Investigating the relationships between entrepreneurial education and self-efficacy and performance in the context of internet entrepreneurship

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the effects of Internet entrepreneurial self-efficacy on the relationships between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial performance in the context of Internet entrepreneurship and to determine entrepreneurial performance using the four dimensions of the Balanced Scorecard. Data from a sample of 160 current entrepreneurs were analyzed using the Partial Least Square Structural Equation approach. Entrepreneurial education was found to influence Internet entrepreneurial self-efficacy positively, and thereby to contribute to the four Internet entrepreneurial performance measures (i.e., financial, customer, internal, and learning and growth). The results of the mediation analyses suggest that Internet entrepreneurial self-efficacy fully mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial education and the four dimensions of Internet entrepreneurial performance. However, no direct effect of entrepreneurial education on the four Internet entrepreneurial performances was found. This study is a pioneering effort to validate the nomological validity of the Internet entrepreneurial self-efficacy scale and to develop the theoretical foundations for Internet entrepreneurship with regard to Internet entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The findings provide several important theoretical and practical implications for Internet entrepreneurship management and education.