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First published online June 16, 2021

The influence of job satisfaction on entrepreneurial intention: A cross-level investigation

Abstract

This article develops a framework to demonstrate how employee job satisfaction influences entrepreneurial intentions. Based on new institutional theory, we examine our hypotheses using data from 39,394 employees from 27 countries; the results indicate that job satisfaction has a negative effect on entrepreneurial intentions moderated by uncertainty avoidance at the country level. Furthermore, a cross-level three-way interaction indicates that entrepreneurship legitimacy is an important climate-level variable that influences the entrepreneurial intentions of employees. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings and future research directions.

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Biographies

Jie Li is an Associate Professor at the International Business School Suzhou, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. His research interests are in the area of international human resource management and employees’ entrepreneurial behaviour. His recent research has been published in high impact journals.
Feifei Yang is a master student at the School of Management, Shanghai University. Her research interests focus on social entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship for poverty reduction.
Jipeng Qi is an Associate Professor at the School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University. His research interests cover the FDI, cross-border M&A, entrepreneurship and venture capital. He also has extensive consulting experience in transportation and utilities industries.
Ruijie Sun is a master student at the School of Management, Shanghai University. His research interests center around organisational legitimacy and digitalisation strategy.
Ruoshi Geng is a research assistant and a master student at the School of Management, Shanghai University. Her research focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship.

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Article first published online: June 16, 2021
Issue published: May 2022

Keywords

  1. entrepreneurial intention
  2. entrepreneurial legitimacy
  3. job satisfaction
  4. uncertainty avoidance

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Authors

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Feifei Yang
Shanghai University, China
Jipeng Qi
Beijing Jiaotong University, China
Ruijie Sun
Shanghai University, China
Ruoshi Geng
Shanghai University, China

Notes

Jie Li, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, China. Email: [email protected]

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