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Entrepreneurial orientation and its crucial role in entrepreneurial intention and behaviour: Case of Tunisian Students

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Abstract

Entrepreneurship is becoming one of the most adequate solutions to reduce various, social, environmental and economic problems. In order to encourage and boost entrepreneurship in the country, Tunisian government has opted for providing numerous supporting activities. In contrast, the results were not as expected. As such, understanding of what influence individuals intention towards entrepreneurship is important in the effort of entrepreneurship development. This study addresses university students and aims to study of entrepreneurial intention: the influence of entrepreneurial orientation on entrepreneurial intention and behaviour. A survey was conducted on 300 students from a public university pertaining to different specialties. The results revealed that university students have high interest in entrepreneurship and possess the desire to become entrepreneurs as well. The aforementioned survey indicated that entrepreneurial intention of university students was affected positively by their quality of proactiveness while innovativeness and risk-taking ability were not considered as influential factors. Thus, this paper puts under scrutiny the study of entrepreneurial intention, which can help researchers and policymakers to grasp the different aspects of entrepreneurship, mainly in the phase that precedes the entrepreneurial process.

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Appendix

Appendix

The questionnaire was drawn up on the basis of the measurement scales used by previous studies. The aim of this study is to examine the causal relationship between EO, entrepreneurial intention and behaviour.

Category

Items

Demography

Sex: Men\Women

Age:

Less than 20 years\Between 21–30 years\Between 31–40 years\Between 41–50 years\50 years and over

Region:

North West\Northeast\South West\South East

Midwest\Center-East

Fields of study:

Science and technology\Law and political science

Economics and Management\Letters and languages

Human and social\sciences and theology\Agronomy

Fine arts and arts and crafts\Medicine, pharmacy, health sciences and veterinary medicine\Sport and physical education\Other areas

Entrepreneurial Orientation: Innovation

(Totally disagree totally agree 5-point Likert scale)

Prefer unique, one-of-a-kind approach

Favour experimentation and original approach

Try new and unusual activities

Try my own unique way

Risk-taking

Act boldly

Invest time/money on something that yield high return

Take bold action by venturing into unknown

Proactivity

Plan ahead on projects

Prefer to step-up and get things going

Act in anticipation of future problems

Entrepreneurial intention

(Totally disagree totally agree 5-point Likert scale)

Make every effort to start and run own firm

Professional goal is to become entrepreneur

Determined to create a firm

Ready to do anything to be entrepreneur

Very serious thought of starting a firm

Firm intention to start a firm

Entrepreneurial behaviour

(Totally disagree totally agree 5-point Likert scale)

My behaviours directly translate my different positions and attitudes

I organize and plan my action plans

I evaluate positively and negatively my different behaviours

The advice and opinions of others can influence my decisions

I have enough possibilities to control my tasks

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Inoubli, C.E., Gharbi, L. Entrepreneurial orientation and its crucial role in entrepreneurial intention and behaviour: Case of Tunisian Students. Entrep Educ 5, 97–121 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41959-022-00069-9

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