TY - JOUR

T1 - Higher education student intentions behind becoming an entrepreneur

AU - Христодоулоу, Иоаннис

AU - Wasim, Jahangir

AU - Youssef, Moustafa Haj

AU - Reinhardt, Robert

N1 - Wasim, J., Haj Youssef, M., Christodoulou, I. and Reinhardt, R. (2023), "Higher education student intentions behind becoming an entrepreneur", Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-01-2023-0015

PY - 2023/8/1

Y1 - 2023/8/1

N2 - PurposeThis research aims to identify the intentions behind becoming an entrepreneur and the perception of entrepreneurial failure among different groups of students. There has been significant research discussing the motivations behind becoming an entrepreneur. However, such a research study is often focused on individuals who are already in the entrepreneurial process. Therefore, this research focuses on the understanding of the entrepreneurial process specified on the intentions of becoming an entrepreneur and the associated risk, in the context of a learning process.Design/methodology/approachThe perspectives of students towards becoming an entrepreneur and their perception of associated risk are identified. A comparative exploratory case study method is used. Three cases developed in the light of empirical evidence consist of Business, Law and Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students.FindingsMajor results show that the law and STEM students were on the same line in terms of motivational factors, such as being career driven. In contrary, the business students were more driven by personal factors such as leaving something behind and building something meaningful.Originality/valueWhilst studies have attempted to understand entrepreneurial intentions, little work has considered students and their views on becoming entrepreneurs. Even with studies that looked at this subject matter, the focus was mainly business students. The authors build on previous work and construct the authors' views based on multi-disciplinary student base to know more about their intentions to become an entrepreneur. The science and law students were more influenced by external factors, whereas business students were focused more on their personal goals. Such classification of the diverse intentions based on student discipline opens a new and promising research avenue to better develop entrepreneurial education not only for business students but across all disciplines in higher education.

AB - PurposeThis research aims to identify the intentions behind becoming an entrepreneur and the perception of entrepreneurial failure among different groups of students. There has been significant research discussing the motivations behind becoming an entrepreneur. However, such a research study is often focused on individuals who are already in the entrepreneurial process. Therefore, this research focuses on the understanding of the entrepreneurial process specified on the intentions of becoming an entrepreneur and the associated risk, in the context of a learning process.Design/methodology/approachThe perspectives of students towards becoming an entrepreneur and their perception of associated risk are identified. A comparative exploratory case study method is used. Three cases developed in the light of empirical evidence consist of Business, Law and Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students.FindingsMajor results show that the law and STEM students were on the same line in terms of motivational factors, such as being career driven. In contrary, the business students were more driven by personal factors such as leaving something behind and building something meaningful.Originality/valueWhilst studies have attempted to understand entrepreneurial intentions, little work has considered students and their views on becoming entrepreneurs. Even with studies that looked at this subject matter, the focus was mainly business students. The authors build on previous work and construct the authors' views based on multi-disciplinary student base to know more about their intentions to become an entrepreneur. The science and law students were more influenced by external factors, whereas business students were focused more on their personal goals. Such classification of the diverse intentions based on student discipline opens a new and promising research avenue to better develop entrepreneurial education not only for business students but across all disciplines in higher education.

KW - entrepreneurs

KW - higher education

KW - entrepreneurial intention

KW - Entrepreneurship education

KW - de-monopolization

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85166581710&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1108/HESWBL-01-2023-0015

DO - 10.1108/HESWBL-01-2023-0015

M3 - Article

JO - Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning

JF - Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning

SN - 2042-3896

ER -