최근 한국은 직장의 폐업과 정리해고, 경영부진 등 비자발적으로 일자리를 잃은 실업자는 21년 10월 78.8만명으로 지난 8월보다 4.4만명 증가되었다(통계청, 2021a). 직장인의 퇴직 평균연령도 49.7세로 직장인 의지와 관계없이 조기 은퇴가 불가피한 상황이다. 한편 직장근로자 10명중 8명은 창업할 의지가 있는 것으로 나타나 이제는 직장인의 창업은 선택이 아닌 필수로 인식하고 있다. 본 연구의 목적은 직장인의 기업가적 지향성과 지속학습, 보상만족, 고용가능성이 창업의지와 어떠한 상관관계를 가지고 있는가를 조사하고 혁신행동이 그 사이를 매개하는지를 살펴보았다. 연구결과를 요약하면, 첫째, 기업가정신의 혁신성과 위험감수성이 직장인의 창업의지에 정(+)의 효과를 미치는 것을 확인하였다. 직장에서 끊임없는 도전과 혁신적 사고는 창업의지를 높이는데 중요한 변수임을 확인하였다. 둘째, 보상만족, 지속학습, 고용가능성도 창업의지에 정(+)의 효과를 미치는 것으로 확인되었다. 이는 급변하는 기업환경으로 인해 직장의 고용불안정성이 증가됨에 따라 현재 조직에서 생존을 위해 노력할 것인지, 지속가능한 경제활동을 위해 창업을 준비할 것인지를 고려할 때 보상만족이 높아도 더 낳은 보상을 위해 창업할 의향이 있다는 것으로 판단된다. 또한 지속학습을 통한 실무역량과 전문성 확보와 조직에서 원하는 경력을 갖춘 고용가능성은 창업의지를 높이는데 중요한 변수임도 확인하였다. 셋째, 기업가적 지향성, 보상만족, 지속학습, 고용가능성과 창업의지 간의 관계에서 혁신행동이 매개하고 있음이 확인되었다.
Recently, in Korea, the number of unemployed people who have lost their jobs involuntarily due to closure of workplaces, layoffs, and poor management stood at 788,000 in October 21, an increase of 44,000 from last August (Statistics Office, 2021). The average retiring age of workers is 49.7, so regardless of their intention, they often end up retiring early unavoidably. Meanwhile, it has been found that eight out of ten workers have startup intention; therefore, now their startup is regarded to be essential, not selective. The purpose of this study is to investigate if workers’ entrepreneurial orientation, continuous learning, satisfaction with remuneration, and employment prospect are correlated with entrepreneurial intention and examine if innovative behavior mediates the relations. To sum up the results, first, innovativeness and risk sensitivity in entrepreneurship are found to have positive effects on workers’ entrepreneurial intention. Restless challenges and innovative thinking at work are crucial variables to enhance entrepreneurial intention. Second, satisfaction with remuneration influences entrepreneurial intention positive effects, and continuous learning and employment prospect, too, have positive effects on entrepreneurial intention. As employment instability is increasing at work due to the rapidly changing corporate environment, Considering whether the current organization will strive for survival or prepare to start a business for sustainable economic activity, it is judged that there is a willingness to start a business for better compensation even if the satisfaction of compensation is high. In addition, it was confirmed that the possibility of employability with the career desired by the organization as well as the securing of practical competency and expertise through continuous learning are important variables in increasing the will to start a business. Third, relations between entrepreneurial orientation, satisfaction with remuneration, continuous learning, employment prospect, and entrepreneurial intention are found to be mediated by innovative behavior; however, its mediative effect in relations between innovativeness, risk sensitivity, and entrepreneurial intention in entrepreneurship is dismissed. Innovative behavior at work are found to be major variables to elevate entrepreneurial intention in relations between continuous learning, employment prospect, and satisfaction with remuneration.