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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Eftychia Palamida, Dr Fiona WhitehurstORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Entrepreneurial intentions in later life are an understudied phenomenon; studies of intentions among retirees are even rarer. This paper examines the external validity of Vallerand’s (1997, 2000) Hierarchical Model of Motivation among 272 retirees in the USA. The results of path analyses reveal that the need for autonomy and work engagement pre-retirement play crucial roles in the potential decision to create a new venture, serving as the initial steps towards the formation of positive attitudes and perceived behavioural control; these in turn lead to post-retirement entrepreneurial intentionality. There is also a direct path linking the need for relatedness with the formation of post-retirement entrepreneurial intentions. The findings offer new insights based on social psychology that suggest why a proportion of retirees might choose self-employment or new venture creation after retirement from their main salaried employment in an attempt to meet their post-retirement needs. This can underpin schemes and policy interventions to encourage entrepreneurship post-retirement.
Author(s): Palamida E, Whitehurst F
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Year: 2025
Issue: ePub ahead of Print
Online publication date: 17/11/2025
Acceptance date: 09/10/2025
Date deposited: 10/10/2025
ISSN (print): 1465-7503
ISSN (electronic): 2043-6882
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/14657503251393547
DOI: 10.1177/14657503251393547
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/57dw-vn12
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