Entrepreneurial passion, achievement motivation goals and behavioural engagements in Malaysia: are there any differences across ethnic groups?

Abstract

This study was set out to investigate entrepreneurial passion, achievement motivation goals and behavioural engagement among Malaysian entrepreneurs. In addition, this empirical study was also intended to compare entrepreneurial passion with goal settings and behavioural engagement of Malay and Chinese Malaysians. From a sample of 305 entrepreneurs, the findings show there is a significant difference between the two ethnic groups in terms of passion, goals and need for creativity, ambition and daring. Malaysian Chinese were found to harbour higher harmonious passion than their counterparts, while both Malay and Chinese Malaysians share a moderate perception of obsessive passion. Furthermore, Chinese Malaysians perceive a strong relationship with the dimensions of mastery, performance and performance avoidance goals. On the other hand, Malay Malaysians have a high perception of mastery and performance goals but moderate perception of performance avoidance goals. The estimation coefficients also indicate that Malaysian entrepreneurs perceive strong relationships with their need for independence, ambition, daring and creativity.