Family business background, perceptions of barriers, and entrepreneurial intentions in Cyprus

This paper investigates the influence of family business background, contextual barriers, and socio-demographic variables on career decisions, such as starting a new business or joining the family firm. A survey of 167 respondents was used embracing the two main communities of Cyprus, Greek and Turkish Cypriots. There is a low, but statistically significant, correlation between a family business background and the intention to start a new business. Entrepreneurial education is not correlated, while entrepreneurial self-efficacy has a positive correlation with the intention to start a new business. Factor analysis of perceived barriers to entrepreneurship identified six major underlying factors and correlated factor scores with the decision to start a new business or join the family business. Factor scores were not found to be significantly correlated with these decisions. Gender and entrepreneurial self-efficacy are not correlated with the decision to join the family business.