Development of entrepreneurial intention in higher education and the effect of gender – a latent growth curve analysis

Abstract

Purpose -The objectives of this study are threefold: first, to analyze the development of intentions of individuals over time; second, to explore potential gender differences in intention development; and third, to analyze the relatedness of the initial level and development of the antecedents of intentions to the initial level and the development of intentions. Design/methodology/approach -Ajzen's Theory of Planned behavior is applied. Longitudinal data were collected in the fall of 2010, 2011 and 2012 in seven different universities of applied sciences, with students representing seven different study fields. In our data, there are 192 individuals with all three measurement waves and 104 individuals with two measurement waves. The analysis of change on multi-wave panel data is done using latent growth curve analysis with structural equation modeling. Findings -Our empirical results are threefold. First, entrepreneurial intentions of higher education seem to decrease during their studies. Second, there is a gender difference in the initial level of entrepreneurial intentions and how intentions develop over time. Third, the initial level of intentions does not affect the future development of intentions. Practical implications -In sum, the authors believe that the paper makes an important contribution to the field of entrepreneurial education by concluding that intention development in higher educational context is not a simple matter, but a rather complicated process during which young people can realize their true potential vis-à -vis entrepreneurial opportunities. From an educators' point of view, such realization generally means a decrease in an individual's entrepreneurial intentions, which is a phenomenon that does not provide much encouragement for educators. On the other hand, one of the aims of any entrepreneurship education is to give younger people a more realistic picture about entrepreneurship. When someone is willing to start a new business in this kind of context, the authors, as educators, can be a degree more confident that such an individual is not launching his/her venture because of idealistic dreams. Originality/value -By using a longitudinal design, the paper is one of the first to provide empirical evidence about the intention development over time. Ultimately, the paper hopes to have added richness to the ongoing discussion among academics and educators alike regarding the importance of intention development in entrepreneurship education.

Performance in Franchise Systems : The Franchisee Perspective

“…In addition to the procedural remedy, a statistical remedy, Harman's single-factor test, was used to control for common method biases. This test is one of the most widely-used techniques, and one 109 that has been used in many studies (Back et al, 2014, Joensuu et al, 2013, Jones and Jayawarna, 2010, Kenny and Fahy, 2011, Kibler, 2013, Kuckertz and Wagner, 2010, Avlonitis and Salavou, 2007 to address the issue of common method variance (Podsakoff et al, 2003). After conducting an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) from all items of all constructs and performance, a single factor just explains less than 20% percent of the variance (Avlonitis and Salavou, 2007), and no single factors accounts for most of the variance in these variables (Dada and Watson, 2013).…”

Entrepreneurship Education for Women in Engineering: A Systematic Review of Entrepreneurship Assessment Literature with a Focus on Gender

“…Shinnar, Hsu, and Powell (2014) 42 found that among students in an entrepreneurship education course, entrepreneurial intention increases for men from the beginning to the end of the semester while it weakens for women. In contrast, Joensuu, Viljamaa, Varamaki, and Tornikoski's (2013) 44 results demonstrated that both women's and men's entrepreneurial intentions decreased from the beginning to the end of the semester. However, men had higher levels of entrepreneurial intentions initially and their intentions did not decrease as much as women's intentions did in the study.…”

Unlacing the entrepreneurial potential : exploring factors influencing entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurship education in emerging economies

“…In addition, the academic year of the individual can also be a motivator. and Joensuu et al (2013) found that students that were closer to graduation were more likely to exhibit greater or lesser intentions to start their own businesses.…”

“…As it regards the control variables, age (e.g., Georgellis et al, 2005;), academic year (e.g., Joensuu et al 2013) andethnicity (e.g., Pushkarskaya, 2008;Agbim et al, 2013) Ethnicity which represented the students' tribal ethnicity was a categorical variable representing 4 ethnic groups: Kamba, Kikuyu, Luhya and Luo.…”