Self-efficacy for resolving environmental uncertainties: Implications for entrepreneurial educational and support programs

Using a unique sample of rural Kentucky residents, we demonstrated that, in the domain of operational and competitive environmental uncertainties, self-efficacy beliefs are significantly higher among nascent entrepreneurs than among non-entrepreneurs. We employed the hierarchical logistic regression analysis to demonstrate that this result is robust across gender and marital status. Contrary to previous studies, we found that married females with high self-efficacy in the domain of financial uncertainties are less likely to start a new business than females with low self-efficacy in that domain. Based on our results, we offer suggestions for entrepreneurial educational and support programs.