http://14.139.251.106:8080/jspui The DSpace digital repository system captures, stores, indexes, preserves, and distributes digital research material. 2026-09-16T20:34:33Z http://dspace.dtu.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/repository/23101 Title: BARRIERS TO ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION AND BEHAVIOUR: A THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOUR APPROACH Authors: SINGH, PUSHPENDRA; Mookerjee, Amit (SUPERVISOR) Abstract: Barriers to Entrepreneurial Intention and Behavior" delves into the various obstacles that people experience when they decide to pursue their business dreams. A growing emphasis has been placed in recent years on entrepreneurship as a catalyst for innovation and economic progress. Even with this understanding, a lot of prospective business owners encounter major obstacles that prevent their goals and actions. The abstract explores the multiple facets of these obstacles, including institutional, social, psychological, and economic aspects. Psychological issues like risk aversion, fear of failure, and low self-esteem might hinder people's efforts to pursue their entrepreneurial goals. Interventions focusing on resilience and mentality are necessary to break through these internal obstacles and create a culture that values taking risks and learning from mistakes. Social issues are also important since, particularly in some groups or areas, cultural norms and societal expectations may inhibit entrepreneurship. To comprehend and lessen these societal hurdles, it is important to engage the community, educate people, and highlight successful entrepreneurs as role models. Financial limitations provide significant obstacles, especially for those with restricted financial resources. A lack of funding, credit, or financial knowledge may discourage would be business owners. Financial institutions and policymakers need to work together to create inclusive financial ecosystems that meet the requirements of a variety of entrepreneurs. Institutional obstacles also present major challenges, such as complicated regulatory frameworks and bureaucratic red tape. An environment that is more favorable to entrepreneurial activity can be produced by streamlining administrative procedures, lowering regulatory burdens, and improving the ease of doing business. These barriers interact to form a complex web that necessitates a comprehensive strategy. Empirical evidence suggests that a thorough comprehension of these obstacles is crucial for formulating efficacious policies and initiatives that promote entrepreneurship. Gender bias, restricted access to networks, and difficulties juggling work and personal obligations are 3 among the difficulties faced by female entrepreneurs, so it is especially important to address barriers connected to gender. It will take focused efforts to advance equal opportunities and build an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem to remove these gender-specific impediments. Technological developments have an impact on entrepreneurial activity as well, bringing with them both opportunities and difficulties. Although e-commerce and digital platforms have increased the reach of entrepreneurs, the quick speed of technological development necessitates digital literacy and adaptation. By bridging the digital divide and offering pertinent training, we can enable business owners to leverage technology for expansion. In addition, the COVID-19 epidemic has brought attention to how susceptible companies are to outside shocks, highlighting the necessity of resilience and adaptable tactics in the face of unforeseen difficulties. The various obstacles to entrepreneurship include a variety of economic, social, and institutional issues that prevent people from engaging in entrepreneurial pursuits. Potential entrepreneurs are frequently discouraged from implementing their ideas due to economic constraints, such as restricted access to finance and financial resources. In addition, regulatory restrictions and complicated legal frameworks can limit innovation and raise entry barriers. Social issues, such as cultural norms and aversion to risk, can deter people from starting their businesses. A lack of proper entrepreneurial education and training may also hinder the development of necessary skills and knowledge. These barriers significantly impede the growth of a vibrant entrepreneurial environment and limit regional economic development and innovation. It is essential to address these issues if you want to provide ambitious business owners with the tools they need to succeed, advance the economy, and create jobs. The significance of a multi-stakeholder strategy in addressing obstacles to entrepreneurial intention and activity is emphasized in the abstract. Governments, academic institutions, non governmental organizations, and the commercial sector must work together to establish an ecosystem that helps would-be business owners. In addition to imparting entrepreneurial skills, educational institutions must cultivate an entrepreneurial attitude and a culture that values creativity and taking calculated risks. The study concludes by highlighting the complex interplay of psychological, social, institutional, economic, and technological constraints on entrepreneurial intention and conduct. It takes a coordinated effort from several stakeholders and a sophisticated understanding of the issues at hand to design effective methods to overcome these hurdles. Societies can unleash entrepreneurship's full potential and promote innovation-driven economic growth by tearing down these obstacles. 