Entrepreneurial Intentions in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Psychological and Demographic Factors

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly transformed the global landscape, introducing unprecedented levels of uncertainty that widely shaped the business environment and entrepreneurial intentions. This study aims to enhance the understanding of the relationship between key psychological factors that influence entrepreneurial intention and how they were affected during the pandemic, opening new avenues for potential young entrepreneurs. The study proposes a novel model incorporating self-efficacy, curiosity, and willingness to take risks, as crucial nexus in the evolving landscape of the knowledge economy. We also consider these factors to align with the framework of uncertainty management theory, representing a unique combination of individual characteristics that influence entrepreneurial intention to maximize the benefits arising from the pandemic crisis. Data obtained from 247 Romanian respondents were analyzed using multivariate statistical analysis techniques. Structural equation modeling was further employed to capture the direct, indirect, and total inferences among the constructs of our model. The findings highlight that individuals who combine curiosity with a willingness to take risks are more likely to foster entrepreneurial intention even in a crisis period. We found a significant but negative relationship between self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention, a result that deserves deeper future investigations. At the same time, the article considers a series of demographic variables that have not been studied before to explain entrepreneurial intention. The results obtained are new and interesting and open up new avenues of study regarding the role of family, especially the mother (as part of social capital), in the entrepreneurial decision.