Entrepreneurial motivation and self-employment: evidence from expectancy theory

One effect of the economic crisis on the business world has been the drastic reduction in staff and this in turn highlights the need for self-employment and the creation of new companies to establish a solid industrial fabric to support the creation of wealth, employment and welfare. In this context, the aim of this research is to confirm a theoretical model based on Expectancy Theory to explain self-employment in terms of an individual’s motivation and ability to start a business. Because of the lack of additional information about entrepreneurial motivation, we conducted a field investigation of Spanish self-employed workers who had established a manufacturing company during the last three years. The results confirm the supposition that expectancy, instrumentality and valence enhance entrepreneurial motivation. This study concludes that businesses are created not only by those with the ability and aptitude to do so, but also by those with the motivation.