Locus of control

Interpersonal influence

Control (management)

Statistics

Business administration

Economic system

Social psychology

Economics

Market economy

Structural equation modeling

Classical economics

Business

Big Five personality traits

Psychology

Mathematics

Management

Entrepreneurship

Social capital

Sociology

Human capital

Interpersonal communication

Economic growth

Finance

Personality

Interpersonal relationship

Social science

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

This paper proposes the research framework that locus of control enhances entrepreneurship through the mediating mechanisms of increased social capital in interpersonal networks and improved human capital in personal development. We adopted structural equation modeling to examine the research hypothesis. The research participants comprised managers from 14 enterprises in China; a total of 1002 valid questionnaires were collected. The results revealed that social and human capital mediate the effect that internal locus of control exerts on entrepreneurship. This study provides the following research contributions: first, the findings address the gaps in previous studies regarding the effect that a single dimension (i.e. personality traits) produces on entrepreneurship. Second, by employing the social exchange and human capital theories, we integrated interpersonal and individual perspectives into the research framework to explore factors affecting entrepreneurship, identifying that social and human capital are key-mediating mechanisms through which locus of control influences entrepreneurship.

The effects of internal locus of control on entrepreneurship: the mediating mechanisms of social capital and human capital