Entrepreneurial Intentions of Business Students — A Benchmarking Study

Abstract

It is widely accepted that the educational system of universities has to provide an academic environment that may serve as a catalyst for high-technology start-ups. The academic tradition of entrepreneurship in German-speaking countries is very short. Until recently, fostering innovations and new product development through entrepreneurship has not been regarded as a primary task of universities. However, perspectives have changed in this respect, and there have been numerous attempts to enhance the role of university graduates as founders of innovative businesses. In this paper, we compare the entrepreneurial intentions of students at two German-speaking universities (the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and the University of Munich) with the corresponding results for a leading institution in this field: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). We find very distinct patterns of entrepreneurial spirit in these universities. The results also suggest that the lower level of founding intentions among students in Munich and Vienna may be attributed to their less distinctive entrepreneurship education. This leaves a great deal of room for improvement.

Encouraging Female Entrepreneurship in Jordan: Environmental Factors, Obstacles and Challenges

“…Hattab, 2012;Ramadani, Dana, Gërguri-Rashiti, & Abazi-Alili, 2015;Verme, 2014). Although those topics has been somehow studied, the novelty of our study is to systemically integrate our results with the existing theories of entrepreneurial intention (Icek Ajzen, 1991;Lüthje & Franke, 2004;Shapero & Sokol, 1982). We therefore propose a link between the challenges and barriers faced by women in Islamic contexts with the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention, allowing for a deeper understanding of the subject.…”

“…For the entrepreneur, environmental factors form the basis of a cost-benefit analysis and play an important role in the formation of entrepreneurial intentions, as they have the potential to either facilitate or impede entrepreneurial activities (Kibler, 2012;Liñán & Chen, 2009;Lüthje & Franke, 2004). Sesen(2013)states that environmental factors are often perceived as "gap fillers" in the relationship between personality traits and entrepreneurial intention.…”

“…The literature on the importance of formal education as a prerequisite to entrepreneurial initiatives is divided into two fields. On one side, it is claimed that education can improve a person's creativity and provide them with the necessary skills and mindset that is able to see and grasp opportunities (Dickson et al, 2008;Gurel, Altinay, & Daniele, 2010;Lüthje & Franke, 2004). On the other, it is argued that formal education kills the entrepreneurial spirit by placing too much emphasis on conformism-which in turn restricts creativity and innovation and makes individuals more risk aversive and less tolerant to ambiguity (Gibb, 2002).…”

“…The questionnaire used in this study is based on Shapero & Sokol's(1982) model that tries to explain the desirability of entrepreneurial events from an individual, societal and financial perspective and the work of Lüthje & Franke(2004)who looked at environmental factors and their effect on the entrepreneurial intentions of business students. We adapted the questions, to reflect the culture and business environment of Jordan and used a 7-point Likert scale.…”

Ser seu Próprio Patrão? Aperfeiçoando-se a Educação Superior em Empreendedorismo

“…Considerando-se essa linha de raciocínio predominante na literatura e que sustenta o efeito estatisticamente positivo da EE sobre a intenção de empreender dos estudantes universitários (Alvarez & Busenitz, 2001;Franke & Luthje, 2004;Kourilsky & Walstad, 1998;Peterman & Kennedy, 2003), configura-se a seguinte hipótese a ser testada: Também ajuda a sustentar essa primeira hipótese a concepção introduzida no início deste artigo segundo a qual os diferentes processos que reforçam a díade intenção-potencial elevam progressivamente a intenção empreendedora. Com o auxílio do modelo de potencial empreendedor (Krueger & Brazeal, 1994), nota-se que a intensificação de fatores, como a autoeficácia em empreendedorismo, provocada pela EE ou outras atividades de preparação (Wilson, Kickul, & Marlino, 2007), eleva a intenção empreendedora.…”