Marketing-related Entrepreneurial Self Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Intentions in Collectivistic Societies: A Comparison of Japan and Taiwan

Krueger and Kickul (2006) argued that the notion that social norms are supportive of entrepreneurial activity is culturally dependent. Previous studies conventionally operationalized self-efficacy as a uni-dimensional construct (e.g., Zhao et al., 2005). However, a growing body of research has confirmed that self-efficacy is much more complex and multi-dimensional in nature (McGee et al., 2009; Drnovšek et al., 2010) and specifically the marketing related entrepreneurial self-efficacy is not examined. Using a sample of 249 Taiwan and 178 Japan MBA students, this study investigates the moderating effects of the society factor, on the predictive strength of self-perceptual factors, specifically a multi-dimensional entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) scale, on entrepreneurial intention, in entrepreneurial cognitive models. The results show that Taiwanese people with favorable marketing related entrepreneurial self-efficacy, that is entrepreneurial self-efficacy on new product and market development, tend to have a higher intention to start or create their own venture. Japanese people with favorable attitude toward entrepreneurship tend to have a higher intention to start or create their own venture. Thus, Taiwanese business educators should strengthen their entrepreneurship programs and enhance their pedagogical approaches in new product developments, new ways of doing business and new market development.