The influence of creativity on the entrepreneurial intention of university female graduates: An SEM approach

Abstract

Entrepreneurial activities have been vital to economic growth as a feasible career option for many university graduates. Nonetheless, it has been recognised that the lowest intentions to undertake entrepreneurial activity are among female graduates. While entrepreneurship is claimed to be a reflection of creative activity from which individuals generate value, graduates’ creativity can be a crucial aspect of entrepreneurship, with innovative concepts, products and services. This study examines the role of creativity skills in the entrepreneurial intentions of female university students attending business programs. Built on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the survey results collected from 303 female business graduates identified the positive influence of creativity on entrepreneurial intentions. Recognising the need to embed creative skills and activities in the university curriculum is fundamental to encouraging entrepreneurial aspirations among female graduates.

Keywords

Creativity entrepreneurship education entrepreneurial intention women entrepreneurship

Academic scholars and policymakers believe that entrepreneurship is one of the fundamental instruments required to stabilise, sustain and develop a nation’s economy (Camacho-Minñano and del Campo, 2017; Mamun et al., 2017). In light of rising unemployment levels and the more prosperous opportunities offered by rapid globalisation and marketing, more university graduates choose to start their own businesses (Hu et al., 2018). Entrepreneurship can be a vehicle for creating new job opportunities for graduates in times of crisis. In this regard, Kuckertz and Wagner (2010) and Camacho-Minñano and del Campo (2017) argued how the entrepreneurial actions of economic actors in an economy could create new job opportunities. In the context of female university graduates, studies have highlighted that they exhibit the lowest intentions to undertake the entrepreneurial activity (Alonso-Galicia et al., 2015; Caro-González et al., 2017; Shinnar et al., 2018). Women’s entrepreneurship has received increased attention across several disciplines (Lourenço et al., 2015; Sengupta et al., 2013), and a growing number of scholars have identified a gender gap in entrepreneurship (Guzman and Kacperczyk, 2019; Iacovone et al., 2018; Markussen and Røed, 2017; Minniti, 2010; Ahl, 2006). Many of these studies highlight how many women entrepreneurs have in the past been motivated to participate in an entrepreneurial activity solely out of the necessity to survive, rather than being motivated by opportunity. However, other studies have detailed how women entrepreneurs have become more likely to start a business because they seek new opportunities or desire to be independent (Minniti, 2009; Yadav and Unni, 2016). Kitching and Woldie (2004) and Davis and Shaver (2012) point out that the increase in women entrepreneurs has facilitated access to career advice services and various public and private support resources, including business development services and business growth information.

Nonetheless, the lack of soft skills has also accounted that women entrepreneurs have less preference for entrepreneurial activities (Gurmeet and Belwal, 2008; Osmani et al., 2015). In response, many governments have introduced new legislation to promote entrepreneurial skills. In particular, universities are called on to mobilise a more entrepreneurial workforce and help graduates resolve entrepreneurship misconceptions (Entrialgo and Iglesias, 2017; Passaro et al., 2018; Shamsudin et al., 2018). This effort is of paramount importance in understanding the factors driving entrepreneurial intention among female university graduates (Darmanto and Yuliari, 2018; Kilonzo, Nyambegera, 2014; Shahab et al. 2018; Tiwari et al. 2017). As highlighted in much of the academic literature, women entrepreneurship has been an understudied subject although, as a whole, entrepreneurship is currently one of the fastest-growing areas and is making a substantial impact on the creation of new jobs and innovation in the global economy (Guzman and Kacperczyk, 2019; Iacovone et al., 2018).

Regarding creativity, Camacho-Minñano and del Campo (2017) argue that there are no external constraints to being an entrepreneur but that there are differences in creativity level by gender; teaching creativity should therefore target female graduates, as they are more likely to adapt. Enrolling in university entrepreneurship programs has attracted a considerable amount of interest from students. Solomon et al. (2008) highlighted the importance of creativity in entrepreneurship education and theoretical models of entrepreneurial intention using a sample of graduates enrolled in an entrepreneurship education program and a control group of graduates enrolled in other graduate programs. The study’s findings revealed that students who participated in entrepreneurship education programs were more likely to start a business in the future.

