Title: Bridging the entrepreneurial intention-behaviour gap: the role of commitment and implementation intention

Authors: Anne-Flore Adam; Alain Fayolle

Addresses: Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, Switzerland; CERAG, Université de Grenoble, France ' Academy of Management ENT Division, USA; Department of Strategy and Organisation, EM LYON Business School, France

Abstract: Since 1980s, many authors have studied the entrepreneurial process based on the intention models developed in the sociopsychological literature. Determinants of intention were defined, but as shown by Ajzen (1987), no direct link was established between intention and action: intentions were found to explain only about 30% of the variance in behaviour. Some authors tried to bridge this gap, by focusing more specifically on environmental factors. Our paper is in line with works by Shane et al. (2003), in studying factors at the micro level. Drawing on the sociopsychological literature, it focuses on two psychological factors that can explain why some people with entrepreneurial intentions act when others do not. As it addresses the missing link between entrepreneurial intention and behaviour from a sociopsychological approach, the main contribution of this theoretical paper is to enhance our knowledge of the entrepreneurial process, in order to improve the training and support of nascent entrepreneurs.

Keywords: intention-behaviour gap; commitment; implementation intention; entrepreneurial process; entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial intention; entrepreneurial behaviour; sociopsychology; entrepreneurial training; entrepreneurial support; nascent entrepreneurs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2015.068775

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2015 Vol.25 No.1, pp.36 - 54

Received: 12 Apr 2014
Accepted: 07 Oct 2014
Published online: 12 Apr 2015 *

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