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Impact of mindset priming on entrepreneurial intentions after unemployment
The psychological impact of unemployment on risk aversion suggests that investment in education to increase entrepreneurial intentions amongst unemployed workers is unlikely to succeed without addressing this aversion first. Recent studies in construal level suggest that abstract thinking can reduce...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
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Graduate School of Business (GSB)
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613140536000512 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Koster, Wilhelm |
| author2 | Samuelsson, Mikael |
| author_browse | Koster, Wilhelm Samuelsson, Mikael |
| author_facet | Samuelsson, Mikael Koster, Wilhelm |
| author_sort | Koster, Wilhelm |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The psychological impact of unemployment on risk aversion suggests that investment in education to increase entrepreneurial intentions amongst unemployed workers is unlikely to succeed without addressing this aversion first. Recent studies in construal level suggest that abstract thinking can reduce risk aversion. Furthermore, mindset theory of action phases research shows that people in an implemental mindset viewed risk factors more positively than people in a deliberative mindset. Based on this premise, this research study tests the impact of mindset of action phases and construal level theory on the retraining choice and entrepreneurial intentions of unemployed workers. Recently unemployed workers were identified from the database of a large retail bank in Southern Africa. We experimentally manipulated the mindset of 144 respondents using a well- known priming technique, and then gave a choice of entrepreneurial or general training. Participants also completed measures of entrepreneurial intention, attitude toward entrepreneurship, and construal level disposition. After confirming construct reliability and discriminant validity, statistical hypothesis tests were utilised to analyse the data. The study results show that implemental (concrete) mindset priming increases the probability of choosing entrepreneurial retraining when attitude toward entrepreneurship is high, and conversely that deliberative (abstract) mindset priming increases the probability of choosing entrepreneurial retraining when attitude toward entrepreneurship is low. In addition to adding to entrepreneurial intention, construal level theory, and mindset theory of action phases literature, this research can help policy makers and intuitions maximise investments in entrepreneurship by improving the take-up of entrepreneurial training by recently unemployed individuals. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41659 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:31:24.573Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Graduate School of Business (GSB) |
| publisherStr | Graduate School of Business (GSB) |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41659 Impact of mindset priming on entrepreneurial intentions after unemployment Koster, Wilhelm Samuelsson, Mikael Mindset Priming Mindset Theory of Actional Phases Entrepreneurial Intentions Construal Priming Unemployment Entrepreneurship Training Promotion The psychological impact of unemployment on risk aversion suggests that investment in education to increase entrepreneurial intentions amongst unemployed workers is unlikely to succeed without addressing this aversion first. Recent studies in construal level suggest that abstract thinking can reduce risk aversion. Furthermore, mindset theory of action phases research shows that people in an implemental mindset viewed risk factors more positively than people in a deliberative mindset. Based on this premise, this research study tests the impact of mindset of action phases and construal level theory on the retraining choice and entrepreneurial intentions of unemployed workers. Recently unemployed workers were identified from the database of a large retail bank in Southern Africa. We experimentally manipulated the mindset of 144 respondents using a well- known priming technique, and then gave a choice of entrepreneurial or general training. Participants also completed measures of entrepreneurial intention, attitude toward entrepreneurship, and construal level disposition. After confirming construct reliability and discriminant validity, statistical hypothesis tests were utilised to analyse the data. The study results show that implemental (concrete) mindset priming increases the probability of choosing entrepreneurial retraining when attitude toward entrepreneurship is high, and conversely that deliberative (abstract) mindset priming increases the probability of choosing entrepreneurial retraining when attitude toward entrepreneurship is low. In addition to adding to entrepreneurial intention, construal level theory, and mindset theory of action phases literature, this research can help policy makers and intuitions maximise investments in entrepreneurship by improving the take-up of entrepreneurial training by recently unemployed individuals. 2025-09-01T09:09:24Z 2025-09-01T09:09:24Z 2025 2025-09-01T09:03:14Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41659 en eng application/pdf Graduate School of Business (GSB) Faculty of Commerce University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Mindset Priming Mindset Theory of Actional Phases Entrepreneurial Intentions Construal Priming Unemployment Entrepreneurship Training Promotion Koster, Wilhelm Impact of mindset priming on entrepreneurial intentions after unemployment |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Impact of mindset priming on entrepreneurial intentions after unemployment |
| title_full | Impact of mindset priming on entrepreneurial intentions after unemployment |
| title_fullStr | Impact of mindset priming on entrepreneurial intentions after unemployment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of mindset priming on entrepreneurial intentions after unemployment |
| title_short | Impact of mindset priming on entrepreneurial intentions after unemployment |
| title_sort | impact of mindset priming on entrepreneurial intentions after unemployment |
| topic | Mindset Priming Mindset Theory of Actional Phases Entrepreneurial Intentions Construal Priming Unemployment Entrepreneurship Training Promotion |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41659 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kosterwilhelm impactofmindsetprimingonentrepreneurialintentionsafterunemployment |