An Analysis of the Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intentions among Students: A Romanian Case Study

Cristian Popescu (), Ionel Bostan, Ioan-Bogdan Robu, Andrei Maxim and Laura Diaconu (Maxim)
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Ionel Bostan: Doctoral School of Economics, “Stefan cel Mare” University of Suceava, Suceava 720229, Romania
Ioan-Bogdan Robu: Department of Accounting, Economic Informatics and Statistics, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, Iasi 700505, Romania
Laura Diaconu (Maxim): Department of Economics and International Relations, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, Iasi 700505, Romania

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 8, 1-22

Abstract: Developing people’s interest towards starting a business plays a vital role in the former socialist countries in which, for a very long time, private property and free initiative were almost completely annihilated. Therefore, countries like Romania cannot design a sustainable growth model without taking into account the necessary improvements in the human capital factor, through the entrepreneurial education specific to the market economy, and in the social capital, which leads to stability and enhances the economic activity. The main objectives of this paper are to analyze how much the entrepreneurial intentions are influenced by certain psycho-behavioral traits of the individual (creativity, locus of control, need for achievement and risk taking propensity) and to evaluate the influence of different types of education on these intentions, in order to see if the entrepreneurial education significantly influences the entrepreneurial intentions of Romanian young people. By analyzing the specialized literature, we have developed six research hypothesis that were tested on a sample of 600 students from the undergraduate (bachelor) and master programs within the large state universities of Romania who have entrepreneurship courses in the content of their curricula, with the help of a questionnaire-based survey. Depending on the research hypothesis, several data analysis approaches were used, including Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and General Linear Models (GLM). The main results of this study clearly illustrate that the need for achievement and the propensity towards taking risks play an important role in determining the entrepreneurial intention. Furthermore, graduates of the high schools with an entrepreneurial field are less inclined to engage in businesses compared to the graduates of the high schools that offer general education.

Keywords: sustainability; creativity; locus of control; need for achievement; risk taking propensity; types of education; Analysis of Variance (ANOVA); Principal Component Analysis (PCA); General Linear Models (GLM); entrepreneurship/good way to self-realization; enhancing the imagination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (32)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:8:p:771-:d:75590

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