Perceived obstacles to the early-stage entrepreneurial activity of youth

Abstract

Purpose: The fundamental driving force of entrepreneurship is the individual with their ambitions and entrepreneurial spirit, but also with their obstacles that prevent them from following an entrepreneurial path. These obstacles can be of a personal nature, but also factors of the immediate living environment, the prevailing cultural values, the general attitude of society towards entrepreneurship, etc. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the known barriers to early-stage youth entrepreneurship compared to the total population based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data for the 34 countries studied. Methodology: The methodology includes frequency distribution, descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis. Data from GEM 2016-2020 on early-stage entrepreneurial activity, perceived skills, and fear of failure were used. Results: We showed that there are differences in perceived entrepreneurial skills between youth and the total population, namely that youth perceive lower levels of entrepreneurial knowledge, experience, and skills. We confirmed that perceived entrepreneurial skills have a positive, statistically significant impact on total early-stage entrepreneurial activity, which is true for both the total population and youth. The test of the influence of fear of failure on total early-stage entrepreneurial activity for a sample of the total population and youth indicates a negative influence, but it is not statistically significant. Conclusion: From the study, recommendations emerge for policymakers regarding entrepreneurship education as a key intervention to help youth acquire and develop relevant entrepreneurial skills that are thus beneficial for the youth to better overcome obstacles in the business environment as well as in various life situations.

Keywords

• early-stage entrepreneurial activity
• self-employment
• youth
• perceived entrepreneurial knowledge
• fear of failure