중년 창업에 영향을 미치는 요인 분석과 시사점: 청년층과 비교 분석을 통한 탐색적 연구

Entrepreneurship contributes to economic development through job creation and investment. Policymakers are interested in the function of entrepreneurship in reducing unemployment and are increasing policies to support youth entrepreneurship. Most academic research also focuses on youth entrepreneurs. However, in reality, the number of entrepreneurs is higher among middle-aged individuals. With the ageing population, middle-aged entrepreneurship is expected to increase even more, but there is a lack of understanding about middle-aged entrepreneurship. This study utilized quantitative data on entrepreneurship and analyzed the factors influencing entrepreneurial intentions using visualization and machine learning algorithms. The differences between young and middle-aged indivisuals with entrepreneurial intentions were found to be more important in psychological factors than demographic factors. Middle-aged individuals had entrepreneurial intentions despite having a negative or low perception of entrepreneurial attitude, self-efficacy, and recognition of entrepreneurship. In summary, middle-aged individuals had lower confidence in entrepreneurship compared to young people. This study suggests developing entrepreneurship policies that are inclusive of middle-aged individuals, setting policy goals to promote a positive view of middle-aged entrepreneurship, and providing entrepreneurship education, perceived social support, and abolishing age-based entrepreneurship support.