Saddam Khalid

This research aimed to investigate Japanese university students’ entrepreneurial development processes using the happenstance learning theory. The current research was an empirical study investigating the role of risk propensity, lifetime employment orientation, and entrepreneurship-related exploratory behaviour in developing the entrepreneurial intention of university students in Japan. Data were collected from 214 undergraduate students in Japan. The results demonstrated that the risk propensity characteristic of students influenced entrepreneurial intentions through entrepreneurship-related exploratory behaviour and lifetime employment orientation. The research also found that leadership experience moderated the relationship between risk propensity and entrepreneurship-related exploratory behaviour and the relationship between entrepreneurship-related exploratory behaviour and entrepreneurial intention. By applying the happenstance learning theory in an entrepreneurship study, the current research provides meaningful insights for research scholars, educators, and policymakers interested in the entrepreneurial intentions of students. This paper concludes with a discussion on the theoretical implications and future research directions.

How can entrepreneurs protect their wellbeing during a crisis? Does engaging agility (namely, opportunity agility and planning agility) in response to adversity help entrepreneurs safeguard their wellbeing? Activated by adversity, agility may function as a specific resilience mechanism enabling positive adaption to crisis. We studied 3162 entrepreneurs from 20 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and found that more severe national lockdowns enhanced firm-level adversity for entrepreneurs and diminished their wellbeing. Moreover, entrepreneurs who combined opportunity agility with planning agility experienced higher wellbeing but planning agility alone lowered wellbeing. Entrepreneur agility offers a new agentic perspective to research on entrepreneur wellbeing.

The current study examines the impact of human resource management (HRM) practices for knowledge management (KM) on perceived business performances among Malay and Chinese firms in Malaysia. Data were collected through a face-to-face survey with 200 owners of firms, comprising 100 Malay entrepreneurs and 100 Chinese entrepreneurs, operating in the retail sector of Klang Valley, Malaysia. Data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Multi-Group Analysis (MGA). The results of PLS-SEM revealed that HRM practices for KM have a direct and positive impact on the perceived financial performance, perceived non-financial performance, and perceived business growth of Malay and Chinese firms. However, non-significant impact of HRM practices for KM on perceived performance relative to competitors was found among Chinese firms. Results of MGA revealed significant differences between Malay and Chinese firms in relation to the impact of HRM practices for KM on perceived financial performance and perceived performance relative to competitors.

Nowadays, the number of women working in organizations is growing, and they play a vital role in organizational productivity. However, male dominance in the workplace is still strong, and the glass ceiling effect, or the artificial barriers that prevent female employees from reaching top-level management positions, exists in both developed and developing countries. In this article, we use the theory of optimism and pessimism and propose that women's personality traits are related to their glass ceiling beliefs and subjective career success. Specifically, we propose the model in which glass ceiling beliefs in the forms including denial, resilience, acceptance, and resignation mediate the relationship between women's Big Five personality traits and their subjective career success. Our model has both theoretical and practical implications regarding how women may achieve their career success in organizations by overcoming the possible glass ceiling effect.

The paper investigates the role of perspective taking and empathic concern as cognitive and affective components of empathy in entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. The results of the scenario-based experimental study using the samples of undergraduate business students in Japan and Pakistan suggest that, although the use of perspective taking in the entrepreneurial context helps individuals in recognizing opportunities as the previous study found, the use of both perspective taking and emphasizing empathic concern increases the ability of opportunity recognition more than the use of perspective taking only. We discuss theoretical and practical implications and future research directions.