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University training for entrepreneurial competencies: Its impact on intention of venture creation

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Abstract

This study tests the effect of entrepreneurship education programmes on the entrepreneurial competencies and intention of university students in order to confirm (or disconfirm) conventional wisdom that entrepreneurial education increases the intention to start a business. We address the following research question: Do entrepreneurship education programmes raise the entrepreneurial competencies and intention of students? We used a pretest-post-test quasi-experimental design. Data were collected from 864 university students of Castilla & León (Spain), from 863 students (403 taking the programme and 460 in a control group). The results showed that students in the ‘programme’ group increased their competencies and intention towards self-employment, whereas students in the control group did not. The findings contribute to the theories of planned behaviour and to the literature of entrepreneurship education itself, by revealing the effect of specific benefits for the students derived from the entrepreneurship ‘programme’.

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Acknowledgement

This research was partially funded by the Santander Bank. The author would like to thank participant instructors on the entrepreneurial training programme and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.

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  1. Universidad de Salamanca, Facultad de Psicología, Avda. de la Merced, 109-135, 37005, Salamanca, Spain

    José C. Sánchez

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Sánchez, J.C. University training for entrepreneurial competencies: Its impact on intention of venture creation. Int Entrep Manag J 7, 239–254 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-010-0156-x

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