Abstract
The present research uses exploratory quantitative methods to assess and understand the entrepreneurial profiles of undergraduate student groups as a driver for initial entrepreneurial intentions. The authors do this by examining the entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial skills, and entrepreneurial personality traits of undergraduate students, with a focus on differences between students who select entrepreneurship as their academic concentration and those who do not. A total of 1554 student assessments were analyzed from twenty-four universities, with approximately 75% of the respondents from the USA and 25% from outside the USA. Results demonstrate the heterogeneous nature of student groups and entrepreneurial profiles, with significant differences observed among various student majors. Findings of the study have theoretical, empirical, and practical implications for the design and delivery of undergraduate entrepreneurship education.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Addinsoft. (2019). XLSTAT significant and data analysis solution (Version 2018.7 Macintosh 10.4) [English, Macintosh]. Long Island: Addinsoft.
Ahmed, U., Pahi, M. H., Mozammel, S., & Umrani, W. A. (2018). Entrepreneurial intentions amongst female students: Test of a moderated model in an emerging economy. Iranian Journal of Management Studies,10, 13.
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational behavior and human decision processes. Retrieved July 14, 2018, from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6256/ca4853f44ab9acb98f91f0d7848c54185ca7.pdf.
Ajzen, I. (2002). Perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, locus of control, and the theory of planned behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology,32(4), 665–683. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2002.tb00236.x.
Aloulou, W. J. (2015). Entrepreneurial intention among freshmen students—Application of the theory of planned behaviour in Saudi context. Journal of Enterprising Culture,23(4), 473–500. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218495815500168.
Aloulou, W. J. (2016). Predicting entrepreneurial intentions of freshmen students from EAO modeling and personal background: A Saudi perspective. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies,8(2), 180–203.
Arasteh, H., Enayati, T., Zameni, F., & Khademloo, A. (2012). Entrepreneurial personality characteristics of university students: A case study. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 46, 5736–5740. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.06.507.
Ashraf, M. M. (2017, June 9). Entrepreneurship: Engine of growth. Retrieved September 30, 2017, from The Nation website. http://nation.com.pk/columns/09-Jun-2017/entrepreneurship-engine-of-growth.
Atsan, Y. G. N. (2006). Entrepreneurial characteristics amongst university students: Some insights for entrepreneurship education and training in Turkey. Education + Training, 48(1), 25–38. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910610645716.
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review,84, 191–215.
Barba-Sánchez, V., & Atienza-Sahuquillo, C. (2017). Entrepreneurial motivation and self-employment: Evidence from expectancy theory. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal,13(4), 1097–1115. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-017-0441-z.
Bennett, R. (2006). Business lecturers’ perceptions of the nature of entrepreneurship. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research,12(3), 165–188. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552550610667440.
Bhandari, N. C. (2006). Intention for entrepreneurship among students in India. The Journal of Entrepreneurship,15(2), 169–179. https://doi.org/10.1177/097135570601500204.
Blank, S. G., & Dorf, B. (2012). The startup owner’s manual. The step-by-step guide for building a great company (Vol. 1, p. 29). New York: Wiley.
Borchers, A., & Hee, S. (2011). Assessing the effectiveness of entrepreneurial education programs from a multi-level multi-dimensional perspective with mental models (p. 11). Washington, DC: American Society for Engineering Education.
Boyd, N. G., & Vozikis, G. S. (1994). The influence of self-efficacy on the development of entrepreneurial intentions and actions. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 18(4), 63–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/104225879401800404.
Bradley University. (n.d.). Turner school of entrepreneurship names new director—Bradley University. Retrieved February 18, 2019, from https://www.bradley.edu/academic/colleges/fcba/news/story.dot?id=ef926387-c945-4353-880e-8442bf33a58f.
Campbell, A. (2012, May 14). Ask that job candidate if he or she ran a Lemonade Stand. Retrieved January 9, 2019, from Small Business Trends website. https://smallbiztrends.com/2012/05/ask-job-candidate-lemonade-stand.html.
Chwolka, A., & Raith, M. G. (2012). The value of business planning before start-up—A decision-theoretical perspective. Journal of Business Venturing,27(3), 385–399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2011.01.002.
D’Intino, R. S., Ross, L. W., Byrd, K. A., & Weaver, K. M. (2010). Entrepreneurship is a general education course! The why, how and transferability of the concept. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship,23(sup1), 669–682. https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.2010.10593508.
