| Research on a dark triad of personality traits such as narcissism,Machiavellianism,and psychopathy has emerged in psychological personality research.The dark side of personality traits on entrepreneurial intention has become a research focus in the area of entrepreneurship.Recent research into dark triad personality traits supported the addition of sadism because of its close relationship with the dark triad traits and become dark tetrad personality traits.Therefore,this thesis aims at closing this gap by studying how narcissism,Machiavellianism,psychopathy and sadism personality traits effect on entrepreneurial intention informing of entrepreneurial nascent behavior with the mediating role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and moderating effect of fungibility issue.The dark tetrad reflects a cluster of four undesirable and interpersonal problematic behavior styles: narcissism,Machiavellianism,psychopathy,and sadism.Narcissism is characterized by dominance,exhibitionism,and exploitation as well as feelings of superiority and entitlement.Machiavellianism portrays interpersonal strategies driven by deception,manipulation,egotism,money,power,and competition.Psychopathy is described as a specific combination of problematic affective,interpersonal,and behavioral features including a grandiose sense of selfworth and thrill-seeking behavior.Sadism is associated with the concept of enjoyment of cruelty.In this personality trait,individuals hurting or seeing another hurt can be an appalling experience;for sadists,however,it can be a good and enjoyable experience: gaining pleasure and enjoyment from the suffering of others is normal for such people.This thesis addressed these objectives as well;firstly,this study identified the effect of narcissism on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention,secondly,examined the role of psychopathy on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention,thirdly,explored the influence of Machiavellianism on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention,fourthly,investigated the impact of sadism on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention,fifthly,evaluated the impact of entrepreneurial self-efficacy from entrepreneurial intention to entrepreneurial nascent behavior,sixthly,examined the mediating role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the relationship between dark tetrad personality traits and entrepreneurial intentions and lastly,identified the moderating effect of fungibility issue in the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial nascent behavior.This study applied life-history theory,social cognitive theory,and theory of planned behavior on highlighting the dark tetrad personality traits on entrepreneurial intention.According to the theory of life history,a person who has a high level of dark triad personality traits will be more motivated to live a fast life as well as taking a risk at a normal and difficult level.Furthermore,dark triad personality individuals are risk-takers and good in handling the worse situations in complex environments.Hence,to start a new business or becoming an entrepreneur might be the most good-looking career choice for these people in the current and future aspects.Moreover,this study contributes to the literature of entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial nascent behavior with the adoption of the theory of planned behavior.Theory of planned behavior defined as an overt action or set of actions that are performed by an individual.However,according to the theory,any behavior can be conceptualized in terms of four components: action(i.e.,the specific activities performed by an individual),target(i.e.,who or what the behavior is directed toward),context(i.e.,in what situation does the behavior occur),and time(i.e.,when the behavior occurs).Additionally,this study contributes to the role of social cognitive theory among these important indicators to better predict the entrepreneurial selfefficacy and entrepreneurial intention.There are no empirical investigations that explored the relationship of dark tetrad personality traits,and entrepreneurial intention to entrepreneurial behavior in the Pakistani context.This study used statistical packages for social sciences(SPSS)and analysis of a moment structures(AMOS)structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses on a sample of 968 undergraduate and post-graduate students from public sector universities of Pakistan.The output of this study revealed that narcissism has a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial selfefficacy and entrepreneurial intention.Moreover,the study finding showed that psychopathy has a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention.Meanwhile,results indicated that Machiavellianism has a positive influence on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention.Furthermore,findings illustrated that sadism personality has a positive impact on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention.Additionally,results showed that entrepreneurial self-efficacy positively and significantly partially mediates in the relationship between narcissism,psychopathy,Machiavellianism,sadism on entrepreneurial intentions.Lastly,the study findings suggested that the fungibility issue has a positive impact on entrepreneurial nascent behavior as well as strengthening the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial nascent behavior.The finding of this study made an innovative contribution to Pakistan's higher education sectors,researchers,and policymakers to unlock the hidden potential of its youth and further contribute to designing the relevant practical implications.This study provides novel contributions as follows;1)This study is the first attempt in the context of Pakistan and addressed the role of negative personality traits for developing entrepreneurial intentions among students.2)This study contributes to the addition of sadism in the dark triad personality traits and finds a positive and significant impact on entrepreneurial intention.3)This study offers significant influence of entrepreneurial self-efficacy as a mediator in the relationship between dark tetrad personality traits and entrepreneurial intention as well as further highlighting the role of entrepreneurial intentions to entrepreneurial nascent behavior.4)This thesis finding also suggests that the fungibility issue is strengthening the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial nascent behavior.5)This study contributes to the emerging literature of psychology and entrepreneurship as well as provides evidence that individuals with a high level of dark tetrad personalities are more intended to involve in entrepreneurial action. |
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