The key antecedents of entrepreneurial behaviour and its significance for international marketing: a study of university students in Croatia, Iceland, Turkey and the United Kingdom

This paper focuses on the personal traits of locus of control and innovation and examines their impact on business students’ aspirations to become an entrepreneur. The study was based on an empirical investigation of third and fourth-year students at five universities in Croatia, Iceland, Turkey, and the U.K. The instrument administered to the students surveyed their attitudes concerning their future career aspirations i.e. whether they intended to pursue an entrepreneurial venture or that of a corporate career. It also contained items designed to measure locus of control and innovation. The study findings support the contention that locus of control and innovation have a significant effect on entrepreneurial aspirations when measured by the decision to build a business from scratch. A major contribution of this study is that it validates the importance of locus of control and innovation in predicting entrepreneurial behaviour outside of the U.S. Furthermore, the study’s findings suggest that internal locus of control and innovation as predictors of entrepreneurial aspirations is not confined to any one particular national setting. This is a significant finding in itself and should further advance the literature on entrepreneurial activity and international marketing.