Validation and adaptation of the entrepreneurship intention scales in the population of Chilean scientists

In this study, a sample of 251 academics who conduct their research in Chile are used to assess the scales' psychometric properties of the entrepreneurial intention model within the context of the theory of planned behaviour. The instruments under consideration are Spanish adaptations of Liñán and Chen (2009) original English scales, validated in their article 'Development and cross-cultural application of a specific instrument to measure entrepreneurial intentions'. For this purpose, factorial structure, internal consistency, content validity, convergent validity and discriminant validity analyses were performed for the four scales of the model: entrepreneurial intention; entrepreneurial attitude; subjective norm and perceived behavioural control. The results show a four-factor structure presenting, adequate internal consistency, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. Consequently, the scales tested in this article prove to be adequate instruments for measuring the academic researchers' entrepreneurial intention in Chile. The importance of having reliable instruments that enable measurement of academic researchers' entrepreneurial ambition together with their most immediate motivating elements is discussed. This is done in order to later be able to clarify how and to what extent academic researchers develop an entrepreneurial intention based on the findings of their research.