Age in the entrepreneurial process: The role of future time perspective and prior entrepreneurial experience

Combining the life span developmental perspective with the process perspective of entrepreneurship, we develop hypotheses on the role of age in the entrepreneurial process. Specifically, we expect that younger people have a more extensive future time perspective than older people, which makes it more likely for younger (vs. older) people to transition from opportunity identification to forming entrepreneurial intentions. Further, we expect that older people have greater prior entrepreneurial experience than younger people, which makes it more likely for older (vs. younger) people to transition from forming entrepreneurial intentions to engaging in entrepreneurial activity. We tested our hypotheses using longitudinal data from 343 working adults from Australia across 12 months with 3 measurement waves. Results supported our hypotheses. Our findings suggest that age-related constructs can facilitate and hinder transitions in the entrepreneurial process.