Exploring gender differences in attitudes of university students towards entrepreneurship

Abstract

Entrepreneurship AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to understand gender differences in entrepreneurial intentions as measured by perceived feasibility and perceived desirability, and to explore gender differences in perceptions of entrepreneurship education needs -in terms of programmes, activities or projects -to succeed in an entrepreneurial career from the university students' point of view.Design / Methodology /Approach -Using data gathered from 3420 university students in more than 10 countries, and applying the Mann-Whitney non-parametric test, differences between genders and different intention groups were examined. To reduce the items regarding educational needs, factor analysis was used. Gender differences in educational needs were also examined via Mann-Whitney Test.Findings -The results confirm that compared to males, female students are less willing to start their own businesses. There are significant gender differences in terms of perceived feasibility and perceived desirability such that although they feel more supported by their families, females are less self-confident, more tense, reluctant and concerned about entrepreneurship. In terms of entrepreneurial intention, there are fewer gender differences among students; however, differences relating to self-confidence and family support still exist. Furthermore, students cited establishing entrepreneurial mentoring and an appropriate tutoring structure as the most needed entrepreneurial educational activity/program/project at an academic institution; this was rated higher by females compared to males.Practical implications -The findings of this paper could help guide educators and policy makers in designing effective entrepreneurship programmes that are customized to respond to gender specific needs to increase entrepreneurial participation.Originality / Value -This study reveals the gender differences in perceived desirability and perceived feasibility which impact entrepreneurial intentions. Gender differences in the entrepreneurial programmes/activities/projects required at an academic institution to promote entrepreneurial participation among university students is also explored.Keywords Entrepreneurship, Gender, Education and Training, Perceived Feasibility and Perceived Desirability Paper type Research paper IntroductionIn recent decades, entrepreneurship as a research topic has increased in popularity, due mainly to its positive effects on a country's economic development (Keilbach and Sanders, 2008) in terms of growth, innovation, employment creation and poverty reduction (Lunati et al., 2010).In order to increase participation in entrepreneurial activities, researchers, educators and policy makers need to identify the underlying factors affecting entrepreneurial behaviour and identify ways to stimulate entrepreneurial intentions (Turker and Selcuk, 2009) among those who do not appear to be born "entrepreneurs". Entrepreneurs are seemingly different from their fellow citizens in terms of their tendency to take risks, their tolera...

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Entrepreneurial education and internationalisation of firms in transition economies: a conceptual framework from the case of Croatia

“…Contrarily, they also believe that managing a business may be overwhelming, and starting a business in a former transition economy can be riskier due to problems related to financing and later to a successive internationalisation process (Dabić et al, 2012). For the gender issue, differences in the propensity toward entrepreneurship between male and female still persist; male are still more positive about entrepreneurship, although this difference is decreasing in the last years (Dabic et al, 2012); a matter that has also been found in other contexts (e.g. Ramadani et al, 2015).…”

“…While the significant risks posed by internal political stability are no longer of a concern, entrepreneurs in Croatia still struggle with lack of financing, a heavily reliance on export and risks related to variability in legal environment as the most relevant threats to their regular operations (Bublic et al, 2013). In particular, as also found in other transition economies (Iakovleva and Solesvik;2014), lack of knowledge on how to finance a start-up firm has been identified as one of most relevant problems hampering the growth of a new entrepreneurial venture (Dabic et al, 2012;Ramadani et al, 2015).…”

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