BACKGROUND: HIV self-testing (HIVST) offers an innovative and promising approach to increasing HIV testing among Black men in the United States, a population disproportionately affected by HIV. However, engaging Black men in traditional HIV prevention programs has been challenging due to stigma, medical mistrust, and limited access to preventive health services. This formative qualitative study aimed to explore the potential of utilizing barbershops as an example of a nontraditional healthcare venue to promote and distribute HIVST.
METHODS: Four virtual focus group discussions (FGDs) consisting of 19 participants in North Carolina were conducted with Black men, including barbershop business owners, barbers, and their customers, to assess perceptions of HIVST and the acceptability of partnering with barbershop businesses to promote HIVST. FGDs were digitally recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using a deductive coding approach to thematic analysis.
RESULTS: Participants reported that the trusting relationship between barbers and their customers, which may not exist between Black men and health care providers, is a facilitator of collaborating with barbershop businesses to reach Black men for HIVST distribution. Participants recommended providing education for barbers on the use of HIVST, as well as how to inform self-testers about linkage to care following HIVST to build the credibility of the barbers in delivering the intervention. Participants also raised the issue of the cost of HIVST to barbershop customers as a potential barrier to implementation, as well as the possibility that the implementation of such interventions could be seen as out of place in a barbershop business venue. Participants also expressed a strong belief that compensation to barbershops and their employees should accompany any intervention.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that barbershop business venues may provide an appropriate venue for HIVST promotion and distribution, though factors like cost, training, and incentivization of implementers are necessary to consider in implementation planning. Furthermore, partnerships between public health actors and the business community must be built on equitable engagement to ensure the long-term viability of these critical initiatives.

This study examines the personality patterns of solo founders in both high-tech and non-high-tech sectors during the first seven years of their entrepreneurial journey to emphasize the patterns\' implications during policymaking, investment decisions, and self-assessments. IAB/ZEW startup panel microdata for the sector classification of 4470 solo entrepreneurs in Germany were analyzed to identify Big Five trait patterns influenced by risk propensities, innovation inclination, and gender. The entrepreneurial profiles indicate positive openness, emotional resilience, and sector-specific clusters. Conscientiousness suggests flexibility, and while variations in extraversion and agreeableness exist, negative neuroticism was predominantly found, except for gender-related differences and multidimensional service innovators. Big Five traits provide information about important foundational profile patterns to describe unique solo entrepreneur types influenced by risk, innovation, and gender. Originality and value: Risk propensity characterizes \'Adaptive Services,\' \'Dynamic Knowledge Innovators,\' and \'Strategic Risk Navigators.\' Additionally, \'Multidimensional Service Innovators\' and \'Focused Tech Innovators\' signify innovation understanding. The Big Five profiles show openness and emotional stability across sectors, providing crucial insights for effective entrepreneurial support and investment strategies.

Entrepreneurial narrative has been used in the entrepreneurship education process to develop students\' entrepreneurial intention. However, previous research has less knowledge about the mechanisms between entrepreneurial narrative and entrepreneurial intention from an affective events perspective. We explore the effect of entrepreneurial narrative on entrepreneurial intention based on the theory of affective events theory. The sample of this study comprised 348 individuals who participated in entrepreneurship education in China. The results suggest that entrepreneurial narrative have a significant positive impact on college students\' entrepreneurial intention. Additionally, the relationship between entrepreneurial narrative and entrepreneurial intention is mediated by entrepreneurial passion, and entrepreneurial support positively moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial intention.

Immigrants are highly entrepreneurial. But, what is the broader relationship between high-skilled immigration and regional entrepreneurship activity beyond the ventures that immigrants establish themselves? Using administrative data on newly awarded H-1B visas in the United States, we document a positive relationship between high-skilled immigration and regional entrepreneurship. A doubling of immigrants to a metropolitan statistical area is followed by a 6% increase in entrepreneurship within three years. In contrast, continuing H-1Bs and the arrival of unskilled immigrants (H-2B visas) do not increase regional entrepreneurship. Focusing on Indian immigrants (representing about 70% of all H-1B visas), we find the effect is stronger in metropolitan statistical areas with a larger local Indian population, but not other nationalities, suggesting that presence of conationals facilitates the relationship between high-skilled immigration and regional entrepreneurship. We present this and other evidence as consistent with a knowledge transfer mechanism.

UNASSIGNED: The purpose of this paper is to review the existing research on the antecedents of entrepreneurial networking behavior namely motivational factors and personality factors and its impact on business performance.
UNASSIGNED: This study employs a systematic review methodology, adhering to PRISMA guidelines.. Using the SCOPUS database, the search involved Boolean operators to narrow down relevant articles published in English between 2000 and 2024. Following a meticulous screening process, 32 articles were selected for review after removing duplicates and excluding non-English articles. Methodological quality assessment ensuring focused research questions, precise subject selection methods, representative samples, and reliable measurement instruments was carried out.
UNASSIGNED: The results demonstrate that entrepreneurs who are self-reliant and extroverted have fewer partners, however, these traits positively impact networking activities. The Big Five personality traits predict business creation and success of ventures. Desire for financial gain, risk-taking propensity, self-confidence, and the need for achievement influences networking behavior.
UNASSIGNED: The insights given in this paper can be used for establishing valuable connections, investing in resources, and preparing effective strategies for businesses. Policymakers who aim to promote entrepreneurial behavior among experienced individuals must emphasize the motivations for starting a business and the role of personalities in harnessing and leveraging individual entrepreneurial expertise.
UNASSIGNED: The existing literature on antecedents of entrepreneurial networking Behavior and the relationship of these antecedents together with business performance is limited. Further, this review article also offers avenues for future researchers.

