The Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intention among Bank Employees in Lebanon

Despite of measuring the impact of feasibility and desirability separately or jointly on entrepreneurial intention by different scholars; the intention among employees was not measured in Lebanon before and the international studies are almost limited to turnover intention and its impact on the organizations, to job satisfaction and its impact on counterproductive work behavior of employees. Our research aims to exploit the impact of the feasibility, desirability and creativity on the entrepreneurial intention within a new context. Employees’ entrepreneurial intention may be affected by different factors. Entrepreneurial intention is found to determine employees’ willingness to engage into entrepreneurial behavior in future instead of being employed. The main objective of this study is to understand how perceived desirability, perceived feasibility and creativity affect entrepreneurial intention of bank employees. The primary data of this study was gathered by distributing 101 survey questionnaires to respondents at a prime bank in Lebanon. The Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability test which can ensure high reliability result was conducted on every variable. Pearson Correlation Coefficient and Multiple Linear Regression Analysis were conducted in this study to observe independent variables (i.e., desirability, feasibility & creativity). All variables have significant relationship with entrepreneurial intention. The discussion of the findings, implications of study, limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed in the end of the study.


Hypotheses Statements
The researcher insinuated four principal hypotheses to this research. The hypothesis statements were as follows: The focus is to study the relationships presented in the research model, and to verify the proposed hypotheses. The main assumptions are presented below: H1: There is significant relationship between perceived feasibility and Entrepreneurial intention. H1.1: There is significant relationship between self-efficacy and perceived feasibility H1.2: There is significant relationship between prior experience and perceived feasibility H1.3: There is significant relationship between environment and perceived feasibility H2: There is significant relationship between perceived desirability and Entrepreneurial intention. Desirability H3: There is significant relationship between creativity and Entrepreneurial intention.

H3.1:
There is significant relationship between individual creativity and creativity H3.2: There is significant relationship between corporate creativity (creativity supported in the bank) and creativity

The Questionnaire Design
The questionnaire started with specific questions pertaining to the variables of the study. The items in the questionnaire for each variable were based on a sufficient literature review of various studies. The second section of the questionnaire is related to the employees' profile. The profile section identified the employee's gender, major of study, age, marital status and the number of kids, if any. For the dependent variable, entrepreneurial intention, the questionnaire contained two items (i.e., Intention to create enterprise & preferred sector to create an enterprise). For the first independent variable, perceived feasibility, the questionnaire contained three items (i.e., entrepreneurial experience, feasibility of creation a new venture & comfortable feeling to create an enterprise from A to Z).
Perceived desirability was the second independent variable and has three items (i.e., Entrepreneurial experience, Attractiveness of creation of enterprise and desire to create an enterprise). Creativity, the third independent variable, contained eight items (i.e., Respondent creativity level, trying of novel things, thinking of diff useful ideas, Bank's creativity, Bank's creativity procedures, Bank's creativity through adoption of more than one solution, Examination of old problems in new ways & Bank's encouragement to employees to produce new ideas).
The determinants of the various independent variables contained items (i.e., motivation (6 items), perceived risk (6 items), social norms (5 items), role mode (2 items), perceived competencies (8 items), environment & economic (7 items) and satisfaction and culture one item for each) 3.3.2 Data Collection and Administration of the Questionnaire A self-administered questionnaire was created on, and was distributed by hand to the employees or by business email link. Total 120 questionnaires were distributed to the employees. After deducting 19 invalid questionnaires, total of 101 valid ones were retrieved.

Gender of Respondents
The sample population contained both genders; the males represented 58.4% of the respondents and 41.60 % were females. The bank industry required the presence of both genders for essential different reasons mainly diversity and marketing purposes. The percentage reflects the intention of the bank to hire female employees almost as much as males.

