Nascent entrepreneurs of millennial generations in the emerging market of Indonesia

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the article is to investigate the empirical linkages between personality, cultural values, and entrepreneurial characteristics and entrepreneurial behaviour in the context of SMEs’ run by millennial generations in Indonesia.

Research Design & Methods: This study used survey methods to reveal the relationship between variables through hypotheses testing on 551 respondents from among SMEs’ owners who just started business (nascent entrepreneur) in Banjarmasin, Indonesia, with the use of structural equation modelling.

Findings: Although the results prove that personality, cultural values, and entrepreneurial characteristics significantly affect entrepreneurial behaviour, the entrepreneurial characteristics that distinguish entrepreneur from non-entrepreneurs are rated the lowest. The impact of low self-efficacy, which does not support the implementation of entrepreneurial activities, makes it difficult to justify the millennial entrepreneur respondents are genuine to become the businessman or they are naively pursuing an unfeasible or inoperable opportunity.

Implications & Recommendations: Since the extant literature is very scarce in fully addressing the new generation of entrepreneurs, our model can be used to identify unique characteristics of millennial entrepreneurs from emerging market countries.

Contribution & Value Added: Up to this point, the majority of research in the field originated from English-speaking countries. The current study provides additional evidence on the entrepreneurial tendency of millennial Indonesians, which contributes to the growing international research on this generation.