Fuelling the Start-ups: Nexus of Crowdfunding Awareness, Perceived Parental Influence, and Internet Familiarity on Start-up Intention

The lack of initial capital has long been reported as a prominent barrier for entrepreneurial start-ups. Contrary to this, crowdfunding is treated as a “magic hand” for solving the numerous financial demands of netizens. Yet, knowledge on crowdfunding has not been tested for its capacity to affect start-up intentions. Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), the present study aimed at assessing the impact of Awareness of Crowdfunding (ACF), the Perceived Parental Influence (PPI), and the Internet Familiarity (IF) on Start-up Intention (SI). The quantitative inquiry, in the deductive paradigm, deployed a field survey to test the hypotheses. A sample of interns was randomly drawn based on the management faculty of a state university of Sri Lanka (N = 236). A self-administrative questionnaire served as the data collecting tool while a five-point Likert scale ranked the responses.

Results of structural equation modelling confirmed the claims. Awareness of crowdfunding and perceived parental influence significantly predicted the start-up intention of interns. Theoretically, findings imply the potentiality of modelling awareness of crowdfunding as a predictor of start-up intention while these confirmed the predictive role of perceived paternal influence towards start-up intention empirically. The results call for implementing sound awareness programmes on crowdfunding for potential and early-career entrepreneurs.