The study is conducted empirically to explore the phenomenon of Individualistic Entrepreneurial Orientation (IEO) in terms of market opportunities, social capital and personal attributes. The study was guided by Miller (1983), Lumpkin and Dess (1996), Granovetter (1985) and (John, P., & Soto, 2008). The study was based on post-positivist philosophy, and it was quantitative in nature that used non-probabilistic convenience sampling. However, the collected data was analyzed through three different statistical tests, Spearman, Pearson and Regression analysis. The first two statistical tests Pearson and Spearman, were applied to the first three hypotheses and regression analysis on the last hypothesis. Hence, it was found that there is a significant relationship between market opportunities and IEO of business students in Pakistan as the p value was less than 0.05. Similarly, when the second hypothesis was tested, it was observed that there is a significant relationship between social capital and IEO of business students in Pakistan. Furthermore, when the third hypothesis was tested, it was found that there is a significant relationship between personal attributes and IEO of business students in Pakistan. Finally, when last but not least, a hypothesis was tested by applying linear regression, it resulted in a significant relationship between the cumulative impact of market opportunities, social capital, personal attributes and IEO of business students in Pakistan. Therefore, it can be concluded with some certainty that the three factors (market opportunities, social capital, personal attributes) influence the decision-making of university business’ students while deciding whether to take the path of entrepreneurship. This research can draw the attention of academia and the young potential business graduates to think about entrepreneurship as an alternative to one’s career choice and how different factors can contribute in one way or another to one’s entrepreneurial orientation in Pakistan.
Altantsetseg, P., Chen, K.-C., & Chang, M.-L. (2017). Male and female leaders’ entrepreneurial leadership: A comparative study of Mongolia, Taiwan and Thailand on leader-member exchange. Journal of Administrative and Business Studies, 3(3), 144–152. doi:https://doi.org/10.20474/jabs-3.3.4
Anggadwita, . D. W., G. (2016). Women’s entrepreneurial intentions in Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in Indonesia: The influence of environmental factors on perceived behavioral control. Journal of Administrative and Business Studies, 1(1), 1-7. doi:https://doi.org/10.20474/jabs-1.1.1
Asian Development Bank . (2019). Pakistan: Economy. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3cfsdxB
Bolton, D. L., & Lane, M. D. (2012). Individual entrepreneurial orientation: Development of a measurement instrument. Education+ Training, 54(219-233), 2/3. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/00400911211210314
Bosma, N., Sanders, M., & Stam, E. (2018). Institutions, entrepreneurship, and economic growth in Europe. Small Business Economics, 51(2), 483–499. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-018-0012-x
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. New York, NY: Greenwood Press.
Bygrave, W. D., & Hofer, C. W. (1992). Theorizing about entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship theory and Practice, 16(2), 13–22. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/104225879201600203
Çolakoglu, N., & Gözükara, ̇I. (2016). A comparison study on personality traits based on the attitudes of university students toward entrepreneurship. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 229, 133–140. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.07.122
Covin, J. G., & Slevin, D. P. (1989). Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments. Strategic Management Journal, 10(1), 75–87. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250100107
Cvijic, M., Tatarski, J., Kati ́ c, I., Veki ́ c, A., & Borocki, J. (2019). Entrepreneurial orientation of public universities in ́ republic of Serbia-empirical study. Sustainability, 11(6), 1-13. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061509
Felipe, J., Abdon, A., & Kumar, U. (2012). Tracking the middle-income trap: What is it, who is in it, and why? (Working paper). Levy Economics Institute, New York, NY.
