Abstract
Studies on senior citizen entrepreneurship are generally inconclusive on the likelihood of whether senior citizens can successfully start businesses. The debate primarily revolves around the willingness and ability of third-age people to consider entrepreneurship as a way forward in the latter part of their lives. This chapter seeks a shift in perspective whereby senior citizens are re-categorized as entrepreneurs and productive members of the economy and not as recipients of government and social benefits and care. The study therefore examines the readiness of senior citizens to start their entrepreneurial journeys and explores the factors that can act as a catalyst towards this end. In view of that, this chapter aims to identify the gap that may exist between the senior citizen's willingness and ability to participate in a homestay business. In effect, the chapter seeks to frame a conceptual model for senior entrepreneurship and proposes various forms of interventions that would close this gap and enable senior citizens to contribute to the society.
Top2. Literature Review
There is a considerable amount of literature which discusses the potential of people venturing into entrepreneurial activity in their third-age. Studies on senior citizen entrepreneurship are generally inconclusive on the likelihood of whether senior citizens can successfully start business. The debate primarily revolves around the willingness and ability of third-age people to consider entrepreneurship as a way forward in their later part of their lives. Previous research has identified many factors which influence the intent of a senior citizen to be an entrepreneur and have predicted the likelihood of third-age individuals taking up entrepreneurial ventures. For instance, Hart et al. (2004) analysed the 2003 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) UK survey results to find that third-age individuals are almost half less likely to take up entrepreneurial activity as prime-age individuals. On a similar line, Kautonen (2008) provides evidence for Finland during 2000 and 2006, that business start-up rate in the age group of 50 to 64 is about 50 percent less than that for the age group of 20-49. Similarly, the study by Curran and Blackburn’s (2001) finds a significant negative correlation between economic activity and age where the reveals that a small percentage of respondents between age 50 and 75 expressed interest in entrepreneurship. Lévesque and Minniti (2006) justifies the inverse relationship between age and entrepreneurial intent with the idea of opportunity cost. They argue that since opportunity cost is an increasing function of age, older individuals are less likely to commit time to activities with risk, such as starting a business. Instead, they prefer to engage themselves in employment which give instant and risk free return.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Effort Expectancy: Effort Expectancy refers to the degree of ease associated with the use of the system.
Homestay: Homestay is when someone offers a space in his or her own house where tourists can stay for a fee.
Social Influence: Social Influence refers to the degree to which an individual perceives that important others believe he or she should use the new system.
Performance Expectancy: Performance Expectancy refers to the degree to which the user expects that using the system will help him or her attain gains in job performance.
Third-Age: Third-age is the period in life of active retirement, following middle age. It refers to the people aged over 65 years, often in retirement stage, who may be facing physical and social limitations.
Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is the process of setting up a business where an individual who has an idea acts on that idea, usually to disrupt the current market with a new product or service.
Senior Citizen: A Senior Citizen in India is defined as a resident Indian who is of the age of 60 years and above.