The Influence of Role Models on Entrepreneurial Intention: Does Individual Innovativeness Matter?*

This study aims to explore the relationship between entrepreneurial role models (ERM) and entrepreneurship education (EE) on individual entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and its consequences for entrepreneurial intention (EI). Data is obtained through a survey method on 255 management and business university students who had completed the entrepreneurship education program. To evaluate the research model, the data is processed using PLS-SEM. The results of this study indicate that the existence of entrepreneurial role models and entrepreneurial education programs for students affects the components of individual entrepreneurial orientation, namely individual innovativeness, individual proactiveness, and individual risk-taker. However, ERMs do not have a direct effect on EI. The main finding of this research appears on the influence of individual EO on EI, which indicates that only individual innovativeness impacts entrepreneurial intention. Meanwhile, personal proactiveness and risk-takers are proven to have no impact on EI. This study succeeded in filling the research gap, namely, examining the influence of ERMs on each of the components forming an individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) and its EI. This research model also provides a comprehensive research model on the influence of pre-entrepreneurial exposure on IEO and its consequences on EI.