Davidson, K. (2016). Employers find ‘soft skills’ like critical thinking in short supply. The Wall Street Journal,30, 3.
Davis, M. H., Hall, J. A., & Mayer, P. S. (2016). Developing a new measure of entrepreneurial mindset: Reliability, validity, and implications for practitioners. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research,68(1), 21–48. https://doi.org/10.1037/cpb0000045.
Drexel University. (n.d.). Close School of Entrepreneurship. Retrieved February 18, 2019, from Close School of Entrepreneurship website. https://drexel.edu/close/about/overview/.
Edelman Intelligence. (2017). Freelancing in America: 2017 (p. 68). Upwork and Freelancer’s Union.
Ernst & Young Global Limited. (2016). Does disruption drive job creation? EY Global Job Creation Survey 2016. p. 20.
Felin, T., Gambardella, A., Stern, S., & Zenger, T. (2019). Lean startup and the business model: Experimentation revisited. Long Range Planning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2019.06.002.
Fiet, J. O. (2001). The theoretical side of teaching entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing,16(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0883-9026(99)00041-5.
Florida Gulf Coast University|Home. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2019, from https://www.fgcu.edu/.
Florida State University. (n.d.). Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship. Retrieved February 18, 2019, from Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship website https://jimmoranschool.fsu.edu/.
Gales, A. (2014, June 12). Recent survey shows entrepreneurial trend among college graduates. Retrieved January 10, 2019, from Dallas News website. https://www.dallasnews.com/business/business/2014/06/12/recent-survey-shows-entrepreneurial-trend-among-college-graduates.
Gartner, W. B. (1988). “Who Is an Entrepreneur?” is the wrong question. American Journal of Small Business, 12(4), 11–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/104225878801200401.
Gedeon, S. A. (2017). Measuring student transformation in entrepreneurship education programs. Education Research International. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/8475460.
Guilles, W. (2015). State of entrepreneurship 2015 address. Kansas City: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
Hytti, U., & Kuopusjärvi, P. (2004). Evaluating and measuring entrepreneurship and enterprise education: Methods, tools and practices. Turku: Turku School of Economics and Business Administration.
İlhan Ertuna, Z., & Gurel, E. (2011). The moderating role of higher education on entrepreneurship. Education + Training, 53(5), 387–402. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400911111147703.
Jack, S. L., & Anderson, A. R. (1999). Entrepreneurship education within the enterprise culture: Producing reflective practitioners. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research,5(3), 110–125. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552559910284074.
Jones, C., & English, J. (2004). A contemporary approach to entrepreneurship education. Education + Training,46(8/9), 416–423. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910410569533.
Krueger, N. F., & Brazeal, D. V. (1994). Entrepreneurial potential and potential entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice,18(3), 91–104.
Krueger, N. F., & Day, M. (2010). Looking forward, looking backward: From entrepreneurial cognition to neuroentrepreneurship. In Z. J. Acs & D. B. Audretsch (Eds.), Handbook of Entrepreneurship Research (pp. 321–357). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1191-9_13.
Langkamp Bolton, D., & Lane, M. D. (2012). Individual entrepreneurial orientation: Development of a measurement instrument. Education + Training,54(2/3), 219–233. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400911211210314.
Leopold, T. A., Zahid, S., & Ratcheva, V. (2016). The future of jobs employment, skills and workforce strategy for the fourth industrial revolution. Retrieved 5 June, 2018, from World Economic Forum website: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs.pdf.
Lesonsky, R. (2014, June 24). College graduates want to start businesses—But are they ready? Retrieved January 10, 2019, from SmBizDaily website. https://www.smallbizdaily.com/college-graduates-want-start-businesses-ready/.
Leutner, F., Ahmetoglu, G., Akhtar, R., & Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2014). The relationship between the entrepreneurial personality and the Big Five personality traits. Personality and Individual Differences, 63, 58–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.01.042.
Lukeš, M., & Zouhar, J. (2014). Development of entrepreneurial attitudes and entrepreneurial activity of youths in the Czech Republic. p. 9.
Magelli, P., & Kehoe, C. A. (Unpublished). Kauffman foundation grant to the college of business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Gies School of Business, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Momani, B. (2017, March). Entrepreneurship: An engine for job creation and inclusive growth in the Arab world. Retrieved 30 August, 2019, from https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/entrepreneurship_in_the_arab_world.pdf.
Mustapha, M., & Selvaraju, M. (2015). Personal attributes, family influences, entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurship inclination among university students. Kajian Malaysia,33, 19.
