Wu, Jinpei2014-03-142014-03-142009-07-09etd-07142009-160704http://hdl.handle.net/10919/28298The empirical evidence is rather weak and sometimes inconsistent as to what predicts an individual's decision to start a business. Among many possible causes, this study attempts to disentangle the effects of individual differences and context. I propose to use a framework involving an individual's entrepreneurial intent, entrepreneurial orientation and four individual difference factors as a means to isolate individual difference determinants of entrepreneurial intent. These are captured in new construct called entrepreneurial orientation. Samples of entrepreneurs and college students from the United States and China were used to test the relationships. The empirical results show that entrepreneurial orientation is positively related to individual differences factors and entrepreneurial intent. Even more, it fully or partially mediates the relationships between the individual differences and entrepreneurial intent. Among the four individual differences listed, opportunity recognition seems to be the best predictor of an individual's entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial intent. Future research should further examine opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial orientation. It appears that attempting to isolate effects of individual differences from context can be a viable strategy for studying determinants of new venture creation.In CopyrightEntrepreneurial intentChina.Entrepreneurial orientationContextOpportunity recognitionDissertationhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-07142009-160704/