National Culture, Motivations for Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Intentions: a Comparison of Taiwan and Vietnam

Thai Thanh, Ha

Associate Professor

2019

Taiwan Fellowship Scholar

Field of Study：

No：

Date：2020/2/19

The aim of this cross-national research is double. First, it contributes to better understanding the role of national cultures as specific variables that enable academic researchers and public policy makers to explain the motivations for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intentions. Second, it sets light on the linkages between national cultures, motivations for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intentions in the Taiwan-Vietnam context. Specifically, this research uses three Hostede’s cultural values such Power Distance (PDI); Uncertainty Avoidance (UAV) and Long-term Orientation (LTO) for comparison of Taiwan and Vietnam. Data were gathered from 124 Taiwanese undergraduate students at Tunghai University, Taichung City, and from 162 Vietnamese undergraduate students from Hanoi University, Hanoi capital. Fixed Factor analysis was run to condense the 30 items into desirable entrepreneurial motivational factors. Binary logistic regression was performed to identify the impacts of cultural values, motivations for entrepreneurship on the entrepreneurial intentions with a dummy variable for Taiwan and Vietnam. The research results cultural values of Long-term Orientation (LTO); Uncertainty Avoidance (UAV) and Power Distance (PDI) exert their impacts on the entrepreneurial intentions to a different degree between Taiwan and Vietnam. Furthermore, the entrepreneurial motivational factors such “Respect”; “Autonomy”; “Change”; “Income” would have positive relation to better probability of entrepreneurial intentions, and the remaining motivations for entrepreneurship such as “Competition” and “University Support” would have a negative relation to the entrepreneurial intentions. Logistic regression exponential beta coefficients show that the two “University Support” and “Competition” motivational factors would have a stronger impact on the entrepreneurial intentions for Vietnamese students than for Taiwanese counterparts. Recommendations were drawn for both Taiwan and Vietnam policy makers to improve their respective entrepreneurship cultures as well as the higher education with the aims to support the entrepreneurship development in Taiwan and Vietnam.