This paper contributes to the understanding of entrepreneurial behavioural intention by demonstrating that creativity is an important antecedent of the entrepreneurial behavioural intentions of female business undergraduate students enrolled in entrepreneurship programs in the Middle East region. The remainder of the paper is organised as follows. The following section provides contextual background on women entrepreneurship and the role of creativity in entrepreneurial intention. This is followed by the proposed research model and the hypotheses developed to test the model. The methodological approach utilised in the study is then presented, followed by an analysis of the empirical findings. The final section presents our conclusions and sets out the implications for both practitioners and researchers.

Research background

Women entrepreneurship

Traditionally, entrepreneurial activities have been predominantly driven and led by men. However, there has been a recent movement towards a paradigm shift, albeit a prolonged movement (European Commission, 2014). Many studies have identified the gender gap in entrepreneurship (Alonso-Galicia et al., 2015; Díaz-García and Jiménez-Moreno, 2010; Caro-González et al., 2017; Haus et al., 2013; Plant and Ren, 2010; ; Shinnar et al., 2018; Shneor et al., 2013). In this regard, Haus et al. (2013) examined the relationship between gender and entrepreneurial intention and found that it was mediated by three essential motivational constructs: attitude towards starting a business, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control. Similarly, Díaz-García and Jiménez-Moreno (2010) investigated the role of gender in entrepreneurial intention and concluded that gender has directly impacted intention since men are more likely to think about creating a firm than to be determined to do it.

Historically, the word ‘entrepreneurship’ has been framed in masculine terms (Ahl, 2006; Estrin and Mickiewicz, 2011), exemplified by men initiating most start-ups before the 1980s (Brush, 2006). However, since then, more and more women have started their own businesses (Brush et al., 2008). Traditionally, many women who engaged in entrepreneurial activity did so out of necessity – driven by the need to survive rather than by the occurrence of opportunity. More recently, however, women have started a business because they see opportunities or want to be independent (Minniti, 2009; Yadav and Unni, 2016). Women may, therefore, enter the domain of entrepreneurship because of career dissatisfaction (Manolova et al., 2012) and the pursuit of intrinsic goals – key among these are independence, flexibility and the ability to fit work around their domestic lives. This increase is essential in women’s access to career guidance and various publicly and privately offered support services, including business development services and business growth information (Davis and Shaver, 2012; Kitching and Woldie, 2004).

Similarly, there have been entry barriers to how women entrepreneurs have often experienced limited entrepreneurial support within agricultural and information technology domains (GEM, 2019; Gurmeet and Belwal, 2008; Osmani et al., 2015). The GEM Women’s Entrepreneurship Report 2018/2019 (GEM, 2019) highlighted how men dominated these sectors. The challenges facing women entrepreneurs have been the focus of various studies, including those by Danish and Smith (2012), Alsos et al. (2006) and Brush et al. (2020), who have highlighted the barriers to entrepreneurship that confront women, including the challenge of raising the necessary funds for their start-ups. Nonetheless, Jennings and Brush (2013) noted that some of these challenges could be turned into opportunities. A much-debated question is whether women entrepreneurs are more likely than men to fail or exit a business and in what industries specifically. To date, there has been little research that directly investigates the failure and exit rates of women entrepreneurs and the associated causes, such as health issues, family issues and education (Justo et al., 2015).

Women entrepreneurship in the Middle East region: issues and challenges

According to the European Commission, in 2012 there were 40.6 million entrepreneurs in the then 27 EU countries, of whom 29% were women (11.6 million). While these figures show a disparity between men and women concerning entrepreneurship in Europe, the disparity is even more significant in the Middle East region, where only around 11% of women express an interest in becoming an entrepreneur. This can be partly attributed to local barriers that have prevented women from participating in entrepreneurial activities, such as domestic obligations and finding funding resources (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2009). It is evident that there has been a lack of seed and venture capital in most countries in the Arab region. In general, women in the region are expected to secure guarantors to become entrepreneurs, and as noted in a study by Ahmad (2011), it is commonly challenging for them to obtain business loans from banks as they often rely on their personal savings to fund their businesses. In the same study, the women also stated that many social and regulatory interactions were more challenging because of their gender, making them dependent on male family members to execute business transactions. Similarly, a study among Tunisian women entrepreneurs found that they experienced challenges in accessing entrepreneurship support (Drine and Grach, 2012).