In the current economic landscape, the growing importance of innovation and entrepreneurship underscores an urgent need for accurate market trend prediction. Addressing this challenge, our study introduces an innovative entrepreneurial market trend prediction model based on deep learning principles. Through detailed case studies and performance evaluations, this paper demonstrates the model\'s effectiveness and its potential to enhance decision-making capabilities in a competitive business environment. Accurate market trend prediction is crucial in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship, and our approach meets this demand. Our model leverages the power of deep learning technology, combining historical market data with diverse market indicators, including sentiment analysis derived from social media, to create an advanced predictive model that surpasses traditional methods. By analyzing data from multiple channels, our model exhibits exceptional accuracy in forecasting future market trends. The case study provides strong evidence of our model\'s performance and precision, showcasing its significant support for innovators and entrepreneurs navigating complex market trends. Furthermore, this study highlights the vast potential of deep learning technology in the economic sector. We emphasize the importance of developing innovative entrepreneurial market trend prediction models and foresee an increase in project success rates for innovators and entrepreneurs by enhancing decision quality through the adoption of deep learning.

BACKGROUND: Raising potential entrepreneurs to advance the economy of nations through education has been projected by scholars. On the contrary, Nigerian students lack the enthusiasm and internal force to pursue the aims enshrined in their courses of study. Rather they prefer white-cola jobs to the entrepreneurial intention of the institutions. Given this reason, we tested the effect of cognitive behavior-aided counseling on entrepreneurial self-efficacy of students of Home Economics in South-East Nigeria.
METHODS: This is a pretest and posttest with a follow-up group randomized control design. A total of 119 Home Economics Education students from Universities and Colleges of Education were measured and screened using an entrepreneurial self-efficacy scale and inclusion criteria. Data collected from the pretest, post-test, and follow-up test were statistically analyzed using repeated measures of Analysis of Variance statistical method. The effect size of the cognitive behavior-aided counseling intervention on entrepreneurial self-efficacy was reported using partial eta square. The follow-up data was tested using a Univariate analysis.
RESULTS: The result showed that cognitive behavior-aided counseling intervention had a significant effect on entrepreneurial self-efficacy among the Universities and Colleges of Education in South-East Nigeria. A follow-up result also showed that intervention had a significant effect on participants\' entrepreneurial self-efficacy.

In the rapidly evolving business landscape, micro-entrepreneurs stand out as significant contributors to social innovation. However, the link between their personality traits and the social innovations they introduce needs to be studied more. This research, guided by the Big Five model and the Oslo Manual\'s innovation framework, aims to address this gap. The central question driving this study is whether the personality traits of micro-entrepreneurs, precisely openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism, influence the social innovations they bring forth. Through a comprehensive exploration of literature and empirical analysis-quantitative research on a representative sample of 1848 Polish micro-entrepreneurs-this research examines the interconnectedness between personality characteristics and social innovation outcomes. The key findings suggest that three personality variables characterising micro-entrepreneurs-openness for experience, conscientiousness, and extroversion-emerge as shared, statistically significant factors. These variables positively impact all types of social innovations implemented by micro-entrepreneurs (product and process). In none of the analysed cases, agreeableness and neuroticism were statistically significant. Finally, it\'s worth emphasising that the chances of micro-entrepreneurs introducing social innovations increase more strongly with an increase in their openness to experience than in the case of extroversion and conscientiousness.

This paper delves into the utility of Outcome Harvesting as an effective methodology for evaluating development projects that seek to cultivate and advance social enterprises within intricate and multifaceted contexts. Amidst the ever-evolving socio-economic, political, and cultural dynamics characterizing complex environments, traditional evaluation approaches often fall short in capturing the nuanced outcomes of such projects. By adopting Outcome Harvesting, this study argues that evaluators gain a robust tool to systematically collect, analyze, and interpret the intended and unintended impacts of development initiatives in complex and changing contexts. The utilization of mixed methods in the gathering of both primary and secondary data to effectively implement the Outcome Harvesting method has been influenced by overarching theoretical frameworks in the realm of social enterprises. This approach resulted in a comprehensive research methodology that seeks to synergize the strengths of the Outcome Harvesting method within the broader context of understanding and advancing the concept of social entrepreneurship.

In the era of Internet information technology, the IT background of directors plays a significant role in corporate governance. However, existing research lacks sufficient discussion on the financing constraints faced by Internet startups. This paper examines Internet entrepreneurial enterprises listed on the New Third Board as the research sample. Using content analysis coding methods and Python software for text mining, the study empirically analyzes the impact of directors\' IT backgrounds and media reports on the financing constraints of these enterprises. The results indicate the following: First, directors with IT backgrounds help reduce the financing constraints of Internet startups. The higher the directors\' proficiency in information technology, the more favorable it is for obtaining financing. Second, directors with IT backgrounds have a significant positive impact on the tone of media reports. Third, the tone of media reports reflects the spirit and development of the enterprises, serving as a mediating factor between directors\' IT backgrounds and the financing constraints of the enterprises. The findings of this study are valuable for guiding Internet startups to better leverage the IT expertise of their directors. Additionally, they provide useful insights for reducing the financing constraints faced by these startups.