Through the cognitive approach model, this study explores the factors influencing entrepreneurial intention in countries influenced by Confucianism (Japan and South Korea). The Adult Population Survey of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor was employed in this study, with the chi-square test and logistic regression used to analyse the data. The findings show that both self-efficacy and having role models were significant predictors of entrepreneurial intention in each country, whilst fear of failure negatively affected intentions in South Korea. In Japan, gender disparities were more apparent, with females showing significantly lower entrepreneurial intentions than men. Also, a cross-country analysis showed that South Koreans are considerably more inclined to report entrepreneurial intentions than the Japanese. These results highlight the influence of cognitive factors on entrepreneurial intention and suggest that some cognitive determinants are consistent across both countries, while others are more context sensitive. The study contributes to the cognitive aspect of the entrepreneurship literature by offering comparative evidence that cognitive factors influencing entrepreneurship intent are partially shared and partially localised to each country in the developed Confucian Asian context.
Muhammad Amirulafiq Juhari (Wed,) studied this question.