Furthermore, in the Arab World, women entrepreneurship is relatively low, with women having ownership in 13% of all firms – significantly lower than in most other regions, including Europe, Central Asia, East Asia and Latin America (Chamlou, 2008). For example, in Qatar’s 2020/2021 global entrepreneurship monitoring report on entrepreneurship, 12.3% of women were at an early stage of the business cycle, compared to 18.4% of men. Even so, the report also points out that about 7.1% of the men were likely to establish business ownership, in sharp contrast to 2% of the women (GEM, 2021). On the other hand, women’s intentions to embark on an entrepreneurial journey are relatively high (GEM, 2019). For example, in Qatar, women’s entrepreneurial intention is 34.6% compared to 27.7% for men. However, they contribute to Qatar’s economic development only about 13.4% (Fetterolf, 2017). Perhaps part of the explanation for this statistic is the impact of the pandemic – many women entrepreneurs own home-based businesses that are not included in the official statistics and face increasing demands related to home-schooling (Mehtap et al., 2017; Zampetakis et al., 2011).

The effect of creativity on entrepreneurial intention

Creativity is a vital part of entrepreneurship, enabling the generation of innovative ideas for new products and services (Byrge and Tang, 2015; Solomon et al., 2008). Entrepreneurial creativity has been defined as the ‘generation and implementation of novel, appropriate ideas to establish a new venture’ (Amabile, 1997: p 20). Creativity is a skill that can be taught, and the inclusion of pedagogical materials in university curricula aimed at creativity development can help develop entrepreneurial intentions (Byrge and Tang, 2015; Smith et al., 2016). The entrepreneurship competence framework published by the European Commission has highlighted several essential skills; the report emphasised the concept of creativity as a fundamental attribute for entrepreneurial success (Bacigalupo et al., 2016). The report defines creativity as follows:

‘Learners can develop multiple ideas that create value for others. Learners can test and refine ideas that create value for others. Learners can transform ideas into solutions that create value for others’. (Bacigalupo et al., 2016: p. 18, p. 18)

Zampetakis and Moustakis (2006) argued that creativity was an essential part of entrepreneurial intention and that the current university environment did not seem to promote creative thinking and, consequently, student entrepreneurial intentions. They developed a preliminary model that linked creativity with entrepreneurial intention and empirically examined it using a sample of 181 randomly selected undergraduate students from two Greek universities. Their results indicated that students’ self-perception of their creativity and a family environment that promoted creative thinking could predict increased entrepreneurial intention levels. Zampetakis and Moustakis (2006) argued that there was no well-documented theory linking creativity attitude with entrepreneurial intention; however, their results are significant in identifying factors associated with entrepreneurial intention. They noted that more research was required to enhance the generalisation of findings as the sample was drawn from engineering schools, and hence, the results might reflect a bias since students from other schools were omitted.

Furthermore, as noted earlier, Solomon et al. (2008) investigated the importance of creativity in entrepreneurship education and theoretical models of entrepreneurial intentions. They found that high creativity test scores and previous entrepreneurial experiences were positively linked to entrepreneurial intentions; hence, they argued that creativity should be considered in theoretical models of entrepreneurial intentions. Solomon et al. (2008) further suggested that creative activities could increase students’ entrepreneurial intentions in entrepreneurship education. However, the heterogeneity among graduates’ creative styles points to the problem of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to education for entrepreneurship. Therefore, entrepreneurship education should concentrate on teamwork, divergent thinking and interpersonal communication skills to support creativity; in this way, graduates can learn new and much-needed skills that will enable them to interact with a dynamic marketplace.

Based on empirical evidence, Smith et al. (2016) found that creativity was positively linked to entrepreneurial intentions and suggested incorporating exercises to develop creative thinking abilities would enhance the overall effectiveness of entrepreneurship education by fostering students’ entrepreneurial intentions. Their findings indicate that incorporating creativity activities in the entrepreneurship curriculum could promote entrepreneurial intentions. Smith et al. (2016) also argued that entrepreneurship education could overcome various obstacles to entrepreneurship and encourage entrepreneurial intentions and start-up activities. They suggested that in the context of business education, creativity could be channelled towards entrepreneurial careers and the development of skills needed by the greater economy.

