Bridging the Aspiration–Action Gap: Self-Efficacy and Employee Entry into Self-Employment

A large literature links self-efficacy to employees’ entrepreneurial intentions. But less is known about whether self-efficacy helps individuals translate entrepreneurial intentions into actual entry. Using UK longitudinal data, we examine whether self-efficacy predicts the realisation of entrepreneurial aspirations among employees who report they would like to start their own business. We operationalise entrepreneurial action as transitions from paid employment to self-employment and estimate probit models. The results show that self-efficacy increases the likelihood of making the transition into self-employment among employees expressing entrepreneurial intents. We also find that job satisfaction shapes this relationship in that the association between self-efficacy and transition is stronger among dissatisfied employees. These findings contribute to entrepreneurship research on the aspiration–action gap suggesting that policies and workplace interventions that strengthen self-efficacy facilitate entry into self-employment, mostly for employees who are unhappy in their jobs.