Willing but fearful: resilience and youth entrepreneurial intentions

Purpose: Despite entrepreneurial intentions being a central and enduring construct in entrepreneurship research, most research on intentions focused on factors that underpin an individual's entrepreneurial intentions. This study extends the emerging literature on fear of failure and resilience to understand how they influence entrepreneurial intentions. The authors do this in a context where job prospects are low, and unemployment is high to understand what potentially prevents educated youth in a developing country from pursuing self-employment. Design/methodology/approach: This study applies the structural equation modelling (SEM) using AMOS 25 to test the hypotheses on a sample of 238 third- and fourth-year Bangladeshi students facing an important career decision. A replication study is also conducted with an additional sample (n = 209) to verify the robustness of the findings, using a different measurement of resilience and a different analysis method – partial least square (PLS)-SEM in Smart-PLS 3. Findings: The study finds support for the mediation model where fear of failure mediates the relationship between resilience and entrepreneurial intentions. The findings suggest that resilience enhances entrepreneurial intentions while also reducing the negative effects of fear of failure on entrepreneurial intentions. Originality/value: This study contributes to an underexplored area of entrepreneurial intentions literature by exploring how resilience relates to fear of failure and entrepreneurial intentions. The findings demonstrate the importance of resilience through its direct effect on intentions as well as its indirect effect through its influence on fear of failure. The findings have implications for potential entrepreneurs and educational institutions providing training in entrepreneurship.