Self-Employment in Later Life: How Future Time Perspective and Social Support Influence Self-Employment Interest
For older workers, self-employment is an important alternative to waged employment. Drawing on social learning theory and social cognitive career theory we examine how attitudes toward one’s own aging, future time perspective (captured by perceived time left to live) and perceived support from refer...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2019-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00448/full |
| _version_ | 1811278646927687680 |
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| author | Valerie Caines Joanne Kaa Earl Prashant Bordia |
| author_facet | Valerie Caines Joanne Kaa Earl Prashant Bordia |
| author_sort | Valerie Caines |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | For older workers, self-employment is an important alternative to waged employment. Drawing on social learning theory and social cognitive career theory we examine how attitudes toward one’s own aging, future time perspective (captured by perceived time left to live) and perceived support from referent individuals predict self-efficacy for entrepreneurship and outcome expectations, influencing self-employment interest. Findings from a sample of professional association members (n = 174, mean age 52.5 years), revealed that an open-ended time perspective relates positively to entrepreneurial self-efficacy, while social support relates positively to outcome expectations. Consistent with social cognitive career theory, entrepreneurial self-efficacy mediated the relationship between future time perspective and interest in self-employment, and outcome expectations mediated the relationship between social support and interest in self-employment. This study extends current career and entrepreneurship theory in several ways. First, the inclusion of age-related psychosocial and sociocultural factors in the study model shed light on the intersection between older age, the contextual environment and development of self-employment interest. Second, the findings support earlier arguments that older entrepreneurship is a social process whereby the social context in which people work and live influences their interest in entrepreneurship, and that entrepreneurial behavior among older people needs to be supported to occur. Finally, the findings suggest the utility of social cognitive career theory in informing the development of self-employment interest in the late career stage. We discuss implications for the career and entrepreneurship literatures as well as practitioners involved in late-career counseling or seeking to promote entrepreneurship for older people. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T00:39:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-31a8c55beabb41d4a04221bc09c7e2e6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T00:39:36Z |
| publishDate | 2019-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-31a8c55beabb41d4a04221bc09c7e2e62022-12-22T03:10:12ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782019-03-011010.3389/fpsyg.2019.00448429910Self-Employment in Later Life: How Future Time Perspective and Social Support Influence Self-Employment InterestValerie Caines0Joanne Kaa Earl1Prashant Bordia2Flinders Business, College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, AustraliaDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, AustraliaResearch School of Management, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaFor older workers, self-employment is an important alternative to waged employment. Drawing on social learning theory and social cognitive career theory we examine how attitudes toward one’s own aging, future time perspective (captured by perceived time left to live) and perceived support from referent individuals predict self-efficacy for entrepreneurship and outcome expectations, influencing self-employment interest. Findings from a sample of professional association members (n = 174, mean age 52.5 years), revealed that an open-ended time perspective relates positively to entrepreneurial self-efficacy, while social support relates positively to outcome expectations. Consistent with social cognitive career theory, entrepreneurial self-efficacy mediated the relationship between future time perspective and interest in self-employment, and outcome expectations mediated the relationship between social support and interest in self-employment. This study extends current career and entrepreneurship theory in several ways. First, the inclusion of age-related psychosocial and sociocultural factors in the study model shed light on the intersection between older age, the contextual environment and development of self-employment interest. Second, the findings support earlier arguments that older entrepreneurship is a social process whereby the social context in which people work and live influences their interest in entrepreneurship, and that entrepreneurial behavior among older people needs to be supported to occur. Finally, the findings suggest the utility of social cognitive career theory in informing the development of self-employment interest in the late career stage. We discuss implications for the career and entrepreneurship literatures as well as practitioners involved in late-career counseling or seeking to promote entrepreneurship for older people.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00448/fullsocial cognitive career theorysocial supportfuture time perspectiveself-employmentolder workersentrepreneurship |
| spellingShingle | Valerie Caines Joanne Kaa Earl Prashant Bordia Self-Employment in Later Life: How Future Time Perspective and Social Support Influence Self-Employment Interest Frontiers in Psychology social cognitive career theory social support future time perspective self-employment older workers entrepreneurship |
| title | Self-Employment in Later Life: How Future Time Perspective and Social Support Influence Self-Employment Interest |
| title_full | Self-Employment in Later Life: How Future Time Perspective and Social Support Influence Self-Employment Interest |
| title_fullStr | Self-Employment in Later Life: How Future Time Perspective and Social Support Influence Self-Employment Interest |
| title_full_unstemmed | Self-Employment in Later Life: How Future Time Perspective and Social Support Influence Self-Employment Interest |
| title_short | Self-Employment in Later Life: How Future Time Perspective and Social Support Influence Self-Employment Interest |
| title_sort | self employment in later life how future time perspective and social support influence self employment interest |
| topic | social cognitive career theory social support future time perspective self-employment older workers entrepreneurship |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00448/full |
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