Nazar, J. (2013, September 9). 16 surprising statistics about small businesses. Retrieved April 11, 2018, from Forbes website. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonnazar/2013/09/09/16-surprising-statistics-about-small-businesses/.
Okoli, C. (2015). A guide to conducting a standalone systematic literature review. Communications of the Association for Information Systems,37, 33.
OnResearch. (2012, September). Mid-market perspectives America’s economic engine—Why entrepreneurs matter. Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/Deloitte%20Growth%20Enterprises/us-dges-why-entrepreneurs-matter.pdf.
Ozaralli, N., & Rivenburgh, N. K. (2016). Entrepreneurial intention: Antecedents to entrepreneurial behavior in the U.S.A. and Turkey. Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40497-016-0047-x.
Plummer, B. (2013, May 20). Only 27 percent of college grads have a job related to their major. Retrieved January 10, 2019, from Washington Post website. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/05/20/only-27-percent-of-college-grads-have-a-job-related-to-their-major/.
Remeikienė, R., Dumčiuvienė, D., & Startienė, G. (2013). Explaining entrepreneurial intention of university students: The role of entrepreneurial education.
Saeed, S., Muffatto, M., & Yousafzai, S. (2014). A multi-level study of entrepreneurship education among Pakistani university students. Entrepreneurship Research Journal. https://doi.org/10.1515/erj-2013-0041.
Salamzadeh, A., Farjadian, A. A., Amirabadi, M., & Modarresi, M. (2014). Entrepreneurial characteristics: Insights from undergraduate students in Iran. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business,21(2), 165. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJESB.2014.059471.
Sander, L. (2017, February 27). Lack of workers with “soft skills” demands a shift in teaching. Retrieved June 5, 2018, from The Conversation website. http://theconversation.com/lack-of-workers-with-soft-skills-demands-a-shift-in-teaching-73433.
Sexton, D. L., & Bowman, N. (1983). Determining entrepreneurial potential of students. In Academy of management proceedings (Vol. 1983, pp. 408–412). Academy of Management.
Shariff, M. N. M., & Saud, M. B. (2009). An attitude approach to the prediction of entrepreneurship on students at institution of higher learning in Malaysia. International Journal of Business and Management. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v4n4p129.
Shinnar, R. S., Giacomin, O., & Janssen, F. (2012). Entrepreneurial perceptions and intentions: The role of gender and culture. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 36(3), 465–493. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2012.00509.x.
Sundararajan, A. (2016). The sharing economy: The end of employment and the rise of crowd-based capitalism. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Torrance, W. E. F. (2013). Entrepreneurial campuses: Action, impact, and lessons learned from the Kauffman campus initiative (p. 10). Kansas City: Kauffman Foundation.
Torrance, W., & Rauch, J. (2013). Entrepreneurship education comes of age on campus. Kansas City: Kauffman Foundation.
Torres, F. C., Méndez, J. C. E., Barreto, K. S., Chavarría, A. P., Machuca, K. J., & Guerrero, J. A. O. (2017). Exploring entrepreneurial intentions in Latin American university students. International Journal of Psychological Research, 10(2), 46–59. https://doi.org/10.21500/20112084.2794 .
US News and World Report. (2019). 2019 best undergraduate entrepreneurship programs. Retrieved February 17, 2019, from https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/business-entrepreneurship.
Wiens, J., & Jackson, C. (2015, September 14). The importance of young firms for economic growth. Retrieved September 30, 2017, from http://www.kauffman.org/what-we-do/resources/entrepreneurship-policy-digest/the-importance-of-young-firms-for-economic-growth.
Wong, P. K., Ho, Y. P., & Autio, E. (2005). Entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth: Evidence from GEM data. Small Business Economics,24(3), 335–350. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-005-2000-1.
World Economic Forum. (2016). The future of jobs employment, skills and workforce strategy for the fourth industrial revolution. Retrieved 11 April, 2018, from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs.pdf.
Zhang, H., & Zhang, Y. (2013). Psychological characteristics of entrepreneurship of college students in China. Psychology,04(03), 159–164. https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2013.43023.
Zhao, H., Seibert, S. E., & Lumpkin, G. T. (2010). The relationship of personality to entrepreneurial intentions and performance: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Management, 36(2), 381–404.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hayes, D., Subhan, Z. & Herzog, L. Assessing and understanding entrepreneurial profiles of undergraduate students: implications of heterogeneity for entrepreneurship education. Entrep Educ 3, 151–195 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41959-020-00025-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41959-020-00025-5