2024-07-01T00:00:00Z http://dspace.dtu.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/repository/23100 Title: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP Authors: SINGH, PRAGATI; MOOKERJEE, Amit (SUPERVISOR); LATHER, ANU SINGH (CO-SUPERVISOR) Abstract: Entrepreneurship has been regarded as a significant driver of economic growth (Koster & Rai, 2008). As a service-based economy, India expediates small-scale firms' growth (Koster & Rai, 2008). The development of entrepreneurship in India can be attributed to factors such as the rise in government support initiatives, the emergence of incubators, and venture capital. Indian culture has always placed a strong emphasis on jewellery. Jewellery is a unique product category largely impacted by a combination of cultural, societal, and personal factors owing to its precise craftsmanship and emotional significance (Rajili et al., 2015). Jewellery is a popular form of self-expression and is often seen as a symbol of a woman's status. The jewellery industry is known for its exceptional artistry, craftsmanship, and sentimental value. Jewellery designer entrepreneurs contribute to the creative economy by participating in economic growth (Brandão et al., 2021). Lately, there has been a significant transformation in the jewellery design industry as digital marketing has been considerably shaping consumer behaviour (Armano, 2020; Chuangemanee & Punnakitikashem, 2016). The online jewellery sector has experienced significant growth due to the increasing number of internet users, heightened user awareness, and the attractive costs of online jewellery. Social media has changed the meaning of traditional marketing and provides numerous opportunities to new ventures. This revolutionary change brought by social media platforms has made doing business easier. Furthermore, social media has largely influenced consumer choices and buying patterns (Nagvanshi et al., 2023). The present study explores the perspectives of consumers and entrepreneurs in the jewellery sector. In the first phase, a qualitative study was conducted to explore the motivation and challenges entrepreneurs face in pursuing the jewellery designing profession, the difficulties encountered in marketing and selling their jewellery, and strategies used to overcome these challenges and barriers. Secondly, this research explores the factors affecting consumers' attitudes and purchase intention towards 3 social media jewellery selection and purchase. For this, quantitative methodology was employed to test the research model. The scope is restricted to Indian entrepreneurs who are in the business of jewellery designing and selling. A three-step research strategy was followed in the present study. In the first stage, an exploratory research design was adopted wherein a bibliometric review and narrative literature review were conducted to identify the current state of literature, trends, themes, and the research gap. The bibliometric analysis was conducted using Biblioshiny and VOS viewer software. A qualitative approach was utilized in the second stage of exploratory research design. In-depth interviews with 15 jewellery entrepreneurs were taken to identify their motivation, challenges, difficulties, and strategies used in this business. The manual coding of interview transcripts was done using NVivo 14 software. Further, an image analysis of twenty jewellery designs was also conducted by experts. It involved in-depth analysis of jewellery image on five factors, marketing recommendations, and a few social media posts suggestive in nature. In the third stage, a descriptive research design was adopted, and a quantitative approach was used. For the descriptive study, a self-administered questionnaire was designed. The questionnaire consisted of demographic information, two filter questions, basic details of usage, and thirty-two main statements on a 5-point Likert scale to test the hypotheses. The research model consisted of six constructs i.e., Perceived usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Compatibility, Complexity, Attitude, and Purchase Intention based on a modification and extension of the factors of the TAM exploring the overall effect of several factors on the attitude toward the adoption of social media for jewellery selection, and ultimately on the purchase intention. The model was analyzed using PLS-SEM in SMART PLS 3 software. The descriptive statistics, t-test, and ANOVA were performed using IBM SPSS software. In the qualitative study, it was found that entrepreneurs are motivated and inspired by their childhood experiences, passion for art, formal education in jewellery designing, family influence, and catalog exposure. The challenges or barriers faced by entrepreneurs as jewellery designers were trust issues, regional differences, ethical sourcing, adoption of technology, and intensive competition. They also face difficulty 4 in marketing or selling their jewellery due to several reasons such as limited customer reach, difficulty in building brand identity, adapting to changing trends, competitive pricing, low foot traffic, changing preferences of consumers, high overhead cost, and inventory management. When asked about the strategies they use or they think could overcome difficulties in marketing or selling jewellery, it was found that entrepreneurs suggest that