Does gender moderate the perceived support and entrepreneurship intention relationship? An empirical inquiry

Entrepreneurship promotion is a goal of most governments due to its various socio-economic benefits. Many models explain as what factors can encourage citizens of a country to engage in entrepreneurship activity. In this regard, various types of support which is available to individuals is important factor and evidence suggests that support can influence positively to engage in entrepreneurial activity. However, there is little literature available on how the support is perceived and influences entrepreneurship orientation differently by various demographic factors such as gender, age, and social background. In the present study, we investigate this issue by using the Perceived Support Model (PSM) along with three dimensions namely educational, relational, and structural, and their influence on entrepreneurship intention in the Oman context. The objective of the study was to test the effects of the three dimensions of the support model on the entrepreneurship intention of youth with gender as a moderator. The methodology of the study was a cross-sectional survey method of data collection with a convenience non-random sampling approach (n=662). The reliability and validity are tested using the Confirmatory Factor Analysis performed through AMOS. The path analysis indicates that perceived educational support (ß=.042,