Ferreira, J., & Trusko, B. (2018). Guest editorial: Innovation and entrepreneurship in the HEI sector. International Journal of Innovation Science, 10(1), 2–5. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/IJIS-01-2018-0001
Fukuyama, F. (2001). Social capital, civil society and development. Third World Quarterly, 22(1), 7–20. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/713701144
Gartner, W. B. (1988). “who is an entrepreneur?” is the wrong question. American Journal of Small Business, 12(4), 11–32. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/104225878801200401
Granovetter, M. (1985). Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology, 91(3), 481–510. doi:https://doi.org/10.1086/228311
Hamza, A. (2019). Unemployment among graduates rising at alarming rate: Report. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3mu6GG2
Harris, M., & Gibson, S. (2008). An examination of the entrepreneurial attitudes of US versus Chinese students. American Journal of Entrepreneurship, 1(1), 1-20.
International Labor Organization report. (2019). World employment social outlook. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3ccaGX0
John, O. P., P., N. L., & Soto, C. J. (2008). Paradigm shift to the integrative big five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and conceptual issues. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality, third edition: Theory and research. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Kirzner, I. M. (2015). Competition and entrepreneurship. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago press.
Kollmann, T., Christofor, J., & Kuckertz, A. (2007). Explaining individual entrepreneurial orientation: Conceptualisation of a cross-cultural research framework. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 4(3), 325-340.
Kumar, M., Memon, S. B., & Jukhio, I. (2019). Does social capital matters in career development? Journal of Management Info, 6(2), 12–18.
Lewin, P. (2015). Entrepreneurial opportunity as the potential to create value. The Review of Austrian Economics, 28(1), 1–15.
Liñán, F., & Fayolle, A. (2015). A systematic literature review on entrepreneurial intentions: Citation, thematic analyses, and research agenda. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 11(4), 907–933.
Lumpkin, G. T., & Dess, G. G. (1996). Clarifying the entrepreneurial orientation construct and linking it to performance. Academy of Management Review, 21(1), 135–172. doi:https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1996.9602161568
Memon, S. B., Qureshi, J. A., & Jokhio, I. A. (2020). The role of organizational culture in knowledge sharing and transfer in Pakistani banks: A qualitative study. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 39(3), 45–54. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/joe.21997
Menger, C. (1871). Principles of economics. New York, NY: New York University Press.
Miller, D. (1983). The correlates of entrepreneurship in three types of firms. Management Science, 29(7), 770–791.
Mishra, S. B., & Alok, S. (2017). Handbook of research methodology: A compendium for scholars & researchers. Chhattisgar, India: Educreation Publishing.
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. (2011). Pakistan statistical year book 2011. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/33FNSel
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. (2018). Employment trends-2018. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/32Hyj6L
Rana, S. (2019). Pakistan’s GDP growth may slow down to 3.4%: World Bank. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3kozQ7M
Robinson, S., & Stubberud, H. A. (2014). Elements of entrepreneurial orientation and their relationship to entrepreneurial intent. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 17(2), 1-12.
Shane, S., & Venkataraman, S. (2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 217–226. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/259271
Tersoo, K. (2013). The impact of women entrepreneurship on economic growth in Benue State-Nigeria. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 13(1), 07–12. doi:https://doi.org/10.9790/487X-1310712
Trivedi, R. (2016). Does university play significant role in shaping entrepreneurial intention? A cross-country comparative analysis. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 23(3), 790-811. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-10-2015-0149
Tzanakis, M. (2013). Social capital in Bourdieu’s, Coleman’s and putnam’s theory: Empirical evidence and emergent measurement issues. Educate, 13(2), 2–23.
World Bank . (2019). New country classifications by income level: 2019-2020. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/2RIusQE
Yusuf, N., & Albanawi, N. I. (2016). The role of entrepreneurship in economic development in Saudi Arabia. Business and Economics Journal, 7(1), 1-5.
Zhao, H., Seibert, S. E., & Lumpkin, G. T. (2010). The relationship of personality to entrepreneurial intentions and performance: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Management, 36(2), 381–404.
Kumar, M., Memon, S. B., & Çavus, M. F. (2020). Factors influencing individualistic entrepreneurial orientation. International Journal of Business and Administrative Studies, 6(5), 225-235. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.20469/ijbas.6.10001-5
