An investigation of the antecedents of entrepreneurial mindset and intention among university students: An emerging market study

Abstract

The present research aims to investigate the key antecedents of entrepreneurial intention among university students in an emerging market (i.e., Morocco). To do so, we propose and test an integrated framework combining the theory of planned behavior (TPB) with other constructs from prior literature. The proposed conceptual model was assessed using a sample of 408 Moroccan university students and data is analysed using the partial least squares (PLS) estimation. Our findings convey that students’ attitudes toward entrepreneurship is a key driver of their entrepreneurial intention. We also demonstrate that attitude toward entrepreneurship is mainly influenced by entrepreneurial education and students’ personality traits. Finally, risk-taking propensity and entrepreneurial motivation were found to moderate the relationship between students’ attitudes towards entrepreneurship and their intention to become entrepreneurs. Our findings suggest valuable insights to universities, policymakers, and instructors.