Short-Term and Long-Term Entrepreneurial Intention Comparison between Pakistan and Vietnam

This study’s purpose is to measure entrepreneurial intention in near and distant time scales using temporal construal theory and the theory of planned behavior. It examines new patterns to measure individual intentions to become an entrepreneur, which are classified into short-term entrepreneurial intention and long-term entrepreneurial intention, using a two-country study. A cross-sectional study of 447 university students in business and non-business disciplines from Pakistan and Vietnam was conducted. Structural equation modeling and the partial least squares model were used to present path modeling and multigroup analysis. The proposed model for entrepreneurial temporal intention was tested using the theory of planned behavior dimensions with the potential temporal spectrum of short-term and long-term intentions. The results indicated differences in individual entrepreneurial temporal intentions across the two lower middle-income countries. The findings depict that short-term entrepreneurial intention significantly mediates the effect between the theory of planned behavior dimensions and long-term entrepreneurial intention, and more specifically, that long-term entrepreneurial intention is higher than short-term entrepreneurial intention in both countries. In comparison, the theory of planned behavior dimensions indicated more power in Pakistan’s student sample. This paper presents a new perspective to compare differences in entrepreneurial intention with time fluctuation and thus provides support in identifying potential nascent entrepreneurs based on their psychological distance in thinking and primitive action.