Similarly, Camacho-Minñano and del Campo (2017) analysed the creativity level of business administration undergraduates who had attended an entrepreneurship seminar compared with others who had not; their results highlight that business graduates’ entrepreneurial intentions are not conditioned by entrepreneurial courses, parental self-employment or creativity level. Camacho-Minñano and del Campo (2017) argue that there are differences in creativity level by gender; teaching creativity should target female graduates, as they are more likely to adapt. These authors also claim that mixed-gender groups of undergraduates must work together to put entrepreneurship projects into motion. They further suggest that the curriculum could be adjusted to boost undergraduate students’ creativity to enhance performance and encourage entrepreneurial motivations in a creative and innovative learning environment. They argue that entrepreneurship incubators can play a crucial role in supporting students’ future self-employment: as students practice business strategies, budgets and legal contracts as they would do in a real work context, they will develop more self-confidence to become entrepreneurs.

Theoretical development and hypotheses

The dominant and most extensive intention theories are the Theory of Reasoned Actions (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1975) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991). TPB is an extension of the Theory of Reasoned Actions and is more coherent considering social and personal factors. TPB consists of five antecedents: attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, behavioural intention and behaviour (Ajzen, 1991). According to the theory, attitudes and beliefs predict intentions, and intentions predict behaviours (Ajzen, 1991). The intention results from an individual’s attitude towards the behaviour in question, while subjective norm and perceived behaviour control are functions of the surrounding environment and population in a specific context.

The TPB framework has been adopted in many studies and various contexts, including that of entrepreneurial intentions (Pedrini et al., 2017; Shahab et al., 2018; Sousa et al., 2018). Many of these studies suggest that intentional entrepreneurial behaviour can be strongly predicted by factors including attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control (Pedrini et al., 2017; Shahab et al., 2018; Sousa et al., 2018). Thus, this study hypothesises that creativity will significantly positively affect entrepreneurial attitude, perceived behavioural control and subjective norms among female graduate students. Subjective norms will have a significant positive effect on entrepreneurial attitude and perceived behavioural control. Entrepreneurial attitude and perceived behavioural control will have a significant positive effect on entrepreneurial intention. To interpret Figure 1 for the field of entrepreneurship, attitude towards entrepreneurship refers to the degree to which an individual is positive or negative about being an entrepreneur. In contrast, the subjective norm for entrepreneurship refers to the influence that important reference groups exert on an individual to become an entrepreneur, and perceived behavioural control refers to an individual’s perception of how easy or difficult it will be to start up a business (Ajzen, 1991).

Figure 1.

Entrepreneurial intention framework.

Entrepreneurial creativity is perceived as an essential element of entrepreneurship; it refers to an individual’s development and implementation of unique and accurate ideas to launch a new start-up (Shahab et al., 2018). Individuals with a creative mindset can improve innovation and inventiveness in businesses by applying practical problem-solving approaches and efficiently utilising existing resources (Ahlin et al., 2014; Shahab et al., 2018). While the literature on the relationship between creativity and intentions is limited (Smith et al., 2016), some studies have established a relationship between creativity and business opportunity identification (Bacigalupo et al., 2016; Camacho-Minñano and del Campo, 2017; Schmidt et al., 2012). Schmidt et al. (2012) found that undergraduates who enrolled in an entrepreneurship course perceived themselves as more creative and better at developing business ideas than students not enrolled in the course.

In the context of women entrepreneurs, Duckworth et al. (2016) suggested that incorporating creativity development exercises in the entrepreneurship curriculum and creating and tailoring programs could enhance women’s entrepreneurial intentions. Their results also showed that creative women who developed business ideas and opportunities were more likely to have stronger intentions to start a business.

Based on such findings, creativity can be seen as a vital factor of entrepreneurship, and there is an established relationship between creativity and entrepreneurial intention. However, Miranda et al. (2017) argue that there is no direct relationship between entrepreneurial creativity and entrepreneurial intention and propose an indirect relationship through entrepreneurial attitude.

Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H1. Creativity will have a significant positive effect on entrepreneurial attitude.

H2. Creativity will have a significant positive effect on perceived behavioural control.

H3. Creativity will have a significant positive effect on the subjective norm.

Although previous studies in the field of entrepreneurship have found a positive and direct relationship between subject norm and intentions (Entrialgo and Iglesias, 2017; Fernández-Pérez et al., 2017; Hallam et al., 2016; Shahab et al., 2018), there is also evidence that subjective norm has an indirect effect on entrepreneurial intentions through the relationship of entrepreneurial attitude and self-efficacy (Alonso-Galicia et al., 2015; Fernández-Pérez et al., 2017). A study by Fini et al. (2012) found that subjective norm might be the weakest of the three indicators of TPB in shaping entrepreneurial intention. Fernández-Pérez et al. (2017) found that self-efficacy, entrepreneurial attitude and entrepreneurial intentions are influenced directly and positively through the subjective norm experienced. Their findings indicate that university students’ entrepreneurial intention is influenced by developing their emotional competencies and building positive cognitive antecedents. Alonso-Galicia et al. (2015) revised TPB to understand the direct role of subjective norm on entrepreneurial intentions and its indirect influence on entrepreneurial intentions through attitude and self-efficacy. The data, collected from 500 Spanish academics, were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results indicated that subjective norm had a non-significant effect on entrepreneurial intention, while the impact was significantly positive on attitude and self-efficacy. These findings suggest that strong support from peer groups must be perceived to promote a positive attitude concerning developing entrepreneurial intentions.

Based on these arguments, this study proposes that there is a significant indirect influence of subjective norm on entrepreneurial intentions through the relationship between entrepreneurial attitude and perceived behavioural control. Also, Dinc and Budic (2016) empirically analysed the relationship between perceived behavioural control and women’s entrepreneurial intentions and showed that subjective norms did not significantly affect entrepreneurial intention. However, their results indicated that subjective norm had a significant and positive impact on entrepreneurial attitude and perceived behaviour control. This suggests that the environment in which individuals act and live and their family, friends and colleagues significantly affect how they think about their ability to carry out entrepreneurial activities (Neneh, 2017). Based on these findings, it can be argued that subjective norm strongly influences women’s attitude towards entrepreneurship and has a significant positive effect on perceived behaviour control. Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H4. Subjective norms will have a significant positive effect on entrepreneurial attitude.

H5. Subjective norms will have a significant positive effect on perceived behavioural control.

Ajzen claimed that intention could be an outcome of an individual’s attitude towards a behaviour, while perceived behaviour control can be explained as the perception of their ability to perform a given behaviour in a specific context (Ajzen, 1991). Entrepreneurial attitude refers to the degree to which an individual is positive or negative about being an entrepreneur, while perceived behavioural control refers to an individual’s perception of how easy or difficult it will be to start a business (Ajzen, 1991). The relationship between entrepreneurial attitude, perceived behavioural control and entrepreneurial intention has been established in several studies (Entrialgo and Iglesias, 2017; Fernández-Pérez et al., 2017; Hallam et al., 2016; Mamun et al., 2017; Maresch et al., 2016; Ndofirepi and Rambe, 2017; Politis et al., 2016; Shahab et al., 2018). Dinc and Budic (2016) demonstrated that women’s entrepreneurial intention was firmly and positively affected by their personal attitudes. They argued that women who have a good overall perception of entrepreneurship are more likely to have entrepreneurial intentions and start a business. Using a total of 216 completed questionnaires, Dinc and Budic (2016) empirically analysed the relationship between perceived behavioural control and the entrepreneurial intentions of women in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their results showed that perceived behaviour control significantly influenced women’s entrepreneurial intentions, indicating that confidence in one’s ability to succeed in a mission or manage the business creation process plays a vital role in increasing entrepreneurial intentions. Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H6. Entrepreneurial attitude will have a significant positive effect on entrepreneurial intention.

H7. Perceived behavioural control will have a significant positive effect on entrepreneurial intention.

