An Indigenous Entrepreneur: How do the extended TPB, Self-Reliance and Self-Sufficiency Impact Entrepreneurial Intention and Behaviour?

Abstract

Entrepreneurial behavior has been widely studied and has become a phenomenon among researchers over the past decades because it is one of the key drivers of the economy for continued growth and development at all levels of society.  Hence, developing entrepreneurial behavior is frequently regarded as a crucial phase in the process of setting up a new business including the indigenous entrepreneur to make this society resilient for future growth.  Statistically, the level of the indigenous people participate in entrepreneurship is still low today. It is critical to understand the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and its antecedents in order to increase the number of indigenous entrepreneurs.  Drawing on the extended TPB, this study adopts proximal antecedents from the TPB including attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and actual behavioral control in identify the entrepreneurial intention. Additionally, this study also considers self-reliance and self-sufficiency as antecedents of entrepreneurial behavior. This pilot study was conducted among 40 indigenous entrepreneurs in Pahang and Perak. To measure variable relationships, this study used a quantitative technique using a face-to-face survey. To test the hypotheses, structural equation modelling (SEM) was used.  Results identified that subjective norms positively associated with the indigenous people behavior to become an entrepreneur.  The findings of this study will be valuable to potential entrepreneurs, policymakers, and academics in offering additional insights to boost the number of resilience future growth entrepreneurs in Malaysia.