Age of Respondents
The majority of the respondents were young employees; the sample population contained 75.2% of respondent employees less than 40, 18.8% between the age of 41 and 50, and 5.9 % of employees over the age of 50. This sample refers that the majority of the bank employees are young. Also it is worth to note that the researcher targeted departments and branches managers and employees the middle and top managers were excluded.

Matrimonial Status of Respondents
The matrimonial status of the sample population shows that, 29% were single and 71% were married. This is consistent with the finding that the bank employees in the country have special privileges over their peers in the private sector and somehow in the public sector.

Entrepreneurial Intention
The 101 respondents answered the question about their intention to create an enterprise, the results shows that 84% having the desire of being entrepreneur, only 8% don't have the intention while 9% don't know if they are willing or not. The percentage may be considered high relevant to their being employees in the major business sector in town and also at one of the top banks in Lebanon. The interpretation of the other factors that will follow in the coming paragraphs will serve to have a better interpretation of this result.

Entrepreneurial Preferred Sector
The questionnaire appraised the business sector that the targeted employees prefer to join their business, the majority was in favor of the services sector with 55.4% of the results followed by the industrial sector with 12.9% similar to the percentage of those who don't have an idea about their preferred sector, agriculture and artisan have 5% each and finally other types of business reached 9%. The result reflects the consistency of the employees with their current type of business. The bulk of the employees have an intention to create their own business in the field of services.

Banking Years of Experience
The results indicate that 49.5% of the respondents have above ten years of experience in banking, 44.6% for the employees employed between 2 to 10 years; only 5.9% have up to 2 years of experience. The turnover rate is relatively low in Lebanese banking sector, even though the employees have an entrepreneurial intention, about 50% of them are serving the company for more than ten years, and the banking sector is very attractive; it is characterized by stability, promotions and potential improvement of employees.

Statistical Prediction of Entrepreneurial Intention
The table below shows the frequency and percentages pertaining to the determinants of the variables and the variables subject of this study.

Regression Analysis
Regression analysis was employed to examine the relationships, based on the existence of practical significance, by the value of R and Adjusted R² , the (p) value, and the Beta (B) coefficient.

Linear Regression Analysis of H1
The linear regression test shows that the predictor variable "perceived feasibility" has a positive correlation towards entrepreneurial intention which indicates that the higher the feasibility perception, the higher the entrepreneurial intention. The strength of this relationship was revealed in the R coefficient, R coefficient value was 78%. The adjusted R² had a high score of 0.601. This result indicated that 60.1% of the total variability in entrepreneurial intention (dependent variable) was explained by perceived feasibility (independent variable). Researcher has obtained p-value 0.000 < 0.05 which means that there is a significant relationship between perceived feasibility and entrepreneurial intention. It indicates that the bank employees prefer to or having the intention of being self-employed. The results indicated a positive B coefficient for the independent variable perceived feasibility, meaning that perceived feasibility has a positive impact on entrepreneurial intention.
Shapero and Sokol (1982) recognized perceived feasibility as an important element in forming an entrepreneurial intention. Shapero defined the perceived feasibility as the extent to which an individual feels himself capable of establishing a venture (Krueger et al., 2000). This result agrees the findings of Bandura (1977Bandura ( , 1986; Wang et al. (2011); Boyd and Vozikis, (1994); Krueger and Brazeal (1994); Kuehn (2008) and Shane (2003)  entrepreneurial intention. Intention. In addition, Segal et al. (2007) states that students with higher entrepreneurial self-efficacy, the antecedent of feasibility had higher intentions to become entrepreneur.
The respondents in this study displayed high levels of perceived feasibility; the intention to create a venture was significant. Therefore, Hypothesis 1 was accepted. The regression analysis test shows a very weak correlation between prior work experience and perceived feasibility. The R coefficient value is 19.5% reflects this weak relation, also adjusted R² has a non significant score of 0.028. This means that only 2.8% of the variability of the perceived feasibility is determined by the prior work experience. The relation between the two variables is slightly significant being 0.051>0.05. Thus, the unstandardized coefficient is 42.9%, this means that when the prior experience is longer this will positively affect the perceived feasibility. The above results tend to reject the hypothesis and indicate that the prior work experience doesn't have a significant effect on the perceived feasibility.
Self-efficacy is composed of items based on an individual's entrepreneurial capabilities. It is related to the individual's stable belief that he is able to perform under different circumstances and changing environment. Self-efficacy increases the level of entrepreneurial intention as entrepreneurship entails risks and uncertainties (Boyd & Vozikis, 1994). The item pertained to the perceived ease of putting up and growing a business. It suggests that having confidence on performing all the activities related to entrepreneurship influences one's entrepreneurial intention.
The regression test demonstrates that self-efficacy has a positive correlation towards perceived feasibility which indicates that the higher the self-efficacy, the higher the perceived feasibility. The strength of this relationship was revealed in the R coefficient valued at 63.1%. The adjusted R² had an acceptable score of 0.346. This result indicated that 34.6% of the total variability in perceived significant relationship between self-efficacy and perceived feasibility. Thus, Self-efficacy is a critical antecedent to the perception of feasibility of the creation of new ventures (Bandura, 1986;Ajzen, 1987;Shapero, 1982). It is worth noting that among the items of the self-efficacy the only significant item was the estimating of project risks which indicates that as much as the individual can estimate the project risk, the feasibility is increased. This finding is appropriate to the sample population which is bank employees and used to deal with risk estimation and consider hedging or controlling risk is priority. The relation between perceived feasibility and the other items proposed for self-efficacy is not significant. Dealing with customers' credit files, studying of business plans and acquiring the appropriate managerial and administrative skills are open for bank employees and could be a daily task.
This may differentiate the employee perception towards these capabilities in terms of being a perception for feasibility, the perceived feasibility is viewed for them from the perception of estimating and dealing with project risk rather than others. Hence, based on the results the hypothesis H1.2 is partially accepted.