Methodology

This study follows a deductive approach starting with the TPB, then formulating research hypotheses and validating them after the empirical examination (Bell et al., 2018; Collis and Hussey, 2014). The survey method was considered appropriate to test the hypotheses (Collis and Hussey, 2014). The questionnaire instruments were measured using a seven-point Likert scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. Table 1 shows the survey instruments and their sources. A pilot study was conducted to test the reliability and validity of the survey items based on the results of 59 completed questionnaires from the targeted sample.

Table 1.

Survey instruments.

Constructs/References	Instruments
Creativity (Shahab et al., 2018)	I have plenty of ideas
	I search for new solutions even when they are not needed
	My ideas are often very original
	I am sensitive to seeing problems that others do not see
	It is easy for me to find proposals for improvement
Subjective Norm (Marina et al., 2012)	My closest family members think that I should pursue a career as an entrepreneur
	My closest friends think that I should pursue a career as an entrepreneur
	People that are important to me think that I should pursue a career as an entrepreneur
Perceived Behavioral Control (Farooq et al., 2018)	I can control the initial launching phase of a new business
	I am fully aware of what it takes to start a new business
	I am completely prepared for my entrepreneurial initiative
	If I tried to start a firm, I would have a high possibility of succeeding
Entrepreneurial Attitude (Farooq et al., 2018)	A career as an entrepreneur is preferable for me
Entrepreneurial Attitude (Farooq et al., 2018)	Among various options, I would choose to be an entrepreneur
Entrepreneurial intention (De Clercq et al., 2013; Farooq et al., 2018)	My career objective is to create my own business
	I am determined to initiate my business in the future
	I have a strong intention to establish my own business

The questionnaire was distributed to female students enrolled in an entrepreneurship program in a leading business school (in a public university) in the Middle East region from February 2019 to October 2019. A total of 303 surveys were collected and analysed using SEM. SEM is the preferred data analysis method due to its ability to test the hypothesised model statistically in simultaneous analysis of the entire system of variables and determine its consistency with the data. Hair et al. (2010) also suggested that SEM fits the purpose of testing hypotheses that involve multiple regression analysis among a group of dependent and independent variables.

Research findings

The mean and standard deviations for all items are presented in Table 2. The mean score for all items in the constructs shows an average higher than the neutral point (4), suggesting that most respondents agreed with the items.

Table 2.

Descriptive statistics.

	N	Minimum	Maximum	Mean	Standard Deviation
EC1	303	1	7	5.3	1.417
EC2	303	1	7	5.13	1.481
EC3	303	1	7	5.03	1.337
EC4	303	1	7	5.23	1.389
EC5	303	1	7	5.1	1.265
SN1	303	1	7	4.9	1.605
SN2	303	1	7	4.93	1.55
SN3	303	1	7	4.9	1.563
PBC1	303	1	7	4.74	1.527
PBC2	303	1	7	5	1.539
PBC3	303	1	7	4.57	1.57
PBC4	303	1	7	4.91	1.545
EA1	303	1	7	5.04	1.591
EA2	303	1	7	4.87	1.653
EI1	303	1	7	5.15	1.763
EI2	303	1	7	5.29	1.665
EI3	303	1	7	5.26	1.803

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the measurement model. The CFA was validated in two stages: (1) goodness of fit indices and (2) construct validity (Hair et al., 2010). Seven goodness of fit indices were used to perform the analysis (Hair et al., 2010). Table 3 presents the fit statistics for chi-square to (X²) to the degree of freedom (Df), the goodness of fit index (GFI), adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI), incremental fit index (IFI), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), comparative fit index (CFI) and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) (Hair et al., 2010). The results show a good fit for all seven indices in the measurement model. The results for X²/df show a good fit of 1.828, which is well above the (1.3) minimum requirement. The findings for GFI, IFI, TLI and CFI were 0.942, 0.979, 0.972 and 0.979, respectively, and above the minimum value of 0.9. The results for AGFI indicated a figure of 0.913, which met the recommended criterion of ≥0.80. RMSEA was 0.052, which that met the recommended criteria of <0.80.

Table 3.

CFA model estimates.

