Abstract:

Gender is the key factor while defining the values, roles and behaviors attributed to women and men in a population. Passive behaviors that are deemed more appropriate to women than men in social life are felt in professional life, too. However, active approach in the work life is essential in order to improve the social welfare. Entrepreneurship activities are the milestones of being active in business life. The person must have an entrepreneurial intention so that entrepreneurial activities take place. There is an intense effort both in theory and practice to understand the attitudes that cause people to become entrepreneurs and the factors that shape pioneering behaviors. Self-efficacy, which expresses individuals' personal beliefs that they have the capability to achieve a certain goal, has been a research subject in entrepreneurship-related studies for many years. Similarly, the extent to which women and men are included in entrepreneurial subjects is a matter of interest for many studies. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the relation between self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention in the context of gender. The sample of the research that is designed as quantitative research, comprised of 191 people. Convenience sampling method and questionnaire were used for the data collection. At the end of the research, there is a significant relation between self-efficacy and entrepreneurship intention (β=.29 p<.01). It was determined that gender did not have a moderating effect on the relationship between these variables. Trying to explain the relationship between self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention in the context of gender was inconclusive for this research sample.

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