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Entrepreneurial intention among University students in Malaysia: integrating self-determination theory and the theory of planned behavior

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Abstract

The present study endeavors to develop a deeper understanding of the motivational processes involved in intentional entrepreneurial behavior. For this purpose, it integrates the social cognitive approach of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the organismic theory of motivation of self-determination theory (SDT). More specifically, it tests the role of basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness as defined in SDT in shaping university students’ attitudes and intentions toward entrepreneurship. The sample of this study consisted of 438 (Males = 166, Females =272) 3rd and 4th year university students from four Malaysian Public Universities. The results of the study show that the model strongly explains about 71% of the variance in entrepreneurial intention. Basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness have a strong indirect impact on entrepreneurial intention via their attitudinal antecedents: attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. This indicates a full-mediational model, where the attitudinal factors operated as transmitters of effects from the distal constructs of SDT on entrepreneurial intention. These findings confirm that both SDT and the TPB provide complementary explanations of the motivational processes of entrepreneurial behavior. The study contributes to the existing knowledge by providing a theory-based understanding of the role of motivations in the formation of entrepreneurial intentions. It opens the way for future research to analyze how alternative motivations may affect new venture creation, survival and success.

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Acknowledgements

This study has been supported by the ELITE project, funded by the Spanish National R&D Plan, Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness (Ref.: ECO2016-75655-P).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Business Management and Professional Studies, Management & Science University, Shah Alam, Malaysia

    Ibrahim Al-Jubari

  2. Department of Business Administration, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Arif Hassan

  3. Lord Ashcroft International Business School, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK

    Francisco Liñán

  4. Department Applied Economics, University of Seville, Seville, Spain

    Francisco Liñán

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  1. Ibrahim Al-Jubari
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  2. Arif Hassan
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  3. Francisco Liñán
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Correspondence to Ibrahim Al-Jubari.

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Table 5 Standardized factor loadings, composite reliability and average variance extracted
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Al-Jubari, I., Hassan, A. & Liñán, F. Entrepreneurial intention among University students in Malaysia: integrating self-determination theory and the theory of planned behavior. Int Entrep Manag J 15, 1323–1342 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-018-0529-0

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