University entrepreneurial push strategy and students’ entrepreneurial intention

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to question whether the university entrepreneurial push strategy influences the entrepreneurial intention (EI) of its students. Previous research followed multilevel approaches that jointly addressed the impact of individual characteristics, institutional environment, and educational support on EI. Despite these efforts, the extant literature did not consider differences between universities regarding the whole set of activities they perform to foster entrepreneurship among students and their results. Design/methodology/approach Through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) procedures, this study compared data from 447 students of two Brazilian universities that differentiate themselves according to entrepreneurial push strategies (one adopts actions consistent with this type of strategy while the other does not). Whilst University 1 fosters entrepreneurship by investing in entrepreneurship courses, promoting entrepreneurship competitions, and offering incubation opportunities, University 2 primarily focuses on traditional managerial education without a specific focus on entrepreneurial activities. Findings Surprisingly, the results have shown the entrepreneurial push strategy of University 1 does not account for differences in the students’ EI when compared to University 2. Such finding contradicts previous studies on the effects of entrepreneurial education and sheds new lights on the role university’s support plays to foster entrepreneurship intention. Research limitations/implications Contributions to the literature on the field of entrepreneurship intention were made by showing that the efforts toward the promotion of entrepreneurship through entrepreneurship education, business plan competitions, and incubation might not have a direct influence on students’ EI. Practical implications As a practical implication, the study stimulates universities to evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts in promoting entrepreneurship through training, education and support for new ventures. The results also offer policy implications by suggesting that public policies should emphasize the development of institutions that foster a positive business environment, facilitate the creation of new ventures, the funding of start-ups and reinforce the benefits of becoming an entrepreneur. Originality/value The results are surprising because they contradict previous studies of the university’s role in fostering entrepreneurship intention. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first research comparing universities with two different approaches toward developing students’ EI: one university with a whole set of activities and another university without any specific activity with that purpose.