Predicting Entrepreneurial Intent among Entry-Level Engineering Students

Schar, Mark; Billington, Sarah L.; Sheppard, Sheri

doi:10.18260/1-2--22929

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The Theory of Planned Behavior Intention is the mental processing taking place before exercising a specific behavior and is considered the best predictor of the behavior compared to other psychological factors (Wu and Wu, 2008). EI is the willingness to get involved with entrepreneurship which transforms into entrepreneurial behavior given the right opportunity (Schar et al, 2014). The TPB offers a successful explanatory instrument of EI, based on three motivational antecedents (Ajzen, 1991).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gendered personality traits and entrepreneurial intentions: insights from information technology education

Sitaridis

Kitsios

2021

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PurposeEntrepreneurial intention of students is frequently used in entrepreneurship research as an indicator of creativity, innovativeness and entrepreneurial mindset. The entrepreneurship courses offered by engineering disciplines do not always have the expected outcomes, while differences are observed on students' entrepreneurial intention. These differences sometimes stem from the stereotypical beliefs about entrepreneurship, in favor of masculinity. Although these anachronistic perceptions gradually fade in the society, personality traits attributed to “traditional” gender schemas still have an impact on students' career choices, especially in academic fields considered “masculine,” such as information technology. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of gender-typed personality (GTP) on students' entrepreneurial intentions (EI) and identify differences between genders.Design/methodology/approachThe impact of GTP traits on students' entrepreneurial intention is examined using gender schema theory and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) based on a sample of 321 university students of information technology. Structural equation models are used for the investigation of causal effects and group differences.FindingsThe results indicate significant interaction of GTP traits on the EI for both male and female students. However, no significant differences were found in the perception of gender schemas between males and females, which clearly suggests that the attribution of these traits to a specific gender nowadays is false.Originality/valueThe results offer convincing explanation of the differences observed in EI between the two genders and have both theoretical and practical implications for entrepreneurship education.

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Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%