opportunity is significantly and positively related (β = .591, p < .001). However, the interaction of career adaptability and entrepreneurial opportunity has no significance (β = -.025, n.s.) to the criterion. As a result, entrepreneurial opportunity has no moderating effect toward the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Hypothesis 3 is rejected.. 43.

(48) Table 4.4. Summary of Hierarchical Regression Result for the Moderating Effect of Entrepreneurial Opportunity for Variables Predicting Entrepreneurial Intention Entrepreneurial Intention Variables. Model 1. Model 2. Model 3. Model4. Gender. .254***. .244***. .101*. .100*. Age. -.044. -.046. -.072. -.071. .132*. .088. .088. .586***. .591***. Control Variables. Main Effects CA-Career Adaptability EO-Entrepreneurial Opportunity Interaction of CA & EO. -.025. F. 9.990***. 8.599***. 48.309***. 38.613***. R2. .064. .081. .400. .400. Adj. R2. .058. .072. .392. .390. 𝛥R2. .064. .017. .318. .001. 295. 295. 295. 295. N. Note: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.. Although the study was to investigate that entrepreneurial intention and career adaptability is positively related, the study revealed the relation of entrepreneurial intention and career adaptability at dimensional level. Table 4.5 presented the result of entrepreneurial intention with each dimension of career adaptability. As displayed, concern (β = .209, p < .001) and curiosity (β = .127, p < .05) is significantly related to entrepreneurial intention. While the other two dimensions, control (β = .063, n.s.) and confidence (β = .070, n.s.), was not correlated to entrepreneurial intention.. 44.

(49) Table 4.5 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Result for Career Adaptability at Dimensional Level for Variables Predicting Entrepreneurial Intention Entrepreneurial Intention Variables Control Variables Gender. .237***. .250***. .241***. .251***. Age. -.037. -.045. -.049. -.046. Main Effects CA-Concern. .209***. CA-Control. .063. CA-Curiosity. .127*. CA-Confidence. .070. F. 11.674***. 7.076***. 8.420***. 7.179***. R2. .107. .068. .080. .069. Adj. R2. .098. .058. .070. .059. 𝛥R2. .043. .004. .016. .005. 295. 295. 295. 295. N. Note: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.. t-test As previous research stated that gender has a difference in possessing the intention of becoming an entrepreneur; thus, the study conducted the independent-sample t-test to investigate the difference between male and female groups in the level of entrepreneurial intention. The result shows that the level of entrepreneurial intention has a significant difference between male (M = 2.73, SD = 1.11) and female (M = 2.16, SD = 1.01); t(293) = 4.40, p < .001. As a result, male has higher entrepreneurial intention then female in Taiwan.. 45.

(50) Table 4.6. Summary of Independent t-test Result of Gender Difference in the Level of Entrepreneurial Intention Mean (SD) Male (N = 99) Female (N = 196). df. t. p. Entrepreneurial 2.73 (1.11). 2.16 (1.01). 293. 4.40. 0.000. intention. One-way ANOVA One-way ANOVA is conducted in the study to compare whether there is a difference between the career status of full-time, part-time (including temporary worker, contractor, and seasonal worker), dual career, and unemployed groups, in the level of entrepreneurial intention. The result in Table 4.6 shows there is a significant difference of entrepreneurial intention between career status (F(14,331) = 4.01, p < .01). A Tukey HSD post hoc test, shown in Table 4.7, reveals there is a significantly higher entrepreneurial intention for being a part-time worker (M = 2.94, p < .05) comparing with the full-time workers (M = 2.23). While significant differences in between the other career status groups are not found.. Table 4.7. Summary of One-way ANOVA Result of Career Status Difference in the Level of Entrepreneurial Intention SS. df. MS. F. p. Between Groups. 13.671. 3. 4.557. 4.013. 0.008. Within Groups. 330.429. 291. 1.135. Total. 344.100. 294. 46.

(51) Table 4.8. Summary of Tukey HSD Comparisons in the Level of Entrepreneurial Intention from Four Career Status Groups Tukey HSD Comparisons (p-value) Group Full-time. n. Full-time &. Full-time. Part-time. Part time/ Contractor/ Seasonal/ Temporary. 218. Full-time & 32. .12. 18. .03*. .83. 27. .52. .94. Part-time Part-time/ Contractor/ Seasonal/ Temporary Unemployment Note: *p < 0.05.. 47. .57.