leveraging social media could solve these issues. Other strategies include higher consumer engagement, creating relevant content, being transparent and having a consumer-friendly return policy, and creating specialized platforms for promotions such as own website or own Instagram broadcast channel. The results of the quantitative study state that Perceived usefullnessfulness and Perceived Ease of Use of social media positively impact the attitude toward social media jewellery selection. It was further found that compatibility positively impacts the attitude towards social media jewellery selection and purchase. While, Complexity was found to have a negative impact on attitude towards social media jewellery selection and purchase. Further, attitude towards social media jewellery selection and purchase was found to positively impact the purchase intention towards social media jewellery purchase. Lastly, attitude towards social media jewellery selection and purchase was found to partially mediate the relationship between Perceived usefullness, Perceived Ease of Use, Compatibility, Complexity, and purchase intention towards social media jewellery purchase. The high degree of Perceived usefullness, Perceived Ease of Use, Compatibility, and low Complexity which were found to be significant factors in social media adoption, must be leveraged by entrepreneurs. This will create a positive attitude towards social media usage for online jewellery shopping and enhance consumers purchase intentions towards online jewellery. Since there seems evidence that digital strategies affect many aspects of online purchase of jewellery by consumers both positively and negatively, entrepreneurs who want to scale their businesses should use social media, while judiciously looking at how various factors can affect consumer purchase intention. Jewellery entrepreneurs need to understand the changing dynamics of consumer behavior to remain competitive. They should satisfy the customer preferences and demands and 5 create relevant content for their target audience. Through social media marketing, entrepreneurs can interact with their audience meaningfully, increase business income, and adapt to the constantly changing market environment, ensuring ongoing growth and relevance in modern times. The present study offers insights into how to effectively utilize social media for improving attitude and purchase intentions of consumer towards jewellery selection. Entrepreneurs can get knowledge about the factors that play a role in improving consumers attitude and purchase intention towards online jewellery shopping. They can accordingly modify their strategies to satisfy consumers‘ changing demands and preferences (Agus et al., 2021). This study offers several theoretical and practical implications for entrepreneurs. 2024-08-01T00:00:00Z http://dspace.dtu.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/repository/23099 Title: BARRIERS TO ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION AND BEHAVIOUR: A THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOUR APPROACH Authors: SINGH, PUSHPENDRA; Mookerjee, Amit (SUPERVISOR) Abstract: Barriers to Entrepreneurial Intention and Behavior" delves into the various obstacles that people experience when they decide to pursue their business dreams. A growing emphasis has been placed in recent years on entrepreneurship as a catalyst for innovation and economic progress. Even with this understanding, a lot of prospective business owners encounter major obstacles that prevent their goals and actions. The abstract explores the multiple facets of these obstacles, including institutional, social, psychological, and economic aspects. Psychological issues like risk aversion, fear of failure, and low self-esteem might hinder people's efforts to pursue their entrepreneurial goals. Interventions focusing on resilience and mentality are necessary to break through these internal obstacles and create a culture that values taking risks and learning from mistakes. Social issues are also important since, particularly in some groups or areas, cultural norms and societal expectations may inhibit entrepreneurship. To comprehend and lessen these societal hurdles, it is important to engage the community, educate people, and highlight successful entrepreneurs as role models. Financial limitations provide significant obstacles, especially for those with restricted financial resources. A lack of funding, credit, or financial knowledge may discourage would be business owners. Financial institutions and policymakers need to work together to create inclusive financial ecosystems that meet the requirements of a variety of entrepreneurs. Institutional obstacles also present major challenges, such as complicated regulatory frameworks and bureaucratic red tape. An environment that is more favorable to entrepreneurial activity can be produced by streamlining administrative procedures, lowering regulatory burdens, and improving the ease of doing business. These barriers interact to form a complex web that necessitates a comprehensive strategy. Empirical evidence suggests that a thorough comprehension of these obstacles is crucial for formulating efficacious policies and initiatives that promote entrepreneurship. Gender bias, restricted access to networks, and difficulties juggling work and personal obligations are 3 among the difficulties faced by female entrepreneurs, so it is especially important to address barriers connected to gender. It