The Role of Prior Family Business Background on Entrepreneurial Intentions

Family experiences constitute a strategic force of social influence on the values, attitude, and behaviour of individual over the course of their live and it also serve as a powerful source of finance, human capital development and role model in the career choice of the individual. While studies have shown that family background is one of the numerous determinants of occupational choice of an individual, there is need to assess the role of family business experience in the drive towards entrepreneurship. The aim of this study is to assess the role of Prior family business background on entrepreneurial intention through the mediating effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, desirability, feasibility and attitudes towards business start-ups. The study used a survey of 450 University students to gather the data for this study. Structural equation modeling was used to validate the proposed model while multiple regression was used test the hypothesis raised in the study. The results revealed significant effects of prior family business background on entrepreneurial intention, through the mediation variables of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, desirability, feasibility and attitudes towards business start-ups. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in theory building in entrepreneurship and recommendations were made for policy and decision makers in entrepreneurship