Entrepreneurial Aspirations: Another Form of Job Search?

We study the labour market behaviour of employed individuals that have entrepreneurial aspirations in addition to aspirations to switch job. We analyze empirically these two “search processes” side-by-side and find that entrepreneurial aspirations and aspirations to switch job are relatively common. However, most employees are not engaged in both search processes, nor are the two processes alike: It is more difficult to empirically explain entrepreneurial aspirations than aspirations to switch job. Only few observable characteristics of the employed are related to both processes. Varied experience and job dissatisfaction are directly related to the probability of having entrepreneurial aspirations and aspirations to switch job, while job tenure is inversely related to them. Our analysis also contributes to the understanding of the process of transition from work into entrpreneurship: Employees who can experiment with new things in their present job, regard the content of their work important, and are dissatisfied with their superiors have more often entrepreneurial aspirations than others.