Elderly and entrepreneurial intention: Exploring the moderator effect of posterity

This study attempts to enhance our understanding of why some third age individuals develop intentions towards entrepreneurship. Indeed, relatively little is currently known about the triggers that lead more mature individuals to become entrepreneurs, perhaps because we tend to assume that these triggers are similar across different ages. Our study contributes to the literature on this subject by proposing and finding empirical evidence, using quantitative survey, for the connection between posterity and entrepreneurial intentions among 204 French individuals between 45 and 65 years old. Results show that posterity moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial attitudes and entrepreneurial intentions. In addition, posterity appears to negatively accentuate the relationship between perceived social pressure to create new firms and intentions to do so. While our study does not challenge the Theory of Planned Behavior, our observations offer new and interesting insights concerning entrepreneurship among third age individuals.