Only 32% of Singaporean employees are willing to become entrepreneurs

Fear of failure holds them back.

When looking at stereotypes, although it seems that employees in Western countries may be more likely to take the leap into the world of entrepreneurship, recruitment firm Randstad’s latest Workmonitor research revealed otherwise. 37% of employees in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia are considering leaving their current job to start their own business, compared to a lower global average of 28%.

Malaysia was found to have the highest percentage of employees (49%) who were looking at possibly leaving their job for a shot at entrepreneurship, whilst Singapore employees were the least motivated (32%) with regards to starting their own business.

Here’s more from Randstad’s Workmonitor research:

Millennials were, globally and regionally, the largest group of employees who were considering leaving their job to start their own venture. Despite this sentiment, the Workmonitor research also revealed that the millennial group has the highest preference for working in a large multinational company (MNC).

Whilst these findings may seem to contradict, it shows that although millennials may aspire to start their own businesses, they are also acutely aware of the benefits work experience at an MNC can bring.

Whilst employees in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia may consider leaving their jobs to start their own business more than their global counterparts, the fear of failure seems to be holding them back from making this career switch.

Seven in 10 employees across all three countries felt that the risk of failure being an entrepreneur is too big.

More than half of employees (51%) in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia would however consider taking the route to entrepreneurship if they lost their jobs. Amongst the three countries, Malaysians were most likely (61%) to do so, compared to Singaporeans (42%).