Model fit indices	Recommended criteria	Default model
Chi-square		146.242
Degree of freedom	—	80
X²/df	>3	1.828
GFI	≥0.90	0.942
AGFI	≥0.80	0.913
IFI	≥0.90	0.979
TLI	≥0.90	0.972
CFI	≥0.90	0.979
RMSEA	<0.080	0.052

AGFI, adjusted goodness of fit index; CFA, confirmatory factor analysis; CFI, comparative fit index; GFI, goodness of fit index; IFI, incremental fit index; RMSEA, root mean square error of approximation; TLI, Tucker-Lewis Index.

The findings of the CFA were confirmed by convergent and discriminant validation for the second stage (Hair et al., 2010). Convergent validity is measured by average variance extracted and composite reliability, and the rule of thumb is that the AVE value should exceed 0.5, and composite reliability should exceed 0.70 (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988).

Tables 4 and 5 present the results for construct validity for all the constructs. Table 4 shows a high level of convergent validity for all the latent constructs, and the results in Table 5 show a significant level of discriminant validity, as AVE is greater than the squared correlation estimate for all the constructs (Hair et al., 2010).

Table 4.

Convergent validity of constructs.

	CR	AVE
E_INT	0.939	0.836
SN	0.911	0.773
PBC	0.845	0.579
E_ATT	0.855	0.747
E_C	0.756	0.514

Table 5.

Discriminant validity of constructs.

	E_INT	SN	PBC	E_ATT	E_C
E_INT	0.914	—	—	—	—
SN	0.685	0.879	—	—	—
PBC	0.719	0.705	0.761	—	—
E_ATT	0.782	0.716	0.744	0.864	—
E_C	0.590	0.555	0.610	0.569	0.717

The next stage was to check the structural model to validate the relationships as hypothesised among the variables (Hair et al., 2010). As for the CFA, this analysis used X²/df, GFI, AGFI, IFI, TLI, CFI and RMSEA to test the structural model. The results in Table 6 show a good fit for the measurement model (Hair et al., 2010). X²/df is well above the minimum requirement of (1.3) and has an acceptable fit of 2.142. The results for GFI, IFI, TLI and CFI are 0.929, 0.970, 0.962 and 0.970, respectively, above the recommended value of ≥0.90. The results for AGFI indicated a figure of 0.897, which met the recommended criteria of ≥0.80. RMSEA also meets the recommended criterion of <0.80 with a figure of 0.061.

Table 6.

Model fit indices for structural model.

Model fit indices	Recommended criteria	Default model
Chi-square		177.775
Degree of freedom	—	83
X²/df	>3	2.142
GFI	≥0.90	0.929
AGFI	≥0.80	0.897
IFI	≥0.90	0.970
TLI	≥0.90	0.962
CFI	≥0.90	0.970
RMSEA	<0.080	0.061

After establishing the goodness of fit for the structural model, the research hypotheses were tested by analysing each relationship’s path significance. Table 7 presents the path estimates for all hypotheses in the framework. Path estimates are tested using standardised estimates, critical ratios (t-value) and p-value, and a relationship is significant when the t-value is above 1.96 and the p-value is ≤.05 (Hair et al., 2010). The results support all seven proposed hypotheses in the entrepreneurial intention framework.

Table 7.

Path hypothesis testing.

Hypotheses	Variables	Estimate	SE.	CR.	p-value	Finding
H1	Creativity → Entrepreneurial Attitude	0.379	0.088	4.320	***	Supported
H2	Creativity → Perceived Behavioral Control	0.320	0.067	4.803	***	Supported
H3	Creativity → Subjective Norm	0.690	0.085	8.075	***	Supported
H4	Subjective Norm → Entrepreneurial Attitude	0.625	0.067	9.307	***	Supported
H5	Subjective Norm → Perceived Behavioral Control	0.404	0.053	7.555	***	Supported
H6	Entrepreneurial Attitude → Entrepreneurial Intention	0.556	0.063	8.843	***	Supported
H7	Perceived Behavioral Control → Entrepreneurial Intention	0.503	0.090	5.574	***	Supported

Discussion

The findings of this study indicate that female students enrolled in an undergraduate entrepreneurship program have a high intention to become an entrepreneur. The results show that creativity significantly influences their entrepreneurial attitude, perceived behavioural control and subjective norm. While reflecting the existing literature – many previous studies can be found on entrepreneurial intentions indicating that the three independent antecedents of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control can influence entrepreneurial intentions (Pedrini et al., 2017; Shahab et al., 2018; Sousa et al., 2018) – this study hypothesised and confirmed that these three antecedents are influenced by entrepreneurial creativity which then results in entrepreneurial intentions. The study suggests that creativity skills are positively related to these antecedents and thus that integrating creative activities in the university curriculum will encourage entrepreneurship among female graduates. Furthermore, individuals with a creative mindset will have a positive attitude towards being an entrepreneur (Neneh, 2017).