Environment
H1.3: There is a significant relationship between Environment and perceived feasibility.
Environment represents the individual's knowledge on the availability of entrepreneurial support.
Favorable business policies, politics, economic status and availability of market centers and business networks.
The regression test reveals that the environment has positive correlation towards perceived. The strength of this relationship was revealed in the R coefficient valued at 44.2%. The adjusted R² had a low score of 0.144. This result indicated that only 14.4% of the total variability in perceived feasibility is explained by the environment. The p-value is 0.002<0.05 which means that there is a significant relationship between environment and perceived feasibility. Furthermore, the support for entrepreneur, current available opportunity and the norms and laws are not significant with perceived feasibility, this may be due to the sample of bank employees who have these items as routine and accordingly not affecting their perception of the feasibility of any project. Although the current economical and political conditions in Lebanon are considered unfavorable even from international authorities, for bank employees, these items along with the administrative work process have a signification relationship with feasibility. Thus, based on the results the hypothesis H1.3 is partially accepted.

Linear Regression Analysis of Hypothesis 2
The linear regression test for the predictor variable "perceived desirability" and dependent variable "entrepreneurial intention" achieved a good correlation. The intensity of the relationship was reflected in the R coefficient, whose value was 72.9%. The adjusted R² had a good score of .522. This result indicated that 52.2% of the total variability in the dependent variable was explained by the independent variable.
At the threshold that the (p) value should be 0.05 or less, the value=0.000 in this model, and therefore showed that there was a significant relationship between the two variables. The results indicated a positive B coefficient for the independent variable perceived desirability, meaning that perceived desirability has a positive impact on entrepreneurial intention. Shapero (1982) defined perceived desirability as the attractiveness of starting a business. The significant relation concluded from the results of this study aligns with the finding of Krueger and Brazeal (1994) and  The regression test shows that perceived risk has a positive correlation towards perceived desirability.
The R coefficient is valued 57.6%. The adjusted R² had an score of 0.289. This result indicated that 28.9% of the total variability in perceived desirability is explained by perceived risk. The p-value is 0.000<0.05 which means that there is a significant relationship between perceived risk and perceived desirability. The items of perceived risk that are significant were the financial risk and the general risk.
The relation between perceived desirability and the other items proposed for perceived risk namely: family risk, emotional risk, social risk and career risk is not significant. Once again we can talk about the experience in the field of business and the contact with entrepreneurs affect the perception of risk of bank employees. It enables the respondents to deal with risk factors consisting the items of the perceived risk that may affect the perceived desirability. The results show that there is a partial relationship between the perceived risk and perceived desirability. Although, the hypothesis H2.2 is partially accepted.

