Entrepreneurship processes: Digital self-efficacy, technostress, and entrepreneurial behaviour in South Africa

Research identifies digitalisation as the ‘ holy grail’ of entrepreneurship. But the interplay of digital self-efficacy, technostress, and entrepreneurial behaviour in a non-Western setup is unsubstantiated. Using a digital technology-technostress-entrepreneurial intention interface, we examine multiple relationships influencing early-stage South African entrepreneurs. Regression results derived from 643 of these entrepreneurs confirm that digital self-efficacy impacts the link between perceived behavioural control and technostress. Entrepreneurial passion and the benefits of digital technology amplify this effect. Similarly, digital self-efficacy affects perceived behavioural control and technostress. However, the link between technostress and entrepreneurial passion is weak. Test results on the impact of technostress on entrepreneurial intention are inconclusive. Thus, the originality of these observations lies in revealing how ambivalence towards technology differentially influences the various relationships of digital self-efficacy, technostress, and entrepreneurial behavior in a non-Western context. This ambivalent effect at the intersection of digital technology, technostress, and entrepreneurial intention has socio-economic and policy implications. • An interplay of digital self–efficacy, technostress, and entrepreneurial behaviour in African entrepreneurship. • The amplifying effects of the benefits of digital technology and technostress on perceived behaviour control. • A digital technology–technostress–entrepreneurial intention analysis for enabling indigenous theorisations. • The ambivalent effect of a digital technology–technostress–entrepreneurial intention interface in African entrepreneurship.