Factors Influencing Entrepreneurial Intentions among Arab Students

Bakri, Anas Al and Ahmed Mehrez
Additional contact information
Bakri, Anas Al: Qatar University, Postal: Qatar University
Ahmed Mehrez: Qatar University, Postal: Qatar University

International Journal of Entrepreneurship, 2017, vol. 21, issue 3

Abstract: Entrepreneurship can be defined as the process and mind-set to initiate and develop economic activity. Studies have shown entrepreneurship to be a crucial driver of economic growth. This study sought to examine the factors that influence entrepreneurial attitudes among students in Arab countries. More specifically, it sought to examine the role of universities, role models, the entrepreneurial curriculum and students’ demographic characteristics in promoting Arab students’ entrepreneurial attitudes. The study employed a quantitative research design, where data was gathered from a sample of 1500 undergraduate Arab students in government universities and subjected to one-way ANOVA tests. Descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) was used to draw additional conclusions from the gathered data. The results showed that Arab students acknowledge the role played by universities, the entrepreneurship curriculum, role models and demographic variables in influencing their attitudes towards entrepreneurship. Universities and the entrepreneurial curriculum were found to be the greatest influencers of students’ entrepreneurial attitudes, ahead of role models and demographic variables. However, the low overall mean showed that most students do not believe that these institutions have played their role satisfactorily. Regarding the moderating effect of demographic variables, ANOVA results showed that age, academic major and work experience were not important determinants of students’ entrepreneurial attitudes. However, one’s country, their gender and academic level were found to be significant influencers of entrepreneurial attitudes. Male students were more entrepreneurially inclined than their female counterparts were and so were those in third and fourth years of study, compared to those in their freshman and sophomore years. The overall finding of the study was that universities need to play a more profound role in influencing students’ entrepreneurial attitudes.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial Intentions; Arab Students; Entrepreneurship Curriculum; Role Models. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.abacademies.org/articles/factors-influ ... b-students-6738.html Full text (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:ijentr:0015

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Entrepreneurship is currently edited by Nicolaj Hannesbo Petersen

More articles in International Journal of Entrepreneurship from Allied Business Academies
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mouawiya Al Awad ().