How Do Resilience and Self-efficacy Relate to Entrepreneurial Intentions in Countries With Varying Degrees of Fragility? A Six-country Study

Conflict, poverty, and weak institutions create hardships for people, societies, and economies worldwide. We investigate macro-societal state fragility and stability. Within this context, and from a microfoundations perspective, we further analyse individual-level constructs, and particularly the importance of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and individual resilience in forming the intent to start a business. With primary data from Afghanistan, Iraq, Peru, Tajikistan, the United States, and Finland, we find that, under stable conditions, a belief in one’s entrepreneurial ability (entrepreneurial self-efficacy) is particularly essential. Conversely, under adverse conditions, as evident in fragile states, the ability to grow from adversity (individual resilience) is the more meaningful resource