Self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions in nascent technology entrepreneurs: a temporal construal theory approach

Technology entrepreneurship requires advanced scientific and technological knowledge. Given the different nature of techno-entrepreneurship, there is a lack of cognitive research to explore this phenomenon. This paper focuses on filling this gap by differentiating entrepreneurial intentions amongst self-declared high-tech and non-high-tech nascent entrepreneurs. We present a quantitative study analysing 1045 undergraduate business and engineering students from three countries (Mexico, Spain, and the USA). The results provide evidence that technological entrepreneurs have the highest intentions to start a business. Further, our findings show that the cultural context and university major significantly influence entrepreneurial intentions. Finally, exploring our data for the temporal construal effect, we provide evidence that previous entrepreneurial experience exerts an effect on short term entrepreneurial intentions and not on long term intentions. These findings are a potential key consideration for educ...