MASCULINITY BEHAVIOUR AND ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Entrepreneurship is traditionally considered masculine, so male gender tends to have higher intention to pursue an entrepreneurial career. This study argues that, it is the masculinity attitude and behaviour that shapes the entrepreneurial intention. A research model was developed based on the masculine behaviour model and Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The masculine behaviour model consists of four constructs, namely success dedication, restrictive emotionality, inhibited affection and exaggerated self reliance. The constructs drawn from TPB are attitude towards entrepreneurial, perceived behavioural control and entrepreneurial intention. Based on the developed model, a total of 10 hypotheses representing the relationship among constructs were established. Using a survey research methodology, the study collected data from 355 students of the Faculty of Information Management, Universities Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. The relationship between the masculine behavioural constructs and the constructs drawn from TPB, show mix results. The success dedication and exaggerated self reliance are found to have significant effect on attitude towards entrepreneurial and perceived behavioural control. In addition, both attitude towards entrepreneurial and perceived behavioural control have significant relationship with entrepreneurial intention. This study adds to the research that studies entrepreneurial intentions and clarifies how to stimulate entrepreneurial behaviour.