University students' assessment of entrepreneurial environments

Entrepreneurial intention is a primary step to create new venture in the entrepreneurial process. Environmental conditions are one of the main factors that are strengthening or weakening intention of prospective entrepreneur. Therefore, it is important to develop conducive environments for entrepreneurship to promote entrepreneurial intention. Moreover, the promoted entrepreneurial intention will raise the rate of new venture creation. This paper investigates the relationships between five key environments for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intention. The five entrepreneurial environments are: government policies and procedures, socioeconomic conditions, entrepreneurial and business skills, financial assistance, and non-financial assistance, respectively. Conjoint analysis was used to determine the significance of five environmental factors conducive to entrepreneurial intention. In this conjoint experiment, 1370 decisions were made by 137 university students. Significant relationships were found between all of these environmental factors and intention. Comparative importance of environmental factors was also calculated, along with sub-conjoint analyses based on characteristics of the sample.

Development of an interview version of the Native American Cultural Involvement and Detachment Anxiety Questionnaire

The present study sought to develop and validate an interview version of the Native American Cultural Involvement and Detachment Anxiety Questionnaire (CIDAQ; McNeil, Porter, Zvolensky, Chaney, & Kee, 2000) in an effort to construct a more culturally appropriate means of obtaining anxiety-related information from a tribally homogenous sample of Native Americans. Five pilot subjects (60% women; M age = 35.8 years) and 50 Native American participants (46% women; M age = 40.32 years) residing on a Northern Plains reservation were administered the CIDAQ - Interview, designed specifically for this study, the Worry Domains Questionnaire (WDQ; Tallis, Eysenck, & Mathews, 1992), a measure of non-pathological worry, the CIDAQ (McNeil et al., 2000), a self-report measure of culturally-related anxiety, and a demographics form. Using a mixed design method of analysis, interviews were audio taped and data was both qualitatively and quantitatively compared for convergence and discrepancies across measures. As hypothesized, CIDAQ-Interview subscales corresponded with subscales from the CIDAQ self-report and included worries and anxiety in three content areas: (1) social involvement with Native Americans and cultural knowledge, (2) economic issues, and (3) social involvement with the majority culture. Results further revealed similarities between CIDAQ-Interview items and those on the CIDAQ self-report, indicating reliability for the Interview. Findings also confirmed the Interview's validity (r 's range = .349-.754), as well as a high level of internal consistency for the CIDAQ self-report (Cronbach alpha = .931). Data suggest the CIDAQ-Interview is a more culturally appropriate method of assessment and may be capable of assessing anxiety at a higher level of specificity then the self-report version. Results of the study are discussed in relation to the assessment of anxiety for homogenous reservation Native Americans, study limitations and directions for future research with the CIDAQ-Interview are also discussed.