Abstract
Entrepreneurship is gaining added attention in the present economic predicament. Entrepreneurship is not only a key facet of economic dynamism but also an imperative for economic growth, productivity, innovation, and employment. Hence, many countries have made entrepreneurship, especially youth entrepreneurship, an explicit policy priority. As globalization reshapes the international economic landscape and technological change creates greater uncertainty in the world economy, youth entrepreneurship is believed to offer new ways to meet economic, social, and environmental challenges. Entrepreneurship objectives and policies differ among countries due to diverse perspectives and policy needs. Yet, youth unemployment is a cause of concern for many. Through grounded theory approach and based on review of policy documents and secondary data, the chapter aims to provide contemporary perspective on youth entrepreneurship with reference to India and hopes to enhance and bring improvement in the policies as, ultimately, policymaking must be guided, as far as possible, by evidence and facts.
TopBackground
In spite of the increasing recognition of entrepreneurship as a source of job creation, regional development, and economic dynamism in a rapidly globalizing world, there has been no systematic attempt to look at it from a youth angle. According to Holland’s (1997) theory, people are attracted to work environments that conform to their personality orientation. Chell (2008) suggests that personality traits of entrepreneurs may be important for entrepreneurship. Shepherd et al., (2009) posit that the personality traits of the entrepreneur may explain entrepreneurial failure. According to Splaver (1977) it is important for you to have a good understanding of yourself and your personality, if you are to make intelligent career plans. (Ciavarella et al., 2004; Zhao et al., 2010) points out that personality trait have a direct effect on entrepreneurial performance measures. Personality traits of entrepreneurs may have a different effect on firm performance in case the firms are innovative (Zhao et al., 2010). Penrose (1959) emphasized that carrying out similar tasks has important implications for cognitive processes of human beings. Simon’s (1947) gave the idea of bounded rationality which refers to human limitation to process information. Under the assumption of bounded rationality, therefore, past experience influences the processing of incoming information. Witt (2000) explained that events in the environment are only perceived and interpreted along some specific associative lines. In this sense, a cognitive frame is a schematic representation of an individual’s perception of the environment built through prior learning and adaptation. Gardner (1983) argues that intelligence refers to both the personal decisions and potentials of individuals. This potential comes out or develops according to cultural environment, values and opportunities. Baum et al. (2001) reported a positive relationship between practical intelligence and entrepreneurial processes and entrepreneurial characteristics, which proposes that practical intelligence is one of the strengths underlying high performance enterprises.