will take focused efforts to advance equal opportunities and build an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem to remove these gender-specific impediments. Technological developments have an impact on entrepreneurial activity as well, bringing with them both opportunities and difficulties. Although e-commerce and digital platforms have increased the reach of entrepreneurs, the quick speed of technological development necessitates digital literacy and adaptation. By bridging the digital divide and offering pertinent training, we can enable business owners to leverage technology for expansion. In addition, the COVID-19 epidemic has brought attention to how susceptible companies are to outside shocks, highlighting the necessity of resilience and adaptable tactics in the face of unforeseen difficulties. The various obstacles to entrepreneurship include a variety of economic, social, and institutional issues that prevent people from engaging in entrepreneurial pursuits. Potential entrepreneurs are frequently discouraged from implementing their ideas due to economic constraints, such as restricted access to finance and financial resources. In addition, regulatory restrictions and complicated legal frameworks can limit innovation and raise entry barriers. Social issues, such as cultural norms and aversion to risk, can deter people from starting their businesses. A lack of proper entrepreneurial education and training may also hinder the development of necessary skills and knowledge. These barriers significantly impede the growth of a vibrant entrepreneurial environment and limit regional economic development and innovation. It is essential to address these issues if you want to provide ambitious business owners with the tools they need to succeed, advance the economy, and create jobs. The significance of a multi-stakeholder strategy in addressing obstacles to entrepreneurial intention and activity is emphasized in the abstract. Governments, academic institutions, non governmental organizations, and the commercial sector must work together to establish an ecosystem that helps would-be business owners. In addition to imparting entrepreneurial skills, educational institutions must cultivate an entrepreneurial attitude and a culture that values creativity and taking calculated risks. The study concludes by highlighting the complex interplay of psychological, social, institutional, economic, and technological constraints on entrepreneurial intention and conduct. It takes a coordinated effort from several stakeholders and a sophisticated 4 understanding of the issues at hand to design effective methods to overcome these hurdles. Societies can unleash entrepreneurship's full potential and promote innovation-driven economic growth by tearing down these obstacles. 2024-07-01T00:00:00Z http://dspace.dtu.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/repository/23098 Title: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP Authors: SINGH, PRAGATI; Mookerjee, Amit (SUPERVISOR); LATHER, ANU SINGH (CO-SUPERVISOR) Abstract: Entrepreneurship has been regarded as a significant driver of economic growth (Koster & Rai, 2008). As a service-based economy, India expediates small-scale firms' growth (Koster & Rai, 2008). The development of entrepreneurship in India can be attributed to factors such as the rise in government support initiatives, the emergence of incubators, and venture capital. Indian culture has always placed a strong emphasis on jewellery. Jewellery is a unique product category largely impacted by a combination of cultural, societal, and personal factors owing to its precise craftsmanship and emotional significance (Rajili et al., 2015). Jewellery is a popular form of self-expression and is often seen as a symbol of a woman's status. The jewellery industry is known for its exceptional artistry, craftsmanship, and sentimental value. Jewellery designer entrepreneurs contribute to the creative economy by participating in economic growth (Brandão et al., 2021). Lately, there has been a significant transformation in the jewellery design industry as digital marketing has been considerably shaping consumer behaviour (Armano, 2020; Chuangemanee & Punnakitikashem, 2016). The online jewellery sector has experienced significant growth due to the increasing number of internet users, heightened user awareness, and the attractive costs of online jewellery. Social media has changed the meaning of traditional marketing and provides numerous opportunities to new ventures. This revolutionary change brought by social media platforms has made doing business easier. Furthermore, social media has largely influenced consumer choices and buying patterns (Nagvanshi et al., 2023). The present study explores the perspectives of consumers and entrepreneurs in the jewellery sector. In the first phase, a qualitative study was conducted to explore the motivation and challenges entrepreneurs face in pursuing the jewellery designing profession, the difficulties encountered in marketing and selling their jewellery, and strategies used to overcome these challenges and barriers. Secondly, this research explores the factors affecting consumers' attitudes and purchase intention towards 3 social media jewellery selection and purchase. For this, quantitative methodology was employed to test the research model. The scope is restricted to Indian entrepreneurs who are in the business of jewellery designing and selling. A three-step research strategy was