A Review of Facilitators, Barriers and Gateways to Entrepreneurship: Directions for Future Research

This article incorporates the results of extensive review of earlier research carried out by the authors in the area of Facilitators, Barriers and Gateways to Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is influenced by both extrinsic environmental factors and intrinsic individual characteristics. Generalized self efficacy has a significant effect on firm performance through entrepreneurial orientation. Opportunity to be innovative, need for achievement, internal locus of control, and Innovativeness along withpro-activeness and risk-taking influence business performance. Tolerance for ambiguity has also been found positively related to entrepreneurial intentions and actions. Education enhances entrepreneurs' performance both directly and indirectly. Prior entrepreneurial experience is the most consistent predictor of future entrepreneurial performance. High performing entrepreneurs tend to be more externally oriented and maintained a broad and complex network of ongoing relationship with people both inside and outside of the firm. Insufficient social network creates hurdles in the way of entrepreneurship. Inadequate support in raising required funds is the main constraint in startingup of a new venture. Psychological barriers to entrepreneurship mainly include fear of failure, risk aversion attitude, and feeling of lacking relevant expertise and experience. Low level of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, inadequate or inappropriate infrastructure and legislations also appear as common barriers to entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy can be strengthened through social exposure and social networking. Specially designed measures need to be adopted for promotion of entrepreneurship that would help in developing a wide base of population. The phenomenon of entrepreneurship is complex and heterogeneous therefore, it is difficult to suggest that the phenomenon is predictable within a deterministic framework.INTRODUCTIONEntrepreneurship is a tool for economic growth (Venkataraman, 1997) and economic development (Shane, 2008) because it enables structural change and regional development (Morris, 2001), generating employment, promoting innovation, producing competition, and creating wealth (Chiles et al, 2007). It also creates invention and diversity, promotes a greater ability to adjust and to focus on customer needs, and introduces new technologies and management methods (Draft, 2000). Moreover, it can benefit a society by bringing in new products and services (Low, 2006). Since entrepreneurship plays a vital role in social prosperity and national development, it has received considerable attention of all the sections of the society. An entrepreneur establishes an enterprise and does everything that is required to transform his/her business concept into marketable reality and in the process he/she aims to become successful in his entrepreneurial efforts. Luke et al. (2007), in illustrating their framework for analyzing financial and nonfinancial benefits of entrepreneurship, offered several measures of entrepreneurial outcome, ranging from the more conventional measures such as entrepreneur satisfaction, revenues, profits, number of ventures and employee growth, to those that are less commonly used such as standards of living, employment rates, welfare, savings from increased employment and increase in tax revenues because of entrepreneurial activity. Storey (1994) suggests that successful entrepreneurial activity process results from a combination of three basic components which are: (i) the characteristics of the organization (including resources, capabilities, strategic choice etc.); (ii) the environment (including factors external and internal to an organization); and (iii) the entrepreneur (including his motives, behavior, background, and psychological characteristics/traits of his personality). These three components are not mutually exclusive and they influence the growth and success of small firms in a combined way. …