An assessment of Entrepreneurial passion and Entrepreneurial readiness among undergraduate students of Pakistan towards an enterprise as career choice

The term Entrepreneurship is a key factor of every country that wants to be competitive on the global knowledge-based market due to fact that it has traditionally been viewed as a tool that promotes economic development, creativity and innovation. The term "Entrepreneur" originates from the French word ‘Entreprender”, which means “to do something” Swedberg (2000) or “to undertake”(Kuratko & Hodgetts, 2001). The definition of entrepreneurship is the development of designing, launching and operating a new business to offer a product, process or service (Yetisen et al. , 2015). entrepreneurship is the one of the solution to combat unemployment nationwide for example by creating job opportunities for others (Bukner, Begs, & Khatib, 2012. The topic of entrepreneurial passion provides a way of understanding whether a person views work as a task or something they love (Baum and Locke 2004). Being an entrepreneur is linked to high levels of passion due to the need to be focused and future orientated (De Clercq, Honig, and Martin 2013). Passion is an emotion that motivates people, despite obstacles they may face in starting new businesses (Vallerand et al. 2008). Passion gives you and your venture a better chance of getting finishing line. Passion can be developed by environment because good environment always motivates you towards success and it gives you inspiration and role model to be successful entrepreneur. There are 2 types of passion Harmoinous passion and obsessive passion Harmonious entrepreneurial passion is fueled by entrepreneurial identity centrality whereas obsessive entrepreneurial passion is fueled by an affective interpersonal commitment Entrepreneurial identity centrality refers to the importance of the entrepreneurial identity compared to other identities the individual holds (McCall and Simmons, 1966; Murnieks et al. , 2014), while affective interpersonal commitment refers to the significance of relationships an individual has with valued others and the potential loss if those relationships are compromised (Hoelter, 1983; Stryker, 1968). We then integrate the study of entrepreneurial passion with the Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al. , 2003) to show that the paths to harmonious and obsessive entrepreneurial passion are different. Harmonious entrepreneurial passion represents a passion that is engaged willingly, free of contingency or constraint, whereas obsessive entrepreneurial passion indicates compulsion to engage a given activity (Vallerand et al. , 2003). Vallerand et al. (2003, 756) defined passion as a strong inclination toward an activity that people like, find important, and in which they invest significant time and energy'. Philippe et al. (2010) defined, it simply as a powerful desire to perform specific activities Cardon et al. (2009, 515) conceptualized entrepreneurial passion as Consciously accessible intense positive feelings experienced by engagement in entrepreneurial activities associated with roles that are meaningful for the self-identity of the entrepreneur. ’ Moreover, these authors called attention to the multifaceted nature of the EP, and proposed three distinct entrepreneurial identities related to various aspects of the entrepreneurial process: (1) Researcher proposed three distinct entrepreneurial identities related to various aspects of the entrepreneurial process: (1) An inventor, who is passionate about the activities involved in identifying, inventing, and exploring new ideas and mainly work coming up with new ideas and solutions are they always looking for new opportunities (2) A founder, who is passionate about the activities involved in creating a venture to commercialize and exploit opportunities and mainly identify with the role of founder they are more passionate about making their creative ideas and establishing a business in practice 3) A developer, who is passionate about activities relevant to fostering, growing, and expanding the business after it is established. These different passions related to identity influence goal-related cognitions and prompt particular entrepreneurial outcomes (Cardon et al. 2009). Entrepreneurial Readiness: Entrepreneurs who are ready or prepared to run their own business. Not only financially, but also physically and mentally entrepreneurs need to prepared to run their own business. To be Successful entrepreneurs must have a readiness of knowledge, interest, motivation and abilities. We can say it is an individual cognitive attributes of capability and willingness to direct behavior in an entrepreneurial context. Entrepreneurial readiness can be defined as the “confluence of a set of personal traits that differentiates individuals with readiness for entrepreneurship as especially competent to observe and analyze their environment in such a way that they channel their high creative and productive potentials, so they may deploy their capability to dare and need for self-achievement” (Coduras, Saiz-Alvarez, & Ruiz, 2016; Ruiz, Soriano, & Coduras, 2016) This definition pointed out that Student’s entrepreneurial readiness depends on ability and willingness to explore various environmental opportunities, utilize its capability (Entrepreneurial ability) based on the available resources and the need for self-achievement (Motivation). Scott and Twomey (1988) observed that undergraduate students, with the assistance of an entrepreneurial education strategy, could be helped to consider entrepreneurship as a career. Similarly, Postigo, Lacobucci, and Tamborini, (2006) acknowledged the significance of education and the role it plays in entrepreneurial activity, stating that it is critical to attract the young and educated to entrepreneurship, especially as current industrial trends are towards a knowledge-based environment. However, entrepreneurship education and business know-how can affect entrepreneurial intentions only if they change key attitudes and perceptions such as, perceived desirability of self-employment and perceived entrepreneurial self-efficacy. In entrepreneurship, the internal element of the Individual is especially is critical, as it needs a high degree of readiness to engage in entrepreneurial challenges (Ghazalan et al, 2018). Ghazala et al (2018) suggests that Knowledge, interest, motivation and ability increase the tendency of a student in the future to become successful entrepreneurs. Hence, one of the main causes of the inability of an individual to become an entrepreneur is due to lack of readiness in the aspects of knowledge, interest, motivation and ability. Most graduates are prepared to enter the labor market as employees, but not as entrepreneurs. Most graduates had no intention of starting new ventures or of becoming self-employed. The traditional trend was, and may be, is still to be employed either by the government or by a private organization in the worst scenario. Working for oneself was regarded as a failure. The demand for an entrepreneurial driven economy has the benefit of creating employment for people that both the government and big organizations will not be able to employ (Kirby, 2011). It is in this perspective that educational institutions could play a major act in preparing graduates to espouse entrepreneurial mindsets The readiness will be measured on the basis of attitude, social norms (including superior and subjective aspects) and the Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC). The low survival rate might also be due to inadequate preparation for establishing and operating one’s own business. The present study recruited students as participants because they belong to the age group most likely to start companies (Staniewski & Szopiński, 2013). While taking university courses, students should obtain the skills needed to apply their ability through the use of modern technology. Unfortunately, a widespread view holds that Polish universities do not adequately prepare students to use the ability they have acquired in practice. So In This study we will test entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial readiness to see how many undergraduate students are inspired and driven by their role model and select area of Entreprenership as their career choice. This study analysis, students will able to uncover Hidden abilities and creative and fresh ideas for starting a new business. The research provides information that will help policy makers better understand the factors influencing the passion and readiness among university students, the way how to encourage passion and readiness towards starting their own work.