followed in the present study. In the first stage, an exploratory research design was adopted wherein a bibliometric review and narrative literature review were conducted to identify the current state of literature, trends, themes, and the research gap. The bibliometric analysis was conducted using Biblioshiny and VOS viewer software. A qualitative approach was utilized in the second stage of exploratory research design. In-depth interviews with 15 jewellery entrepreneurs were taken to identify their motivation, challenges, difficulties, and strategies used in this business. The manual coding of interview transcripts was done using NVivo 14 software. Further, an image analysis of twenty jewellery designs was also conducted by experts. It involved in-depth analysis of jewellery image on five factors, marketing recommendations, and a few social media posts suggestive in nature. In the third stage, a descriptive research design was adopted, and a quantitative approach was used. For the descriptive study, a self-administered questionnaire was designed. The questionnaire consisted of demographic information, two filter questions, basic details of usage, and thirty-two main statements on a 5-point Likert scale to test the hypotheses. The research model consisted of six constructs i.e., Perceived usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Compatibility, Complexity, Attitude, and Purchase Intention based on a modification and extension of the factors of the TAM exploring the overall effect of several factors on the attitude toward the adoption of social media for jewellery selection, and ultimately on the purchase intention. The model was analyzed using PLS-SEM in SMART PLS 3 software. The descriptive statistics, t-test, and ANOVA were performed using IBM SPSS software. In the qualitative study, it was found that entrepreneurs are motivated and inspired by their childhood experiences, passion for art, formal education in jewellery designing, family influence, and catalog exposure. The challenges or barriers faced by entrepreneurs as jewellery designers were trust issues, regional differences, ethical sourcing, adoption of technology, and intensive competition. They also face difficulty 4 in marketing or selling their jewellery due to several reasons such as limited customer reach, difficulty in building brand identity, adapting to changing trends, competitive pricing, low foot traffic, changing preferences of consumers, high overhead cost, and inventory management. When asked about the strategies they use or they think could overcome difficulties in marketing or selling jewellery, it was found that entrepreneurs suggest that leveraging social media could solve these issues. Other strategies include higher consumer engagement, creating relevant content, being transparent and having a consumer-friendly return policy, and creating specialized platforms for promotions such as own website or own Instagram broadcast channel. The results of the quantitative study state that Perceived usefullnessfulness and Perceived Ease of Use of social media positively impact the attitude toward social media jewellery selection. It was further found that compatibility positively impacts the attitude towards social media jewellery selection and purchase. While, Complexity was found to have a negative impact on attitude towards social media jewellery selection and purchase. Further, attitude towards social media jewellery selection and purchase was found to positively impact the purchase intention towards social media jewellery purchase. Lastly, attitude towards social media jewellery selection and purchase was found to partially mediate the relationship between Perceived usefullness, Perceived Ease of Use, Compatibility, Complexity, and purchase intention towards social media jewellery purchase. The high degree of Perceived usefullness, Perceived Ease of Use, Compatibility, and low Complexity which were found to be significant factors in social media adoption, must be leveraged by entrepreneurs. This will create a positive attitude towards social media usage for online jewellery shopping and enhance consumers purchase intentions towards online jewellery. Since there seems evidence that digital strategies affect many aspects of online purchase of jewellery by consumers both positively and negatively, entrepreneurs who want to scale their businesses should use social media, while judiciously looking at how various factors can affect consumer purchase intention. Jewellery entrepreneurs need to understand the changing dynamics of consumer behavior to remain competitive. They should satisfy the customer preferences and demands and 5 create relevant content for their target audience. Through social media marketing, entrepreneurs can interact with their audience meaningfully, increase business income, and adapt to the constantly changing market environment, ensuring ongoing growth and relevance in modern times. The present study offers insights into how to effectively utilize social media for improving attitude and purchase intentions of consumer towards jewellery selection. Entrepreneurs can get knowledge about the factors that play a role in improving consumers attitude and purchase intention towards online jewellery shopping. They can accordingly modify their strategies to satisfy consumers‘ changing demands and preferences (Agus et al., 2021). This study offers several theoretical and practical implications for entrepreneurs. 2024-08-01T00:00:00Z