Should I Stay, or Should I Go? Job satisfaction as a moderating factor between outcome expectations and entrepreneurial intention among academics

Abstract Both psychological and entrepreneurship research have highlighted the pivotal role of job satisfaction in the process of entrepreneurial career decisions. In support of this, mounting evidence point to inter-relationships between entrepreneurial intention, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Prior research operationalized entrepreneurial careers as an escape from poor work environments; thus, there is a lack of understanding regarding how job-satisfaction can trigger entrepreneurship within and related to the environment of universities. This study, draws on Social Cognitive Career Theory and the concept of entrepreneurial intention, to address whether the role of job satisfaction is a moderating factor between outcome expectations and entrepreneurial intention. Furthermore, we examine to what extent (I) entrepreneurial intention and (II) spin-off intention are determined by certain outcome expectations and perceived behavioral control. To address these questions this study examined academic researchers in specialized and non-technical fields and builds on a survey of 593 academic researchers at Swiss Universities of Applied Science. The results showed that outcome expectations are a significant predictor for entrepreneurial intentions, in general, and spin-off intentions, in particular. A multi-group analysis corroborated that job satisfaction operates as a motivational factor in entrepreneurial transition and interactions with entrepreneurial outcome expectations. In conclusion, the concept of job satisfaction and Social Cognitive Career Theory were powerful constructs to better the understand the process of entrepreneurial career decisions by academic researchers.