The Role of Demographic Factors and Prior Entrepreneurial Exposure in Shaping the Entrepreneurial Intentions of Young Adults: The Case of Croatia

Abstract

This research was designed in order to investigate the role of important individual and situational factors in shaping entrepreneurial intentions of young adults in the Republic of Croatia. For that purpose, a survey was conducted on the sample of 257 young adults using a questionnaire. In order to test the proposed hypotheses stating that there are statistically significant differences in young adults’ entrepreneurial intentions regarding demographic factors (gender, age, and level of education), prior entrepreneurial exposure, and the perception of prior entrepreneurial exposure, a statistical analysis was performed using the Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests. Overall, the results give partial support for the hypothesis regarding demographic factors and prior entrepreneurial exposure and full support for the hypothesis regarding the perception of prior entrepreneurial exposure. Additionally, CHAID method classification was applied in order to fully grasp the relationship between entrepreneurial intentions and the analyzed factors, and the results clearly indicate that the perception of prior entrepreneurial exposure can be seen as a single best predictor of entrepreneurial intentions.

Factors influencing the social perception of entrepreneurs in Spain: A quantitative analysis from secondary data

“…influence this relationship, with Ajzen’s theory [ 31 ] of planned behavior prevailing as an analytical framework [ 33 ] (see [ 34 ]) for a brief description of the theory). Starting with sociodemographic variables, features such as gender, household income and education can affect individual inclinations toward entrepreneurship [ 35 , 36 ]. The relationship between gender and entrepreneurship has been addressed in the literature from different perspectives.…”

“…The relationship between education and entrepreneurship has been extensively addressed but without incontrovertible results [36]. On the one hand, it is assumed that a higher level of knowledge means that entrepreneurship is more highly valued as a desirable career option if these individuals have a business background [43][44][45].…”