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May business mentors act as opportunity brokers and enablers among university students?

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Abstract

Networks are recognized as a central component of the entrepreneurial process, in particular with regard to opportunity identification and exploitation. In this study, we specifically analyze the role of mentors who are in business as opportunity brokers and enablers among university students with entrepreneurial intentions. Our investigation on 1022 students from 13 French-language universities based in Canada, France, Belgium and Algeria indicates that mentors in business, contrary to other mentors, support opportunity identification and exploitation among university students. Although student gender, entrepreneurial experience and education have a more pronounced effect, mentoring is the only element that can be controlled for through the creation of formal support programs. These results call on public authorities, and universities in particular, to implement formal mentoring programs to support students who are interested in starting their own business, and who would not otherwise have access to business mentors in their environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute on SMEs, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, 3351, boul. des Forges, Trois-Rivières, Québec, G9A 5H7, Canada

    Étienne St-Jean

  2. Faculté des sciences de l’administration, Pavillon Palasis-Prince, Université Laval, local 1523, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Maripier Tremblay

  3. Louvain School of Management, Université Catholique de Louvain, Place des Doyens, 1, 1348, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium

    Frank Janssen

  4. Université de Sherbrooke, 2500, boul. de l’Université, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada, J1K 2R1

    Jacques Baronet

  5. NOVANCIA, 3 rue Armand Moisant, Paris, France, 15ème

    Christophe Loué

  6. Division Firmes et Économie Industrielle, Centre de Recherche en Économie Appliquée pour le Développement (CREAD), BP 187 - Rostomia, Bouzaréah, Alger, Algeria

    Aziz Nafa

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  1. Étienne St-Jean
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  2. Maripier Tremblay
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  5. Christophe Loué
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Correspondence to Étienne St-Jean.

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St-Jean, É., Tremblay, M., Janssen, F. et al. May business mentors act as opportunity brokers and enablers among university students?. Int Entrep Manag J 13, 97–111 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-016-0397-4

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