Entrepreneurial intentions of university students: an international comparison between African, European and Canadian students

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to compare the entrepreneurial intentions of university students in North Africa (Algeria) with those of students in Canada and Europe (France and Belgium), and to examine differences with regard to psychological, sociocultural and economic factors influencing these intentions. Analyses on the sample as a whole confirm the relevancy of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) proposed by Ajzen (1991). When we differentiate among cultural groups, results were fairly similar for Canadian and European students. However, no TPB elements were significant for the Algerian students, or more significant than the control variables. We discuss the need to consider cultural factors to explain entrepreneurial intentions. Moreover, given the socioeconomic climate in Algeria, we hypothesize that among Algerian university students, entrepreneurship is motivated by necessity rather than opportunity.

Wanting to change the world, is it too much of a good thing? How sustainable orientation shapes entrepreneurial behaviour

“…As numerous studies mobilising TPB measure the perceived behavioural control through the entrepreneurial self-efficacy (e.g. Engle et al, 2010;St-Jean et al, 2014), combining the two explanatory theories of intention and performance of entrepreneurial action allows to retain five (5) important constructs: attitude towards the career, subjective norms, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, valence and instrumentality of expected results (outcome expectation).…”

Entrepreneurial intention of international business students in Viet Nam: a survey of the country joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership

“…Remarkably, this extant body of knowledge is dominantly Western, Anglo-Saxon, mainly (Bullough et al 2014;Carey et al, 2010;Cassar, 2007;Cha and Bae, 2010;Crant, 1996;De Jorge-Moreno et al 2012;Paço et al 2011;Raijman, 2001;Souitaris et al 2007;Tegtmeier, 2006;Tomski, 2014;Turker and Sonmez Selcuk, 2009;Van Gelderen et al, 2008), and increasingly European (Castellano et al 2014;Llouga et al 2013;Nyock et al 2013;Tounés, 2006;Varela Villegas et al 2011), and/or cross-cultural (Cassar, 2007;Engle et al 2011;Laspita et al 2012;Liñán and Chen, 2009;Linón et al 2013;Moriano et al 2012;St-Jean et al, 2014). Empirical studies from Asia have appeared in recent years, from China (Bernhofer and Han, 2014;Siu and Lo, 2013), Pakistan (Azhar et al 2010), India (Wei, 2007), and Viet Nam (Tran and Santarelli 2014;Mai, 2016) In Shapero's Entrepreneurial Event Model (Shapero, 1975), it considers firm creation as the result of the interaction among contextual factors, which would act through their influences on the individual's perceptions.…”

The Role of Context in Shaping Students Entrepreneurial Intentions

“…2014, Thomas 2001, Mueller and Thomas, 2001, Bernhofer, L., & Han, Z. 2014, Ghazali et al 2013, Hofstede, 2001, Iakovleva et al 2014, Shinnar et al 2012, House et al, 2004, St-Jean 2014, Giacomin et al 2011, Solesvik, M. Z. 2013).…”

“…Giacomin et al (2011) explain that an individual's entrepreneurial intentions can be shaped by his or her perceptions of barriers to business start-up, cultural values, and the environment in which he or she is located. Lüthje and Franke (2003) see entrepreneurial intentions as related to cultural values and shaped by perceived barriers to creation as well as the infrastructure in place to support entrepreneurs (St-Jean, 2014, Shinnar, R. S., Giacomin, O., & Janssen, F, 2012, Schlaegel, C., He, X., & Engle, R. L.2013) Solesvik, M. Z. (2013 suggest that career choice research should concentrate not only on cognitive-person variables alone, but needs to be considered together with environmental variables (e.g.…”