Antecedents, Experiences and Entrepreneurial Intentions among Economics Students

Abstract

The paper is part of a larger research aims to increase the impact of entrepreneurship education on students' intentions to become an entrepreneur. Based on the literature in the field of youth entrepreneurship and the theory of planned behaviour, the research considers attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control towards entrepreneurship as students' antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions and exposure to entrepreneurial models, work experience and intuition of trigger events as entrepreneurial experiences. In this context, the paper findings about entrepreneurial intentions of a group of 200 undergraduate students in the first year of study from the Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Oradea, Romania, before access to formal entrepreneurship education or/and other entrepreneurial education opportunities. The research tests according with theory of planned behavior if there is a positive correlation between students' antecedents, respectivelly experiences and entrepreneurial intentions. Additionally, the research tests whether there is any link between gender, the residential environment (urban, rural), the family origin and the entrepreneurial intentions of the students. The research results allow university to design entrepreneurial educational offer (curricula, programs, extra-curricular activities, practicebased learning etc.) in order to compensate initially perceived lack of support and expose students to experiences that stimulate their entrepreneurial intentions. Also, the research findings provide managerial implications and policy recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education and programs. Future research steps seek hypothesis retesting for Economics students after access to entrepreneurship education and address other groups of students from non-economic fields of study where, traditionally, the offer of entrepreneurial education is poor or non-existent.

Assessing the Impact of Entrepreneurial Education on Entrepreneurial Intentions among Romanian Doctoral Students and Postdoctoral Researchers

“…Our previous empirical research among Bachelor students based on Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour [5] confirms a positive relationship between students' antecedents and entrepreneurial intentions which is more powerful than the one between students' experiences and entrepreneurial intentions [40], the highest contribution to building students' entrepreneurial intentions being attributable to students' entrepreneurial antecedents [41]. However, entrepreneurial education programmes with a target group of doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers are not very common either in the Romanian context or in the literature.…”

“…According to Ajzen's theory [5], the intention is a direct antecedent of real behaviour; the stronger the intention, the more successful the behaviour prediction or actual behaviour is [5]. The clear separation between attitudes, perceived behavioural control, and subjective norms in Ajzen's theory [5] better explains, in our opinion, that students' entrepreneurial intentions are formed through a complex process of antecedents (attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control towards entrepreneurship) and experiences (exposure to entrepreneurial models, work experience, and intuition of trigger events) [40]. Grounded in the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen, 2002) [52], along with elements from the social cognitive theory of Bandura, the theory of planned behaviour represents one of the main frameworks in explaining behavioural intentions in different domains.…”

A Partial Least-Square Mediation Analysis of the Contribution of Cross-Campus Entrepreneurship Education to Students’ Entrepreneurial Intentions

“…Our analysis follows the general framework of the TPB, identifying entrepreneurial attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control as antecedents of EI. Our previous empirical research among Economics students based on TPB confirms a positive relationship between students' antecedents (i.e., attitude toward behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) and EI more powerful than the one between students' experiences (i.e., exposure to entrepreneurial models, work experience, and intuition of trigger-events) and EI [82].…”

Implications of Entrepreneurial Intentions of Romanian Secondary Education Students, over the Romanian Business Market Development

“…Entrepreneurship is the process in which individuals become aware that business development is a viable option for them by formulating business ideas, learning needed skills for an entrepreneur, and taking the necessary steps to start and develop a business [3,4]. On the other hand, entrepreneurship is seen in close connection with traits such as initiative, innovation, creativity, risk-taking, and the ability to perform in specific economic and cultural environments.…”