Keywords

1 Introduction

Work values and grit have both gained research interest over the last years as core characteristics of entrepreneurs’ personalities, being frequently related with entrepreneurship outcomes such as performance, entrepreneurial intention and specific behaviors [1,2,3]. Researchers from different academic fields tested the proposed relationships by using different scales including mindfulness [4], personality traits [5] among which the Big Five [6], self-efficacy [7, 8], and dark triad’s traits [9].

Searching the extant literature we found a series of studies related entrepreneurial intention with various traits such as achievement motivation, agreeableness, risk avoidance, extraversion, autonomy, conscientiousness, action orientation, creativity and openness to experience [10]. Only recently researchers developed and tested multidimensional constructs in order to make an attempt to predict entrepreneurial intention [11].

Despite the existing extensive research, it remains difficult to determine what makes a student more entrepreneurially minded or more importantly how to foster students’ entrepreneurial intention within the educational process [10]. Indeed, there is little academic research on “Generation Z” (Gen Z) which is now about to face the education-to-work transition [12]. Although there is increasing research interest on the environment in which this generation grows up (e.g. Covid-19 and digital transformation) [13]. As far as Generation Z is concerned, authors include young people born with or after the Internet [14].

Such a research gap is evident in Greece, where limited research exists on how grit and work values affect Generation’s Z entrepreneurial intention. Current research contributes to portray these relationships, adding to the existent knowledge about previous generations. Such knowledge is rather useful since today’s students are the new generation of future employees. Understanding their current perspectives is the key for developing their future characteristics [15, 16], a rather significant aspect for higher education’s stakeholders.

2 Literature Review

Entrepreneurial intention as part of the entrepreneurial process has long ago attracted research interest as a key prediction driver [17]. Entrepreneurial intentions reflect the “effort” an individual is prepared to give [18], while after years of empirical testing [19] and theoretical literature reviews [20] intentions are still the best predictor of entrepreneurial behavior [21].

2.1 Grit and Entrepreneurial Intention

Grit and its role in entrepreneurial intention is not a new area of research since various studies contributed on providing evidence about the above-mentioned relationship during the last 15 years. In all these studies grit has been studied as a combination of concentrating on long-term goals and of persistence through adversity [22]. As a concept, grit has been linked to both educational and entrepreneurial orientation, by supporting students’ performance [23], college student engagement [24], alongside with salespeople performance and job satisfaction [25]. Recent studies, provided evidence about grit’s effect on entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial success as well [10]. Grit was found to be positively and statistically significantly associated with entrepreneurial intent among undergraduate students [26], while results suggest that young people with higher levels of grit are more likely to engage in self-employment [27]. Research has gone a step further by using grit measures to evaluate the effectiveness of an entrepreneurial educational program [28]. Nambisan and Baron [29] identified grit as a core element when it comes to entrepreneurship within innovation ecosystems. Finally, it should not be neglected that grit was found to be a good predictor of entrepreneurial success [30]. Talent or IQ, alone, cannot guarantee success, if not combined with grit [26], while it should be regarded as the main parameter allowing people to reach brilliant accomplishments [31].

2.2 Work Values and Entrepreneurial Intention

Work values include a domain specific set of values, consisting of life values relevant to work-related issues Work values play a significant role on work preferences and choices [32], on required job characteristics and types of rewards [33], while motivating students to choose their career path [34]. The importance of Work values on effective goal settings, capable to guide individuals’ actions [35] and entrepreneurial decisions [20]. Work values not only represent priorities and behaviors that lead to entrepreneurship, but also reflect the anticipated consequences individuals expect upon entering the workplace [36]. Employment of self-employment choices are strongly related to work values, often divided into intrinsic and extrinsic values [37]. Extrinsic values are associated with personal gain, while intrinsic values are connected with creativity and problem solving [38]. Existing research supports the idea that entrepreneurs embrace certain personal and work values which can enhance their entrepreneurial intentions [35, 39]. Moreover, these values seem to determine not only entrepreneurial intentions [40] but success in entrepreneurial endeavors as well [41]. Although there is growing scholarly interest in the proposed relationship, the question of how entrepreneurial intention can be developed by cultivating specific values is still a subject of research, as there is a limited number of related studies [34].

3 Methodology

In order to investigate the complex relationship between work values, grit and entrepreneurial intention, a literature review was conducted to identify and analyze the factors involved. A quantitative research method in the form of an online survey was selected. A convenient sample of 255 business administration students (Gen Z) from a public university based in Athens were asked to participate anonymously as part of this research. The sample of respondents represented more than half of the students registered in the class, which was also a convenience sample given the limited resources available at the time. Our expectation is that this size sample will enable us to generate valid and coherent conclusions through reliable statistical analyses. For the assessment of work values (Extrinsic, Intrinsic and Social), grit and entrepreneurial intention a 20-item survey question of a 5-point Likert scale was used. We used a combination of questions coming from various studies [12, 42, 43] as presented in Table 1. The SPSS Statistics Version 24 software and R language were used to conduct the empirical analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation was used to test for linear components in the data. Our internal consistency was measured using Cronbach’s alpha reliability test. Multiple regression analyses were used to determine the predictive power of the independent variables (work values and grit) for predicting entrepreneurial intentions.

Table 1 Rotated component matrixa
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4 Results

This study included 255 participants, 121 women and 135 men. Principal component analysis with Varimax rotation was used to verify the linear components in the data. Table 1 presents the reliability coefficients of all the components (KMO = 0.848). Sample’s internal consistency was measured with Cronbach’s alpha reliability test, while results that alpha coefficient for extrinsic values is 0.718 (N = 3), for intrinsic values is 0.783 (N = 4), for social values is 0.783 (N = 5), for Grit is 0.712 (N = 3) and for entrepreneurial intention is 0.950 (N = 5).

Based on the questionnaire data, Table 2 shows the predictive power of the independent variables in terms of entrepreneurial intention. Based on the results, 14.9% of the variance in the dependent variable can be explained by the independent variables.

Table 2 Model fit measures
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In Table 3, predictability is shown for the factors affecting entrepreneurial intention. Οnly grit affects positively entrepreneurial intention (p-value < 0.001).

Table 3 Model coefficients
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5 Discussion

The results are consistent with similar research on grit and its impact on entrepreneurial intention [10]. Grit appears to be critical factor in the development of entrepreneurial intention among Generation’s Z, Greek students. Findings should be taken into account alongside with the fact that working and social values do not have a statistically significant effect. Although this may be considered as a limitation, it should be regarded as the era where higher education’s stakeholders may put emphasis on. Greek students appear to lack working values in a systematic and wide-spread way, so as to provide statistically significant results. Educating them to further develop their grit and be inculcated with work-oriented values can increase their chances for a successful carrier as employees, as self—employed and as future employers [44]. Generation’s Z business orientation will take place in the post—Covid era and in a more digitally transformed business environment, the cultivation of both intrinsic and extrinsic working values can provide them a framework for successful “doing business”. The study’s contribution lies on enlightening Greek Generation’s Z working values and grit, as far as their entrepreneurial intention is concerned. Research is needed since the sample was only coming from business administration students and can expand to Generation’s Z representatives that already run their own businesses to compare results providing higher education institutions with valuable information.