Culture and Entrepreneurial Self Efficacy: Comparative Analysis at Provincial Level in Pakistan

The debate about embeddedness of entrepreneurship in cultural dimensions has not found any conclusive theory but still there is ample evidence that culture has impact on intention of entrepreneurial activity. The culturally legitimate vocational choices affect the efficacy to make an entrepreneurial startup. This is directly linked with not only the economic activity but also for creating businesses with the available local resources. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy reflects the personal beliefs of individuals in their own abilities and regarding opportunity recognition and risk propensity. The study conducted the analysis by comparing entrepreneurs in four provinces of Pakistan (Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan) and found significant differences in factors describing self-efficacy. MGCFA revealed the stability of the research instrument across the provinces thus factor loadings for different provinces can be compared. Entrepreneurs in Punjab have relatively stronger entrepreneurial self-efficacy in contrast with other provinces. The policy intervention should be reflective of the situation of each province, and public policy related to business environment should be more liberal while in other provinces supportive of entrepreneurs through institutional support to new business developers