Understanding parental and gender impact on entrepreneurial intentions. (3rd July 2016) - Polin, Brian A.
Abstract : Entrepreneurship is central to economic development. Thus, understanding the underpinnings of entrepreneurship behavior is of crucial importance. This paper addresses the impact of parents' careers on the entrepreneurial intentions (EIs) of their children. Specifically, it determines the degree to which self-employed parents increase or decrease the desire of children to be self-employed as well. Among the noteworthy findings of this research, self-employed mothers have a greater positive impact on the EI of their children than self-employed fathers. This finding also holds true for sons and daughters when each offspring gender is analyzed individually. Sons and daughters differ when both parents are self-employed. Among males, the highest EI is observed when both parents are self-employed. Surprisingly, for daughters, EI is lower when both parents are self-employed than when only one parent is self-employed. The paper concludes with a possible explanation for the observed differences between EI in males and females.