From potential to early nascent entrepreneurship: the role of entrepreneurial competencies

Entrepreneurial intention has been observed to be a necessary, but insufficient, condition for new business creation. Another variable apart from intention that requires consideration is how potential entrepreneurs perceive their own capacity or ability to exercise control over entrepreneurial behaviour. Drawing on the Rubicon model of action phases, this paper analyses the role of the perceived entrepreneurial competencies in the preactional phase of the entrepreneurial process. This corresponds to the moment when individuals have formed their entrepreneurial intention and must embark on how to implement it. A structural equations modelling analysis on a sample of undergraduate business students in their final year who manifest an intention to start up a new business after graduation served both to analyse the relationship between entrepreneurial competencies and gestation behaviour and determine the moderating role of competencies in the relationship between the intention and nascent activities. The findings reveal that entrepreneurial intention and competencies related to commitment, planning and organisation have a significant and direct influence on nascent entrepreneurial behaviour and that the whole set of entrepreneurial competency factors enhances the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial gestation activities. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the role of entrepreneurial competencies in the transition from intention to early nascent business gestation and addresses a valuable and relatively unexplored line of research concerning the interaction effects of intention and perceived competencies on the performance of entrepreneurial gestation activities. The paper also delves into the practical implications for designers of entrepreneurship support and education programmes.