Contextual Motivations for Undergraduates’ Entrepreneurial Intentions in Emerging Asian Economies

The development of theories to explain and predict the phenomena of entrepreneurship is essential to various stakeholders. Recent entrepreneurship literature has suggested that values motivate entrepreneurial intention, and entrepreneurship is contextual. This study examines contextual motivations of business undergraduates’ entrepreneurial intention across selected emerging Asian economies. The research methodology is quantitative. The measurement instrument consists of items from Portrait Values Questionnaire and Entrepreneurial Intent Scale to collect data from 378 matched business undergraduates from Malaysia, Indonesia and China. Structural equation modelling technique tested the hypotheses for overall sample, and measurement invariance was checked prior to multi-group analysis. The results suggest that the openness-to-change values shape Malaysian and Indonesian undergraduates’ entrepreneurial intentions, whereas achievement values shape Chinese undergraduates’ entrepreneurial intentions. The findings add to existing theory and evidence that argue for the importance of contextual motivations. It also enriches understanding of entrepreneurship in emerging Asian economies. Practical implications for entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurship development programmes are discussed.