Attitude of youth towards self-employment: Evidence from university students in Yemen

Abstract

This study assesses whether final-year undergraduate students at Sana’a University, Yemen intend to start their own business. The study employs the theory of planned behaviour and two environmental factors to explore whether the theory’s behavioural factors and the contextual factors of Lüthje & Franke’s model have an impact on students’ intentions to start their own business. A questionnaire survey with a random sample of 335 final-year university students from the largest public university in Yemen has been conducted. Data has been analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation and structural equation modelling. The findings indicate that students’ perceptions of entrepreneurship have a strong, direct impact on self-employment intention, excluding social norms and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Students’ self-employment intention is directly affected by perceived barriers and support factors in the entrepreneurship-related context. To increase their entrepreneurial abilities, university students require more training and education to be able to start new businesses. Developing entrepreneurial skills among citizens may improve the societal norms of business. The outcomes provide significant implications for policymakers, academic communities and international bodies.

Factors influencing entrepreneurial intention of university students in Yemen: The mediating role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy

“…This is particularly so in the current study context. The study model assumed that variables such as personality traits, environment, and situational factors play a crucial role in determining individuals’ IntEnt ( Yukongdi and Lopa, 2017 ; Anjum et al, 2020 ; Al-Qadasi et al, 2021 ). The model’s explanatory power improved by including ESE as mediating variable to 37%.…”

“…According to Nabi et al (2010) , Lüthje and Franke Model (LFM) provides a robust framework for assessing the antecedents of IntEnt. Previous research frequently used this model to investigate the personal and environmental determinants of IntEnt ( Kristiansen and Indarti, 2004 ; Schwarz et al, 2009 ; Sesen, 2013 ; Al-Qadasi et al, 2021 ). Besides the previous discussion, Liñán and Fayolle (2015) state that despite the broad applicability of intent models, there is still more research to be done to understand better how the context reacts with the individual in determining the IntEnt.…”

“…Many social-cognitive theories and empirical studies integrated personality traits and environmental factors to determine one’s IntEnt. For instance, Davidsson (1995) economic-psychological model, Lüthje and Franke (2003) model of IntEnt; Kristiansen and Indarti (2004) compared the influence of different economic and cultural contexts on students’ IntEnt; Wang et al (2010) studied the effect a set of environmental and individual factors on one’s motivation to become an entrepreneur; Gerba (2012) and Sesen (2013) tested a comprehensive model of IntEnt that combines environmental factors and personality traits; Al-Qadasi et al (2021) tested an integrated IntEnt model that combined TPB personality factors and LFM contextual factors. Following previous studies, environmental conditions can include several factors influencing one’s IntEnt.…”

“…Psychological, environmental, and situational factors, as well as their influence on one's IntEnt, have been used as separate factors in previous studies (Sesen, 2013). Only a few studies attempted to investigate the influence of the three selected factors in the study as groups of factors in one IntEnt model (Davidsson, 1995;Lüthje and Franke, 2003;Al-Qadasi et al, 2021). Some authors argue that investigating one group of factors in isolation from the others may result in misleading and incorrect findings Anjum et al (2020) and create a research gap that must be addressed.…”

“…Psychological, environmental, and situational factors, as well as their influence on one’s IntEnt, have been used as separate factors in previous studies ( Sesen, 2013 ). Only a few studies attempted to investigate the influence of the three selected factors in the study as groups of factors in one IntEnt model ( Davidsson, 1995 ; Lüthje and Franke, 2003 ; Al-Qadasi et al, 2021 ).…”