Cognitive flexibility and entrepreneurial self-efficacy of Young Entrepreneurs' Alliance Leaders and the Ibero-American Federation of Young Entrepreneurs

• Autor(a) principal: Fontan Ayres de Aguirre, Douglas Schwolk
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Lizote, Suzete Antonieta, Almeida Gama Guerra, Maria Cristina
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Revista de Empreendedorismo e Gestão de Pequenas Empresas - REGEPE
• Texto Completo: https://www.regepe.org.br/regepe/article/view/1964
• topic: Cognitive Flexibility; Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy; Young Entrepreneurs.; Flexibilidad cognitiva; Autoeficacia emprendedora; Jovenes empresarios.; Flexibilidade Cognitiva; Autoeficácia Empreendedora; Jovens Empreendedores.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between Cognitive Flexibility, with its subscales, and Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy, with its dimensions, of leaders representing young entrepreneurs in the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance and the Ibero-American Federation of Young Entrepreneurs.  Methodology: The study has qualitative and quantitative approaches, as well as descriptive nature. The analytical and statistical processing were Qualitative Comparative Fuzzy Set Analysis (fsQCA); Correlation and Linear Regression. Results: The results pointed to significant positive correlation in hypotheses H2, H3, and H4, and rejected hypothesis H1, thus concluding that said leaders maintain dexterity in perceiving and generating multiple explanations and alternative solutions to uncertain, difficult, and/or new occurrences (cognitive flexibility), thus positively influencing the belief that their abilities are effective in carrying out courses of action necessary to create a new business or the development of an existing business (entrepreneurial self-efficacy). Theoretical/methodological contributions: The study contributes to the literature by expanding the knowledge about the relationship between cognitive flexibility and entrepreneurial self-efficacy, as well as, the research sample consisting of world leaders and the use of the fsQCA technique.  Relevance/Originality: The research deepens the discussion on cognitive flexibility and entrepreneurial self-efficacy of leaders of young entrepreneurs, since how entrepreneurs think and act has become an indispensable issue to support entrepreneurial activities carried out independently or within organizations. Social contributions: The contribution lies in the evidence that there is a significant positive relationship between cognitive flexibility, which is an important problem-solving skill, along with entrepreneurial self-efficacy for understanding the strategies that entrepreneurs share with each other. JEL CODE: M10