Explaining entrepreneurial intentions of university students: a cross‐cultural study

Abstract

Purpose-In order to extend the literature on predicting entrepreneurial intentions this study aims to test a model incorporating cultural, social, and psychological factors. Design/methodology/approach-The paper surveyed over 1,000 students at universities in the USA, Spain, and China. Findings-Across cultures, university students share generally similar views on motivations and barriers to entrepreneurship, but with some interesting differences. Further, while cultural and social dimensions explain only a small portion of intentions, psychological self-efficacy (disposition) is an important predictor. Research limitations/implications-The study was restricted to university students. It generated focused conclusions and recommendations, but these may not be more widely generalizable. The study suggests directions for continued work on the relationship between cultural and psychological factors in entrepreneurship. Practical implications-Entrepreneurship education may serve students better by increasing its focus on creativity and confidence-building. Further, curricula should be adapted to specific culturesfor example, a unique dilemma faced by Chinese students is discussed in detail. Originality/value-Performing a cross-cultural comparison made it possible to add fresh insight to debates over the antecedents of entrepreneurship. It also uncovered some important topics for further discussion and research.

Preference for self-employment

“…Examples include 'the interest in starting/owing a business' (Wilson et al, 2007), 'the probability you'll start a new business in the next 5 years' (Krueger et al, 2000), 'having definite plans to start a business' (Pruett et al, 2009), and how likely respondents are 'to set up their own company' (Kautonen et al, 2013;Piperopoulos and Dimov, 2015). Others have measured the intention to become self-employed using a single item.…”

Students' Career Preferences: Intercultural Study of Croatian and German Students

“…The most of research on students' career choices in the last few years was concentrated on the identification of entrepreneurial or self-employment attitudes and intentions (Engle et al, 2010;Pruett et al, 2009;Solesvik, 2011 and others), specific fields of study or industry (Bundy & Norris, 1991;Iacovou et al, 2011;Montgomery & Ramus, 2011;Phillips et al, 1994;Wan et al, 2014), and nation-specific issues (Arulmani et al, 2003;Aycan & FikretPasa, 2003;Ismail & Lu, 2014;Tipurić et al, 2007). There is, to our best knowledge, only limited research on intercultural aspects of students' career development preferences and choices in sense of intercultural comparisons (Leong, 1991;Bobo et al, 1998;Browne, 1997;Lightbody et al, 1997;Ozbilgin et al, 2004).…”

Students’ perceptions of barriers to entrepreneurship

“…Formal support, includes institutional support, like funding, subsidies, consulting and service support, mostly referred by actual entrepreneurs (Akehurst et al, 2012). Young successful entrepreneurs declare their frustration according to the role of official support structures (Hulsink & Koek, 2014), while also the majority of students asked, argue that, lack of institutional support is a major drawback to their entrepreneurial plans (Giacomin et al, 2011;Pruett et al, 2009;Smith & Beasley, 2011;Sesen & Pruett, 2014). Resource constraints, including human resources (Ledyaeva et al, 2008) and infrastructures are vital to business startup and their lack is considered a barrier to entrepreneurship referred sometimes by students (Stamboulis & Barlas, 2014), although they normally pertain actual entrepreneurs (Singh Sandhu et al, 2011).…”

“…Market related barriers, include the lack of social network (Singh Sandhu et al, 2011), lack of knowledge of the market ), difficulty to contact or find customers (Ledyaeva et al, 2008;Birdthistle 2008;Stamboulis & Barlas, 2014), tough competition (Franke & Lüthje, 2004) and finally, lack of original ideas and perception of business opportunities (Franke & Luthje, 2003;Miller et al, 2009;Stamboulis & Barlas, 2014;Iakovleva et al, 2014;Pruett et al, 2009). Law and regulation constraints due to complexity or inconsistencies of the legal framework (Baughn & Neupert, 2003), time consuming registration procedures (Iakovleva et al, 2014), frequently changing or tough labor regulations are frequently perceived as barriers to entrepreneurship by students (Franke & Luthje, 2003;Franke & Lüthje, 2004;Ledyaeva et al, 2008) and actual entrepreneurs (Choo & Wong, 2006).…”