<p><span>Beyond The Lineage Myth: Dismantling Intergenerational Determinism to Enhance Entrepreneurial Intent in South Africa</span></p>

A pervasive socio-psychological barrier in emerging markets is the belief that entrepreneurship is an inherited family asset rather than an acquired professional discipline. This paper critically deconstructs this "lineage myth," arguing that intergenerational determinism severely limits entrepreneurial intent among individuals from non-business backgrounds. Combining cognitive psychology with strategic management literature and preliminary qualitative case evidence, the study evaluates the psychological phenomenon of learned helplessness among aspiring South African founders who believe they lack the inherited capital or institutional networks necessary to scale a firm. The paper introduces the "Acquired Agency Framework," which positions entrepreneurship as a systematic, teachable capability independent of family lineage. Four preliminary cases of South African women entrepreneurs are presented to demonstrate the framework in practice. The study concludes with policy recommendations for shifting localized entrepreneurship education from basic compliance literacy to psychological empowerment and self-efficacy cultivation.