Social Norms
H2.3: There is a significant relationship between social norms and perceived desirability.
The regression test reveals that social norms have good correlation towards perceived desirability with R coefficient valued at 42.6%. The adjusted R² had a weak score of 0.139. This result indicated that 13.9% of the total variability in perceived desirability is explained by social norms. The p-value is 0.02<0.05 which means that there is a significant relationship between social norms and perceived desirability. The items of social norms that are significant with perceived desirability were the family positively correlated and relatives' opinions negatively correlated. The relation between perceived desirability and the other items proposed for social norms namely: friends' opinion, partner opinion and colleagues' opinion is not significant. The Lebanese society is almost still traditional the opinion of the family in different life aspects is still considered to certain extent which may explain the positive correlation between family opinion and the perceived desirability. This perception is increased once talking about bank jobs. The results show that there is a partial relationship between the social norms and perceived desirability. Although, the hypothesis H2.3 is partially accepted.

Job Satisfaction
H1: There is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and perceived desirability.
The regression test reveals that job satisfaction have negative correlation towards perceived desirability with R coefficient valued at 54.2%. The adjusted R² had a weak score of 0.286. This result indicated that 28.6% of the total variability in perceived desirability is explained by job satisfaction. The p-value is 0.000<0.05 which means that there is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and perceived desirability. The result aligns with the Researches of (Bradley & Roberts, 2004;Benz & Frey,  The individual creativity is consistent with the finding that creativity has significant relation with entrepreneurial intention. The R coefficient valued at 39.6% reveals a moderate relationship between the variables. The adjusted R² had a weak score of 0.122. This result indicated that only 12.2% of the total variability creativity is explained by creativity supported by the bank. The p-value is 0.02<0.05 which means that there is a significant relationship between individual creativity and creativity. The only item that has a significant relation with creativity was that the bank provide creativity training, others are not significant. It could be due to the believe of the employees that they will be more creative after having training sessions on creativity or to the new application of creativity within the bank; the bank provides training but lake the tools to apply creativity. Based on the test results of we can partially accept the Hypothesis 3.2.

Discussion
The hypotheses proposed that entrepreneurial intention of bank employee's is dependent on the perceived feasibility, perceived desirability and creativity. Based on the research analysis, the perception of creativity contributed the most to entrepreneurial intention. The results of this research support the findings of Berglund et al. (2006) and Zampetakis (2008)

Limitations and Perspectives of the Study
Although generalization of this study is limited by its scope, the study is a contribution to existing literature on the extent the perception of feasibility, desirability and creativity influences entrepreneurial intention. For scholars, this study offers the information about the entrepreneurial intention among employees in a Lebanese bank. By investigating entrepreneurial intention, researchers can identify the entrepreneurial activity easily. The proposed theoretical framework may be referred by other researchers in future studies. Although our study sheds some light on the influence of creativity on the entrepreneurial intention of Lebanese employees, it has several limitations that further research can seek to address. First, our study was limited to a sample of Lebanese bank employees based; the majority of the respondents were from Beirut region. Also, we encourage scholars in this area to examine our proposed model with employees in other disciplines and across different institutions, regions and countries. Future research could also look into the influence of creativity training programs on entrepreneurial intentions. Yet our understanding of why and how these factors interact could be further explored by using qualitative approach.