Senior entrepreneurs and their motivations to become small business owners in Thailand
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Abstract
Senior entrepreneurship is a significant phenomenon resulting from population ageing, with senior entrepreneurs increasingly playing an important role in economic activity. While several scholars have focused on exploring their entrepreneurial motivations for over a decade, little is known if prior entrepreneurial experience influences the motivations of senior entrepreneurs. Creating a new venture requires sophisticated interdependent skills, attitudes and experiences, while individuals' motivations and decisions to pursue an entrepreneurial project are somewhat affected by their age. This study explores the entrepreneurial motivations behind new venture creation among senior entrepreneurs by investigating ‘What motivates senior entrepreneurs to become small business owners in Thailand?' This qualitative exploration investigated the motivations of individuals aged 50 or over to set up micro, small and medium-sized businesses in Thailand, which became an aged society in 2022. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation frameworks and prior entrepreneurial experience, meaning that senior entrepreneurs had previously owned businesses, were taken into consideration. Findings showed that senior entrepreneurs in Thailand had both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in new venture creation. Adding entrepreneurial experience into the analysis showed that most of those with entrepreneurial experiences were motivated by financial gain, which is sometimes assumed to be an extrinsic motivation to start a small business. This study provides considerable evidence and deepens understanding of the motivations behind enterprise creation amongst senior entrepreneurs. These empirical findings aim to inform policymakers to encourage older people to engage in entrepreneurial activities and enhance their skills to become entrepreneurs as a later-career alternative in Thailand.
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