The study also found that subjective norm significantly impacts entrepreneurial attitude and perceived behavioural control. This is consistent with a previous study by Alonso-Galicia et al. (2015), which highlighted a significant indirect influence of subjective norm on entrepreneurial intentions through the relationship between entrepreneurial attitude and perceived behavioural control. Although the TPB hypotheses a positive and direct relationship between subject norm and intentions (Ajzen, 1991), this study contributes to the field by providing evidence that subjective norm has an indirect effect on entrepreneurial intentions through the relationship of entrepreneurial attitude and perceived behavioural control. The results indicate that subjective norm strongly influences individuals’ belief that they can create and establish a new business. Furthermore, entrepreneurial attitude and perceived behavioural control were found to influence their entrepreneurial intention significantly. The results indicate that women who have good overall perceptions of entrepreneurship are more likely to start businesses in the future. Furthermore, women who believe in their personal ability to succeed in performing a task or controlling the business creation process are more likely to have entrepreneurial intentions.

Several previous studies on entrepreneurial intentions confirm this study’s results and indicate that entrepreneurial behaviour intentions may be influenced by attitude and perceived behavioural control (Pedrini et al., 2017; Shahab et al., 2018; Sousa et al., 2018; ). This study’s findings indicate that a woman who is prepared to initiate or launch a new business and is acquainted with the steps of starting a new business is more likely to intend to become an entrepreneur.

The study results suggest that in order to facilitate the likelihood of start-ups by women students in entrepreneurship education, curricula should be designed such that they help to enhance creative thinking skills. Creative women will think of more business opportunities and are more likely to have significant positive intentions towards starting a business. Based on the study’s findings, we recommend the inclusion of creativity exercises in the entrepreneurship curriculum and creating and tailoring programs to enhance women’s creativity thinking skills to boost their entrepreneurial intentions.

Conclusion and implications

This study investigated the role of creativity in the entrepreneurial intentions of female business undergraduates attending entrepreneurship programs. A total of 303 surveys were collected to test the seven theoretically generated hypotheses and perform SEM. The findings show that the empirical test supports all seven hypotheses. Creativity has a significant influence on entrepreneurial attitude, perceived behavioural control and subjective norm. Subjective norm has a significant influence on entrepreneurial attitude and perceived behavioural control. Entrepreneurial attitude and perceived behavioural control have a significant influence on entrepreneurial intention.

The findings give rise to several practical recommendations for universities’ academic and pedagogical committees and boards. Universities’ pedagogical committees are encouraged to develop strategies to promote entrepreneurship education in their curricula to offer an appropriate learning environment for students and encourage positive attitudes towards developing entrepreneurial skills, particularly creativity, and ultimately increasing their success in their careers. They should create a motivating environment for students and integrate creative skills into the curriculum. The study developed an entrepreneurial intention framework which may be a valuable tool for policymakers and academics better to understand the most influential factors in entrepreneurial intention. Overall, while the authors acknowledge how often the entrepreneurship ecosystem can be gender imbalanced, greater efforts are required to derive a more equal, impartial and inclusive environment. To do so, academic institutions should develop and support entrepreneurial activities through curriculum enhancement and by facilitating engagement and collaboration activities with relevant stakeholders, including industrial and financial partners.

Several limitations should be acknowledged when interpreting the findings of this study. First, the empirical evidence was gathered from a survey of female undergraduate students in a public university in the Middle East. Any generalisation of the findings should be made only after validating the framework in other developed countries. Second, several socio-cultural factors inherent to the region and the country where the empirical study was conducted may have influenced participants’ perceptions. Therefore, more research is needed to validate further the research framework proposed in this study.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This publication was made possible by NPRP grant No. NPRP10-0129-170276 from the Qatar National. Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation).

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